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Legal Pirates Ltd: Home Computing Cultures in Early 1980s Greece

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Hacking Europe

Part of the book series: History of Computing ((HC))

Abstract

During the early and mid-1980s, a home computing practice of use and openness of software emerged in Greece. This computer culture both reflected and reinforced the local economic and technological characteristics. Because the protection of intellectual property rights regarding software was not an issue, software piracy was not considered such a pressing problem as it would become later. Home computing in Greece was shaped by two technology-mediating actors, who actively guided and manipulated the technology and its use: the computer magazine Pixel and small computer stores. The author argues that these technology mediators supported a conception of software as something that could and should be adjusted to the needs of local users through the – legitimate – altering of the software code. The chapter discusses the so-called “cassette piracy” phenomenon during the period together with the interaction between home computer users and the development of computing technology.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Recent literature presents the strategic challenge posed by American domination of computer technology as the shaping force behind any national identity concerning the production, distribution and marketing of technological products. Thomas J. Misa, and Johan Schot. 2005. Inventing Europe: Technology and the hidden integration of Europe. History and Technology 21: 1–19.

  2. 2.

    The only study on the application of mainframe computers in Greece is Αλέξανδρος-Ανδρέας Κύρτσης, Εθνική Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος: Τεχνολογική και Οργανωτική Πρωτοπορία, 1950–2000, (Εθνική Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος: Πρόγραμμα Ερευνών Ιστορικού Αρχείου, 2008). On the use and history of mainframes, see Jeffrey R. Yost. 2005. The computer industry, Emerging industries in the United States. Westport: Greenwood Press; Emerson W. Pugh. 1995. Building IBM: Shaping an industry and its technologies. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; Steve Usselman. 1993. IBM and its imitators: Organizational capabilities and the emergence of the international computer industry. Business History Review 22(1): 1–35; Arthur L. Norberg. 2005. Computers and commerce: A study of technology and management at Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company, Engineering Research Associates, and Remington Rand, 1946–1957. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; Jamie Parke Pearson. 1992. Digital at work: Snapshots from the first thirty-five years. Burlington: Digital Press.

  3. 3.

    Ross Knox Bassett. 2002. To the digital age: Research labs, start-up companies, and the rise of MOS technology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; Christophe Lécuyer. 2005. Making Silicon Valley: Innovation and the growth of high tech, 1930–1970. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; Joel N. Shurkin. 2006. Broken genius: The rise and fall of William Shockley, creator of the electronic age. London/New York: Palgrave Macmillan; Richard S. Tedlow. 2006. Andy Grove: The life and times of an American business icon. New York: Portfolio.

  4. 4.

    A typical example of this personal computer was MITS Altair 8800, designed in 1975. Ceruzzi writes: “This ranks with IBM’s announcement of the System/360 a decade earlier as one of the most significant in the history of computing.” Paul E. Ceruzzi. 2003 [1998]. A history of modern computing, 226. Cambridge, MA/London: MIT Press. Despite all this, the early history of personal computers is rather neglected by the historians of technology and this gap is covered, in some extend, by columnists. See Paul Freiberger, and Michael Swaine. 1984. Fire in the valley: The making of the personal computer. Berkeley: Osborne/McGraw-Hill; and Robert X. Cringely. 1992. Accidental empires: How the boys of Silicon Valley make their millions, battle foreign competition, and still can’t get a date. Reading: Addison-Wesley.

  5. 5.

    Steven Levy. 1984. Hackers: The heroes of the computer revolution. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday and John W. Markoff. 2005. What the dormouse said: How the 60s counterculture shaped the personal computer industry. New York: Viking.

  6. 6.

    On the invention of the personal computer in the mid-1970s, see Paul E. Ceruzzi. 1996. From scientific instrument to everyday appliance: The emergence of personal computers, 1970–77. History and Technology 13(1): 1–31; James Chposky, and Ted Leonsis. 1988. Blue magic: The people, power, and politics behind the IBM personal computer. New York: Facts on File. On the emergence of PC as a standard in the early to mid-1980s, see J. Sumner. 2008. Standards and compatibility: The rise of the PC platform. History and Technology 28: 101–127. Sumner suggested that computing platforms are not simply rigid standards, but emerge thanks to negotiations between producers and users, J. Sumner. 2007. What makes a PC? Thoughts on computing platforms, standards, and compatibility. IEEE Annals of History of Computing 29(2): 87–88.

  7. 7.

