diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/livermor.txt b/textfiles.com/news/livermor.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..828a67c7 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/livermor.txt @@ -0,0 +1,111 @@ + Hackers in the News + HACKERS IN THE NEWS + + ORLANDO SENTINEL- + + ORIGINATED FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. + --------------------------------------------------------------------------- + + HACKERS USED WEAPONS LAB COMPUTER TO DISTRIBUTE PORN -TITLE + + "-A NEWSPAPER'S PROBE OF IMPROPER INTERNET LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF + HARD-CORE GRAPHIC IMAGES. + + DRAMATICALLY ILLUSTRATING THE SECURITY PROBLEMS POSED BY THE RAPID GROWTH + OF INTERNET COMPUTER NETWORK, ONE OF THE NATION'S THREE NUCLEAR WEAPONS + LABS CONFIRMED MONDAY THAT COMPUTER HACKERS WERE USING ITS COMPUTERS TO + STORE AND DISTRIBUTE HARD-CORE PORNOGRAPHY. + + EMABARRASED OFFICIALS AT LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY + IN LIVERMORE, CALIF., WHICH CONDUCT A GREAT DEAL OF CLASSIFIED RESEARCH + AND HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED SECURITY PROCEDURES, SAID THE INCIDENT WAS AMONG + THE MOST SERIOUS BREACHES OF COMPUTER SECURITY EVER AT THE LAB EAST OF + SAN FRANCISO. +. + Hackers in the News (24/25) + THE OFFENDING COMPUTER, WHICH WAS SHUT DOWN AFTER A LOS ANGELES + TIMES REPORTER INVESTIGATING INTERNET HACKING ALERTED LAB OFFICIALS, + CONTAINED MORE THAN 1,000 PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES. IT WAS BELIEVED TO BE THE + LARGEST CACHE OF ILLEGAL HARD-CORE PORNOGRAPHY EVER FOUND ON A COMPUTER + NETWORK. + + WHILE HACKERS ONCE DEVOTED THEIR EFFORTS TO DISRUPTING COMPUTER + SYSTEMS AT LARGE ORGANIZATIONS OR STEALING ELECTRONIC INFORMATION, THEY + HAVE NOW DEVELOPED WAYS OF SEIZING CONTROL OF INTERNET-LINKED COMPUTERS + AND USING THEM TO STORE AND DISTRIBUTE PORNOGRAPHY, STOLEN COMPUTER + SOFTWARE AND OTHER ILLICIT INFORMATION. + + THE INTERNET, A "NETWORK OF NETWORKS" ORIGINALLY DESIGNED + TO CONNECT COMPUTERS AT UNIVERSITIES AND GOVERNMENT RESEARCH LABS, HAS + GROWN DRAMATICALLY IN SIZE AND TECHNICAL SOPHISTICATION IN RECENT YEARS. + IT IS NOW USED BY MANY BUSINESSES AND INDIVIDUAL COMPUTER USERS, AND IS + OFTEN VIEWED AS THE PROTOTYPE FOR THE "INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY" OF THE + FUTURE. + + BUT THE INTERNET HAS AN UNDERSIDE, WHERE SO CALLED "PIRATES" WITH + CODE NAMES LIKE "MR. SMUT," "ACIDFLUX," AND "THE COWBOY" TRAFFIC IN + ILLEGAL OR ILLEGALLY OBTAINED ELECTRONIC INFORMATION. THE STRUCTURE OF +. + Hackers in the News (24/47) + THE INTERNET MEANS THAT SUCH PIRATES CAN CARRY OUT THEIR CRIMES FROM + ALMOST ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, AND TRACING THEM IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE. + + THE FBI LATE LAST WEEK CONFIRMED THAT IT WAS INVESTIGATING + SOFTWARE PIRACY ON THE INTERNET. A TIMES REPORTER DISCOVERED A NUMBER OF + SITES AT PRESTIGIOUS INSTITUTUIONS THAT WERE BEING USED TO DISTRIBUTE + STOLEN SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ONE IN THE OFFICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF + CALIFORNIA, BERKELY. + + PIRATES ALSO HAVE THEIR OWN "CHAT" LINES, A SERIES OF CHANNELS + WITHIN A SERVICE CALLED THE INTERNET RELAY CHAT. AN ELABORATE PECKING + ORDER DETERMINES WHO WILL BE ALLOWED TO TAKE PART IN THESE CONVERSATIONS + - NEWCOMERS CAN OFTEN WANGLE THEIR WAY IN IF THEY HAVE A PARTICULARLY HOT + PIECE OF SOFTWARE TO OFFER. + + SANDY MEROLA, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION AND COMPUTING AT THE + BERKELY LAB, SIAD THAT THE PIRATE SITE WAS SHUT DOWN LAST WEEK AFTER THE + TIMES INVESTIGATION REVEALED ITS EXISTENCE. MEROLA SAID THE DEPARTMENT + OF ENERGY, WHICH OVERSEES LAB OPERATIONS, AS WELL AS THE FBI, HAD BEEN + NOTIFIED OF THE INCIDENT. + + AT LAWRENCE LIVERMORE, OFFICIALS SAID MONDAY THAT THEY BELIEVED +. + Hackers in the News (24/69) + AT LEAST ONE MORE LAB EMPLOYEE WAS INVOLVED IN THE PORNOGRAPHY RING, + ALONG WITH AN UNDETERMINED NUMBER OF OUTSIDE COLLABORATORS. CHUCK COLE, + DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COMPUTING AT THE LAB, SAID THAT NEARLY 2,000 + MEGABYTES OF UNAUTHORIZED GRAPHICAL IMAGES HAVE BEEN FOUND IN A LIVERMORE + COMPUTER, AND HE CONFIRMED THAT THEY WERE PORNOGRAPHIC. + + THE EMPLOYEE HAS BEEN PLACED ON "INVESTIGATORY LEAVE" AND HIS OR + HER SECURITY BADGE CONFISCATED WHILE AN INVESTIGATION IS UNDERTAKEN, THE + LAB SAID. IT IS UNCLEAR WHETHER THE PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES WERE BEING SOLD + OR HOW MANY PEOPLE HAD GAINED ACCESS TO THEM. THE PICTURES WERE + SUFFICIENTLY GRAPHIC THAT THEY WOULD LIKELY BE CONSIDERED OBSCENE BY THE + COURTS, AND THEREFORE TRANSMITTING THEM OVER THE INTERNET WOULD BE ILLEGAL. + + THE MASSIVE AMOUNT OF STORAGE CAPACITY USED IN THE LIVERMORE + SCHEME SHOWS HOW INTERNET HACKING COULD BE QUITE PROFITABLE. + + THERE WERE INDICATIONS THAT THE PERSON OPERATING THE PORNOGRAPHY + DATABASE HAD BECOME AWARE OF POSSIBLE SCRUTINY. ON JUNE 27, A MESSAGE + LEFT IN A FILE LABELED READ ME!!! SAID, "IT APPEARS THAT NEWS ABOUT THIS + SITE HAS ESCAPED, IN THE PAST TWO WEEKS, I HAVE HAD 27 UN-AUTHORIZED + HOSTS ATTEMPT TO ACCESS MY SERVER. THIS DOES NOT GIVE ME A WARM-FUZZY + FEELING. I WOULD HATE TO HAVE TO SHUT THIS DOWN, BUT I MAY HAVE NO CHOICE." +. + Hackers in the News (25/92) + ONE COMPUTER EXPERT, WHO REQUESTED ANONYMITY, SIAD THAT THERE + MIGHT BE MORE TO THE INCIDENT THAN MEETS THE EYE. THE EXPERT SUGGESTED + THAT THE HARD-CORE PORNOGRAPHY MAY BE A COVER FOR AN ULTRA-SOPHISTICATED + ESPIONAGE PROGRAM, IN WHICH A "SNIFFER" PROGRAM COMBS THROUGH OTHER + LIVERMORE COMPUTERS, ENCODES THE PASSWORDS AND ACCOUNTS IT FINDS, AND + THEN HIDES THEM WITHIN THE PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES, PERHAPS LATER TO BE + DOWNLOADED LATER BY FOREIGN AGENTS. + + BUT COLE SAID THERE WAS NO POSSIBILITY OF A COMPUTER INTRUDER + GAINING ACCESS TO CLASSIFIED DATA AT LIVERMORE LABS." + + + ___________________________________ + [Home[1]] [Main[2]] [Prev[3]] [Next[4]] diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/lodhbust.nws b/textfiles.com/news/lodhbust.nws new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e2b2a5fc --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/lodhbust.nws @@ -0,0 +1,187 @@ + + " U.S. computer investigation targets Austinites " + ------------------------------------------------------ + + + + [ The above caption high-lighted the Saturday March 17, 1990 edition + of the Austin American-Statesman [ Austin, Texas ]. The article has + been copied in its entirety, and the main point for typing this up + was because of the involvement of the LOD/H throughout the article. ] + + + + + + The U.S. Secret Service has seized computer equipment from two + Austin homes and a local business in the past month as part of a federal + investigation into electronic tampering with the nation's 911 emergency + network. + Armed Secret Service agents, accompanied by officers from the Austin + Police Department, took the equipment in three March 1 raids that sources + say are linked to a nationwide federal inquiry coordinated by the Secret + Service and the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago. + While federal officials have declined to comment on the investigation + - which focuses on a bizarre mix of science fiction and allegations of + high-tech thievery - the Austin American-Statesman has learned that the + raids targeted Steve Jackson Games, a South Austin publisher of role- + playing games, and the home of Loyd Blankenship, managing editor at the + company. + A second Austin home, whose resident was acquainted with Jackson + officials, also was raided. + Jackson said there is no reason for the company to be investigated + . Steve Jackson Games is a book and game publisher of fiction, he said, + and it is not involved in any computer-related thefts. + The agents, executing search warrants now sealed by a judge from + public view, took computer equipment, including modems, printers, and + monitors, as well as manuals, instruction books and other documents. The + equipment has been forwarded to federal officials in Chicago. + The Secret Service, best-known for protecting the president, has + jurisdiction in the case, government officials say, because damage to + the nation's telephone system could harm the public's welfare. In + addition, the system is run by American Telephone & Telegraph Co., a + company involved in the nation's defense. + The 911 investigation already has resulted in the indictment of + two computer "hackers" in Illinois and sources say federal authorities + now are focusing on Austin's ties to a shadowy underground computer + user's group known as the Legion of Doom. + The hackers, who live in Georgia and Missouri, where indicted in + Chicago. they are believed to be members of the Legion of Doom and + are charged with seven counts, including interstate transportation of + stolen property, wire fraud, and violations of the Computer Fraud and + Abuse Act of 1986. + The government alleges that the defendants stole a computerized + copy of Bell South's system that controls 911 emergency calls in nine + states. The information was then transferred to a computer bulletin + board and published in a hacker publication known as Phrack! + A trial in the case is scheduled to begin in June. + U.S. agents also have seized the final drafts of a science + fiction game written by the Austin-based game company. Sources say + the agents are trying to determine whether the game - a dark, futur- + istic account of a world where technology has gone awry - is being + used as a handbook for computer crime. Steve Jackson, the owner of + the local company and a well-known figure in the role-playing game + industry, said neither he nor his company has been involved in + tampering with the 911 system. + No one in Austin has been indicted or arrested as a result of + the investigation. "It is an on-going investigation. That is all + I can say," said Steve Beauchamp, special agent-in-charge of the + Secret Service Austin field office. "Until we can put it all + together, we just do not comment," he said. + Bob Rogers, Jackson's Dallas attorney, said federal officials + have assured him that neither Jackson nor Jackson Games is the tar- + get of the probe. The authorities would not tell Rogers whether the + inquiry focused on other company employees. As for the science fiction + game, called Cyberpunk, Jackson said federal authorities have mistaken + a fictional work for a technical manual [E.N. Why does this sound all + too familiar?] . + "It's not a manual for computer crime any more than a Reader's + Digest story on how to burglar-proof your house is a manual for + burglars," said Jackson, 36. "It's kind of like the hints you get + on safe-cracking from a James Bond movie." + Blankenship, the author of the book, said his attorney has advised + him not to comment on the book or the Secret Service investigation. + Jackson said he guesses his company was linked to the 911 probe + by its use of a computer bulletin board system, called Usenet. The + board, one of hundreds throughout the country, is a sort of electronic + Town Square, where personal computer users from throughout the world + can tap into the system via phone lines and a modem. + The network, free and relatively unregulated, is an information + exchange where users can post information, exchange electronic messages + and debate with keyboards everything from poetry and politics to nuclear + war. + One of the world's largest networks - boasting more than 600,000 + users - Usenet was tapped by Chinese students in North America to + organize support for students during the pro-democracy demonstrations + last year. The network also was infected in 1988 by a now-famous + computer "virus" unleashed by college student Robert Morris. + Jackson said his company has maintained a bulletin board on + the Usenet network on which it posts advanced copies of its role- + playing games. The firm posts the games and requests that the users + of the network comment on the text and propose improvements. + The Jackson bulletin board, called Illuminati, greets users with + the company's logo and a message that states: "Welcome to the World's + Oldest and Largest Secret Conspiracy." + Over the past several months, the company has been posting drafts + of Cyberpunk for review. + The resident of the second Austin home raided by the Secret Service + was acquainted with Jackson and had made comments about the game on + Usenet. He asked to remain anonymous. + Typical of Cyberpunk literature, the game is set in a bleak future, + much like the world portrayed in Max Headroom, formerly a network + television program. Computers and technology control people's thoughts + and actions and are viewed both as a means of oppression and as a method + of escape. Portions of Jackson's Cyberpunk viewed by the Austin American + Statesman include a detailed discussion on penetrating government computer + networks and a list of fictitious programs used to break into closed + networks. Bruce Sterling, an Austin science fiction writer and one of + the world's best-known Cyberpunk writers, said Jackson's game and its + computer-related discussions are hardly unusual for the genre. + "Cyberpunk is thriller fiction." Sterling said. "It deals to a + great extent with the romance of crime in the same way that mysteries + or techno-thrillers do." He said the detailed technical discussions + in the Jackson games are what draws people to them. "That's the + charm of simulating something that's supposed to be accurate. If + it's cooked up out of thin air, the people who play these games are + going to lose interest." + Jackson, though, said he has been told by Secret Service agents + that they view the game as a user's guide to computer mischief. He + said they made the comments where he went to the agency's Austin + office in an unsuccessful attempt to reclaim some of his seized + equipment. "As they were reading over it, they kept making outraged + comments," Jackson said. "When they read it, they became very, very + upset. "I said, 'This is science fiction.' They said, 'No. This + is real.'" + The text of the Cyberpunk games, as well as other computer + equipment taken from Jackson's office, still has not been returned. + The company now is working to rewrite portions of the book and is + hoping to have it printed next month. In addition to reviewing + Cyberpunk, sources say federal authorities currently are investigating + any links between local computer hackers and the Legion of Doom. The + sources say some of the 911 information that is the subject of Chicago + indictments has been traced to Austin computers. + Jackson's attorney said federal officials have told him that + the 911 information pilfered from Bell South has surfaced on a computer + bulletin board used at Steve Jackson games. But the information + apparently has not been traced to a user. Jackson said that neither + he nor any of his employees is a member of the Legion of Doom. + Blankenship, however, did consult with the group in the + course of researching the writing the Cyberpunk game, Jackson said. + Further, the group is listed in the game's acknowledgments for its + aid in providing technical information used in Cyberpunk. For these + reasons he believes Blankenship is a local target of the federal probe, + though none of the investigators has yet confirmed his suspicion. + "My opinion is that he is (being investigated)," Jackson said, + "If that's the case, that's gross. + "he had been doing research for what he hoped would be a mass- + market book on the computer underground," Jackson said. + The other Austin resident raided by the authorities, who asked + to remain anonymous, acknowledged that he is the founding member of + the Legion of Doom and that copies of the 911 system had surfaced on + the group's local bulletin board. The 20-year-old college student + said the information hardly posed any threat to the 911 system. + "It was nothing," he said. "It was garbage, and it was boring." + In the Chicago indictment accuses the group of a litany of + electronic abuses, including: disrupting telephone service by + changing the routing of telephone calls; stealing and modifying + individual credit histories; stealing money and property from + companies by altering computer information; and disseminating + information about attacking computers to other computer hackers. + The Austin Legion of Doom member said his group's worst + crime is snooping through other people's computers. "For the + most part, that's all we do," he said. "No one's out ripping + off people's credit cards. No one's out to make any money. + "We're just out to have fun." + The group member said the fact that the legion is shrouded + in mystery adds to its mystique - and to the interest law + enforcement agents have in cracking the ring. "It's an entirely + different world," the student said. "It's a very strange little + counter-culture. "Everybody who exists in that world is familiar + with the Legion of Doom," he said. "Most people are in awe or are + intimidated by it." + + + + (C)opied by Pizzia Man + 03/18/9 + diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/marsface.txt b/textfiles.com/news/marsface.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..2ebd7b73 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/marsface.txt @@ -0,0 +1,52 @@ + +July 8, 1988 + SOME SEE GLIMPSE OF LIFE IN 'FACE' OF MARS + AP and UPI + + WASHINGTON - Unusual formations on the surface of Mars - including a +mile-long rock shaped like a human face - may have been carved by a lost +civilization, four scientists said yesterday. + The scientists, including a former astronaut, said at a news conference +that the chances are better than 50-50 that the structures were made by +intelligent beings. + The scientists said that a photograph taken of the Martian surface in +1976 by NASA's Viking spacecraft clearly shows a face that could have been +carved out of a Martian mountain a half-million years ago. + The sphinx-like image that stares outward from the planet may be part of +a complex of buildings, as evidenced by other unusual formations nearby, the +scientists said. + + Brian T. O'Leary, a former astronaut and an expert on Mars, said there +is sufficient uncertainty about the origin of the rock face that it should +be a major target for future spacecraft sent to Mars. + O'Leary said last January he asked Soviet space scientists who were +preparing to send probes to Mars to examine the area where the face appears. +He said the Soviets were interested, but replied that their spacecraft was +not technically designed to study the Cydonia region of Mars, where the +sight is located. + The Soviets launched a probe toward Mars yesterday and plan to launch a +second one later this month. + The news conference yesterday was prompted by a recent study of the +Viking photographs conducted by Mark Carlotto, an optical engineering +expert. + + In an article published in Applied Optics, Carlotto said that a computer +enhancement of the Viking photographs shows that the face and various other +nearby features appear to have been carved by "intelligent design." +Yesterday, Carlotto told reporters that a sophisticated statistical study of +the shapes clearly shows that "the face is not natural." + Richard Hoagland, founder of a private organization of scientists called +"The Mars Project," said that in addition to the face there is "a complex of +unusual objects" at the Cydonia site. The complex includes a five-sided +mountain that resembles a pyramid and a massif he believes could have been +part of an astronomical marker. + + Hoagland said that a line drawn from the center of the city, across the +face to the massif, or cliff, would line up exactly with the Sun at the +moment of Mars' summer solstice, as it would have occured 500,000 years ago +- an alignment it is extremely unlikely could occur naturally. + + +(Source: The San Diego Union - July 8, 1988) + + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/marsmani.txt b/textfiles.com/news/marsmani.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1420ba70 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/marsmani.txt @@ -0,0 +1,60 @@ + 13-Feb-88 01:53 MST +Sb: APn 02/03 1227 Mars Mania + Copyright, 1988. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. + +By RICHARD COLE Associated Press Writer + MIAMI (AP) -- This year, Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in a +generation, and astronomers say the red planet's appearance in the night sky +may be the astronomical event of 1988. + As if to demonstrate the heavens have a sense of humor, the height of the +show comes in September, just shy of the 50th anniversary of Orson Welles' 1938 +"War of the Worlds" broadcast that panicked the nation with fictional reports +of invaders from Mars. + "I see 1988 as a great Martian adventure," said Jack Horkheimer, the aptly +named "Star Hustler" of the Public Broadcasting System and executive director +of Miami's Space Transit Planetarium. "I'm like a kid in a candy store." + When Mars is at its closest on Sept. 21 -- just over 36 million miles away +-- it will rival Jupiter as the brightest object in the sky after the Moon and +Venus. + "It won't be this close again until 2003," says Horkheimer. "And there are a +lot of kids out there who have never seen it this bright." + Unlike the comets Halley and Kohoutek, Mars will not disappoint viewers, +because its brightness is more predictable and the planet will be easily +visible from almost everywhere. + He expects a spate of UFO sightings to accompany Mars' visit as people +unaccustomed to the unblinking reddish-orange light in the night sky mistake it +for more exotic extraterrestrial visitors. + Like planetarium directors around the nation, Horkheimer is preparing a +series of Mars shows he promises will "knock your socks off." + One involves a snazzy computerized simulation of a flight through the +planet's gigantic 2,500-mile-long version of the Grand Canyon. Another centers +around an 18-mile-high mountain -- three times higher than Mount Everest -- +capped by a crater the size of Georgia. + He also is bringing to the planetarium a new telescope nicknamed "Awesome +Orson" in honor of the late Welles' broadcast and girth. + Although Earth passes Mars every two years, it is only every 15 to 17 years +that the orbits of the third and fourth planets bring them as close together as +in 1988. The year began with Earth and Mars separated by 200 million miles. + The close encounter comes four years before a scheduled Mars probe by the +Soviet Union. + The Soviet plan to have the probes bring back Martian soil, and perhaps, +Horkheimer said, settle the most intriguing question about Earth's neighbor -- +whether life once existed on the now cold and arid desert planet. + U.S. Mars landers in the 1970s tried to answer that question, but the +chemical soil test results beamed back to Earth were inconclusive. + "I really hope that they find fossilized signs of life," he said. "We know +that there was water on Mars." + Horkheimer said he also hopes the Soviet probes will spur the United States +to revive its own space program, with a manned landing on Mars. + "We could be on Mars easily within a decade or so," he said. "The technology +already exisits. What is missing is the money." And the funds will be available +only when the public once again supports spending the billions of dollars in +funding a Martian landing would require. + If the political situation allows it, a joint U.S.-Soviet mission to Mars +could ease the financial burden on both countries, he said. + It also could promote peace between the two rivals -- an ironic benefit from +a planet named after the Roman god of war. + + + + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/menace.txt b/textfiles.com/news/menace.