Freedom Downtime (2001)

The documentary centers on the fate of Mitnick, who is claimed to have been misrepresented in the feature film Takedown (2000) produced by Miramax and adapted from the book by the same name by Tsutomu Shimomura and John Markoff, 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 script of Takedown they had acquired. Several notable and iconic figures from the hacking community appear in the movie, including Phiber Optik (Mark Abene), Bernie S (Ed Cummings), Alex Kasper, and (director) Emmanuel Goldstein (Eric Corley). Freedom Downtime tries to communicate a different view of the hacker community from that usually shown by the mainstream media, with hackers being depicted as curious people who rarely intend to cause damage, driven by a desire to explore and conduct pranks.

I eagerly looked forward to seeing this supposed documentary, but to be quite frank, it was painful to sit through.I've long been aware of the Mitnick story and have also been a reader of 2600 for many years.That may in part account for my high expectations of this film.I actually felt sorry for EG as he showed up at the doors of company after company looking to talk to people about the Mitnick case (of course he never got talk to anyone because he put absolutely zero effort in planning any of these meetings whatsoever or even attempting to get a contact person to talk to).My thought as this progressed from the absurd to the comical was this: how high can you possibly be to drive literally across the country to wind up at a company like Sun Microsystems and show at the receptionist's desk hoping to speak to someone about the Mitnick story. Then, to stand out in the parking lot trying to get the main phone number for the company and actually be frustrated and amazed to get a voice mail system and not get to talk to anyone.At one point I was going to turn it off, but hope prevailed as the "film crew" continued to show up just about anywhere hoping to talk to anyone about anything in they might actually do that. The highlight of these "interviews" was letting a drunk guy hold a "Free Kevin" bumper sticker and ramble on why his wife left him because he had no money.As bad as this documentary was (and to call it one is an insult to the genre) it did bring to light the absurd way Mitnick was handled in prison - being put into solitary for months at a time. I suppose that's the one positive point to take from the film. (Mitnick is long since out of prison, by the way, and has a successful consulting firm and a book out last summer that is doing well. I have yet to read the book but probably will simply because I want to read him talk about his social engineering skills.) Hopefully the next time Mr. Goldstein embarks on a road trip to do interviews for a documentary he'll actually have more than a list of names. I'd recommend some crayons and paper so he'll have something a little more interesting to present to his viewers as he waits in reception areas for meetings that will never take place.

Yes.. You've seen them. "War Games" and "Hackers. You've also heard of them... You;ve heard of him. Kevin Mitnick. The media portrayed him as dangerous, believing he could start a nuclear war if he had access to a payphone. But you havn't heard the true story. And FREEDOM DOWNTIME is just that.I am glad that Emmanuel Goldstein and the crew of 2600 released this film, so it could show the truth of the Kevin Mitnick legacy, and the horror that could have been unleashed by the movie, "Takedown."FREEDOM DOWNTIME is the greatest hacker movie and the greatest documentary I have ever seen. If you have a view on hackers, see this movie.. It is likely to fix it.

before i comment, i am not a hackerbefore i watched this film, i knew little about kevins case(s) other than the fact that he had been held for over 3 years without a trial. i was baffled by the way the court system treated him. the courts held kevin in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT for 8 months because they were afraid he was going to hack their phone system!!! how are you going to hack a phone with no hacking tools?! did they think he was going to make a device out of spoons and a napkin or something? so they put him in solitary with murderers, rapists, armed robbers, and other violent criminals. this man had evidence that he had viewed source code from novell and sun, and made a few free phone calls. the only reason he was put in solitary was because of the media's view on him.not only were kevin's countless beatdowns from the government a big wakeup call to how i think about the court system, the other testimonials from hackers in the film were very moving. namely the testimonial from "Bearnie S." who was imprisoned because he had a box of "crystals" that could allow him to make free phone calls. he was severely beaten in jail, and was denied health care for several hours, and in the hospital was denied ANY pain killers (even aspirin or tylenol) for 2 days after having surgery.think the court system relies on justice? wrong. the media, racism/classism, propaganda, money, and other political influences are what controls the courts now. if this is the tesimonial of only a few hackers, imagine what horrible things have been done to minorities, non-violent drug criminals, and so on. watch this film. you will be informed and entertained at the same time.