2600: The Hacker Quarterly (also known as 2600 Magazine or simply 2600 for short) is a popular magazine aimed at hackers, phreaks, nerds, techies, activists, sympathizers, and anyone else who takes an interest. It specializes in technical guides, theories, news, and issues that affect the culture. It was started in 1984 by Emmanuel Goldstein, who still publishes and edits the magazine.
In addition to the magazine, 2600 is behind Off the Hook, a hacker-themed talk radio show, Hackers On Planet Earth (“HOPE,”) a series of hacker conventions, and 2600 Films, which produced the hacker documentary film Freedom Downtime.
2600 established the 2600 meetings as a forum for anyone of any persuasion or level of expertise to meet, share information, and commiserate amongst themselves. Apart from establishing the date and time of the meetings, and recognizing and advertising meetings that establish themselves all over the world, 2600 maintains no “control” over the meetings. The events are purely products of the communities they serve, with each location’s meetings evolving naturally as their attendees take things in their own directions, and nobody is “in charge.” Since 2600 itself is actually based in New York, Emmanuel and other 2600 staff members have been regulars at our meetings.
Visit 2600 at 2600.com and read more about them at Wikipedia.