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..00a0c38d --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/menace.txt @@ -0,0 +1,117 @@ + Phile 1.6 of 1.14 + + THE HACKER MENACE AND ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARDS + ------------------------------------------------ + Typed by: {ode {racker + +This was taken out of the Network Security Magazine published by Datapro +Research. I found this article to be quite funny along with antinque +news. So I thought I share it with you for a laugh or whatever. + +Also this article was written by a EX-HACKER! How does one become a +EX-HACKER, please tell me!!!! + + + +HACKER GANGS +------------> + +Early computer hackers tended to be college students. With the advent +of home computers, and the teaching of computer basics at the grade +school level, the average age of the begininning (youth) hacker has +dropped to only 14!! The overwhelming majority of BBS owners and users +are teenagers. Teens tend to form cliques and peer groups, so the +formation of phone phreak and hacker gangs was inevitable. The parents +of these bright teens usually do not, themselves, understand the power +of the computer. This means that the teens are not subject to the same +parental restrictions that would govern their using the family car. + +Many parents veiw the home computer as an excellent baby-sitting device. +If their child spends an evening quietly in his/her room with the computer +the parents feel that thier offspring is not getting into any trouble. +In reality, these teens may be engaging in electronic gang activites +that have very serious implications. Losses to the software industry +alone are staggering!!! + +Unfortunately, many of the gang leaders are older, more experienced +teens, perhaps college students. These people are interested in hacking +not for its intellectual challenge, for for its financial rewards. A +few gang leaders are adults who are politically or firal adults who are major figures behind the cracking and +distribution of pirated software for resale to the public. One +adult gang leader openly solicited credit card numbers from the +juvenile members in exchange for fraudulently obtained hard disk drives +and other equipment. Some of the teenage leaders seek notoriety and +acclaim from their peers. They strive to be the biggest phreaker or +to have broken into the greatest number of computer systems. + +The gangs may be local in nature such as the infamous "Milwaukee 414 +gang"; they may be national in nature, like the "Inner Circle"; or +even international. One such international group is "NYSHII" or +"CHAOS" both cracking and pirating clubs with headquaters in both +West Germany and the United States. All of these groups had a BBS +that was their main base of operations and served supposedly as a +sercure communications center. The 414s had a private BBS that was +so sercet it didn't even have a namme. The Inner Circle had a +Securityland BBS and Illegitimate accounts on GTE'S Telemail network. +Chaos operates on a variety of BBS's in both the U.S. and West Germany. +NYSHII (New York Safehouse II) to this date has baffled local and +international law enforcement agencys as to it's true whereabouts. +The Sysop "The Line Breaker" has found a way of changing the BBS's +location on a weekly basis without moving the master computer. + +ORGANIZED CRIME AND THE BBS +---------------------------> + +Naturally, an underground BBS could be used by organized crime in +much the same manner as the teen hacker gangs use them. The author +has good reason to believe thgat organized crime is controlling a +number of BBS systems in the Midwest, the New York City area, and +in Florida. One informant claims there is a bbs that is located +in an off-track betting parlor. Teenagers are easily recruited to +act as information gathers for organized crime. The young people +work for little or nothing and, in most cases, do not even know +that they are being used. The author and other adult hackers have +been approached and offered large sums of money tamper with +banking and credit data computer systems. Organized crime is +moving into this new area of crime. There is a real and present +danger if BBSs continue to be alloowed to operate unchecked. + +Underground BBSs may be creating a whole new generation of +criminals. As the youthful hackers mature, their interest in hacking +as an intellectual challenge and rebellion against authority +may be replaced by profit motive. College students always seem +to need money and the teens who do not go to college may find it +difficult to obtain a job. It is only natural that these individuals +would graviate into hacking for personal gain. For example, many +bulletin boards cater to those who are involved in credit card fraud. +There is also evidence that drug dealers use BBSs to arrange swaps +of stolen property for drugs. Hackers who have learned how to access +credit bureau systems, such as TRWs, have discovered that making +unauthorized credit checks foe +business. + +Credit bureau computer penetrations are routine in the hacker under- +ground. The typical hacker gang obtains credit card numbers from +discarded charge slip carbons. As an alternative, one or more +hackers who work in retail establishments may supply card numbers. +Other gang members can then check the cards for credit limits and +expiuration dates by using the telephone or illegally accessing +credit bureau computers. Others in the gang set up mail drops +and safe houses for the deliverly of the merchandise ordered by mail +and charged to the credit card numbers. Since the gangs know no +geographic boundaries, it is difficult to investigate these frauds. + +Some commerical time-sharing services, such as Comp-u-serve, allow +merchandise to be ordered via computer and shipped to the user's +address. ime-sharing accounts are easily obtained with a stolen +credit card. This allows the thief to order merchandise with little +fear of being traced. These new high tech thieves are replacing +more traditional criminals. + +The hackers and phone phreaks have knowledge and skill to completly +disrupt major communication and computer networks. All that is lacking +is organization, planning and financing. If enemy power should +infiltrate and organize this underground, the consequences could +be disastrous. + +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/mism34.hac b/textfiles.com/news/mism34.hac new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3aad72d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/mism34.hac @@ -0,0 +1 @@ + What You Should Know About Collection Agencies "Cosmopolitan" (November 1984) pp 136-143 Karen Hartney laughed when she pulled the lavishly illustrated book on Galapagos Islands wildflowers out of her mailbox. She hadn't ordered the book, wasn't about to pay for it, and felt no obligation to go to the trouble and expense of returning it. Two weeks later, she was billed $29.95, plus mailing and handling. She threw the statement in the trash. In time, the letters grew nasty, demanding payment and warning that her credit rating would suffer if she didn't respond promptly. When a collection agent began calling her at work, she snapped. "Leave me alone," Karen hissed. "I never wanted that dumb book anyway!" "You might have thought of that before you decided to keep it," the man responded. "I think the word for taking things that aren't yours is 'stealing.'" Karen (whose name has been changed) was furious-- but also worried. Could the collection agency harm her credit rating, contact her employer, neighbors, landlord? Most of all, she just wanted the harassing calls and letters to stop. Though resentful, she mailed the payment-- now a full $37.50, including interest and collection charges. Karen's case is not an isolated one. Despite the strong new consumer protection laws passed in recent years, abuses still exist, and a sizeable minority of retailers and collection agencies engage in such illegal collection practices. Charging for unordered goods is only one of the many activities that are prohibited by federal law. (If, by the way, you receive unrequested merchandise as Karen did, you are under no obligation to pay. You may treat it as a free gift, but you should notify the sender, in writing, of your intention as soon as you receive a "bill".) The thorniest problems occur when a debt is truly owed and a consumer, through overextension or inadvertence, falls behind in paying it. In this case, the account is often turned over to a collection agency, which may behave unethically in its effort to recoup the money. "Some of the most extreme cases we see involve actual threats of violence," reports Diane Conner, staff attorney for the Credit Practices Division of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). "Children have been told over the phone, 'Tell your parents they're going to jail tomorrow if we don't get the money.' We've also heard about collection agencies trying to add on illegal fees of up to 100 percent of the original debt." Federal law protects you against such abusive practices. By knowing which tactics are illegal and how to stop them, you can avoid being a victum. BEYOND THE LEGAL LIMIT______________________________________________________ The following are violations of consumer protection laws: REPETITIVE CALLING OR CALLS AT UNUSUAL TIMES OR PLACES. Some collection agents will call a consumer repeatedly during a single day, or telephone late at night without permission-- both of which are clearly illegal under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Calls at work are not considered "harassing" if an office is the most convenient place for you to receive the call-- but, says Diane Conner, "If the agent knows that your employer does not allow you to receive personal calls at work, or if you've asked not to be contacted there, then it would be a violation." CALLS TO PERSONS OTHER THAN THE CONSUMER. If a collection agent has business with you, you are the only person with whom he may discuss that business. "We frequently hear that a collection agent has called an employer, or perhaps a neighbor, and left an "urgent message' that the consumer should call XYZ Collection Agency regarding payment of a debt," reports Bill McDonough, an FTC staff attorney. "The only motive would be to embarass the consumer, and it's against the law." ABUSIVE, OBSCENE, OR THREATENING LANGUAGE. Late bill payers have been called deadbeats and bums, subjected to rude and obscene language, and given veiled as well as direct threats of violence and imprisonment. If this happens, end the conversation immediately, requesting that you never be contacted again. Follow up with a brief letter barring future contact with the collection agency. You may then wish to file a complaint with the FTC or state consumer protection agency, or pursue private legal action. MISLEADING THREATS OF LEGAL ACTION. No one has the right to make false threats or to claim that legal action has been or is about to be instituted if that's not the case. Also prohibited are papers that look like official notices from a state agency or court of law-- including documents with headings that mimic a common legal form (such as "Ace Collection Agency v. Jane Consumer") or ones that use an agency name similar to that of a state or federal agency. OTHER ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR. Because debt collectors show infinite ingenuity, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act covers scores of other forbidden tricks, from tacking on collection charges not authorized by contract or law, to using false names and publishing lists of consumers in debt. Realizing that it could not forsee every possible abuse, Congress even added a prohibition against any "harassing, oppressive, and abusive conduct"-- a general phrase that increases the power of the courts and the Federal Trade Commission to protect you against improper collection practices. STEPS TOWARD SELF-DEFENSE____________________________________________________ What can you do if you're the victum of an overeager collection agency? Your first and simplest option under the FDCPA is to request in writing that all collection contacts stop. Once you do that, the collection agency is not allowed to call or write to demand payment; it can only advise you of new action, such as the referring of your account back to the creditor or the filing of legal action. if the harassment continues, you may wish to contact your state consumer agency. According to Cyra Narva of the Consumer Assistance Division of the Massachusetts State Banking Department, these agencies will often intervene to solve the problem. "Usually," Narva reports, "the consumer is content just to know that the rug has been pulled out from under the collection agency and that the abusive practices will stop." The agencies won't compensate you for their past harassment; however a successful lawsuit might. You could bring suit under the FDCPA and, if successful, recover a cash judgement of actual damages suffered, attorney's fees, sourt costs, and a special statutory award of up to one thousand dollars. "If a consumer has been truly injured," says Willard Ogburn, deputy director of the National Consumer Law Center, "he or she is entitled to be compensated. The fact that attorney's fees may be recovered in a successful case encourages some attorneys to pursue strong cases on a commission basis, while the possibility of an extra statutory award of up to a thousand dollars acts as an extra incentive to the consumer. Meanwhile, the public interest is served as collection agencies learn that violating consumer protection laws can be very expensive." Whatever decision you make, you're sure to reap some gratification from simply standing up for your rights and the rights of others like you. Rudeness and abuse need never be tolerated, and you can see to it that they're not. +----------------------------------+ +-----------------------------------+ | STOPPING TROUBLE | | CONSUMER AGENCIES THAT CAN | | BEFORE IT STARTS | | HELP YOU PROTECT YOURSELF | | | | | | Healthy credit use is not | | THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION | | inconsistent with sound | | (FTC). Your regional office | | personal finance management, | | can advise you of your rights | | but if you overextend, these | | and may even make an investi- | | measures should enable you to | | gation if a collection agency's | | resolve the problem without | | abuse has been severe or if | | becoming vulnerable to further | | yours is one of several com- | | embarassment or harassment: | | plaints against the same | | | | agency. Meanwhile, let both | | IMMEDIATELY CONTEST IN WRITING | | creditor and collection agency | | ANY INACCURATE CHARGES, AND | | know that you've alerted the | | REQUEST VERIFICATION. | | FTC. Their attitudes may not | | No collection activities may | | improve, but their behavior | | proceed until a charge is | | probably will. | | verified: Waiting may make a | | | | challenge more difficult. | | STATE CONSUMER PROTECTION | | | | AGENCY. In some states, this | | IF YOU REALIZE THAT YOU ARE | | government office can arbitrate | | NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO MAKE | | a dispute and order that | | REQUIRED PAYMENTS ON A DEBT, | | abusive practices be stopped. | | CONTACT THE CREDITOR. Most | | If your debt is undisputed or | | are understanding and co- | | can be proved, the agency can | | operative if you propose an | | help you negotiate a reasonable | | alternate payment plan at the | | extended-payment plan; it may | | first sign of trouble. Review | | also have greater power to | | your own budget, determine a | | intervene in an individual case | | monthly amount you can afford | | than a regional FTC office | | to pay, then explain the | | would. | | problem to the creditor and | | To learn what state services | | offer to pay the lesser | | are available to protect you | | amount. | | against collection harassment, | | | | contact your state government | | DON'T ALLOW YOUR ACCOUNT TO BE | | information-office or your | | TRANSFERRED TO A COLLECTION | | state attorney general's | | AGENCY THROUGH YOUR OWN | | office. | | INACTION. Creditors use | | | | collection agencies to goad | | If the improper conduct comes | | the reluctant or forgetful. | | from an attorney practicing law | | A creditor who understands | | in the collection area, contact | | that you are overextended but | | your LOCAL BAR ASSOCIATION, and | | doing the best you can will | | ask for the disciplinary board | | have no reason to resort to | | or licensing agency that | | such measures. | | receives complaints against | | Many people are too anxious | | lawyers. They probably won't | | or embarassed to approach a | | step in directly; however, a | | creditor about dificulty in | | lawyer who knows that a | | making payments. Remember that | | complaint is being checked | | the creditor, whether a merch- | | generally takes more care to | | ant or a banker, wants to keep | | act within legal and ethical | | your business. An amicable | | bounds. | | resolution is in "everyone's" | | | | interest. | | CONSUMER CREDIT COUNCELING | | | | AGENCIES. Frequently the | +----------------------------------+ | problem is less one of outright | | harassment than of anxiety and | | increasingly short tempers on | | both sides. A nonprofit con- | | sumer credit counceling agency | | has no official enforcement | | power, but it "can" help you | | assess your financial situation | | and act as a mediator in making | | more mutually suitable payment | | arrangements. | | | +-----------------------------------+ Downloaded From P-80 Systems..... \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/mism6.txt b/textfiles.com/news/mism6.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..8ee143cc Binary files /dev/null and b/textfiles.com/news/mism6.txt differ diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/mitnick.txt b/textfiles.com/news/mitnick.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..fe47bd49 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/mitnick.txt @@ -0,0 +1,176 @@ +Slippery cybervandal caught in his own electronic web +----------------------------------------------------- + +(c) Copyright the News & Observer Publishing Co. +How a computer sleuth traced a digital trail + +New York Times + +RALEIGH, N.C. (9:05 p.m.) -- After a search of more than two years, a team +of FBI agents early Wednesday morning captured a 31-year-old computer +expert accused of a long crime spree that includes the theft of thousands +of data files and at least 20,000 credit card numbers from computer +systems around the nation. + +The arrest of Kevin D. Mitnick, one of the most wanted computer criminals, +followed a 24-hour stakeout of a Raleigh apartment building here. + +A convicted computer felon on the run from federal law enforcement +officials since November 1992, Mitnick has used his sophisticated skills +over the years to worm his way into many of the nation's telephone and +cellular telephone networks and vandalize government, corporate and +university computer systems. Most recently, he had become a suspect in a +rash of break-ins on the global Internet computer network. + +"He was clearly the most wanted computer hacker in the world," said Kent +Walker, an assistant U.S. attorney in San Francisco who helped coordinate +the investigation. "He allegedly had access to corporate trade secrets +worth billions of dollars. He was a very big threat." + +But federal officials say Mitnick's confidence in his hacking skills may +have been his undoing. On Christmas Day, he broke into the home computer +of a computer security expert, Tsutomu Shimomura, a researcher at the +federally financed San Diego Supercomputer Center. + +Shimomura then made a crusade of tracking down the intruder, an obsession +that led to Wednesday's arrest. + +It was Shimomura, working from a monitoring post in San Jose, Calif., who +determined last Saturday that Mitnick was operating through a computer +modem connected to a cellular telephone somewhere near Raleigh, N.C. + +Sunday morning, Shimomura flew to Raleigh, where he helped telephone +company technicians and federal investigators use cellular-frequency +scanners to home in on Mitnick. + +Mitnick was arrested at 2 o'clock Wednesday morning in his apartment in +the Duraleigh Hills neighborhood of northwest Raleigh, after FBI agents used +their scanners to determine that Mitnick, in keeping with his nocturnal +habits, had connected once again to the Internet. + +Shimomura was present Wednesday at Mitnick's pre-arraignment hearing at +the +federal courthouse in Raleigh. At the end of the hearing, Mitnick, who now +has shoulder-length brown hair and was wearing a black sweat suit and +handcuffs, turned to Shimomura, whom he had never met face to face. + +"Hello, Tsutomu," Mitnick said. "I respect your skills." + +Shimomura, who is 30 and also has shoulder-length hair, nodded solemnly. + + +Mitnick, already wanted in California for a federal parole violation, was +charged Wednesday with two federal crimes. The first, illegal use of a +telephone access device, is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a +$250,000 fine. + +The second charge, computer fraud, carries potential penalties of 20 years +in prison and a $250,000 fine. Federal prosecutors said they were +considering additional charges related to Mitnick's reported Internet +spree. + +Federal officials say Mitnick's motives have always been murky. He was +recently found to have stashed thousands of credit card numbers on +computers in the San Francisco Bay area -- including the card numbers of +some of the best-known millionaires in Silicon Valley. But there is no +evidence yet that Mitnick had attempted to use those credit card accounts. + +Indeed, frequently ignoring the possibility of straightforward financial +gain from the information he has stolen, Mitnick has often seemed more +concerned with proving that his technical skills are better than those +whose job it is to protect the computer networks he has attacked. + +Federal officials say the arrest of Mitnick does not necessarily solve all +the recent Internet crimes, because his trail of electronic mail has +indicated that he may have accomplices. One of them is an unknown computer +operator, thought to be in Israel, with whom Mitnick has corresponded +electronically and boasted of his Internet exploits, investigators said. + +Still, the capture of Mitnick gives the FBI custody of a notoriously +persistent and elusive computer break-in expert. Raised in the San +Fernando Valley near Los Angeles by his mother, Mitnick has been in and out of +trouble with the law since 1981. + +It was then, as a 17-year-old, that he was placed on probation for +stealing computer manuals from a Pacific Bell telephone switching center in Los +Angeles. +“ н' 0*0*0*ш ш “ Those who know Mitnick paint a picture of a man obsessed with the power +inherent in controlling the nation's computer and telephone networks. + +The recent break-ins he is accused of conducting include forays into +computer systems at Apple Computer Inc. and Motorola Inc. and attacks on +commercial services that provide computer users with access to the +Internet, including the Well in Sausalito, Calif., Netcom in San Jose, +Calif., and the Colorado Supernet, in Boulder, Colo. + +To make it difficult for investigators to determine where the attacks were +coming from, Mitnick is said to have used his computer and modem to +manipulate a local telephone company switch in Raleigh to disguise his +whereabouts. + +In recent weeks, as an elite team of computer security experts tightened +an invisible electronic net around the fugitive, Mitnick continued to taunt +his pursuers, apparently unaware of how close they were to capturing him. + +About 10 days ago, for example, someone whom investigators believe to have +been Mitnick left a voice-mail message for Shimomura, a Japanese citizen. +The message reprimanded Shimomura for converting the intruder's earlier +voice-mail messages into computer audio files and making them available on +the Internet. + +"Ah Tsutomu, my learned disciple," the taunting voice said. "I see that +you put my voice on the Net. I'm very disappointed, my son." + +But the continued attempts at one-upmanship simply gave the pursuers more +electronic evidence. + +"He was a challenge for law enforcement, but in the end he was caught by +his own obsession," said Kathleen Cunningham, a deputy marshal for the +U.S. Marshals Service who has pursued Mitnick for several years. + +Mitnick first came to national attention in 1982 when, as a teen-age +prank, he used a computer and a modem to break into a North American Air Defense +Command computer. + +He subsequently gained temporary control of three central offices of +telephone companies in New York City and all the phone switching centers +in California. + +This gave him the ability to listen in on calls and pull pranks like +reprogramming the home phone of someone he did not like so that each time +the phone was picked up, a recording asked for a deposit of a coin. + +But the break-ins escalated beyond sophomoric pranks. For months in 1988, +Mitnick secretly read the electronic mail of computer security officials +at MCI Communications and Digital Equipment Corp., learning how their +computers and phone equipment were protected. +Officials at Digital later accused him of causing $4 million in damage to +computer operations at the company and stealing $1 million of software. He +was convicted in July 1989 and sentenced to a year in a low-security +federal prison in Lompoc, Calif. + +One of his lawyers convinced the court that Mitnick had an addiction to +computers. In July 1989, after his release from prison, he was placed in a +treatment program for compulsive disorders, the Beit T'Shuvah center in +Los Angeles. During his six months there, he was prohibited from touching a +computer or modem. + +That restriction was a condition of his probation when he was released in +mid-1990, and it was for reportedly violating this condition that federal +officials were pursuing him when he dropped out of sight in November 1992. + +In September 1993, the California Department of Motor Vehicles also issued +a warrant for his arrest. The warrant stated that Mitnick had wiretapped +calls from FBI agents. He then used law-enforcement access codes obtained +by eavesdropping on the agents to illegally gain access the drivers' +license data base in California. + +Federal law enforcement officials believe that Mitnick has conducted a +long string of computer and phone telephone network break-ins during more than +two years on the run. + +And they say his ability to remain at large until now illustrates the new +challenges that law enforcement officials face in apprehending criminals +who can cloak themselves behind a curtain of forged electronic data. + + diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/mob.hac b/textfiles.com/news/mob.hac new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b4d1ee30 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/mob.hac @@ -0,0 +1,176 @@ + + + <-> Hackers in the MOB <-> + + +***************************************************************** + According to Schmidt, the dollar amounts are only part of +the story, GTE Telemail, an electronic mail system, was broken +into by at least four gangs of hackers, he says. "They were +raising hell. The system got shut down one time for a day. None +of these people have been charged, nor have any of the 414s been +charged yet. + + "We have a major problem with hackers, phreaks and thieves," +says Schmidt, who estimates that 75% of criminal hackers are +teenagers and the other 25% are adults using teenagers to do +their dirty work for them. + + "Adults are masterminding some of this activity. There are +industrial spies, people playing the stock market with the +information- just about any theft or fraud you can do with a +computer. There are no foreign agents or organized crime yet, +but it's inevitable," he says. "I believe there are some people +out there now with possible organized-crime connections. + + "It's an epidemic. In practically every upper-middle class +high school this is going on. I know of a high-school computer +class in a school in the north Dallas suburbs where the kids are +trying everything they can think of to get into the CIA +computers." + + "It's a strange culture," says SRI's Parker, "a rite of +passage among technology-oriented youth. The inner circle of +hackers say they do it primarily for educational purposes and for +curiosity. They want to find out what all those computers are +being used for. There's a meritocracy in the culture, each one +trying to out do the other. The one who provides the most phone +numbers and passwords to computer systems rises to the top of the +hackers. + + "For the most part it's malicious mischief," Parker says. +"They rationalize that they're not really breaking any laws, just +'visiting' computers. But that's hard to believe when they also +say they've got to do their hacking before they turn 18 so they +don't come under adult jurisdiction. After 18, they have to do +it vicariously through surrogates. They are some grand old men +of hacking who egg on the younger ones... There have been some +cases of a Fagin complex- a gang of kids led by one or more +adults- in Los Angeles." + + Who are the hackers and what secret knowledge do they have? + + A 17-year-old youth in Beverly Hills, California, announced +himself to other hackers on a bulletin board in this way: +"Interests include exotic weapons, chemicals, nerve gases, +proprietary information from Pacific Telephone..." + + Prized secret knowledge includes the two area codes in North +America that have not yet installed electronic switching system +central-office equipment. Using this information you can call +those areas and use a blue box to blow the central office +equipment, and then call anywhere in the world without charge. +Other secret information lets you avoid being traced when you do +this. + + A knowledge of the phone systems lets hackers share one of +the technological privileges usually available only to large +corporate customers: long-distance conference calls connecting up +to 59 hackers. Schmidt estimates there are three or four +conference calls made every night. The hackers swap more inside +information during the phone calls. + + Thanks to packet-switching networks and the fact that they +don't have to pay long-distance charfus, time and distance mean +almost nothing to hackers. Desktop microcompters hook into phone +lines via modems make it easy to obtain copyrighted software +without human intervention. + + "Software piracy exists only because they can do it over the +phone long distance without paying for it," Schmidt says. "some +stuff gets sent through the mail, but very little. There are +bulletin boards that exist solely for the purpose of pirating +software. A program called ASCII Express Professional (AE Pro) +for the Apple was designed specifically for modem-to-modem +transfers. You can make a copy of anything on that computer. It +can be copyrighted stuff- WordStar, anything. There are probably +about three dozen boards like that. Some boards exchange +information on breaking onto mainframes. + + "In 1982 the FBI really didn't know what to do with all this +information," Schmidt says. "There isn't a national computer- +crime statue. And unless there's $20,000 involved, federal +prosecutors won't touch it." + + Since then, the public and federal prosecutors' interest has +picked up. The film War Games and the arrest of 414 group in +Milwaukee "created a lot of interest on Congress and with other +people," FBI instructor Lewis says. "But, for ourselves it didn't +really have any impact." + + "We'd been providing the training already," says Jim Barko, +FBI unit chief of the EFCTU (economic and financial crimes +training unit). He says public interest may make it easier to +fight computer crime. "There are more people interested in this +particular area now as a problem. War Games identified the +problem. But I think it was just circumstantial that the movie +came out when it did." + + Despite the help of knowledgeable informants like Schmidt, +tracking down hackers can be frustrating business for the FBI. +SRI's Parker explains some of the pitfalls of going after +hackers: "Some FBI agents are very discouraged about doing +something about the hacking thing. The cost of investigation +relative to the seriousness of each case is just too high," he +says. "Also, federal regulations from the Department of Justice +make it almost impossible for the FBI to deal with a juvenile." + + An FBI agent cannot question a juvenile without his parents +or a guardian being present. The FBI approach has been mostly +to support lhe local police because local police are the only +ones who can deal with juveniles. Another difficulty the agency +faces is the regulations about its jurisdiction. + + "There has to be an attack on a government agency, a +government contractor or a government-insured institution for the +FBI to have clear-cut jurisdiction," Parker says. + + The FBI gets called into a case only after a crime has been +detected by the complaining party. The FBI has done a generally +competent job of investigating those crimes it was called in to +investigate, in Parker's view. But the federal agency's job is +not to help government or financial institutions attempt to +prevent crimes, nor is its function to detect the crimes in the +first place. + + "We're not out detecting any type of crime," says Lewis. +"We like to think we can prevent them. We can make +recommendations. But do we detect bank robberies or are they +reported to us? Or kidnapping- do we detect those? Or +skyjacking? There must be some evidence of crime, a crime over +which the FBI has jurisdiction. Then we open a case." And +despite the spate of arrests and crackdowns last summer, it looks +like the FBI will have its hands full in the future: The hackers +have not gone away. Like mice running through the utility +passages of a large office building, they create damage and +inconvenience, but are tolerated as long as their nuisance +remains bearable. + + That status could change at any time, however. + + Meanwhile, little electronic "sting" operations similar to +Abscam keep the element of danger on the hacker's game. An Air +Force telephone network called AUTOVON (a private telephone +system connecting computers on every Air Force installation in +the world), was reportedly cracked by a hacker last last year. +The hacker published lists of AUTOVON dialups on a bulletin +board. + + The breach came to the attention `oo the Department of +Defense on late 1983, but apparently nothing was done to stop the +hackers. Then, in January, the AUTOVON number was answered in a +sultry female voice. We wish to thank one and all for allowing +us to make a record of all calls for the past few months. You +will be hearing from us real soon. Have a happy New Year." + + That's a New Year's message calculated to give any hacker a +chill. + +-End of file- + +. + + + +DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS....... + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/modbust.txt b/textfiles.com/news/modbust.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..13058c10 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/modbust.txt @@ -0,0 +1,171 @@ + * Originally By: Randy Edwards + * Originally To: All + * Originally Re: NEW YORK COMPUTER CRIME INDICTMENTS + * Original Area: U.S. News & World Report + * Forwarded by : Blue Wave v2.10 + + Via The NY Transfer News Service 718-448-2358, 718-448-2683 + Subject: New York Computer Crime Indictments + Date: 10 Jul 92 21:14:29 EDT + From: mcmullen@well.sf.ca.us + alt.society.cu-digest Sun Jul 12 18:18:52 1992 + + NEW YORK, N.Y., U.S.A., 1992 JULY 9 (NB) -- Otto G. Obermaier, United +States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has announced the +indictment of five "computer hackers" on charges of computer tampering, +computer fraud, wire fraud, illegal wire tapping and conspiracy. The +announcement was made at a press conference at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, July +8th at the Federal Court hose in Manhattan + + Named in the indictment were Julio Fernandez, 18, known as the "Outlaw"; +John Lee, 21, a/k/a "Corrupt"; Mark Abene, 20, a/k/a "Phiber Optik"; Elias +Ladopoulos, 22, a/k/a "Acid Phreak"; and "Paul Stira, 22, a/k/a "Scorpion." +In addition to alleged specific illegal acts involving computers, the five +individuals were also charged with conspiracy. + + According to the indictment, the five were members of a group known as MOD +(standing for either "Masters of Disaster" or "Masters of Deception") and +the goal of the conspiracy was "that the members of MOD would gain access to +and control of computer systems in order to enhance their image and prestige +among other computer hackers; to harass and intimidate rival hackers and +people they did not like; to obtain telephone, credit, information, and +other services without paying for them; and to obtain. passwords, account +numbers and other things of value which they could sell to others." + + The indictment defines computer hacker as "someone who uses a computer or +a telephone to obtain unauthorized access to other computers." + + Obermaier stated that this investigation was "the first investigative use +of court-authorized wiretaps to obtain conversations and data transmissions +of computer hackers." He said that this procedure was essential to the +investigation and that "It demonstrates, I think, the federal government's +ability to deal with criminal conduct as it moves into new technological +areas." He added that the interception of data was possible only because the +material was in analog form and added "Most of the new technology is in +digital form and there is a pending statute in the Congress which seeks the +support of telecommunications companies to allow the federal government, +under court authorization, to intercept digital transmission. Many of you +may have read the newspaper about the laser transmission which go through +fiber optics as ernment needs the help of Congress and, indeed, the +telecommunications companies to able to intercept digital While all of those +indicted were charged with some type of unlawful access to one or more of +computer systems belonging to the following: Southwestern Bell, BT North +America, New York Telephone, ITT, Information America, TRW, Trans Union, +Pacific Bell, the University of Washington, New York University, U.S. West, +Learning Link, Tymnet and Martin Marietta Electronics Information and +Missile Group, Fernandez and Lee were also charged with selling illegally +obtained credit information to a person that later re-sold the information +to private detectives. + + Assistant United States Attorney Stephen Fishbein announced that Morton +Rosenfeld has been indicted and pled guilty to purchasing credit information +and access codes from persons named "Julio" and "John." Fishbein said that +Rosenfeld, at the time of his arrest on December 6, 1991, has approximately +176 TRW credit reports in his possession. Rosenfeld, 21, pled guilty on June +24, 1992 and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 9th. He faces a +maximum of five years imprisonment and a fine of the greater of $250,000 or +twice the gross gain or loss incurred. + + Fishbein also announced the outcome of a "separate but related court +action, Alfredo De La Fe, 18, pled guilty on June 19, 1992 to the use and +sale of telephone numbers and codes for Private Branch Exchanges (PBX's). De +La Fe said that he had sold PBX numbers belonging to Bugle Boy Industries to +a co-conspirator who used the numbers in a call-selling operation. He also +said that he and a person that he knew as "Corrupt" had made illegal long +difference conference calls. De La Fe faces the same maximum penalty as +Rosenfeld and is scheduled for sentencing on August 31st. + + Among the charges against the five charged as conspirators is the +allegation that Fernandez, Lee, Abene and "others whom they aided and +abetted" performed various computer activities "that caused losses to +Southwestern Bell of approximately $370,000. When asked by Newsbytes how the +losses were calculated, Fishbein said that there was no breakdown beyond +that stated in the indictment -- "expenses to locate and replace computer +programs and other information that had been modified or otherwise +corrupted, expenses to determine the source of the unauthorized intrusions, +and expenses for new computers and security devices that were necessary to +prevent continued unauthorized access by the defendants and others whom they +aided and abetted." + + In answer to a Newsbytes question concerning the appropriateness of making +an intruder into a computer system totally responsible for the cost of +adding security features "which possibly should have been there to begin +with," Obermaier said "That theory would make the burglar the safety expert +since one can't have people going around fooling around with other people's +relatively private information and then claiming that I'm doing it for their +good." + + Paul Tough of Harper's Magazine followed up on the same topic by saying +"In the Craig Neidorf case a regional telephone company claimed that a +document was worth over $100,000. When it was found to be worth only $12, +the case was thrown out. In view of that, are you concerned that they +(Southwestern Bell) may have overreported? In response, Obermaier "No, we +are not concerned. It's a matter of proof and, if the accused stand trial +and have a similar experience to as happened the case you cite, not in this +district, then the results predictably will be the same." Fishbein said that +the conspiracy change carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment +while each of the other counts (there are 10 additional counts) carries a +maximum of five years imprisonment and a fine of the greater of $250,000 or +twice the gross gain or loss incurred. A single exception is a count +charging Fernandez with possessing fifteen or more unauthorized access +devices. That count carries a maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment. + + In response to a statement by Alex Michelini of the New York Daily News +that "What you've outlined, basically, except for the sales of credit +information, this sounds like a big prank, most of it," Obermaier said +"Really, Well, I suppose, if you can characterize that as a prank but it's +really a federal crime allowing people without authorization to rummage +through the data of other people to which they do not have access and, as I +point out to you again, the burglar cannot be your safety expert. He may be +inside and laugh at you when you come home and say that your lock is not +particularly good but I think you, if you were affected by that contact, +would be somewhat miffed" + + Obermaier also said that "The message that ought to be delivered with this +indictment is that such conduct will not be tolerated, irrespective of +tensible purpose." + + Obermaier also said that "The message that ought to be delivered with +this indictment is that such conduct will not be tolerated, irrespective of +the ag of the particular accused or their ostensible purpose." + + Others participating in the news conference were Raymond Shaddick, United +States Secret Service assistant director - Office of Investigations; William +Y. Doran, FBI special agent in charge, New York criminal division; Scott +Charney, United States Dept. of Justice chief of computer crime unit. All +stressed the cooperation that had gone on between the various law +enforcement agencies during the investigation. + + Charney told Newsbytes that, in spite of the fact that the search warrants +executed on Stira and Ladopoulos preceded those executed on Lee and +Fernandez by almost two years and that the last specific allegation against +Stira proceeds the first against Lee by 16 months and the first against +Fernandez by 21 months, there is evidence that links them together in the +conspiracy. Charney also told Newsbytes that the counts against Abene were +not related to a misdemeanor conviction in early 1991 for which he served +community service. Those indicted have been asked to present themselves at +New York Service Services headquarters at 9:00 AM on July 8th for +fingerprinting. Arraignment for the indicted is scheduled for Thursday, July +16th. + + Abene told Newsbytes that while he couldn't comment on anything related to +the indictment until he obtained legal counsel, "I've been participating i +conferences with law enforcement personnel and guest lecturing to college +classes for the last year and a half. In every case, I have said how those +responsible for information about us have the responsibility to protect that +data. I have also tried to explain the great difference between a true +hacker and a person who uses computers for criminal profit. I hope that I +have increased understanding with these efforts." + + (Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/Press Contacts:Federico E. +Virella, Jr., United States Attorney's Office, 212 791-1955; Betty Conkling, +United States Secret Service, 212 466-4400; Joseph Valiquette, Jr, Federal +Bureau of Investigation, 212 335-2715/19920709) + +-!- GoldED 2.40 + ! Origin: Marxists do it with CLASS. (1:128/105) + + +--- Blue Wave/TG v2.10 [NR] + * Origin: SYSTEM: Utility City BBS (313-299-5854) (85:871/112.0) + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/modem.spf b/textfiles.com/news/modem.spf new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5f0b4bcb Binary files /dev/null and b/textfiles.com/news/modem.spf differ diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/multimed.txt b/textfiles.com/news/multimed.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..409dbae6 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/multimed.txt @@ -0,0 +1,216 @@ +Multimedia - worse than Tomorrow's Schools? + +This is a column from an issue of Macworld, about the dangers of the +upcoming multimedia 'revolution'. I think it's important to be aware of +just what may lie behind the hype and marketing. Think. + +With thanks to Mark Norman, who typed it all in.... +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ +THE END OF LITERATURE +Multimedia is Television's insidious offspring. + +By Steven Levy +(C) 1990 Macworld Communications Inc. + + Multimedia has become a certified buzzword in computerdom, so much +so that the only people who's heads don't drop to the table when that word is +intoned are those who have something to sell. At the heart of the instant +boredom concerning this presumably exciting concept is overhype. The +promise of multimedia is just a little too far ahead of what Macintoshes +(and other PC's, including those of IBM, a company also touting multimedia +as the platform of the future) can presently deliver. And besides, in the +mantra-like repetition of the word, its definition has fuzzed to the point of +near-meaningless. What is multimedia, anyway? Should we care? + We should care very much. Because despite its vague beginnings, +multimedia is just as potent as its myriad promoters say it is. The forces of +history almost dictate that it will succeed, and in the not-distant future, +multimedia will be so easy to produce that it will be pandemic as a means +of communication. + But no one, at least to my knowledge, has anticipated the potentially +disastrous effects of multimedia's success. So please say you read it here +first: multimedia will hasten the end of literacy. Despite the fact that its +promoters are almost universally well intentioned, multimedia's lasting +legacy will be the debasement of the remaining forms of communication in +this country that have not already been debased by the perpetually widening +gyre of television. + +Tale of the Tube + First of all, let's consider the nature of multimedia. Once you strip it +bare of its considerable pretensions, multimedia is essentially one thing: +computer applications that aspire to being television. Once you add video- +quality images, high resolution animation, and high-fidelity sound to +computer files, you've got your MTV. That's why some folks are calling this +Desktop MTV. (Wimps call it Desktop Media - same difference.) Presumably, +these multimedia capabilities aid the user in communicating and learning. + But this is a different form of communication we're talking about, +something that, according to Business Week magazine, "could change the +way people work, learn and play." How is multimedia different? With colours +and pictures and noises and motion, it's oriented not to the mind, but to the +senses and the gut - like television. Multimedia disregards the previous +communications paradigm: the person as reporter, blending logic, language +and perhaps illustrative charts in order to inform or compel. The new +paradigm sees the user as a television director, most often one who works +in the advertising business. + The result is a debasement of content, because the language of +television, as convincingly argued by New York University professor Neil +Postman in his book "Amusing Ourselves to Death" (Penguin, 1985), is +inherently incapable of promoting complex discourse - style _always_ +overwhelms substance. Postman writes, "Television's conversations +promote incoherence and triviality...the phrase 'serious television' is a +contradiction in terms...and television speaks in only one persistent voice - +the voice of entertainment." + Entertainment, of course, is the bottom line of multimedia. Just +listen to its promoters. (Most of them are marketing men like John Sculley.) +Invariably they describe these innovative modes of expression as "exciting" +or - the most common description of all - "sexy". These adjectives are +applied regardless of the content of the concepts or facts to be processed +through the multimedia mill. Multimedia deals solely with the style in +which information is conveyed. Thoughts are permitted, but they can't look +like thoughts - you have to dress them up like showgirls. Sooner or later you +realise that you communicate more effectively in this medium if you ditch +complex thoughts altogether. + The ethos of multimedia was unwittingly expressed recently in a New +York Times op-ed piece written by Robert W. Pittman, the television +executive who created MTV. He argues, in essence, that the postwar +generation of so-called TV babies have grown accustomed to, indeed are +entitled to, the short-term, emotion-geared, nonintellectually engaging +forms of discourse exemplified by television news and music video clips. +Pittman suggested that politicians and educators should use even more of +this form of communication. He wasn't speaking of computers, but +multimedia fits right into his vision: it stretches the ability of computers +to cater to the short attention spans and nonlinear thinking processes of +nonliterate TV babies. Thus we face a future where our business reports and +school papers aspire to the communicative standards of a Def Leppard clip +in MTV heavy rotation. + +Will It Fly? + We see a good example of this TV baby communication in the +justifiably excoriated Apple advertising campaign in which some would-be +geniuses in some corporation hatch the idea of a "helocar," and proceed to +convince their bosses to give the project a thumbs-up. What bothers me +about the ads is that by using multimedia to illustrate the concept - making +a kinetic report chock-full of exploding charts and flying vehicles - the +main effort is spent not in doing the hard work of figuring out whether or +not the thing will literally fly, but in creating the sexy images that will get +their bosses all heated up about the concept. What makes the workers +successful is not the idea, but the flashy presentation. Who cares whether +the helocar makes financial sense? Look at it fly! + Essentially, the ad campaign views workers, even engineers, as +marketers whose job it is to sell ideas to their superiors. That may be a +valid interpretation of part of an engineer's job, but placing the heavy +artillery of Madison Avenue in the hands of an engineer will likely do much +more harm to the process than good. Those tools are effective precisely +because of their ability to bypass logic and access emotion. The victory goes +to the engineer who can make the best commercial - not the best vehicle. + This process almost guarantees that choices will be made on +irrelevant criteria. To quote Neil Postman again, "The commercial disdains +exposition, for that takes time and invites argument. It is a very bad +commercial