    The ZX Spectrum, an 8-bit home computer supplied in the UK in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd, was based on a Zilog Z80A CPU which ran at 3.5 MHz and featured a 16 KB RAM memory (in the basic version). A monitor or TV screen had to be added to display graphics along with a cassette player to run applications. ZX Spectrum Servicing Manual, 1984, ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/technical-docs/ZXSpectrum48K_ServiceManual.pdf. The ZX Spectrum succeeded the earlier Sinclair computers, the ZX80 and ZX81, which came as homebuilt kits and were mainly for enthusiasts not beginners. See also Thomas Lean. 2014. ‘Inside a day you’ll be talking to it like an old friend’: The making and remaking of Sinclair personal computing in 1980s Britain. In Hacking Europe. From computer cultures to demoscenes, ed. Gerard Alberts and Ruth Oldenziel, 49–71. New York: Springer.

  8. 8.

    By 1982, an estimated 621,000 home computers were in use in the USA. Gregory S. Blundell. 1983. Personal computers in the eighties. BYTE, January, 166–182. This situation is often described as “micro moved from a restricted hobbyist audience to become a mainstream consumer electronic:” Leslie Haddon. 1990. Researching gender and home computers. In Technology and everyday life: Trajectories and transformations, ed. Knut Sørensen and Anne-Jorn Berg, 89–108. Trondheim: University of Trondheim. See also: Scott Cohen. 1984. Zap! The rise and fall of Atari. New York: McGraw Hill; Lewis Kornfeld. 1997. To catch a mouse make a noise like a cheese. Irving: The Summit Publishing Group; and Brian Bagnall. 2005. On the edge: The spectacular rise and fall of Commodore. Winnipeg: Variant Press.

  9. 9.

    Thomas Lean. 2008. ‘The making of the micro’: Producers, mediators, users and the development of popular micro-computing in Britain (1980–1989). PhD thesis, University of Manchester; Frank Veraart. 2008a. Basicode: Co-producing a microcomputer esperanto. History and Technology 28: 129–147. There are also corporate, amateur, or journalistic histories of individual computer production companies: Ian Adamson, and Richard Kennedy. 1986. Sinclair and the sunrise technology: The deconstruction of a myth. Harmondsworth: Penguin; Bagnall, On the edge; Rodney Dale. 1985. The Sinclair story. London: Duckworth; David Thomas. 1991. Alan Sugar: The Amstrad story. London: Pan Books; Michael S. Tomczyk. 1984. The home computer wars: An insider’s account of Commodore and Jack Tramiel. Greensboro: Compute! Publications; Michael Moritz. 1984. The little kingdom: The private story of Apple computer. New York: W. Morrow.

  10. 10.

    As Aristotle Tympas has shown, one main premise of this historiography is the notion that the computer of the past decades is a global machine, invented in the USA, and transferred to the rest of the world, where it can be used by different people in the same way: Aristotle Tympas. 2006. Electronic era technologies, the European experience: Historiographical omissions and ambitions. In Tensions of Europe network second plenary conference proceedings, ed. Johan Schot, et al., Lappeenranta, Finland (CD-ROM).

  11. 11.

    F. Mäyrä. 2002. Introduction: All your [base are] belong to us. In Computer games and digital cultures conference proceedings studies in information sciences, 5–8. Tampere: Tampere University Press. For their dynamic in Scandinavia, Petri Saarikoski. 2004. Koneen lumo. Mikrotietokoneharrastus Suomessa 1970-luvulta 1990-luvun puoliväliin [The Lure of the machine. The personal computer interest in Finland from the 1970s to the mid-1990s]. Nykykulttuurin tutkimuskeskuksen julkaisuja 83. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän yliopisto.

  12. 12.

    Even in 2010, out of a total of 4.4 million workers, 1.3 million are employed in companies with fewer than 20 employees: Ηλίας Γεωργάκης. 2010. Μείωση εισφορών έως 25%.ΤΑ ΝΕΑ, December 21. http://www.tanea.gr/default.asp?pid=2&ct=3&artid=4609892. Accessed 2010.

  13. 13.

    David Edgerton. 2006. The shock of the old: Technology and global history since 1900. London: Profile Books; Nelly Oudshoorn, and Trevor J. Pinch (eds.). 2003. How users matter: The co-construction of users and technology. Cambridge, MA/London: MIT Press; Steve Woolgar. 1991. Configuring the user: The case of usability trials.. In A sociology of monsters: Essays on power, technology and domination, ed. John Law, 58–100. London/New York: Routledge.

