''Freedom Downtime'' is a 2001

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

sympathetic to the convicted

computer hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

Kevin Mitnick Kevin David Mitnick (born August 6, 1963) is an American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker. He is best known for his high-profile 1995 arrest and five years in prison for various computer and communications-related crim ...

, directed by

Emmanuel Goldstein Emmanuel Goldstein is a fictional character in George Orwell's 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. He is the principal enemy of the state according to the Party of the totalitarian Oceania. He is depicted as the head of a mysterious ...

and produced by 2600 Films. The documentary centers on the fate of Mitnick, who is claimed to have been misrepresented in the feature film '' Takedown'' (2000) produced by

Miramax Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a leadi ...

and adapted from the book by the same name by

Tsutomu Shimomura is a Japanese-born American physicist and computer security expert. He is known for helping the FBI track and arrest hacker Kevin Mitnick. ''Takedown'', his 1996 book on the subject with journalist John Markoff, was later adapted for the scre ...

and

John Markoff John Gregory Markoff (born October 24, 1949) is a journalist best known for his work covering technology at ''The New York Times'' for 28 years until his retirement in 2016, and a book and series of articles about the 1990s pursuit and capture ...

, which is based on disputed events. The film also documents a number of computer enthusiasts who drive across the United States searching for Miramax representatives and demonstrating their discontent with certain aspects of the

bootleg Bootleg or bootlegging most often refers to: * Bootleg recording, an audio or video recording released unofficially * Rum-running, the illegal business of transporting and trading in alcoholic beverages, hence: ** Moonshine, or illicitly made ...

script of ''Takedown'' they had acquired. One of their major points of criticism was that the script ended with Mitnick being convicted to serve a long-term prison sentence, while in reality, at the time the film's production, Mitnick had not yet even had a trial but nonetheless was incarcerated for five years without

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countries ...

in a high-security facility. Freedom Downtime also touches on what happened to other hackers after being sentenced. The development of the Free Kevin movement is also covered. Several notable and iconic figures from the hacking community appear in the movie, including

Phiber Optik Mark Abene (born February 23, 1972) is an American information security expert and entrepreneur, originally from New York City. Better known by his pseudonym Phiber Optik, he was once a member of the hacker groups Legion of Doom and Masters of ...

(Mark Abene),

Bernie S Bernie S. (born Edward Cummings) is a computer hacker living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a regular panelist on the WBAI radio show '' Off the Hook''. In 2001 he appeared in ''Freedom Downtime'', a documentary produced by 2600 Films. Conf ...

(Ed Cummings), Alex Kasper, and director

(Eric Corley). ''Freedom Downtime'' tries to communicate a different view of the hacker community from that usually shown by the

mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...

, with hackers being depicted as curious people who rarely intend to cause damage, driven by a desire to explore and conduct pranks. The film questions the rationality of placing computer hackers who went "over the line" in the same environment as serious felons. It also contains interviews with people related to Mitnick and

hacker culture The hacker culture is a subculture of individuals who enjoy—often in collective effort—the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming the limitations of software systems or electronic hardware (mostly digital electronics), to a ...

in general. The authors of , ex-couple

Katie Hafner Katie Hafner (born December 5, 1957) is an American journalist and author. She is a former staff member of ''The New York Times'', and has written articles about technology, healthcare, and society, and books about the computer underground, the hi ...

and

, appear in very different roles. While Hafner's empathy for Mitnick is shown to have grown, Markoff continues to defend his critical book and articles in

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

newspaper about the hacker. Markoff is ridiculed as the narrator, director Goldstein (a hacker himself), points out his factual errors during the interview. Reba Vartanian, Mitnick's grandmother, also appears in a number of interview segments. Furthermore, lawyers, friends, and libertarians give their view of the story. Footage and interviews from the

DEF CON DEF CON (also written as DEFCON, Defcon or DC) is a hacker convention held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first DEF CON took place in June 1993 and today many attendees at DEF CON include computer security professionals, journalists, lawyer ...

and

Hackers on Planet Earth The Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference series is a hacker convention sponsored by the security hacker magazine '' 2600: The Hacker Quarterly'' that until 2020 was typically held at Hotel Pennsylvania, in Manhattan, New York City. Occ ...

conventions try to dispel some hacker myths and confirm others. The film premiered at H2K, the 2000 H.O.P.E. convention. After that the film saw a limited independent theatrical release and was shown at film festivals. It was released on VHS and sold via the '' 2600'' website. In June 2004, a DVD was released. The DVD includes a wealth of extra material spread over two discs, including three hours of extra footage, an interview with Kevin Mitnick in January 2003 (shortly after his supervised release ended), and various DVD eggs. It also includes subtitles in 20 languages, provided by volunteers.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, id=0309614, title=Freedom Downtime * Watch/Downloa
Freedom Downtime
from Archive.org *Watch/Downloa
Freedom Downtime
from Defcon.org 2001 films American documentary films 2600: The Hacker Quarterly Documentary films about the Internet Hacker culture Works about computer hacking 2000s English-language films 2000s American films