indeed that engages the viewer in wondering about the validity +of the point being made...Moreover, commercials have the advantage of vivid +visual signals through which we may easily learn the lessons being taught. +Among those lessons are that short and simple messages are preferable to +long and complex ones; that drama is to be preferred over exposition; that +being sold solutions is better than being confronted with questions about +problems." + This is what we want to introduce as the standard means of +communicating? Obviously, yes. Catherine Nunes, in charge of multimedia in +Apple's publishing, presentation and audio visual markets, told me that it +was "very likely" that the writing tools of the future would be able to +process sound and video images as well as words. + +Lowering Higher Ed. + If multimedia in business isn't bad enough, consider the potential +effects of multimedia in education. Here again, this platform is being touted +as a beneficial revolution. No on has bothered to ask, "What are we +revolting against?" The answer, of course, is reading and writing. Implicit +in all the hype about multimedia is the premise that language alone just +doesn't cut it. Those still nourished by this antiquarian activity may argue +that the ability to express oneself in words, and to understand the words of +others, is essential to the process of thinking. But multimedia laughs at +that objection - because multimedia, like its progenitor, television, is +designed to entertain, at the cost of thinking. + Let's look at a multimedia project geared to the education market: the +ABC-TV products that utilise television news footage of important events, +such as the presidential elections, or the Middle East crisis. Presumably the +product's purpose is to amplify the failings of the written word. As Doug +Doyle, Apple's manager of multimedia solutions for higher education, puts +it, "Traditionally, we thought that information resides in the library - in +books. But that's not true any more." Multimedia is a way to capture that +information and, as Doyle says, "add value" to it by including it in the +learning process. + That seems to make some sense, but is the gain sufficient to +overcome the danger that the images will overwhelm everything else? Take +the ABC product dealing with the Middle East. Presumably, by interacting +with a multilinked set of video clips loaded with key images and sound bites +from the Holy Land, the student gets a deeper understanding of the situation. +Actually, since the language of television is the main form of +communication here, and the student is encouraged to browse the material +by accessing a subject here and a subject there, a lack of context is almost +guaranteed. Some of the clips are quite dramatic but lack a full explanation +of the circumstances under which they were taped. + In order to get full use of the system, each student needs to spend +unhurried time with a Macintosh, a video monitor, and a laser disc player. +(Apparently one advantage of multimedia over book learning is that the +former generates significantly higher revenues.) Once installed before a +machine, students are encouraged to create their own reports on the system. +Drawing on the culture of TV babies, these reports are not driven by +language or reasoning, but by the accumulation of vivid images. The students +are literally asked to perform the function of a television news producer, +splicing clips together for maximum impact. And clever students will soon +learn, as clever television producers understand all to well, the facts of +dealing in a visual medium: one dramatic image, even if misleading, +communicates more effectively than an interesting idea without a +compelling picture accompanying it. It's history by sound bite. Doug Doyle of +Apple insists that responsible teachers will prevent this from happening, +but in light of our national experience with television - which has +trivialised literature to sitcoms and transformed our politicians into +pitchmen - this seems rather optimistic. + +If Books Could Talk. + Recently I spent a session with Marc Canter and John Scull, the two +key executives of MacroMind. They guided me through an impressive tour of +their newest version of Director, a program designed to enliven information, +multimedia style. Canter was frank in admitting that, given the present +state of computer power, the only way Director and other powerful +multimedia tools can be implemented is in expensive machines with +relatively hard-to-use applications. Even so, those who do this type of work +anyway - art directors and advertising people and television graphics folks +- will currently find a Macintosh to be a cost-effective tool. I see no +problem at all with lowering the cost of tools to people already involved in +this form of show business, and MacroMind is doing honourable work in this +regard. Likewise I think that multimedia capabilities have real value when +used in areas such as scientific visualisation. + But Canter and Scull were both gushing about the not-too-distant day +when our Macintoshes will be more powerful, and their software will be as +simple to use as a Nintendo machine. At that time, they guess reasonably, +multimedia will be as accessible to ordinary users as, say, word processing +is to people today. That will be the day when multimedia will be utilised in +many instances where previously, logical communication sufficed quite +nicely - except for the fact that one had to be literate to participate. Marc +Canter believes that ultimately, multimedia will make significant inroads +in replacing the beleaguered holdouts of communication, those dinosaurs +that refuse to yield to pictures and sound...you know, books. + Earlier, Canter and I had been talking about my current book project. +As with the previous ones, I proceed with my research on the assumption +that any images I collect in addition to the the realms of written and spoken +material I gather will be conveyed only by my language. The finished project +will be a bound stack of pages consisting of words, accessed a page at a +time. Canter is convinced this process will be improved upon. "Steve," he +said, bursting with enthusiasm, "I really believe that ten years from now +you won't be writing a book in that traditional way. In ten years, books won't +be written only in text - they'll be done with sound and video and images, +and people will access it by links, not start to finish." + Multimedia fulfilled: a world where sensory input is king. Where +writing is replaced by "authoring." Where the techniques of sneaker ads "add +value" to charts and spreadsheets, and a thousand words die with every +picture. Words we could have used. Words that bind a reader and a writer, +words that bear rereading, words that when carefully unraveled detonate +fireworks inside the mind and change lives. + Canter couldn't have meant this, could he? Yet, he said it - within a +decade, books are going multimedia. + "What you don't understand, Mark," I said to him, "is that you're +describing my nightmare." +________________________________________________________________________ +Steven Levy is a Macworld columnist and author of "The Unicorn's Secret: +Murder in the Age of Aquarius" (NAL, 1989). + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/nasa.hak b/textfiles.com/news/nasa.hak new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d6646a87 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/nasa.hak @@ -0,0 +1,90 @@ + +***************************************************************************** +* * +* Tarkin Darklighter * +* * +* Presents: * +* * +* The NASA Hackers * +* * +* September 16, 1987 * +***************************************************************************** +* Call: DSF Devestator (214) 581-7565 Supporting the IIgs. * +***************************************************************************** + + This was in the newspaper today, and in the interest of keeping the +phreak/hack world informed, here is the article: + + + WASHINGTON -- Computer hackers in West Germany broke into a NASA +computer network that contains technical information from space shuttle +flights and were able to manipulate the data stored there, a West German news +report said Tuesday. + NASA, responding to the report, said its computer-security system +detected three electronic break-ins in August, at least one of which came +from West Germany. Spokesmen for the National Aeronautics and Space +Administration downplayed the significance of the incident, saying the +network contained postflight technical data from the space shuttle, none of +which was classified. + The hackers reportedly gained access to information by asking the NASA +computers for information under such keywords as "shuttle," "challenger," and +"secret." + The NASA network is one of hundreds operated by groups around the world +as a means of sharing information. The networks are linked to the telephone +system, and authorized users can gain access after connecting their computers +to a phone line. In most cases, a user needs only to know the networks' +telephone number and a password or access code. + Computer-security experts say it is impossible to make a computer +network immune to break-in by hackers, computer enthusiasts who like the +challenge of dialing into computer systems without authorization. +Persistence, logic, and clever computer programs allow hackers to break +access codes and find passwords. + Stringency of access to NASA networks varies depending on the degree of +risk posed by unathorized access, an agency statement said. All the networks +are routinely monitored and attempted break-ins -- which are fairly common -- +are investigated, the NASA statement said. + The breached computer network, called the Space Physics Analysis +Networks, is one of several that NASA operates. SPAN lets scientists and +engineers in various universities and other research centers quickly send or +recieve technical data from a space flight. Its chief goal is to provide +NASA managers with analyses of spacecraft performance. + "Any individual or organization engaged in NASA-related research can +apply for access to SPAN," a NASA statement said. "We know of no classified +information which can be accessed through the network." + NASA spokesman William Marshall said the space agency could not comment +on the hackers' statement that they had been able to manipulate data for +four months. The hackers did not say that they had done so, but Marshall +observed that legitimate users can enter new data into the system. + The break-in came to light when a West German television, ARD, reported +on a statement released by the Hamburg-based Chaos Computer Club. Club +officials reportedly were approached for help by youthful hackers when the +hackers realized the significance of what they had done. + News reports said young West Germans gained regular access to at least +20 NASA computers and had the ability to paralyze the network. + The club also said the hackers had gained access to computers at the +European Space Agency in Darmstadt, West Germany, at the European Nuclear +Research Center in Geneva and at the European Laboratory for Molecular +Biology in Heidelburg. + The Hamburg-based magazine Stern reported similar information Tuesday. + "When I saw 'Welcome to the NASA headquarters ... installation' on my +screen, I was a little shocked, to say the least," the magazine quoted one +youth as saying. + The club statement said the hackers penetrated the network to show the +"unbelievable weaknesses" of the security system, and that they had no +interest in the secret data. It was also said the penetration was discovered +in August and that all organizations using the network were notified. + So far, no charges have been filed in the case, but a West German +Justice Ministry spokesman said the hackers' actions are punishable by up to +three years in prison and fines. + + + + Look for more articles such as this in the near future. + +***************************************************************************** +* Call: DSF Devestator (214) 581-7565 * +* Supporting the IIgs. * +* * +* A member of the Deep Space Fleet. * +***************************************************************************** + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/neidorf b/textfiles.com/news/neidorf new file mode 100644 index 00000000..2281d5e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/neidorf @@ -0,0 +1,970 @@ + + +******************************************************************** + + + IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT + + NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS + + EASTERN DIVISION + +THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, . + Plaintiff, . 90 CR 70 + . + . + v. . Chicago, Illinois + . +CRAIG NEIDORF, . Tuesday, + Defendant. . July 24, 1990 + . + . 10:10 a.m. + . +. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. + + + VOLUME ONE + TRANSCRIPT OF JURY TRIAL PROCEEDINGS + BEFORE THE HONORABLE NICHOLAS J. BUA + AND A JURY + + +PRESENT: + +For the Government: THE HONORABLE IRA H. RAPHAELSON, + United States Attorney, by + WILLIAM J. COOK + COLLEEN D. COUGHLIN + DAVID A. GLOCKNER + Assistant United States Attorneys + 219 South Dearborn Street + Fifteenth Floor + Chicago, Illinois 60604 + +For Defendant: SHELDON T. ZENNER + Katten, Muchin and Zavis + 525 West Monroe Street + Suite 1600 + Chicago, Illinois 60606 + +Case Agent: TIMOTHY M. FOLEY + Special Agent + United States Secret Service + +Court Reporter: Agnes M. Thorne + Official Court Reporter + +- 2 - + + (Twelve jurors and four alternate jurors sworn to try + issues.) + (Following proceedings transpired out of the presence of the + jury:) + + MR. COOK: Judge, we have two short issues to bring up. The +government, obviously, understands the court's rulings on the First +Amendment mistake of law. We are in a bit of a quandary in terms of +the best way to argue that or front that with the jury during our +openings. Does the court anticipate giving an instruction as to the +law of mistake of law with respect to this either before Mr. Zenner +talks or at the conclusion of the case? + + THE COURT: At the conclusion of the case in written instructions +to the jury. + + MR. COOK: And that would be along the lines that it is not a + defense to this violation mistake of law. + + THE COURT: That we will decide at the conference on jury + instructions. + + MR. COOK: All right. + + THE COURT: Mistake of law is no defense. I think we can agree +to that. + + MR. ZENNER: No. + + THE COURT: We can't? + + MR. ZENNER: Wait. We agreed that the First Amendment is no +defense. Mistake of law is a defense to a specific intent crime. + + MR. COOK: That's enough. That's enough for me to make my + +- 3 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +opening. + + THE COURT: Is that enough? + + Mr. Cook: Yes. + + THE COURT: Okay. What else? + + MR. COOK: Also, Mr. Zenner is indicating that he wants to +argue about the videotapes or make some presentation about the +videotapes in his opening remarks. Those are irrelevant. + + THE COURT: What is the nature of those videotapes? + + MR. ZENNER: It is very simple. On one of the dates charged +in the indictment, the exact date, in fact, the exact date charged +in the indictment in Count Two, the date the scheme was supposed to +start, Mr. Neidorf was surreptitiously videotaped by the Secret +Service at SummerCon '88, the hacker convention. + + THE COURT: Okay, now I recall. + + MR. ZENNER: That is the subject of that. The fact that he is on +videotape for 15 hours on the date he is supposed to have committed +the crime in the midst of a supposed conspiracy with some +of the other people who are on videotape I expect to mention, +albeit very briefly, probably ten seconds worth in an opening, +well, maybe thirty seconds worth in an opening, that he was +videotaped on that day, a date charged in the indictment, and that +the worst thing they saw him do or talk about when he was with these +people he is supposedly conspiring with is to drink a beer, order +a pizza. I mean, that's it. They have a the videotape in the middle +of this scheme with his coschemers. + +- 4 - + +Cook -- opening statement + + THE COURT: And what's the problem with that? + + MR. GLOCKNER: Judge, we went through all this before on the +discovery motions. And your Honor agreed with the government that +(a) the fact that the defendant is videotaped not committing a +crime is not relevant to whether or not on some other occasion +he did. + + Second, as we argued in the earlier filings with your Honor, +he is not charged with holding SummerCon, with participating +in SummerCon... + + THE COURT: You will object to the entry in evidence of that +videotape? + + MR. GLOCKNER: Absolutely. + + THE COURT: The objection will be sustained. + + MR. GLOCKNER: Thank you. + + THE COURT: What else? + + MR. COOK: Nothing else, Judge. + + MR. ZENNER: With respect to the videotape, I accept the court's +ruling that the videotape will not be introduced, but I can +certainly refer to the fact that he was videotaped, and I can ask the +agent that, and I intend to ask the agent who investigated this case: +"On a date charged in the indictment..." Mr. Cook is going to show +that. He is going to say, "On July 22, 1988, my client committed +a wire fraud". He's going to tell them to convict him of that. +On that date, he's on videotape for fifteen hours with the Secret +Service looking at him, and he doesn't do anything of the sort. +He's meeting with his coschemers...he's meeting with his +coconspirators. + +- 5 - + +Cook -- opening statement + + THE COURT: And you will seek to introduce the videotape to +show that he couldn't have committed the crime on that date? + + MR. ZENNER: All I want to be able to do is to cross-examine +Agent Foley on that. + + THE COURT: Well, you might be able to cross the agent +depending on what his direct testimony is. Those issues... + + MR. ZENNER: It is a date charged in the scheme. I have a hard +time imagining how I can't cross. + + THE COURT: Mr. Zenner, you can make the opening statements, and +if there is an objection, I will sustain it. Okay. + + MR. ZENNER: All right. + + THE COURT: What else? + + MR. COOK: Nothing. + + THE COURT: Bring in the jury please. + + (Jury present at 10:20 a.m.) + + THE COURT: Good morning ladies and gentlemen. + + JURORS: Good morning. + + THE COURT: Please be seated. + + Mr. Cook, is the government prepared to make its opening +statement? + + MR. COOK: Yes, Judge. + + THE COURT: Very well. + + MR. COOK: Thank you. + +_OPENING STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT_ + + MR. COOK: Good Morning, ladies and gentlemen. + +- 6 - + +Cook -- opening statement + + JURORS: Good morning. + + MR. COOK: My name is Bill Cook. I'm an Assistant United States +Attorney. I am going to be substantially aided in this prosecution +by Colleen Coughlin, who is an Assistant United States Attorney, and +Dave Glockner, who is also an Assistant United States Attorney. We +will be having Special Agent Tim Foley of the United States Secret +Service working with us. He is sitting at the trial table with us. + In 1876, the first telephone communication ever made was: + "Mr. Watson, come here, I want you". +That was also the very first emergency telephone call ever made. +Since that time, the telephone company has, obviously, sophisticated +their operation to a large degree so that where we stand today in +1990, we are the beneficiaries of what is known as the Enhanced 911 +system. That system is a life line for every person certainly in the +Southern Bell region of the United States. It's taken for granted. +It is an extensively developed system. You're going to hear a great +deal of information about the development of that system and the +architecture that that system is based upon. It is built on +computers from bottom to top. + In 1988, a road map to that computer system, that life +line, was stolen from a computer in Atlanta, Georgia, by a man +by the name of Robert Riggs, who is a member of an organization +known as the Legion of Doom. + That document, with its proprietary markings, its warnings + +- 7 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +on it, and the clear indications that it was the property of +BellSouth, was transferred electronically to Mr. Craig Neidorf, the +defendant here, seated right here. + + Mr. Riggs is a hacker, a person that breaks into +computers. He answers to no one but his own ability to get into +those computers. + + We anticipate that the evidence will show that in February +of 1989, Mr. Neidorf published that extensive road map to the +life line of the entire hacker community so far as he was able to +determine it and define it. + + In many respects, I submit to you that this is not going +to be a, "Whodunit", or "What was done?". + + There are two sets of violations charged in the indictment. +Very briefly, they are the interstate transportation of stolen +property and what is referred to in legal jargon as a wire fraud. + + With respect to the interstate transportation of stolen +property, the evidence will show that Mr. Neidorf admitted to +receiving the stolen property, the stolen E911 text file from Robert +Riggs. He further admitted to Agent Foley that at the time he +received the document, he knew it was stolen. + + With respect to the wire fraud the evidence will show +that the wire fraud was really an outgrowth of what you are going to +be hearing about and what will be described as the Phoenix Project, +an effort by Mr. Neidorf to consolidate a group of hackers. + + The object of that wire fraud scheme was extensive, but it + + +- 8 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +included providing hackers with information about how to crack into +other people's computers, soliciting them to try to provide him +articles, articles for his publication PHRACK newsletter which +he would then distribute to other hackers. + + The evidence will also show that Mr. Riggs knew of the +hacker activities, the break-ins that were occurring as he would +follow along with their activities. In that respect, he was almost +a "hacker groupie", except a groupie that sought to be in control and +direct many of the operations. He received stolen property, property +stolen from computers, stored on computers. + + Now, just one more set of observations about the indictment +and the format of the indictment, and then I'll move on to what +some of our more immediate concerns might be. + + (Chart) Does everybody see that? One juror I know can't +see the bottom. + + THE COURT: Can all the jurors now see that? + + JURORS: Yes. + + MR. Cook: Mr. Neidorf is charged in each count of the indictment, +except for the first count here. The coding here is this is the +second count of the indictment on down to Count Eleven. These +are the approximate dates that the violations or the activities +occured that are alleged in the indictment. + + Specifically, in the second, the second count of the +indictment alleges that on July 22, 1988 as part of the wire fraud +scheme, Mr. Neidorf generated an issue of PHRACK World News in which + +- 9 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +he announced the instigation of the Phoenix Project, the Phoenix +Project because it had been a year since the 1987, in their parlance, +collapse of the computer world by virtue of a series of law +enforcement raids. Mr. Neidorf announced here that he wanted the hacker +community to come together again to be more effective than ever. + + The next activity is the third count of the indictment, +September 19, 1988, a wire fraud allegation again, E-mail, +electronic mail, generated from Mr. Neidorf to Mr. Riggs and +Mr. Scott O, a computer hacker. + + This electronic mail, this electronic mail here also, +these are efforts by Mr. Neidorf reaching out to consolidate, +identify and pull together a group of hackers that he could be +working with for the publication of PHRACK, people that would supply +him with information and articles, and, as it turned out, people that +in fact, supplied him with stolen information, stolen from computers. + + These allegations refer more directly to the interstate +transportation and movement and file transfers of the E911 text file. + + Count Seven refers to the publication of a series of +computer articles that deal with how to break into a UNIX operating +system. + + Counts Eight and Nine refer to the text file being sent from +Neidorf back to Riggs, from Neidorf in Missouri to Riggs who was +physically in Atlanta, but who used the bulletin board, computer +bulletin board, in Lockport, Illinois, sending it back for review and +to make sure that Neidorf had done an adequate job of concealing the + +- 10 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +nature of the file fro the point of view not the contents so much +of the file, but concealing where Riggs had stolen it from to protect +Riggs, and, to a large degree, to protect himself so that it couldn't +be identified exactly where the document had been stolen from. + + Finally, we have the publication of the E911 text file in +the PHRACK newsletter by Mr. Neidorf. + + you will be seeing the indictment in the jury room as you +deliberate. This is just an overview to give you an overfocus of +where the allegations are going to fall and the types of information +that you are going to be hearing about. + + Now, if I were you, if I were you, I would be sitting +there, as some of you may be, thinking to myself, "What have I gotten +myself in for? He's talking