  14. 14.

    Sherry Turkle. 1984. The second self: Computers and the human spirit. New York: Simon & Schuster; Jörgen Nissen. 1993. Pojkarna vid datorn: Unga entusiaster i datateknikens värld [Boys in front of computers. Young enthusiasts in the world of computer technology]. PhD thesis, Lynköping Universitet.

  15. 15.

    Fred Turner. 2006. From counterculture to cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the rise of digital utopianism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; Markoff, What the dormouse said.

  16. 16.

    Robbie Guerreiro-Wilson, Lars Heide, Matthias Kipping, Cecilia Pahlberg, Adrienne van den Bogaard, and Aristotle Tympas. 2004. Information systems and technology in organizations and society (ISTOS): Review essay. In Tensions of Europe. Network first plenary conference proceedings, ed. Johan Schot, et al., Budapest, Hungary (CD-ROM). [Also accessible as: Tensions of Europe Working Paper http://www.tensionsofeurope.eu/www/en/files/get/Review_IT_Guerreiro.pdf. Accessed 30 Jan 2014]; Aristotle Tympas, Foteini Tsaglioti, and Theodore Lekkas. 2008. Universal machines vs. national languages: Computerization as production of new localities. Paper presented at the international conference ‘Technologies of Globalization’, Darmstadt.

  17. 17.

    Levy, Hackers.

  18. 18.

    McKenzie Wark. 2004. A hacker manifesto. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

  19. 19.

    Douglas Thomas. 2002. Hacker culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

  20. 20.

    O. Sotamaa. 2005. Creative user-centred design practices: Lessons from game cultures. In Everyday innovators: Researching the role of users in shaping ICTs, ed. Leslie Haddon, et al., 104–116. Dordrecht: Springer.

  21. 21.

    Tamás Polgár. 2005. Freax. The brief history of the demoscene, vol. 1. Winnenden: CSW Verlag; Markku Reunanen, and Antti Silvast. 2009. Demoscene platforms: A case study on the adoption of home computers. In History of Nordic computing 2, IFIP advances in information and communication technology, ed. John Impagliazzo, Timo Järvi, and Petri Paju, 289–301. Berlin: Springer; L. Tasajärvi, B. Stamnes, and M. Schustin (eds.). 2004. Demoscene: The art of real-time. Even Lake Studios & katastro.fi; H. Lönnblad. 1997. Kahden tietokonedemon vertaileva analyysi [A comparative study of two computer demos]. Musiikin Suunta 19(2): 28–34. http://www.kameli.net/demoresearch2/

  22. 22.

    Tympas, Electronic era technologies.

  23. 23.

    For example, see how Australian law criminalises end-user piracy through the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement: http://www.dfat.gov.au/fta/ausfta/final-text/chapter_17.html

  24. 24.

    Many articles examine the advantages of organized bodies in protecting software authors and owners, the policy and economic implications of software piracy, the legal importance of instruments for IP rights protection, copyright acts and provisions for their enforcement, copyright laws, loss of revenues in the software industry, the effect of this loss on the software market, and the ethical dimensions. Even criminological theories have been proposed, Robert Willison, and Mikko Siponen. 2008. Software piracy: Original insights from a criminological perspective. Paper presented at the proceedings of the annual Hawaii international conference on system sciences, Maui.

  25. 25.

    Donald A. MacKenzie, and Judy Wajcman (eds.). 1985. The social shaping of technology: How the refrigerator got its hum. Milton Keynes: Open University Press; Merritt Roe Smith, and Leo Marx (eds.). 1994. Does technology drive history? The dilemma of technological determinism. Boston: MIT Press; Hughie Mackay, and Gareth Gillespie. 1992. Extending the social shaping of technology approach: Ideology and appropriation. Social Studies of Science 22(4): 685–716.

  26. 26.

    Trevor J. Pinch, and Wiebe E. Bijker. 1984. The social construction of facts and artefacts: Or how the sociology of science and the sociology of technology might benefit each other. Social Studies of Science 14(August): 399–441; Wiebe E. Bijker, Thomas P. Hughes, and Trevor J. Pinch (eds.). 1987. The social construction of technological systems. New directions in the sociology and history of technology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; Langdon Winner. 1993. Upon opening the black box and finding it empty: Social constructivism and the philosophy of technology. Science Technology & Human Values 18(3): 362–378.

