In October 1988 Commodore User printed the start of a letter from a reader who knew what the editors would think of him. “I guess you are shaking your head while reading the top of this letter, moaning: ‘Damn it. Yet another stupid pirate going on my nerves!’” He asked them not to throw it “into your already overfilled dustbin”, and signed it “Jeff Smart/TRIAD, West Germany”. The magazine printed those few lines and cut the rest. Its reply was two words: “Too late.”
Four months earlier the same magazine had written about Smart’s work without naming him. He edited Illegal, a photocopied paper fanzine about the Commodore 64 cracking scene, and for most of its run it was one of the few places where that scene wrote about itself on paper.
Fast facts
- Scene name: Jeff Smart. The scene database CSDb says he took it from the German title of a comic, Clever & Smart, whose two heroes are Fred Clever and Jeff Smart.
- Born: 1968, according to Triad’s member page.
- Based in: West Germany.
- Known for: Editing Illegal, January 1986 to December 1991.
- Scene roles: Editor, swapper and cracker.
- Groups: Listed as a member of Triad from January to October 1988, then the Scouse Cracking Group; the last issue of Illegal came out with the group Elite.
Illegal
Smart started Illegal in January 1986 with two pages. By its 26th issue, dated 7 March 1988, it was selling about 400 copies at 1.60 Deutschmarks each, with news of the latest cracks, gossip, interviews and a monthly chart of the cracking groups voted by readers. That February’s “Cracker of the Month” placed Fusion first, Fairlight second and Triad third. Triad’s own profile of Smart says Illegal was one of the first magazines to publish charts like these, and singles out a column called “The Story of System 4” as “a causerie of the Scene”.
In June 1988 Commodore User’s piracy feature, by Mike Pattenden, told British readers about the fanzine. It listed the April issue’s contents, “news, interviews with hackers, a report on the Venlo copy party, a review of Rolling Thunder, a debate on the relative merits of 64 and Amiga, classified ads, news of the latest cracked games and charts”, and said the fanzine “revels in its downright naughtiness”. It called Illegal “the magazine published by Germany’s TRIAD group”. Triad was Swedish; the German connection was Smart himself.
Triad, and after
Smart’s time in Triad was short. The scene database CSDb lists him as a member from January to October 1988, and credits issue 28, dated 21 May 1988, to “Jeff Smart and Triad”. That autumn’s letter to Commodore User was signed from Triad. According to Triad’s member page, he moved to the Scouse Cracking Group in late September 1988.
The run ended with issue 38, dated 14 December 1991 and subtitled “Judgement Day”. Smart produced it with the group Elite after 18 months without an issue, and called it “the final and last issue of ILLEGAL”. Its charts named Ikari the world’s best cracking group. The Illegal entry has more on the fanzine’s contents and what survives of it.
Almost everything known about Smart comes from Illegal itself, from Commodore User‘s two mentions in 1988 and from scene websites and databases compiled later. Those later sources are scene members’ own records, not independent reporting.
Sources
- Mike Pattenden, “Piracy: hacking at the industry’s roots”, Commodore User, June 1988, p. 93: It’s Illegal (But Who Cares?), the April issue’s contents, “Germany’s TRIAD group”.
- Commodore User, October 1988, letters page: “Cracking Up”, signed “Jeff Smart/TRIAD, West Germany”, and the reply “Too late.”
- Illegal issue 26, 7 March 1988, as transcribed from paper by a Triad member (web, secondary): circulation and price, the February 1988 “Cracker of the Month” chart. https://www.exploit-db.com/ezines/kr5hou2zh4qtebqk.onion/ILEGAL/ILEGAL26.TXT
- “Jeff Smart’s Illegal”, Triad website, rewritten from the fanzine In Medias Res (web, secondary): the two-page first issue of January 1986. https://www.triad.se/articles/jeff-smarts-illegal
- “Jeff Smart”, Triad website member page (web, secondary): born 1968; swapper and editor; one of the first magazines to publish charts; “The Story of System 4”; the move to the Scouse Cracking Group in late September 1988. https://www.triad.se/members/jeff-smart
- CSDb, the Commodore 64 Scene Database, scener entry for Jeff Smart (web, secondary): the handle’s origin in Clever & Smart; group memberships and dates; functions. https://csdb.dk/scener/?id=2111. Release entries for Illegal #28, 21 May 1988, https://csdb.dk/release/?id=6302, and Illegal #38, 14 December 1991, https://csdb.dk/release/?id=13804
- PC Games (Germany), December 2004, review of the adventure game Clever & Smart: the comic’s heroes Fred Clever and Jeff Smart.
- Recollection (Atlantis), “Cracker’s Map: United Kingdom” (web, secondary): Ikari voted the world’s best cracking group in Illegal #38. https://www.atlantis-prophecy.org/recollection/?load=crackers_map&country=unitedkingdom