about computers. He's talking about +operating systems. Whooooaaaa!" + + First of all, you don't need to be a computer user, or a +computer ace, to understand what this case is going to be about. It +really deals with, in its most essential form, stealing property and +transferring property, the interstate transportation of stolen +property. So it's a simple stealing and a simple fraudulent +taking, taking by deception. But it just involves some relatively +high-tech tools. Don't let the tools confuse you from the fact of the +taking and the bottom-line information. I'm telling you to relax +about the computer jargon. + + There are several concepts that we're going to be talking +about here. What I'm going to give you is a kind of a lawyer's + +- 11 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +description. That is supposed to let you know that it is far from +an expert's opinion on some of the things you're going to be hearing. + + (Blackboard) Well, let's talk about some of the technology +that's involved, and see if we can't make ourselves more comfortable +with it. + + I referred to the UNIX operating system. UNIX...U-N-I-X. +What is that? Well, computers speak a language. Computers speak +the language that the people that built the computer want them to +speak, or they speak the language that the people that run the +computer want it to speak. Sometimes computers can be set up so that +you can have them speak several different languages. UNIX is just a +language. It is just the language that the computer speaks. It +talks UNIX. Some of you talk about MS/DOS. It's a microsoft disk +operating system. Forget it! It's just the language that the +computer speaks. + + (Blackboard) Now, this is a theft of information. You are +gong to be coming in contact with the concept that when you take +information from a computer, what you really do is you order the +computer to make a duplicate original o what its memory is or what +it contains with respect to that particular item. And when you are +asking the computer to send that information to you, you are doing a +file transfer. I'll get to that later. You are just telling the +computer to send it to you. What the computer sends to you is a +copy. It's an exact copy in every respect of the original +information on the computer. + +- 12 - + +Cook -- opening statement + + So the value of the property comes from the fact that it +contains information. There is an expression that, "Information is +power". It is only power if it's communicated. That's where the +value of information comes from in our society. + + Certain types of information are protected by companies. +They are reasonably protected by companies, especially when they +become sensitive. The E911 road map and the information about where +all the stops along the way are, that was a sensitive piece of +information. You're going to be hearing about the protections that +BellSouth put on that information, and the efforts that they made to +safeguard it. So when the information is stolen, what is stolen is a +copy of the information. You will be receiving further instructions +>from the judge on all that. So it is the information that is being +stolen. + + (Blackboard) Now, the next concept--I talked about +protection--file transfers. File transfers. Here's a riddle for you: + "Why is a file transfer the same as a high + school graduation?" +Here's the answer. When you hear about this, think about a high +school graduation. They call your name from the audience. You come +up to the stirs, probably by the path that the nun ordered you to +take to get to the stage, and you had better not vary from the path. +You follow that route up to the stage, across the stage, and a file +transfer takes place at center stage in the auditorium. You reach +out, you shake hands with the principal, and with the other hand, +after you have shaken hands with the principal, you receive your + +- 13 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +diploma, or you receive your information, you receive your file. +That's really all a file transfer is on a computer. You come up, +you are ordered, someone in a remote location, the principal in this +case, calls your name, you come up to the stage, you are the +computer on one side and he is the computer on the other side. You +shake hands. And in the computer world, all that means is that you +are able to communicate. It's actually called that. It is called a +"handshake relationship" with another computer. There are some other +words, like "protocol" and things like that, but, really, it is just +a handshake relationship with another computer. + + After the handshake is there and the principal recognizes +you to be the problem kid that he's glad to get rid of--he didn't +like you--then he gives you the file. That's the file transfer. It +is no different transferring information from one computer to +another. + + (Blackboard) Computer network. Well, that is probably a +pretty easy concept to get hold of these days. It is really not much +different than with your televisions, especially if you have cable +television where you have some designated programming and it comes in +to your machine, your television in this case. Of course, the +difference is with cable television as opposed to a computer, with +the computer you are able to have more of an interchange with the TV +and what is going on with the program. So don't be concerned about +the network idea. Keep in mind the idea of a cable coming into your +computer as part of a centralized system. That is really all the + +- 14 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +network is, a series of computers joined together. + + In the case of BellSouth, you are going to see that that is +a very expensive computer network. In order to provide service to +their customers, they hang a lot of computers on that network, +computers that do different things, computers that keep track of +where the people that are using the phones are at, computers that +keep track of what telephone number goes with what address, computers +that keep track of the switches, the computer switches. Now, +that's another concept I'll talk about for a second. + + (Chart) When people think of computer switches, they +are telephone switches. The concept of a lady at the switchboard +always comes to mind with a knob here that goes to a hole up here, +connecting one person to another person. Today, all of that is done +by high-speed computers, high-speed switches. They are electrical. +Because they are electrical, they are referred to as ESS. All this +means is an electronic switch. This is a computer. This computer +has the memory of how to get the numbers that are diales to the +phone that corresponds with those numbers. These computers also have +the information about how to get your call all the way across the +country, which route are we going to take to get there, which +road are we going to take. + + The Enhanced 911 system was built on these computers. +Part of the reason was because of the high speed that is involved. +You can get the emergency call through faster if it goes like thing. + + Now, the switches at various areas: Switch 1, Switch 2. + +- 15 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +This is the first switch we produced, Switch 1. And the second +switch we produced, Switch 2. The fifth switch, Switch 5. + + When they increased the capabilities of those switches, the +way they kept track of which switch they were talking about was to +label the switches: 1 or 1A, 2, 3, 4, 5, a fairly easy way to keep +track of the switch development. But the idea is that all electronic +switches operate essentially the same. So if you have the key to +get into this (indicating), you have the keys to get into them all. + + The evidence will show that the hackers in the BellSouth +Region had the keys to get into them for a period of time. + + Now, another question, a riddle: + "Why is computer security like a hotel?" +Mr. Garcia is going to be explaining that to you. Actually, it's a +lot like staying in a private hotel. + + In the case of the computers at BellSouth, the computers +that drive the E911 system and support the phone company system +aren't known to the public. They are unpublished numbers. They +have their own network. The network, to be sure, has interlinks +with the private sector and can be reached by field people in the +telephone company, but it is really a closed system. It is designed +to be for protection. + + So the hotel, the computer, is not known to the outside +world. Where the door is is not known to the outside world. When +you walk into the hotel, it's like if you try to walk into a hotel +in downtown Chicago. If you go to the desk and ask them, you know, + +- 16 - + +Cook -- opening statement + + "I want to have Joe Jones' room". +Well, first of all you say: + + "I want to see Mr. Jones." + + "Well, we can't tell you if he's here." + + "Well, if you tell me he's here, I want + to talk to him. I want to speak to him. + Give me his room number. + + "Well, we're not going to give you + his room number. You are going to + have to call him on the house phone + and he'll have to verify that you're + somebody he knows." + +So there are a series of checks that are set up inside the system. +But once you get inside the hotel, you can make contact with Jones. +And you will see, just as in real life, you have a number of people +at one hotel. You will have people going back and forth in the +hotel. And the person that runs the hotel assumes that they're all +there for good valid reasons. He's not going to do anything but +just a cursory check to make sure that everything is still in order. + + It is really the same thing and the same principle is +involved if you are the system administrator on one of these +computers. You are in the position, in the shoes, of the hotel +operator, the guy that runs the hotel or the lady that runs the +hotel. You make sure that the right people show the right +credentials to get in and you exercise and upfront control. You also +exercise control over some of the common spaces. You make sure the +halls are lit. You make sure that things aren't being badly +destroyed to the best of your knowledge, although you don't know always + +- 17 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +what's going on inside each of the rooms. It's very much the same. +So when you hear a person talk about running a system or computer +system security, think to the analogy of being a hotel operator. +We have a man, Mr. Garcia, from BellSouth, who will be testifying +to that and to that analogy, and I think you'll find it most +interesting. + + (Blackboard) Text file. You will hear a lot about that. +That is probably a new term for you when you walked in: text file. +Just think of it as a book or a pamphlet stored on a computer. +That's it. That's the end of the mystery. A book or a pamphlet +stored on a computer. But because it is stored on a computer, it +can be copied if you can get into the computer. That's what +happened here. + + (Blackboard) BBS. It means bulletin board system. +Sometimes it will have a "C" in front of it. All that means is +computer bulletin board system. + + Now, here's my analogy to that. The computer bulletin +board system is a lot like a private high school where you have to +have permission to get in the front door. And the people that run +the high school have to give you permission to get into their +private location. But once you get into their private high school +and as you walk through, one of the first things that meets you as +you walk into the private high school is a bulletin board with +messages posted on it. And what you will also see along the sides of +it are going to be lockers, student lockers. + +- 18 - + +Cook -- opening statement + + The principal bulletin board that you are going to be +hearing about during the course of this case is the Jolnet bulletin +board in Lockport, Illinois. The Jolnet bulletin board in Lockport, +Illinois, acted as a central clearing house for the information that +was being sent from Riggs in Atlanta to Neidorf in Missouri. + + To carry the analogy a little further, the evidence is +going to show that Riggs used the bulletin board. He used it under +a false name which he used to disguise his real identity. He use it +under the name of Robert Johnson instead of Robert Riggs. He had +authorization to use the bulletin board section where you post +messages generally, and he also had a storage locker on the bulletin +board, on of those lockers along the wall in a high school, where he +thought he could safely store the text file, the E911 text file that +he had stolen. The evidence is going to be, though, that law +enforcement, Hank Kluepfel, found out about it. Mr. Kluepfel's +efforts to get into and to use Jolnet in that storage area will be +testified by Mr. Kluepfel. But the only thing we need to remember +here at this point is that the information was stored in Lockport, +Illinois. That is where the private high school is located. It was +stored in the locker of a private high school in Lockport. + + But because computer technology is the way it is, Riggs is +able to transfer the file by E-mail or a file transfer down to +Neidorf in the computers at the University of Missouri. Again, this +analogy is not quite the same as the bulletin board, but the +University of Missouri has a capability there at the university to + +- 19 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +allow students to have essentially a locker on their computer system +where Neidorf generated PHRACK Magazine from. + + Just a final note of reassurance. As we go through the +evidence here, we are going to try to have the witnesses explain as +each step progresses what the technology is again. So hang in there +and listen with an open mind, as I know you will anyhow, listen to +the explanations of the technology. + + (Chart) The evidence in this case is going to show that +the text file that was stolen here described in vivid detail each of +the locations along the E911 path to an emergency call. It's going +to show and it did show the central location and the central +significance of two places. When an emergency call is made in the +BellSouth area, BellSouth region--it is really the area +geographically that southerners describe as "Ol' Dixie"--when an +emergency call is made there, it goes to a thing called a PSAP, public +safety access point. The public safety access point is the one that +is in direct communication on secure lines with the fire, police, and +ambulance. + + Under the old 911 system, the old emergency dialing +system, the call would come in, and they would have to trace it back +to the origin in many cases. You have a situation potentially where +someone would call, perhaps a child, and say, "My dad's hurt", and +before the operator could talk to the child, they hang up the phone. +The child, of course, figures, "Well, I called them. I told them y +dad was hurt. They'll e here". So it is, obviously, not that +easy. Under the old 911 system, a complicated tracing procedure had + +- 20 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +to be established. They had to try to find out where the call had +come from, and it's all done in an emergency posture. + + Now comes Enhanced 911. You will hear the lady that is +operating that system, or operated it for the balance of time +involved in this case. You will also hear from the man, Richard +Helms, that brought all the pieces together for the bellSouth +region, and put them in one central location so that all the phone +companies supporting the 911 system, the Enhanced 911 system, would +all be on board and be working with the same game plan, never thinking +that that game plan was going to be over over to hackers. + + The Enhanced 911 gives you this capability within +three to five seconds of the time that the person picks up an +emergency call and that 911 is entered in, sometimes even before the +person at the public safety access point can pick up the phone. The +computers that drive the 911 system have done this: They have gone, +in this case, to the remote location in Sunrise, Florida, where the +back-up systems and the support systems for the control, the +maintenance and the operation of 911 are kept, and it has pulled up +all kinds of information about the person making the call. + + When the person picks up the phone, it's connected wit police, +fire and ambulance. They have a TV monitor in front of them or a +computer monitory, if you will, which has all kinds of information. +It has the name of the caller or the people that the are known to be at the +calling address. It will have location information with respect to +where the closest department is, fire department, police department, + +- 21 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +to that person. It will also contain information in their computer +storage banks about special problems that may exist. If it's a +business, if it's a business involving chemicals, the fact that those +chemicals are explosive will be reflected on that screen. If it is a +private home, if there is a handicapped person there, it will be +reflected on that screen. And it's all done within a matter of three +to five seconds. They have it captured there. That is what +Enhanced 911 is about. That's the system that Robert Riggs stole: +how that all works together, and how the computers at BellSouth +support that kind of capability, consistent with the telephone +company's long history, going back to that first phone call, +"watson, I want you", their tradition of providing emergency services +as the first priority of the phone system. + + You will be hearing from essentially three groups of +witnesses. You will be hearing from people at bellSouth that will +tell you about the steps taken to protect the system. They will tell +you about the way the file was defined. They will also tell you that +at the same time that they were having these problems with 911 in +terms of the los of the file, at the same window, they recognized +that there was a larger problem throughout the network as a result +of hacker intrusions, that there were a series of bellSouth +computers along the network that had been attacked or were under +attack. Some of those computers included the ESS switches. They +recognized that the Enhanced 911 theft was a symptom of a disease. +The disease was the hackers into switches, and they took remedial + +- 22 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +steps. They started out slowly to try to identify it, and then they +rapidly expanded, trying to solve the disease along with the problem +of E911. So you will hear from the BellSouth people. + + You are also going to be hearing from three members of the +Legion of Doom, three hackers. You're going to be hearing from +Robert Riggs, Frank Darden and Adam Grant. They have hacker +handles. These hacker handles sometimes seem to get to be a little +on the colorful side, a little bit like "CB" handles. + + You are going to be hearing the testimony of the hackers. +You're going to be hearing the testimony of Robert Riggs who will +testify that Mr. Neidorf had been after him to give him information +to put into PHRACK, this hacker newsletter. That when Riggs had +broken into the AIMS-X computer in BellSouth, he saw on that AIMX-X +computer at BellSouth the 911 text file. You're going to hear that +he contacted Neidorf in advance, that in that advance conversation or +communication, he advised Neidorf that he had the text file, he was +sending him the text file to put in PHRACK, that he had gotten it +>from an unauthorized account that he had on the BellSouth computer. +Essentially, what he told Neidorf is, "This is a stolen piece of +material you're getting". + + He indicated to Neidorf and Neidorf agreed...first, he +agreed to take the stolen property, and he agreed to disguise the +identity of the stolen property to some degree so that it wouldn't +run off on Riggs. Riggs' name wouldn't appear on the file when it was +published in PHRACK. He would try to disguise some of the + +- 23 - + +Cook -- opening testimony + +indiations that it was stolen from the BellSouth area...Neidorf +would. You will hear evidence that that is exactly what Neidorf did +to some degree or another. + + You will hear evidence bout Neidorf seeing and noting the +proprietary warnings that made it clear that this was stolen +property belonging to BellSouth. He even made a joke of it. He put a +little, "Whoops"next to it when he sent it back to Riggs because he +didn't want BellSouth to know that he was inside their computers. + + You're also going to hear evidence that Riggs was never +satisfied with the final result that Neidorf had because it always +contained too much information even for Riggs. But the E911 system, +the text file and the road map, was published by Neidorf all the +same. + + You are going to be hearing from Agent Foley who will +testify that he talked to Neidorf about this at his fraternity house +at the University of Missouri. Neidorf said he has freedom of +expression. That was his response to Foley: Freedom of expression +to publish it in PHRACK. + + The First Amendment can't be used as a defense to theft. +When you steal something, you can't claim that coming up the back +door, the First Amendment protected you. + + You will be hearing from Agent Foley though that as part +of this discussion with Mr. Neidorf, Mr. Neidorf, in fact, admitted +that he knew the file was stolen, the text file was stolen, and he +published it in PHRACK. + +- 24 - + +Cook -- opening statement + + He also turns over to Foley a hacker tutorial, a hacker +lesson to other hackers on how to break into the ESS switches. He +turns that over. + + The evidence will also indicate that in addition to that +stolen information was information about a stolen AT&T source code +document. Here he goes again...source code! The source code program +had a Trojan horse in it. It made it clear right on the face +of it that it was a Trojan horse, a way of stealing passwords from a +computer. + + I am going to have to pause here for a second to make +sure that I reassure you again on the descriptions and the items +we'll talk about. + + The source code is a type of language. It is kind of a way +human beings write things down as a first step toward communicating +with computers. They write it down in source code, which is +directions. A rough analogy would be if I'm going to give you +directions on how to get to my house. The source code for that kind +of program might be something like: + +"Go to the door. + "Open the door. + "Go through the door. + "Go forward to the sidewalk. + "Go the the sidewalk and stop. + "Stop at the sidewalk. Turn left. + "After you turn left, start walking. + +- 25 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +Step by step by step progression along the way. That is kind of what +the source code is about. You will hear, fortunately, a much better +description of this from the witnesses on the stand. + + The source code program that was stolen here that +Mr. Neidorf received, again, basically was clear from the face of the +document that it was stolen. And, again, Mr. Neidorf transferred it +out to somebody else. Again, stolen property was received and +distributed in interstate commerce. + + The nature of this source code was that it would act a lot +like a false front door to a computer, where you walk up to the +false front door of the computer, you knock on the door, and somebody +inside the door or inside the house says, "Who is it?" The person +knocking on the door uses their secret word, or their name or an +identifier, or it's recognized by the person inside the house: + "My name is Joe Jones." + "My name is Bill Cook." + "My name is Colleen Coughlin." + "My name is Tim Foley." +Except with this door, it was a false door, and what it had the +capability to do is it would record the information. It would +record, "Bill Cook," "Joe Jones," "Colleen Coughlin," "Tim Foley". +Those are the passwords to get into the house that a legitimate user +of the house would use. + + But this Trojan horse, what it would do is it would store +those, and after it had stored all that information, it would + +- 26 - + +Cook -- opening statement + +essentially disappear. And the person trying to get in the house would +all of a sudden get a communication from the other side that would +say, "I didn't hear you. Try it again". + + It would steal those passwords, and it would then put them +in a private place where the hacker would come back whenever he +wanted to, and just pick up the bucketful of passwords and log-ons, +and use them to break into the same computer systems again and +again, kind of an elaborate piced of scientific perversion but that +is what it is about. That was the document that Mr. Neidorf also +trafficked in as part of this fraud scheme. + + The final expert that you will probably hear from on the +government's side is going to be a man from inside the phone +company, a man who was with bell laboratories before he was with the +phone company. His name is Mr. Williamson. Mr. Williamson will talk +to you about the property, the property being the text file, and +the way in which and the reason that the phone company protects +this kind of property, this information. + + He will testify, we anticipate, to the obligations of the +phone company, to the significance of the text file, along with +other people, and the fact that the theft was the theft of critical +information for the operation of that system, and that the +proprietary markings made it clear to anyone who took it that that +was stolen and that they didn't have authorization for that document. + + No matter what other information floating around about 911 +that might be out there, this document was proprietary and contained +the inside information about what this system was all about, and how +an emergency call is driven from the point of someone picking up +the receiver to the time when the help is actually generated from +the fire, police and ambulance stations. + + As I've said before, it's that text file that Mr. Neidorf +deliberately compromised into the hacker community. At the +conclusion of this case, we are going to be coming back here and +asing you to find a guilty verdict against Mr. Neidorf for the +interstate transportation of that stolen text file both from the time +he got it from Riggs, and it was sent from Rigs in Georgia to the +bulletin-board in Lockport down to Neidorf at the University of +Missouri, that's one interstate transportation of stolen property, +and the interstate transportation of stolen property, that same +stolen information back from Neidorf to Riggs in Lockport. In this +situation, it was reviewing the stolen property to make sure that +they could disguise themselves. And then the final interstate +transportation of that stolen property when Mr. Neidorf compromised +the text file into the hacker community. + + I appreciate your attention. That concludees my remarks. +I ask you to pay as much attention to Mr. Zenner as he makes his +remarks to you this morning. + + Thank you. + + THE COURT: Thank you, Mr. Cook. Mr. Zenner, are you prepared +to make your opening statement? + + + + diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/neidorfd.txt b/textfiles.com/news/neidorfd.