  27. 27.

    Paul Glennie. 1995. Consumption within historical studies. In Acknowledging consumption: A review of new studies, ed. Daniel Miller, 164–203. London/New York: Routledge.

  28. 28.

    D. Ortiz-Arroyo, F. Rodriguez-Henriquez, and C.A. Coello. 2010. The turing-850 project: Developing a personal computer in the early 1980s in Mexico. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 32(4): 60–71.

  29. 29.

    “A positive step by the multinational giants 6 years later to establish a certain standard brought even greater confusion, since retailers would now have to provide their clients with two different sets of characters, the IBM standard and 437, the de facto set by then,” K. Καράλης. 1990. Στα άδυτα της ελληνικότητας. RAM, April, 69.

  30. 30.

    One trade magazine in Greece was Popular Electronics, featuring in January 1975 instructions on how to build the first “mini-computer for home use,” ALTAIR 8800,

    http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/PopularElectronics/Jan1975/PE_Jan1975.htm. Another popular source for the hobbyist of the 1980s was the Greek magazine Τεχνική Εκλογή (est. in 1965), which featured articles on building microcomputers. In the 1970s, the same editors produced the magazine Μικρός Επιστήμονας, an edition for young readers aged 12–18. By following instructions, teenagers could fit things like a small radio receiver:

    http://www.phorum.gr/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=79764&start=0

  31. 31.

    Computers sold as kits that could be fitted by the hobbyist were, e.g., the Altair 8800, Sinclair ZX80, Sinclair ZX81, and Acorn Atom.

  32. 32.

    In the “Home Micros Buyers Guide,” Pixel 3(1984): 51–69, the home computers selected for presentation and comparison of their technical capabilities were Laser 200, BIT-90, TI 99/4A, TRS-80, ZX Spectrum, SORD M-5, ORIC ATMOS, DRAGON 32, ATARI 600 XL, SPECTRAVIDEO SV-318, NEWBRAIN, COMMODORE 64, LYNX, and BBC MODEL B., “Αφιέρωμα: Οδηγός αγοράς για Home Micros” [Market Guide for Home Micros].

  33. 33.

    “Software,” Pixel 3(1984): 112.

  34. 34.

    “Προγράμματα από εμάς για σάς,” [Programs from us to you] Pixel 4(1984): 86.

  35. 35.

    N. Μανούσος. 1983. Γράμμα από τον Εκδότη [Letter from the Editor]. Pixel 1: 3.

  36. 36.

    Almost 10,000 were sold until 1985, according to the most well-known computer shop of that period, PLOT, M. Νικολάου. 1985. Νίκος Λουκίδης: Ο Έλληνας ‘Mr. Chips’ [Nikos Loukidis: The Greek “Mr. Chips”!]. Pixel 15: 158.

  37. 37.

    For the development of home recording and the cultural and economic significance of this technology, see David L. Morton. 2000. Off the record: The technology and culture of sound recording in America. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

  38. 38.

    Copying software tapes seems to be very common practice among Greek users of home computers at this time. Issue 17 of Pixel informs users about an adaptor that could be connected to the cassette port of Commodore and Spectrum and enable a “one to one” cassette copy. This adaptor was profoundly named “Doubler” and aimed, according to the magazine, at “potential pirates,” Παυλής Δημ, “Αφιέρωμα: Χριστουγεννιάτικα δώρα για Home Micros” [Christmas gifts for Home Micros] Pixel 17(1985): 136. The machine was sold in a popular computer shop at the time in the heart of Athens.

  39. 39.

    X. Κυριακός. 1986a. Οι Hackers αποκαλύπτουν [Hackers reveal]. Pixel 27: 76–81.

  40. 40.

    X. Κυριακός. 1986b. Οι πειρατές του software [Software pirates]. Pixel 21: 55.

  41. 41.

    Γ. Καραιωσηφόγλου. 1984. Τα νέα του Pixel [Pixel’s news]. Pixel 2: 5. Similarly, Skinner supports that the widespread acceptance of home microcomputing should be understood in a wider context of an information revolution: David Ian Skinner. 1992. Technology, consumption and the future: The experience of home computing. PhD thesis, Brunel University.

  42. 42.

    Μανούσος, Γράμμα από τον Εκδότη.

  43. 43.

    N. Τσουάνας. 1984. Σπάστε το Manic Miner [Break Manic Miner]. Pixel 3: 16.

  44. 44.