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..7dfc6a78 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/neidorfd.txt @@ -0,0 +1,67 @@ + + CRAIG NEIDORF DEFENSE FUND + + Most of you know about the PHRACK trial and Craig Neidorf, the + publisher of PHRACK. Craig put his neck on the line to provide + timely, interesting, and helpful information to the phreak/hacker + community. The government decided to put a stop to that flow of + information so last summer they arrested Craig for publishing a + PHRACK article on Bell South's Emergency 911 system, an article + which contained a document which was illegally downloaded from Bell + South's computer system. + + The government's case fell apart after it was revealed that the + document, originally valued at $79,449 by Bell South, was + obtainable by dialing an 800 number and paying $13. This, and the + fact that Neidorf was not the one who accessed Bell South's + computer, caused the government to drop the charges and set Craig + Neidorf free. + + Good news, right? Well it is and it isn't. While the government + lost its case, Craig Neidorf will no longer be publishing PHRACK, + so the government still wins. The fact is that although Craig won + in court, he must still pay his own attorney's fees. His original + bill reached over $200,000! The law firm that he had retained found + ways to reduce $100,000 off of that amount, but Craig and his + family have still paid $35,000 to one firm, $8,000 to another, and + have roughly $65,000 left to pay off. THIS IS AFTER "WINNING" IN + COURT! + + No, he cannot sue the government for this money. He has to pay it + himself. A lot of people seem to think that the Electronic Frontier + Foundation (EFF) is going to help him with his legal bills. No way. + The EFF does not want to be perceived as a "hacker defense fund" so + they are trying to distance themselves from the case. Their only + help in the matter was to pay for court motions filed by the EFF's + law firm on Neidorf's behalf concerning the First Ammendment. THE + EFF HAS NO PLANS AT THIS TIME TO HELP PAY NEIDORF'S ATTORNEY FEES. + + What this means is that Craig Neidorf, after being harrassed and + arrested by the government for PUBLISHING A MAGAZINE, will shut his + magazine down and pay approximately $100,000 in attorney fees EVEN + THOUGH HE WON HIS COURT BATTLE. + + If you're as outraged by this as I am, I want you to know that you + can do something about it. You can show Neidorf how much you valued + PHRACK and how outraged you are about what happened to him by + sending money to the Neidorf Defense Fund. Every cent that you send + will be used to defray his attorney fees. The address is: + + NEIDORF DEFENSE FUND + Attn: Sheldon Zenner + Katten, Muchin & Zavis + 525 West Monroe Street #1600 + Chicago, Illinois 60606-3693 + + Checks *MUST* be payable to "Katten, Muchin & Zavis" and have + "Neidorf Defense Fund" written in the memo field. + + You can help even more by downloading this message and uploading it + to as many other BBSes as you possibly can. It's available on + &TOTSE, 415/935-5845, as NEIDORFD.ZIP. Also, if you're a caller on + &TOTSE and you send Neidorf a check for $25 or more, send me a + photocopy of the cancelled check and I'll give you 250 file + transfer credits. &TOTSE's mailing address is: Jeff Hunter, & the + Temple of the Screaming Electron, P.O. Box 5378, Walnut Creek, CA, + 94596. + diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/new.ibm b/textfiles.com/news/new.ibm new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e4f35dba --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/new.ibm @@ -0,0 +1,234 @@ +IBM ANNOUNCEMENT OVERVIEW 04-02-(7 + +IBM Announcement Overview + +Today, IBM announces IBM Personal System/2(TM), a family of +systems with enhanced displays and adapters, expanded +communications and network adapters, expanded memory +adapters, new features and input output devices; an enhanced +version of the IBM Disk Operating System, and new software +support for host terminal emulation, networking and +communications. New applications are also being announced. + +IBM is also announcing Operating System/2, a new +comprehensive operating system which includes a Presentation +Manager, a Communications Manager, and a Database Manager. +Operating System/2 is backed by a three month warranty, and +one year of service support fbom date of product +availability. DisplayWrite 4 /2 for Operating System/2 is +also being announced. + +(TM) Trademark of the International Business Machines +Corporation. + +HIGHLIGHTS + +The products and associated support elements of this +announcement, address the following key objectives: + +o Provide a range of systems to meet user's needs + +o Introduce improved levels of price, performance, + capacity, function, and reliability + +o Introduce new hardware architectures which enable future + growth without some of the restrictions and limitations + in the existing product line + +o Offer enhanced warranty and service for hardware and + software + +o Introduce improved graphics functions integrated into the + new systems + +o Integrate serial, parallel and diskette adapters into + the new systems + +o Provide a compatibility bridge from existing hardware and + software to minimize the impact on end user's investment + +o Coexist and interconnect with existing IBM Personal + Computers + +o Introduce the 3.5-inch diskette as the primary media for + IBM Personal System/2 systems + +o Provide a comprehensive operating system for the new + hardware with support for larger memory, concurrent + processing of applications, high level pbogramming + interfaces, communications and data base management + features + +o Move toward consistency with other systems in the IBM + product line by participating in the IBM Systems + Application Architecture with our new offerings + +It is our intention that this announcement will establish +new levels of end user satisfaction in the areas of quality, +service, compatibility, graphics, hardware architecture, +software function and programming interfaces, ease of use, +and consistency across a range of product lines. + +The Personal System/2 systems units being announced replace +many of the ehisting IBM Personal Computer systems, and are +intended to establish a new level of function, performance, +capacity, and reliability. + +DESCRIPTION + +There are two groups of Personal Cystem/2 systems units. +Personal System/2 Model 30, is intended to satisfy the +requirements of personal productivity users. This model is +based on the 8086 microprocessor, and can use many of the +same feature cards as the existing product line. This model +introduces as standard function the Multi-Color Graphics +Array (MCGA) graphics, a new level of graphics which is an +enhancement to the Color Graphics Adapter function. The +Model 30 is available as a dual 3.5-inch diskette, or +diskette and fixed disk system. Compared to the IBM PC +XT(TM) 089, the Model 30 provides: + +o Twice the diskette capacity +o Improved hard file access time +o Improved integrated graphics +o A clock with calendar +o Integrated adapters for printers, serial devices, and + pointing devices +o Improved throughput + +(TM) Trademark of the International Business Machines +//@AGE +Corporation. + +If an end user is primarily a "Personal Productivity" user +in small business, large business or in education, then the +Personal System/2 Model 30 is the right choice. + +The operating system software for the Personal System/2 +Model 30 is the IBM Disk Operating System Version 3.30. +Operating System/2 will not run on Model 30. + +Personal System/2 Models 50, 60, and 80 are intended to +satisfy the requirements of systems users who need higher +personal productivity performance, or who require larger, +more complex applications and operation in a multiple +application and/or communications environment. + +These models are based on the 80286 and 80386 +microprocessors. They introduce a new Micro Channel(TM) +Architecture for feature and input/output data handling. +The new architecture is a significant improvement over +previous existing designs due to its improved interru`t +handling capabilities which permit resolution of most +conflicts present in existing systems, while balancing and +improving the performance of the system. + +(TM) Tbademark of the International Business Machines +Corporation + +These models also introduce Video Graphics Array (VGA) +graphics, a higher level of graphics function, which is an +enrichment of the Enhanced Graphics Adapter function. VGA +graphics is upward compatible from Mono Graphics, CGA, MCGA, +and EGA and can run on the Personal System/2 Model 30 with +the appropriate feature card. + +Compared with the IBM Personal Computer AT(R) 339, the +Personal System/2 Models 50 and 60 provide: + +o Increased standard memory +o 20% more diskette capacity +o Improved integrated graphics +o Integrated pointing device adapter +o Improved system throughput +o Advanced Micro Channel(TM) Architecture + +(R) Registered trademark of the International Business +Machines Corporation. + +(TM) Trademark of the Internadional Business Machines +Corporation. + +The Model 50 has a 20MB fixed disk. The Model 60 offers 44 +to 185MB fixed disk capacity. + +The Personal System/2 Model 80 is based on the 80386 +microprocessor. Three models are available: + + Standard Fixed + Processor Fixed Disk + Speed Disk Capacity + +Model 041 16MHZ 44MB 88MB +Model 071 16MHZ 70MB 185MB +Model 111 20MHZ 115MB 230MB + +If an end user currently requires or plans to migrate into a +multi-tasking, multi-communications environment, or has +applications requiring exceptionally high performance +levels, then the Personal System/2 Models 50, 60 and 80, +with new architecture and higher performance application +capability, are the solution. + +The operating system for Models 50, 60 and 80 is the IBM +Disk Operating System Version 3.3. When available Operating +System/2 will become the operating system of choice for many +users of these systems. + +Operating System/2 is the growth path for the IBM Disk +Operating System. It will run many existing DOS applications +unchanged. It takes advantage of the new hardware +capabilities, provides significant new function, offers +enhanced ease of use, and provides a platfobm for future +application growth. + +The Operating System/2: + +o Presents a consistent user interface with context + sensitive help +o Supports up to 16MB of main storage with virtual memory + support +o Allows concurrent execution of multiple applications +o Allows communication between applications +o Supports multiple concurrent communications sessions. + +Operating System/2 (Standard Edition) also provides a +comprehensive set of high level functions which have not +been needed in the past. It includes the base functions +described above, plus: + +o Presentation Manager which su`ports a consistent, easy to + use interface dhat is designed to participate in the IBM + Systems Application Architecture + +Operating System/2 (Extended Edition) includes all of the +function of the Standard Edition, plus: + +o Communications Manager providing a wide range of + concurrent connectivities and protocols, concurrent + emulation of multiple terminal types, file transfer under + terminal emulation, and communications and systems + management support + +o Database Manager which is a Relational Data Base + Management System. It is consistent with IBM's host + based Structured Query Language and Query Management + Facility + +Whatever the end-user environment or requirements may be, +IBM is establishing new levels of capability and value. The +entire Personal System/2 family achieves higher levels of: + +o Quality and Beliability +o Ease of Use +o Graphics +o Connectivity +o Compatibility and Consistency + +These systems, along with IBM's options, including new +monochrome and color monitors, expanded memory adapters, +personal printers, an optical disk drive, tape backup, +connectivity cards, and many more, are designed to meet +computing needs, now and for many years to come. +ans to migrate into a +multi-tasking, mul \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/newphed.phk b/textfiles.com/news/newphed.phk new file mode 100644 index 00000000..61fbccfd Binary files /dev/null and b/textfiles.com/news/newphed.phk differ diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/night.txt b/textfiles.com/news/night.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..af062ae7 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/night.txt @@ -0,0 +1,269 @@ + + + The Night of the Hackers + ________________________ + + + . As you are surveying the dark and misty swamp you come across what + appears to be a small cave. You light a torch and enter. You + have walked several hundred feet when you stumble into a bright + blue portal. . . With a sudden burst of light and a loud + explosion you are swept into . . . DRAGONFIRE . . . Press Any Key + if You Dare." + + . You have programmed your personal computer to dial into + Dragonfire, a computer bulletin board in Gainesville, Texas. But + before you get any information, Dragonfire demands your name, home + city and phone number. So, for tonight's tour of the electronic + wilderness you become Montana Wildhack of San Francisco. + + . Dragonfire, Sherwood Forest (sic), Forbidden Zone, + Blottoland, Plovernet, The Vault, Shadowland, PHBI and scores of + other computer bulletin boards are hangouts of a new generation of + vandals. These precocious teenagers use their electronic skills to + play hide-and-seek with computer and telephone security forces. + Many computer bulletin boards are perfectly legitimate: they + resemble electronic versions of the familiar cork boards in + supermarkets and school corridors, listing services and providing + information someone out there is bound to find useful. But this + is a walk on the wild side, a trip into the world of underground + bulletin boards dedicated to encouraging -- and making -- + mischief. + + . The phone number for these boards are as closely guarded as a + psychiatrist's home telephone number. Some numbers are posted on + underground boards; others are exchanged over the telephone. A + friendly hacker provided Dragonfire's number. Hook up and you see + a broad choice of topics offered. For Phone Phreaks -- who delight + in stealing service from AT&T and other phone networks . + Phreakenstein's Lair is a potpourri of phone numbers, access codes + and technical information. For computer hackers -- who dial into + other people's computers -- Ranger's Lodge is chock-full of phone + numbers and passwords for government, university and corporate + computers. Moving through Dragonfire's offerings, you can only + marvel at how conversant these teen-agers are with the technical + esoterica of today's electronic age. Obviously they have spent a + great deal of time studying computers, though their grammar and + spelling indicate they haven't been diligent in other subjects. + You are constantly reminded of how young they are. + + . "Well it's that time of year again. School is back in session + so let's get those high school computer phone numbers rolling in. + Time to get straight A's, have perfect attendance (except when + you've been up all night hacking school passwords), and messing up + you worst teacher's paycheck." + + . Forbidden Zone, in Detroit, is offering ammunition for hacker + civil war -- tips on crashing the most popular bulletin-board + software. There also are plans for building black, red and blue + boxes to mimic operator tones and get free phone service. And he + re are the details for "the safest and best way to make and use + nitroglycerine," compliments of Doctor Hex, who says he got it + "from my chemistry teacher." + + . Flip through the "pages." You have to wonder if this + information is accurate. Can this really be the phone number and + password for Taco Bell's computer? Do these kids really have the + dial-up numbers for dozens of university computers? The temptation + is too much. You sign off and have your computer dial the number + for the Yale computer. Bingo -- the words Yale University appear + on your screen. You enter the password. A menu appears. You hang + up in a sweat. You are now a hacker. + + . Punch in another number and your modem zips off the touch + tones. Here comes the tedious side of all of this. Bulletin boards + are popular. No vacancy in Bates Motel (named for Anthony Perkin's + creepy motel in the movie "Psycho"); the line is busy. So are 221 + B. Baker Street, PHBI, Shadowland and The Vault, Caesar's Palace + rings and connects. This is different breed of board. Caesar's + Palace is a combination Phreak board and computer store in Miami. + This is the place to learn ways to mess up a department store's + anti-shoplifting system, or make free calls on telephones with + locks on the dial. Pure capitalism accompanies such anarchy, + Caesar's Palace is offering good deals on disc drives, software, + computers and all sorts of hardware. Orders are placed through + electronic mail messages. + + . 'Tele-Trial': Bored by Caesar's Palace, you enter the number + for Blottoland, the board operated by one of the nation's most + notorious computer phreaks -- King Blotto. This one has been busy + all night, but it's now pretty late in Cleveland. The phone rings + and you connect. To get past the blank screen, type the secondary + password "S-L-I-M-E." King Blotto obliges, listing his rules: he + must have your real name, phone number, address, occupation and + interests. He will call and disclose the primary password, "if you + belong on this board." If admitted, do not reveal the phone number + or the secondary password, lest you face "tele-trial," the King + warns as he dismisses you by hanging up. You expected heavy + security, but this teenager's security is, as they say, awesome. + Computers at the Defense Department and hundreds of businesses let + you know when you've reached them. Here you need a password just + to find out what system answered the phone. Then King Blotto asks + questions -- and hangs up. Professional computer-security experts + could learn something from this kid. He knows that ever since the + 414 computer hackers were arrested in August 1982, law-enforcement + officers have been searching for leads on computer bulletin + boards. + + . "Do you have any ties to or connections with any law + enforcement agency or any agency which would inform such a law + enforcement agency of this bulletin board?" + + . Such is the welcoming message from Plovernet, a Florida board + known for its great hacker/phreak files. There amid a string of + valid VISA and MasterCard numbers are dozens of computer phone + numbers and passwords. Here you also learn what Blotto means by + tele-trial. "As some of you may or may not know, a session of the + conference court was held and the Wizard was found guilty of some + miscellaneous charges, and sentenced to four months without + bulletin boards." If Wizard calls, system operators like King + Blotto disconnect him. Paging through bulletin boards is a test of + your patience. Each board has different commands. Few are easy to + follow, leaving you to hunt and peck your way around. So far you + haven't had the nerve to type "C," which summons the system + operator for a live, computer-to-computer conversation. The time, + however, however has come for you to ask a few questions of the + "sysop." You dial a computer in Boston. It answers and you begin + working your way throughout the menus. You scan a handful of dial- + up numbers, including one for Arpanet, the Defense Department's + research computer. Bravely tap C and in seconds the screen blanks + and your cursor dances across the screen. + + . Hello . . . What kind of computer do you have? + + . Contact. The sysop is here. You exchange amenities and get + "talking." How much hacking does he do? Not much, too busy. Is he + afraid of being busted, having his computer confiscated like the + Los Angeles man facing criminal changes because his computer + bulletin board contained a stolen telephone-credit-card number? + "Hmmmm . . . No," he replies. Finally, he asks the dreaded + question: "How old are you?" "How old are YOU," you reply, + stalling. "15," he types. Once you confess and he knows you're + old enough to be his father, the conversation gets very serious. + You fear each new question; he probably thinks you're a cop. But + all he wants to know is your choice for president. The chat + continues, until he asks, "What time is it there?" Just past + midnight, you reply. Expletive. "it's 3:08 here," Sysop types. "I + must be going to sleep. I've got school tomorrow." The cursor + dances "*********** Thank you for Calling." The screen goes blank. + + Epilog: + + . A few weeks after this reporter submitted this article to + Newsweek, he found that his credit had been altered, his drivers' + licence revoked, and EVEN HIS Social Security records changed! + Just in case you all might like to construe this as a 'Victimless' + crime. The next time a computer fouls up your billing on some + matter, and COSTS YOU, think about it! + _______________________________ + + . This the follow-up to the previous article concerning the + Newsweek reporter. It spells out SOME of the REAL dangers to ALL + of us, due to this type of activity! + + _______________________________ + The REVENGE of the Hackers + _______________________________ + + . In the mischievous fraternity of computer hackers, few things + are prized more than the veil of secrecy. As NEWSWEEK San + Francisco correspondent Richard Sandza found out after writing a + story on the electronic underground's (DISPATCHES, Nov. 12, 198\ + ability to exact revenge can be unnerving. Also severe.... + Sandza's report: + + . "Conference!" someone yelled as I put the phone to my ear. + Then came a mind-piercing "beep," and suddenly my kitchen seemed + full of hyperactive 15-year-olds. "You the guy who wrote the + article in NEWSWEEK?" someone shouted from the depths of static, + and giggles. "We're going disconnect your phone," one shrieked. + "We're going to blow up your house," called another. I hung up. + + . Some irate readers write letters to the editor. A few call + their lawyers. Hackers, however, use the computer and the + telephone, and for more than simple comment. Within days, computer + "bulletin boards" around the country were lit up with attacks on + NEWSWEEK's "Montana Wildhack" (a name I took from a Kurt Vonnegut + character), questioning everything from my manhood to my prose + style. "Until we get real good revenge," said one message from + Unknown Warrior, "I would like to suggest that everyone with an + auto-l modem call Montana Butthack then hang up when he answers." + Since then the hackers of America have called my home at least + 2000 times. My harshest critics communicate on Dragonfire, a + Gainesville, Texas, bulletin board where I am on teletrial, a + video-lynching in which a computer user with grievance dials the + board and presses charges against the offending party. Other + hackers -- including the defendant --post concurrences or + rebuttals. Despite the mealtime interruptions, all this was at + most a minor nuisance; some was amusing, even fun. + + . FRAUD: The fun stopped with a call from a man who identified + himself only as Joe. "I'm calling to warn you," he said. When I + barked back, he said, "Wait, I'm on your side. Someone has broken + into TRW and obtained a list of all your credit-card numbers, your + home address, social-security number and wife's name and is + posting it on bulletin boards around the country." He named the + charge cards in my wallet. + + . Credit-card numbers are a very hot commodity among some + hackers. To get one from a computer system and post it is the + hacker equivalent