    Ibid.

  45. 45.

    By the 2nd issue, readers were encouraged to submit their programs for 1,000 drachmas. “Προγράμματα από εμάς για εσάς” [Programs from us to you], Pixel 4(1984): 86. The magazine also announced a competition for the best program listings, the three winners receiving 5,000 drachmas each, a respectable sum for that time. “HINTS & TIPS”, Pixel 25(1986), 44–45.

  46. 46.

    Indicatively, in the 15th issue of Pixel, the program written by Mr. Giorgos Zotos of Ag. Paraskeyi was published with compliments for his effort, N. Τσουάνας. 1985. Επεμβάσεις: Ξεκλειδώστε το Pole Position [Interferences: Unlock pole position]. Pixel 15: 134.

  47. 47.

    Pixel 13(1985): 96.

  48. 48.

    Κυριακός, Οι Hackers αποκαλύπτουν.

  49. 49.

    Φ. Γεωργιάδης. 1986a. Εισαγωγή στο Hacking [Introduction to hacking]. Pixel 23: 103.

  50. 50.

    Ibid.

  51. 51.

    ΕλληνικήΑγορά [Greek market]. Pixel 14: 24.

  52. 52.

    Γεωργιάδης, Εισαγωγή στο Hacking.

  53. 53.

    Κυριακός, Οι Hackers αποκαλύπτουν.

  54. 54.

    For the significance of the relationship between young males, the main users of home micros, and the game’s consumers, see Haddon, Researching gender and home computers.

  55. 55.

    Κυριακός, Οι Hackers αποκαλύπτουν.

  56. 56.

    According to the Actor-Network Theory, social “things” need to be constantly built or remodeled through complex correlations with mediators. That is, there is no specific and consolidated framework for the relationship between the technical and the social. Bruno Latour. 2005. Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network-theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  57. 57.

    For an example of using computer magazines as historical source, see Frank Veraart. 2008c. Vormgevers van Persoonlijk Computergebruik: De ontwikkeling van computers voor kleingebruikers in Nederland 1970–1990. PhD thesis, TU Eindhoven.

  58. 58.

    http://www.cgomag.gr/firstissue.asp

  59. 59.

    Μανούσος, Γράμμα από τον Εκδότη.

  60. 60.

    For example, the ‘Sinclair Programs’ magazine published 582 listings from 1982–85. For a complete list, see http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jg27paw4/type-ins/sincprog/sp_name8.htm

  61. 61.

    See, for example, a mistake in a competition question for submitting the right answer “Και τώρα μπλέξαμε!…,” [And now we are in trouble!], Pixel 17(1985): 64.

  62. 62.

    M. Μανδρινός. 1983. Προγράμματα για τον ΖΧ-81 [Programs for ZX -81]. Pixel 1: 12.

  63. 63.

    Προγράμματα για Όλους [Programs for all]. Pixel 5(1984): 109.

  64. 64.

    Βάσεις Δεδομένων [Databases]. Pixel 19(1986): 114–125.

  65. 65.

    Leslie G. Haddon. 1988b. The roots and early history of the British home computer market: Origins of the masculine micro. PhD thesis, University of London; Skinner, Technology, consumption and the future; Leslie Haddon. 1992. Explaining ICT consumption: The case of the home computer. In Consuming technologies: Media and information in domestic spaces, ed. R. Silverstone and E. Hirsch, 82–96. London: Routledge; Tove Hapnes. 1996. Not in their machines: How hackers transform computers into subcultural artifacts. In Making technologies our own? Domesticating technology into everyday life, ed. Merete Lie and Knut H. Sørensen, 121–150. Oslo/Stockholm/Copenhagen/Oxford/Boston: Scandinavian University Press; Petri Saarikoski. 2005. Club activity in the early phases of microcomputing in Finland. In History of Nordic computing, ed. Janis Bubenko, John Impagliazzo, and Arne Sølvberg, 277–287. Berlin: Springer. J. Sumner. 2003. The mighty microcosm: Home computers and user identity in Britain, 1980–90. Paper presented to the annual meeting of the Society for the History of Technology, Atlanta, GA, Oct 2003.

  66. 66.

    Γιατί, άραγε, και λέσχη [Why a computer club?]. Pixel 2(1984): 14.

  67. 67.

    Καραιωσηφόγλου, Τα νέα του Pixel.

  68. 68.