of making the team. After hearing from Joe I + visited the local office of the TRW credit bureau and got a copy + of my credit record. Sure enough, it showed a Nov. 13 inquiry by + the Lenox (Mass.) Savings Bank, an institution with no reason + whatever to ask about me. Clearly some hacker had used Lenox's + password to the TRW computers to get to my files (the bank has + since changed the password). + + . It wasn't long before I found out what was being done with my + credit-card numbers, thanks to another friendly hacker who tipped + me to Pirate 80, a bulletin board in Charleston, W.Va., where I + found this: "I'm sure you guys have heard about Richard Stza or + Montana Wildhack. He's the guy who wrote the obscene story about + phreaking in NewsWeek Well, my friend did a credit card check on + TRW . . . try this number, it' a VISA . . . Please nail this guy + bad . . . Captain Quieg. + + . Captain Quieg may himself be nailed. He has violated the + Credit Card Fraud Act of 1984 signed by President Reagan on Oct. + 12. The law provides a $10,000 fine and up to a 15-year prison + term for "trafficking" in illegally obtained credit-card account + numbers. His "friend" has committed a felony violation of the + California computer-crime law. TRW spokeswoman Delia Fernandex + said that TRW would "be more than happy to prosecute" both of + them. + + . TRW has good reason for concern. Its computers contain the + credit histories of 120 million people. Last year TRW sold 50 + million credit reports on their customers. But these highly + confidential personal records are so poorly guarded that + computerized teenagers can ransack the files and depart + undetected. TRW passwords -- unlike many others -- often print out + when entered by TRW's customers. Hackers then look for discarded + printouts. A good source: the trash of banks and automobile + dealerships, which routinely do credit checks. "Everybody hacks + TRW," says Cleveland hacker King Blotto, whose bulletin board has + security system the Pentagon would envy. "It's the easiest." For + her her part, Fernandez insists that TRW "does everything it can + to keep the system secure. + + . In my case, however, that was not enough. My credit limits + would hardly support big-time fraud, but victimization takes many + forms. Another hacker said it was likely that merchandise would be + ordered in my name and shipped to me -- just to harass me. I used + to use credit-card numbers against someone I didn't like," the + hacker said. "I'd call Sears and have a dozen toilets shipped to + his house." + + . Meanwhile, back on Dragonfire, my teletrial was going strong. + The charges, as pressed my Unknown Warrior, include "endangering + all phreaks and hacks." The judge in this case is a hacker with + the apt name of Ax Murderer. Possible sentences range from exile + from the entire planet" to "kill the dude." King Blotto has taken + up my defense, using hacker power to make his first pleading: he + dialed up Dragonfire, broke into its operating system and + "crashed" the bulletin board, destroying all of its messages + naming me. The board is back up now, with a retrial in full swing. + But then, exile from the electronic underground looks better all + the time. + diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/nighthac b/textfiles.com/news/nighthac new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5c072393 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/nighthac @@ -0,0 +1,204 @@ +NightHack : A Story about Hackers + +The word HACKER has taken on a new meaning recently. It used tomean an avid +computer user. But now it has taken to the likes (baically) of someone who uses +his computer to steal, alter, or misuse online data that is not theirs. Below is +a story obtained from a BBS and no author's name was given. But it is my +inference from reading the story that it was written by Montana Wildhack, the +Newsweek reporter who gained access to a hacking board, and then found himself +being harassed by hackers all over the country. (WE ARE NOT *POSITIVE* AS TO WHO +WROTE THIS. ASSUME IT IS ANONYMOUSLY WRITTEN!). The authors story.... + +The Night of the Hackers + + +As you are surveying the dark and misty swamp you come across what appears to be +a small cave. You light a torch and enter. You have walked several hundred +feet when you stumble into a bright blue portal... With a sudden burst of light +and a loud explosion you are swept into . . . DRAGONFIRE . . . Press Any +Key....if You Dare." + +You have programmed your personal computer to dial into Dragonfire, a computer +bulletin board in Gainesville, Texas. But before you get any information, +Dragonfire demands your name, home city and phone number. So, for tonight's +tour of the electronic wilderness you become Montana Wildhack of San Francisco. + +Dragonfire, Sherwood Forest, Forbidden Zone, Blottoland, Plovernet, The Vault, +Shadowland, PHBI and scores of other computer bulletin boards are hangouts of a +new generation of vandals. These precocious teenagers use their electronic +skills to play hide-and-seek with computer and telephone security forces. Many +computer bulletin boards are perfectly legitimate: they resemble electronic +versions of the familiar cork boards in supermarkets and school corridors, +listing services and providing information someone out there is bound to find +useful. But this is a walk on the wild side, a trip into the world of +underground bulletin boards dedicated to encouraging and making mischief. The +phone number for these boards are as closely guarded as a psychiatrist's home +telephone number. + + Some numbers are posted on underground boards; others are exchanged over the +telephone. A friendly hacker provided Dragonfire's number. Hook up and you see +a broad choice of topics offered. For Phone Phreaks -- who delight in stealing +service from AT&T and other phone networks. + + Phreakenstein's Lair is a potpourri of phone numbers, access codes and +technical information. For computer hackers -- who dial into other people's +computers -- Ranger's Lodge is chock-full of phone numbers and passwords for +government, university and corporate computers. Moving through Dragonfire's +offerings, you can only marvel at how conversant these teen-agers are with the +technical esoterica of today's electronic age. + + Obviously they have spent a great deal of time studying computers, though +their grammar and spelling indicate they haven't been diligent in other +subjects. You are constantly reminded of how young they are. "Well it's that +time of year again. School is back in session so let's get those high school +computer phone numbers rolling in. Time to get straight A's, have perfect +attendance (except when you've been up all night hacking school passwords), and +messing up you worst teacher's paycheck." + +Forbidden Zone, in Detroit, is offering ammunition for hacker civil war -- tips +on crashing the most popular bulletin-board software. There also are plans for + building black, red and blue boxes to mimic operator tones and get free phone +service. And here are the details for "the safest and best way to make and use +nitroglycerine," compliments of Doctor Hex, who says he got it "from my +chemistry teacher." Flip through the "pages." You have to wonder if this +information is accurate. Can this really be the phone number and password for +Taco Bell's computer? Do these kids really have the dial-up numbers for dozens +of university computers? + + +The temptation is too much. You sign off and have your computer dial the number +for the Yale computer. Bingo -- the words Yale University appear on your screen. +You enter the password. A menu appears. You hang up in a sweat. You are now a +hacker. + +Punch in another number and your modem zips off the touch tones. Here comes the +tedious side of all of this. Bulletin boards are popular. No vacancy in Bates +Motel (named for Anthony Perkin's creepy motel in the movie "Psycho"); the line +is busy. So are 221 B. Baker Street, PHBI, Shadowland and The Vault, Caesar's +Palace rings and connects. This is different breed of board. Caesar's Palace +is a combination Phreak board and computer store in Miami. This is the place to +learn ways to mess up a department store's anti-shoplifting system, or make free +calls on telephones with locks on the dial. Pure capitalism accompanies such +anarchy, Caesar's Palace is offering good deals on disc drives, software, +computers and all sorts of hardware. Orders are placed through electronic mail +messages. + +'Tele-Trial': Bored by Caesar's Palace, you enter the number for Blottoland, the +board operated by one of the nation's most notorious computer phreaks -- King +Blotto. This one has been busy all night, but it's now pretty late in Cleveland. +The phone rings and you connect. To get past the blank screen, type the +secondary password "S-L-I-M-E." King Blotto obliges, listing his rules: he must +have your real name, phone number, address, occupation and interests. He will +call and disclose the primary password, "if you belong on this board." If +admitted, do not reveal the phone number or the secondary password, lest you +face "tele-trial," the King warns as he dismisses you by hanging up. + + You expected heavy security, but this teenager's security is, as they say, +awesome. Computers at the Defense Department and hundreds of businesses let you +know when you've reached them. Here you need a password just to find out what +system answered the phone. + + Then King Blotto asks questions and hangs up. Professional computer-security +experts could learn something from this kid. He knows that ever since the 414 +computer hackers were arrested in August 1982, law-enforcement officers have +been searching for leads on computer bulletin boards. "Do you have any ties to +or connections with any law enforcement agency or any agency which would inform +such a law enforcement agency of this bulletin board?" + +Such is the welcoming message from Plovernet, a Florida board known for its +great hacker/phreak files. There amid a string of valid VISA and MasterCard +numbers are dozens of computer phone numbers and passwords. Here you also learn +what Blotto means by tele-trial. "As some of you may or may not know, a session +of the conference court was held and the Wizard was found guilty of some +miscellaneous charges, and sentenced to four months without bulletin boards." +If Wizard calls, system operators like King Blotto disconnect him. Paging +through bulletin boards is a test of your patience. Each board has different +commands. Few are easy to follow, leaving you to hunt and peck your way around. +So far you haven't had the nerve to type "C," which summons the system operator +for a live, computer-to-computer conversation. + + The time, however,has come for you to ask a few questions of the "sysop." You +dial a computer in Boston. It answers and you begin working your way +throughout the menus. You scan a handful of dial-up numbers, including one for +Arpanet, the Defense Department's research computer. Bravely tap C and in +seconds the screen blanks and your cursor dances across the screen. Hello . . . +What kind of computer do you have? Contact. The sysop is here. You exchange +amenities and get "talking." How much hacking does he do? Not much, too busy. +Is he afraid of being busted, having his computer confiscated like the Los +Angeles man facing criminal charges because his computer bulletin board +contained a stolen telephone credit card number? "Hmmmm ... No," he replies. +Finally, he asks the dreaded question: "How old are you?" "How old are YOU," +you reply, stalling. "15," he types. Once you confess and he knows you're old +enough to be his father, the conversation gets very serious. You fear each new +question; he probably thinks you're a cop. But all he wants to know is your +choice for president. The chat continues, until he asks, "What time is it +there?" Just past midnight, you reply. Expletive. "it's 3:08 here," Sysop types. +"I must be going to sleep. I've got school tomorrow." The cursor dances +"*********** Thank you for Calling." The screen goes blank. + +Epilog: +A few weeks after this reporter submitted this article to Newsweek, he found +that his credit had been altered, his drivers' licence revoked, and EVEN HIS +Social Security records changed! Just in case you all might like to construe +this as a 'Victimless' crime. The next time a computer fouls up your billing on +some matter, and COSTS YOU, think about it! + + + + +This is the follow-up to the previous article concerning the Newsweek reporter. +It spells out SOME of the REAL dangers to ALL of us, due to this type of +activity! + + + + + +The REVENGE of the Hackers + + + +In the mischievous fraternity of computer hackers, few things are prized more +than the veil of secrecy. As NEWSWEEK San Francisco correspondent Richard Sandza +found out after writing a story on the electronic underground's (DISPATCHES, +Nov. 12, 198\ ability to exact revenge can be unnerving. Also severe.... + Sandza's report: + +"Conference!" someone yelled as I put the phone to my ear. Then came a +mind-piercing "beep," and suddenly my kitchen seemed full of hyperactive +15-year-olds. "You the guy who wrote the article in NEWSWEEK?" someone shouted +from the depths of static, and giggles. "We're going disconnect your phone," one +shrieked. "We're going to blow up your house," called another. I hung up. Some +irate readers write letters to the editor. A few call their lawyers. Hackers, +however, use the computer and the telephone, and for more than simple comment. +Within days, computer "bulletin boards" around the country were lit up with +attacks on NEWSWEEK's "Montana Wildhack" (a name I took from a Kurt Vonnegut +character), questioning everything from my manhood to my prose style. "Until +we get real good revenge," said one message from Unknown Warrior, "I would like +to suggest that everyone with an auto-l modem call Montana Butthack then hang up +when he answers." Since then the hackers of America have called my home at +least 2000 times. My harshest critics communicate on Dragonfire, a Gainesville, +Texas, bulletin board where I am on teletrial, a video-lynching in which a +computer user with grievance dials the board and presses charges against the +offending party. Other hackers -- including the defendant --post concurrences +or rebuttals. Despite the mealtime interruptions, all this was at most a minor +nuisance; some was amusing, even fun. + + FRAUD: The fun stopped with a call from a man who identified himself only as +Joe. "I'm calling to warn you," he said. When I barked back, he said, "Wait, +I'm on your side. Someone has broken into TRW and obtained a list of all your +credit-card numbers, your home address, social-security number and wife's name +and is posting it on bulletin boards around the country." He named the charge +cards in my wallet. + +Credit-card numbers are a very hot commodity among some hackers. To get one +from a computer system and post it is the hacker equivalent of making the team. +After hearing from Joe I visited the local office of the TRW credit bureau and +got a copy of my credit record. Sure enough, it showed a Nov. 13 inquiry by +the Lenox (Mass.) Savings Bank, an institution with no reason whatever to ask +about me. Clearly some hacker had used Lenox's password to the TRW computers to +get to my files (the bank has since changed the password). It wasn't long before +I found out what was being done with my credit-card numbers, thanks to another +friendly hacker who tipped me to Pirate 80, a bulletin board in Charleston, +W.Va., where I found this: "I'm sure you guys have heard about Richard Stza or +Montana Wildhack. He's the guy who G diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/nighthak.txt b/textfiles.com/news/nighthak.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..4b3a5421 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/nighthak.txt @@ -0,0 +1,453 @@ + + The Night of the Hackers + + +As you are surveying the dark and +misty swamp you come across what +appears to be a small cave. You light +a torch and enter. You have walked +several hundred feet when you stumble +into a bright blue portal. . . With +a sudden burst of light and a loud +explosion you are swept into . . . +DRAGONFIRE . . . Press Any Key if +You Dare." + +You have programmed your personal +computer to dial into Dragonfire, a +computer bulletin board in +Gainesville, Texas. But before you +get any information, Dragonfire +demands your name, home city and phone +number. So, for tonight's tour of the +electronic wilderness you become +Montana Wildhack of San Francisco. + +Dragonfire, Sherwood Forest (sic), +Forbidden Zone, Blottoland, Plovernet, +The Vault, Shadowland, PHBI and scores +of other computer bulletin boards are +hangouts of a new generation of +vandals. These precocious teenagers +use their electronic skills to play +hide-and-seek with computer and +telephone security forces. Many +computer bulletin boards are perfectly +legitimate: they resemble electronic +versions of the familiar cork boards +in supermarkets and school corridors, +listing services and providing +information someone out there is bound +to find useful. But this is a walk on +the wild side, a trip into the world +of underground bulletin boards +dedicated to encouraging -- and making +-- mischief. + +The phone number for these boards are +as closely guarded as a psychiatrist's +home telephone number. Some numbers +are posted on underground boards; +others are exchanged over the +telephone. A friendly hacker provided +Dragonfire's number. Hook up and you +see a broad choice of topics offered. +For Phone Phreaks -- who delight in +stealing service from AT&T and other +phone networks . Phreakenstein's Lair +is a potpourri of phone numbers, +access codes and technical +information. For computer hackers -- +who dial into other people's computers +-- Ranger's Lodge is chock-full of +phone numbers and passwords for +government, university and corporate +computers. Moving through +Dragonfire's offerings, you can only +marvel at how conversant these +teen-agers are with the technical +esoterica of today's electronic age. +Obviously they have spent a great deal +of time studying computers, though +their grammar and spelling indicate +they haven't been diligent in other +subjects. You are constantly reminded +of how young they are. + +"Well it's that time of year again. +School is back in session so let's get +those high school computer phone +numbers rolling in. Time to get +straight A's, have perfect attendance +(except when you've been up all night +hacking school passwords), and messing +up you worst teacher's paycheck." + +Forbidden Zone, in Detroit, is +offering ammunition for hacker civil +war -- tips on crashing the most +popular bulletin-board software. +There also are plans for building +black, red and blue boxes to mimic +operator tones and get free phone +service. And here are the details for +"the safest and best way to make and +use nitroglycerine," compliments of +Doctor Hex, who says he got it "from +my chemistry teacher." + +Flip through the "pages." You have to +wonder if this information is +accurate. Can this really be the +phone number and password for Taco +Bell's computer? Do these kids really +have the dial-up numbers for dozens of +university computers? The temptation +is too much. You sign off and have +your computer dial the number for the +Yale computer. Bingo -- the words +Yale University appear on your screen. +You enter the password. A menu +appears. You hang up in a sweat. You +are now a hacker. + +Punch in another number and your modem +zips off the touch tones. Here comes +the tedious side of all of this. +Bulletin boards are popular. No +vacancy in Bates Motel (named for +Anthony Perkin's creepy motel in the +movie "Psycho"); the line is busy. So +are 221 B. Baker Street, PHBI, +Shadowland and The Vault, Caesar's +Palace rings and connects. This is +different breed of board. Caesar's +Palace is a combination Phreak board +and computer store in Miami. This is +the place to learn ways to mess up a +department store's anti-shoplifting +system, or make free calls on +telephones with locks on the dial. +Pure capitalism accompanies such +anarchy, Caesar's Palace is offering +good deals on disc drives, software, +computers and all sorts of hardware. +Orders are placed through electronic +mail messages. + +'Tele-Trial': Bored by Caesar's +Palace, you enter the number for +Blottoland, the board operated by one +of the nation's most notorious +computer phreaks -- King Blotto. This +one has been busy all night, but it's +now pretty late in Cleveland. The +phone rings and you connect. To get +past the blank screen, type the +secondary password "S-L-I-M-E." King +Blotto obliges, listing his rules: he +must have your real name, phone +number, address, occupation and +interests. He will call and disclose +the primary password, "if you belong +on this board." If admitted, do not +reveal the phone number or the +secondary password, lest you face +"tele-trial," the King warns as he +dismisses you by hanging up. You +expected heavy security, but this +teenager's security is, as they say, +awesome. Computers at the Defense +Department and hundreds of businesses +let you know when you've reached them. +Here you need a password just to find +out what system answered the phone. +Then King Blotto asks questions -- and +hangs up. Professional +computer-security experts could learn +something from this kid. He knows that +ever since the 414 computer hackers +were arrested in August 1982, +law-enforcement officers have been +searching for leads on computer +bulletin boards. + +"Do you have any ties to or +connections with any law enforcement +agency or any agency which would +inform such a law enforcement agency +of this bulletin board?" + +Such is the welcoming message from +Plovernet, a Florida board known for +its great hacker/phreak files. There +amid a string of valid VISA and +MasterCard numbers are dozens of +computer phone numbers and passwords. +Here you also learn what Blotto means +by tele-trial. "As some of you may or +may not know, a session of the +conference court was held and the +Wizard was found guilty of some +miscellaneous charges, and sentenced +to four months without bulletin +boards." If Wizard calls, system +operators like King Blotto disconnect +him. Paging through bulletin boards +is a test of your patience. Each +board has different commands. Few are +easy to follow, leaving you to hunt +and peck your way around. So far you +haven't had the nerve to type "C," +which summons the system operator for +a live, computer-to-computer +conversation. The time, however has +come for you to ask a few questions of +the "sysop." You dial a computer in +Boston. It answers and you begin +working your way throughout the menus. +You scan a handful of dial- up +numbers, including one for Arpanet, +the Defense Department's research +computer. Bravely tap C and in +seconds the screen blanks and your +cursor dances across the screen. + +Hello . . . What kind of computer +do you have? + +Contact. The sysop is here. You +exchange amenities and get "talking." +How much hacking does he do? Not +much, too busy. Is he afraid of being +busted, having his computer +confiscated like the Los Angeles man +facing criminal changes because his +computer bulletin board contained a +stolen telephone-credit-card number? +"Hmmmm . . . No," he replies. +Finally, he asks the dreaded question: +"How old are you?" "How old are YOU," +you reply, stalling. "15," he types. +Once you confess and he knows you're +old enough to be his father, the +conversation gets very serious. You +fear each new question; he probably +thinks you're a cop. But all he wants +to know is your choice for president. +The chat continues, until he asks, +"What time is it there?" Just past +midnight, you reply. Expletive. +"it's 3:08 here," Sysop types. "I +must be going to sleep. I've got +school tomorrow." The cursor dances +"*********** Thank you for Calling." +The screen goes blank. + + +Epilog: + +A few weeks after this reporter +submitted this article to Newsweek, he +found that his credit had been +altered, his drivers' licence revoked, +and EVEN HIS Social Security records +changed! Just in case you all might +like to construe this as a +'Victimless' crime. The next time a +computer fouls up your billing on some +matter, and COSTS YOU, think about it! + + +----------------------------------- + +This the follow-up to the previous +article concerning the Newsweek +reporter. It spells out SOME of the +REAL dangers to ALL of us, due to this +type of activity! + + + + The REVENGE of the Hackers + + +In the mischievous fraternity of +computer hackers, few things are +prized more than the veil of secrecy. +As NEWSWEEK San Francisco +correspondent Richard Sandza found out +after writing a story on the +electronic underground's (DISPATCHES, +Nov. 12, 198 ability to exact +revenge can be unnerving. Also +severe.... Sandza's report: + +"Conference!" someone yelled as I put +the phone to my ear. Then came a +mind-piercing "beep," and suddenly my +kitchen seemed full of hyperactive +15-year-olds. "You the guy who wrote +the article in NEWSWEEK?" someone +shouted from the depths of static, and +giggles. "We're going disconnect your +phone," one shrieked. "We're going to +blow up your house," called another. +I hung up. + +Some irate readers write letters to +the editor. A few call their lawyers. +Hackers, however, use the computer and +the telephone, and for more than +simple comment. Within days, computer +"bulletin