    For example, PLOT computer shops were parallel importers, not connected to authorized dealers for computers like Spectrum, ORIC ATMOS, Commodore. Νικολάου, Νίκος Λουκίδης: Ο Έλληνας.

  69. 69.

    X. Κυριακός. 1986c. Ο πόλεμος των computer shops [The war of computer shops]. Pixel 19: 71.

  70. 70.

    Φ. Γεωργιάδης. 1986b. Η πρώτη αντιγραφή [First copy]. Pixel 25: 128–133.

  71. 71.

    The shop Computer for you informed its clients through Pixel magazine that it offered free access to home computers as “many waited in line to use and learn about the microcomputer of their choice,” “Ελληνική Αγορά,” 9.

  72. 72.

    Νικολάου, Νίκος Λουκίδης: Ο Έλληνας, “Mr. Chips”, 161.

  73. 73.

    Κυριακός, Οι πειρατές του software, 58.

  74. 74.

    Νικολάου, Νίκος Λουκίδης: Ο Έλληνας, “Mr. Chips”, 160.

  75. 75.

    Ibid.

  76. 76.

    Γεωργιάδης, Η πρώτη αντιγραφή, 128–133.

  77. 77.

    Micro-βιος, Micro Τσιμπήματα [Micro Bites]. Pixel 17: 68.

  78. 78.

    Ibid., 27.

  79. 79.

    For example, Martin Campbell-Kelly. 2003. From airline reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A history of the software industry. Cambridge, MA/London: MIT Press.

  80. 80.

    On how political, economic, and social factors direct technological developments, see Ceruzzi, A history of modern computing.

  81. 81.

    The press was vital in shaping perceptions on computer technology, being the main means of communication among less experienced users. C.D. Martin. 1993. The myth of the awesome thinking machine. Communications of the ACM 36(4): 120–133.

  82. 82.

    Ruth Schwartz Cowan. 1987. The consumption junction: A proposal for research strategies in the sociology of technology. In The social construction of technological systems, ed. Wiebe E. Bijker, Thomas P. Hughes, and Trevor J. Pinch, 261–280. Cambridge, MA: MIT; Ruth Oldenziel, Adri A. Albert de la Bruhèze, and Onno de Wit. 2005. Europe’s mediation junction: Technology and consumer society in the twentieth century. History and Technology 21: 107–139.

  83. 83.

    European historians of technology have focused on the role of intermediary actors, who mediate between producers and users of technology. Johan Schot and Adri Albert de la Bruhèze, The mediated design of products, consumption and consumers in the twentieth century, in Oudshoorn and Pinch, How users matter, 229–246. For an example of using computer magazines as historical source in the field, see Veraart, Vormgevers.

  84. 84.

    Christina Lindsay, From the shadows: Users as designers, producers, marketers, distributors, and technical support, in Oudshoorn and Pinch, How users matter, 29–50.

  85. 85.

    On the importance of high-street sales in legitimizing the home computers as a consumer product rather than just a toy for hobbyists, see Adamson and Kennedy, Sinclair and the Sunrise technology, and Stan Veit. 1993. Stan Veit’s history of the personal computer: From Altair to IBM, a history of the PC revolution. Asheville: WordComm.

  86. 86.

    The importance of hacker cultures in the 1980s was not exclusive to Greece. In the case of Finland, see Petri Saarikoski, and Jaakko Suominen. 2009. Computer hobbyists and the gaming industry in Finland. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 31(3): 20–33.

  87. 87.

    Robbie Guerreiro-Wilson, Lars Heide, Matthias Kipping, Cecilia Pahlberg, Adrienne van den Bogaard, and Aristotle Tympas. 2004. Information systems and technology in organizations and society (ISTOS): Review essay. In Tensions of Europe. Network first plenary conference proceedings, ed. Johan Schot, et al., Budapest, Hungary (CD-ROM). [Also accessible as: Tensions of Europe Working Paper http://www.tensionsofeurope.eu/www/en/files/get/Review_IT_Guerreiro.pdf. Accessed 30 Jan 2014]

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  1. Philosophy and History of Science Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Theodoros Lekkas

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  1. Korteweg-de Vries Institute for Mathematics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerard Alberts

  2. School of Innovation Sciences, History Department, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Ruth Oldenziel

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Lekkas, T. (2014). Legal Pirates Ltd: Home Computing Cultures in Early 1980s Greece. In: Alberts, G., Oldenziel, R. (eds) Hacking Europe. History of Computing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5493-8_4

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