boards" around the country +were lit up with attacks on NEWSWEEK's +"Montana Wildhack" (a name I took from +a Kurt Vonnegut character), +questioning everything from my manhood +to my prose style. "Until we get real +good revenge," said one message from +Unknown Warrior, "I would like to +suggest that everyone with an +auto-dial modem call Montana Butthack +then hang up when he answers." Since +then the hackers of America have +called my home at least 2000 times. +My harshest critics communicate on +Dragonfire, a Gainesville, Texas, +bulletin board where I am on +teletrial, a video-lynching in which a +computer user with grievance dials the +board and presses charges against the +offending party. Other hackers -- +including the defendant --post +concurrences or rebuttals. Despite the +mealtime interruptions, all this was +at most a minor nuisance; some was +amusing, even fun. + +FRAUD: The fun stopped with a call +from a man who identified himself only +as Joe. "I'm calling to warn you," he +said. When I barked back, he said, +"Wait, I'm on your side. Someone has +broken into TRW and obtained a list of +all your credit-card numbers, your +home address, social-security number +and wife's name and is posting it on +bulletin boards around the country." +He named the charge cards in my +wallet. + +Credit-card numbers are a very hot +commodity among some hackers. To get +one from a computer system and post it +is the hacker equivalent of making the +team. After hearing from Joe I +visited the local office of the TRW +credit bureau and got a copy of my +credit record. Sure enough, it showed +a Nov. 13 inquiry by the Lenox +(Mass.) Savings Bank, an institution +with no reason whatever to ask about +me. Clearly some hacker had used +Lenox's password to the TRW computers +to get to my files (the bank has since +changed the password). + +It wasn't long before I found out what +was being done with my credit-card +numbers, thanks to another friendly +hacker who tipped me to Pirate 80, a +bulletin board in Charleston, W.Va., +where I found this: "I'm sure you +guys have heard about Richard Stza or +Montana Wildhack. He's the guy who +wrote the obscene story about +phreaking in NewsWeek. Well, my +friend did a credit card check on TRW +. . . try this number, it' a VISA . +. . Please nail this guy bad . . . +Captain Quieg. + +Captain Quieg may himself be nailed. +He has violated the Credit Card Fraud +Act of 1984 signed by President Reagan +on Oct. 12. The law provides a +$10,000 fine and up to a 15-year +prison term for "trafficking" in +illegally obtained credit-card account +numbers. His "friend" has committed a +felony violation of the California +computer-crime law. TRW spokeswoman +Delia Fernandex said that TRW would +"be more than happy to prosecute" both +of them. + +TRW has good reason for concern. Its +computers contain the credit histories +of 120 million people. Last year TRW +sold 50 million credit reports on +their customers. But these highly +confidential personal records are so +poorly guarded that computerized +teenagers can ransack the files and +depart undetected. TRW passwords -- +unlike many others -- often print out +when entered by TRW's customers. +Hackers then look for discarded +printouts. A good source: the trash +of banks and automobile dealerships, +which routinely do credit checks. +"Everybody hacks TRW," says Cleveland +hacker King Blotto, whose bulletin +board has security system the Pentagon +would envy. "It's the easiest." For +her part, Fernandez insists that TRW +"does everything it can to keep the +system secure + +In my case, however, that was not +enough. My credit limits would hardly +support big-time fraud, but +victimization takes many forms. +Another hacker said it was likely that +merchandise would be ordered in my +name and shipped to me -- just to +harass me. I used to use credit-card +numbers against someone I didn't +like," the hacker said. "I'd call +Sears and have a dozen toilets shipped +to his house." + +Meanwhile, back on Dragonfire, my +teletrial was going strong. The +charges, as pressed my Unknown +Warrior, include "endangering all +phreaks and hacks." The judge in this +case is a hacker with the apt name of +Ax Murderer. Possible sentences range +from exile from the entire planet" to +"kill the dude." King Blotto has taken +up my defense, using hacker power to +make his first pleading: he dialed up +Dragonfire, broke into its operating +system and "crashed" the bulletin +board, destroying all of its messages +naming me. The board is back up now, +with a retrial in full swing. But +then, exile from the electronic +underground looks better all the time. + + ++------------------------------------- ++ END of COLOSSUS NEWSLETTER Issue 3, +Volume 1. Please upload to MANY +boards! ++------------------------------------- ++ + +(Chuck: Whew!) (Ed: My fingers cramped +again!) + + diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/nightlin b/textfiles.com/news/nightlin new file mode 100644 index 00000000..26d0bd70 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/nightlin @@ -0,0 +1,426 @@ + NIGHTLINE: FBI, PRIVACY, AND PROPOSED WIRE-TAPPING LEGISLATION + (Friday, May 22, 1992) + +Main Participants: + Ted Koppel (TK - Moderator) + Marc Rotenberg (MR - Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility) + William Sessions (WS - Director, FBI) + +TK: In these days of encroaching technology, when every transaction, +from the purchase of a tie to the withdrawal of twenty dollars from a +cash machine, is a matter of record, it may be surprising to learn +that technology has given us some added privacy. To find this new +boon, look at your telephone. It used to be fair game for wiretapping. +Done legally, that requires a court order. But that was the hard part. +For the price of a few pieces of wires and clips, human voices were +there for the eavesdropping. That's changing now. The advent of phiber +optics, of digital communication and encryption devices all mean that +what we say, what we transmit over the telephone lines, can't easily +be spied upon. Even if you could single out the one phone call among +thousands passing in a phiber optic cable, what you would hear would +be a hiss. Voices being transmitted in computer code. That's good +news for businesses, who fear industrial spies, and it's welcomed by +telephone users anywhere, who want to think that what they say into a +receiver is protected. But, it's bad news for those whose business it +is sometimes to eavesdrop. That includes law enforcement. As Dave +Marek reports, it's getting tougher to reach out and wiretap someone. + +DM: The explosion of new communications technology, e-mail upstaging +airmail, fax machines pushing prose into offices, homes, and even +automobiles, celluar phones that keep us in touch from anywhere to +everywhere, has created a confusing competition of services and +counter-services. + +(Unseen female voice answering telephone): Who is this please. + +(Heavy breathing unseen male caller): Why don't you guess? + +DM: Take that new telephone service called "caller ID." Already most +phone companies now offer a counter-service which blocks caller ID. +This is bad news if you're fighting off creep callers. But it's good +news if you want to block some 900 number service from capturing your +number on their caller ID screen, and the selling it off to some +direct marketing outfit. But today's biggest communications +controversy is about interception services. Tapping telephones used to +be so simple. + +(Film clips from commercial for adult 900 number and film clips of +wiretapping from film "Three Days of the Condor") with reporter's +voice-over. + +A snooper needed only a couple of alligator clips and a set of +earphones to hear what was being said. Today's telephones digitalize +chatter into computer code. Bundle all those infinitesimal ones and +zeros into flashes of light and don't reconstruct them into sound +again until just before the call reaches your ear. This has made phone +tapping much tougher. But still, according to Bell Atlantic executive +Ken Pitt (??): There's never yet been an FBI surveillance request a +phone company couldn't handle. + +KP: We have been able to satisfy every single request that they've +made, not only here at Bell Atlantic, but all across the country. + +DM: Still, when the FBI looks into the future, it sees trouble. It +sees criminals like John Gotti becoming able to shield their +incriminating conversations from surveillance and thereby becoming +able to defeat law enforcements best evidence. + +Clifford Fishman:: When you're going after organized crime, and the +Gotti case is a perfect example, the traditional techniques, visual +surveillance, the paper trail, trying to turn the people who are on +the inside, trying to infiltrate someone into the, uh, organization, +they all have built-in difficulties. Witnesses can be killed, they can +be bribed, they can be threatened. Ah, the most effective evidence +quite often that a prosecutor can have, the only evidence that can't +be discredited, that can't be frightened off, are tape recordings of +the suspects talking to each other, discussing their crimes together, +planning their crimes together, committing their crimes together. + +DM: As FBI Director William Sessions told a Congressional Hearing late +last month: + +WS: The technology must allow us access, and it must allow us to stay +even with what we now have. Else, we are denied the ability to carry +out the responsibility which the Congress of the United States has +given us. + +KP: One of the solutions they've asked for is the simple software +solution. + +DM: This would involve not tapping into individual phone lines, but +planting decoding software into: + +KP: ....The central offices where the telephone switching's done, +where the wires are connected to ((bad audio cut)) ...the computers, +and someone, the FBI is saying, "Let's do the switching, let's do the +wiretaps with the software." + +DM: This software solution is already in use. But communications +expert Marc Rotenberg says it could lead to future abuses of privacy +by creating a surveillance capability: + +Marc Rotenburg: ...which would allow the agent from a remote keyboard, +not in the phone system, not at the target's location, to punch in a +phone number and begin recording the contents of the communication. +That also's never been done in this country before. It's not too +different from what the STAZI (??) attempted to do in East Germany. +But the ((one word garbled)) for abuse there would be very hard. + +DM: Protecting the privacy of ordinary conversation isn't the only +issue at stake here. + +Janlori Goldman (ACLU): The privacy rights of ordinary citizens will +be put at risk if the FBI's proposal goes forward. Right now, all +kinds of very sensitive information is flowing through the +telecommunications network. A lot of routine banking transactions, +people are sending information over computer lines. ((One word +garbled)) will be communicating more over the network. And what is +happening is that as the private sector is trying to make systems less +vulnerable, to make them more secure, to develop encryption so that +these people don't have to worry about sending information through, if +the FBI's proposal goes forward, those systems will be at great risk. + +DM: Encryption, or putting communications into unbreakable code, +frightens the FBI and the super-secret National Security Agency, which +monitors communications of all kinds all around the globe. Like the +FBI, the NSA wants total access. And to assure it, the NSA wants to +limit all American companies to a communications' code system it can +break. Some people call that "turning back the clock." + +JG: What we're seeing is an FBI effort to require US industries to +basically reverse progress, and there's no way that international +companies will be following the U.S. trends in this area. If anything, +they will surpass us, they will go beyond us, and we will be out of +competiveness in the information market. + +DM: The competition to control and surveil communications spreads +across all the boarders on the planet and squeezes inside the flickers +that activate a computer's brain. But what makes both the big picture +and the little one so hard to focus is that the rules of the +surveillance game are always changing. Every time, a new +technological explosion makes new ways of snooping possible. I'm Dave +Marek for Nightline in Washington. + +TK: When we come back, we'll be joined by the Director of the FBI, +William Sessions, and by an expert in privacy law, Marc Rotenburg. + + ((COMMERCIAL)) + +TK: As Director of the FBI, William Sessions is the point man in the +lobbying effort to adjust new technologies so that his agency can +continue to use telephone wiretaps. Judge Sessions joins us in our +Washington studios. Also joining us in Washington is Marc Rotenburg, +the Director of the Washington Office of Computer Professionals for +Social Responsibility. Mr. Rotenburg, who teaches privacy law at +Georgetown University, says that the FBI proposal would invite use of +wiretaps. + +Judge Sessions, I'd like to begin on a more fundamental point. As you +understand better than most, the very underpinning of our system of +jurisprudence is that it's better to let a hundred guilty men go free +than to wrongfully convict one innocent man, so why should the privacy +of millions of innocents be in anyway jeopardized by your need to have +access to our telephone system? + +WS: Ted, I think that that question has been fundamentally answered by +the Congress back in 1968 with the Organized Crime Control and Safe +Streets Act, when it decided that it's absolutely essential for law +enforcement to have court ordered and court authorized access to ((two +words garbled)) privacy information normally private conversations, if +they involve criminal conduct. And the point is that unless you have +that access to criminal conversations, you cannot deal with it in a +law enforcement technique or a law enforcement method. Therefore, +it's essential that you have the ability to tap into those +conversations. So, privacy of that kind is not an issue. Criminality +is. + +TK: Although, what is currently the case, is that you would be +required on a case-by-case basis, to get a judge to give you +permission to do that. + +WS: That is absolutely correct. The United States District Judge, who +is the person authorized to actually give that consent, must be +convinced that it is absolutely necessary, and that the technique will +be properly used under the law. + +TK: If you have, therefore, the centralized capacity to do that, let's +say from FBI headquarters, doesn't that invite abuse? + +WS: There has been no suggestion that that would ever be contemplated +under any system. There are necessities of tapping phones that, in +connection with various criminal cases around the country, have many +different jurisdictions, from the east to the west. The point is that +a court would authorize the FBI, or other law enforcement agencies, to +have that access. + +TK: All right. Mr. Rotenburg, what then is the problem? What then is +different from the modality that the FBI uses these days? + +MR: Well, Mr. Koppel, I think the critical point, that the 1968 law +which Judge Sessions referred to, set down very strict procedures for +the conduct of wire surveillance. And the methods that come from +reading that history, the Congress was very much concerned about this +type of investigative method. They described it as an investigative +method of last resort. And it's for that reason that the wire +surveillance statute creates so many requirements. Now, the FBI has +put forward a proposal that would permit them to engage in a type of +remote surveillance, in other words, to permit an agent, with a +warrant, to presumably type in the telephone number to begin to record +a telephone conversation. That capability has not previously existed +in the United States, and I think that's the reason the proposal is so +troubling. + +TK: But, if this happens, still, under control of the judge, the +technical means of doing it may be somewhat changing, but as long as +the legality has not been changed, and the means by which the FBI gets +permission to do this kind of thing, why should that trouble us in +anyway? + +MR: Well, the two are closely related. Communications privacy is very +much about network security. It's about sealed pipes, and showing +that information can move through the network and not be intercepted +unlawfully by anyone who shouldn't have access to it. When you talk +about designing the network to facilitate wire surveillance, in a +sense to replace walls with doors that can be opened, you create new +opportunities for abuse, and I see this as a problem. + +TK: Judge Sessions, again, there is the argument that is made, and I +guess Mr. Rotenburg is one of the most eloquent proponents of this +argument, that the FBI doesn't want this particular breakthrough in +technology, that the FBI is taking a sort of Luddite philosophy here, +and saying if indeed communications can be so safeguarded against +intrusion, well that's just too darn bad. + +WS: Well, of course, as you noted, it is absolutely essential, the +essential ingredient is that there be a court authorization to kick +out that particular conversation that is authorized to be overheard, +authorized to be intercepted. And, so, the spectre that Mr. Rotenburg +raises does not exist in any shape or form in what we're proposing. +All we are proposing is that with the digital telephony capability, +that we be able to maintain the same capability that we've always had +under the Organized Crime Control and Safe Streets Act. That is, to +have access to that particular digital bit, or that particular +conversation, always under a court authorization with (two words +garbled). And as Mr. Rotenburg noted, very, very meticulously and +carefully followed by the courts with an insistence upon total +compliance with the law. That's all we seek. That is, to stay even and +to be able to have that necessary access under the law. + +TK: Has the FBI, in the past, Mr. Rotenburg, ever requested any kind +of technological assistance? I mean, they've always had to go to the +telephone company anyway, and say, "Help us get in." + +MR: Well, yes. And that's appropriate to an extent. The FBI, when +they're in possession of a lawful warrant, I think, can expect +assistance in execution of the warrant. The difference in the FBI +proposal that's now before the Congress is that the communications +service providers are going to need to design their systems with wire +surveillance in mind. And that's not been previously done. The +Congress of 1968 that Judge Sessions referred to purposely created an +"arms-length" relationship between the Bureau and the telephone +companies, and I don't think they wanted a situation to develop where +this system was being designed to facilitate wiretapping. + +TK: All right. We have to take a break, gentlemen, but when we come +back, let's discuss where it is in Congress right now, and where it is +likely to go next. We'll continue our discussion in a moment. + + ((COMMERCIAL)) + +TK: And we're back once again with Marc Rotenburg and FBI Director +William Sessions. Judge Sessions, what is it you're asking Congress? + +WS: What we want to be able to do is to maintain our capabilities to +actually access the digital bitstream that is in the digital telephony +capability. We're asking the Congress to give us a mechanism whereby +we can actually do that. I believe it will now be proposed that rather +than being through the Federal Communications System, it will be +actually through the Department of Justice, that it will, in fact, +allow that oversight to ensure that those companies that do in fact, +under that guidance, prepare us the capability, or give us the +capability, to access that digital stream in the digital telephonic +process. + +TK: Which you could access independently, without turning to the +telephone company. + +WS: We would be able to do it under a court order, and always under a +court order..... + +TK: ...I understand that. I'm just talking about, technologically +speaking, you would have the capacity to access it on your own without +assistance from the telephone company. + +WS: I would think that that would not be so, Mr. Koppel, because what +will happen is that it would be, normally the court would order the +telephone company to provide the access. + +TK: Again, Mr. Rotenburg, I don't quite understand what the difference +is. If the telephone company has the capacity to do that, then even +though...under the current law, presumably, the FBI would be able to +go to the telephone company if it has the right court order in hand +and say, "Give us access." + +MR: The difference, Mr. Koppel, is that currently agents either go to +the site where the target is and conduct a physical wiretap or they go +to the central exchange office of the telephone company and conduct a +tap there. There are other ways to do it as well, but for the most +part it involves physical access to the networks. The new proposal +speaks specifically about designing a remote surveillance or +monitoring capability. Now, that's a change. + +WS: That's because of the nature of the technology. The technology now +allows us simply to do exactly what he says.... + +MR: ....But that's not maintaining the status quo. That is a new +capability that you would get if the proposal goes forward. + +TK: Why should I, as an individual consumer of telephone, fax, +whatever the technology may be, why should I be concerned about that, +Mr. Rotenburg? + +MR: As I've said before, I think that this is the type of proposal +that's likely to invite abuse. It makes the network less secure. And +the other aspect of the proposal, which has also raised concerns, is +that it give the Department of Justice new authority to set standards +for communications of all kinds in this country. + +TK: May I turn it around for a moment? If I may, I think that what +you're suggesting is not that it makes it less secure, but that the +new technology makes it more secure than it has been in the past, and +the FBI wants to stay even. Would you argue with that? + +MR: It may make it more secure in the future. It's not clear what the +outcome will be, frankly, if you go forward with these changes that +the Bureau has proposed. + +WS: What I think you must remember is that when you're talking about +illegal access, you're talking about illegal conduct. That is, conduct +for which a crime can be charged. Therefore, if you had illegal +conduct anywhere, now or then, illegal use of the system, improper use +of the system, that is the basis of a criminal charge. + +TK: The easier the access, the easier the abuse, and the more +difficult it is to approve that abuse. Would you agree with that, +Director? + +WS: Well, the easier the access, it is still a matter of having access +under the law, under court-authorized permission, and that access, +whether it's on digital, or whether it's on, presently, analogue, that +access is what we seek to maintain. + +TK: I guess what I'm saying, Judge Sessions, is that there have been +enough instances of abuse over the past 25 or 30 years that people +become concerned about making it too easy for their law enforcement +operatives. + +WS: One of the things you see, Mr. Koppel, is when there is abuse or +failure to follow the techniques, it plays out in the courtroom. You +see it in the courtroom with the testimony that goes on that stand, +under oath, that describes a failure, if there is a failure, to carry +out the procedures under Title Three. So it's all in the court +processes. It is not hidden. And if there is an abuse, either the +wiretap evidence would not be allowed, or it would be weakened to that +extent, or, criminal charges would be brought if there's actually +illegal conduct. + +TK: Unless, of course, the wiretap evidence is used to acquire other +evidence, and the defense attorneys are not aware of the fact that the +wiretap evidence was used in the first place. + +WS: Well, there's always the "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree" philosophy. +That is, if you've illegally acquired at some point, done something +illegal, it may thereafter change that, it's not acceptable.... + +TK: ...I understand the philosophy Judge. What I'm saying is that if +you don't know that that has happened, if you don't know that the +other information has been acquired through the wiretap, and if the +wiretap is too easily controlled by the FBI, with or without, I mean, +if you have the physical capability of doing it, do you at least +concede the potential for abuse is greater than it would have been +before? + +WS: No, I really don't concede that at all, because now, if you have +endless numbers of ways that you could actually tap into the analogue, +it will be a much more secure system that you actually have, because +it will require special ways again. A special computer program that +will allow you to do that, that is designed to let you in, that is +court-authorized, court-approved, and specifically for that line, +specifically for that conversation, specifically for that purpose +and no other. + +TK: All right. Closing argument again, Mr. Rotenburg. + +MR: Well, it is simply the replacement of fixed walls with doors that +can be opened, and while it may be the case that some agents operating +operating with warrants will use that facility as it should be used, +it's clear the opportunities for abuse will increase. And I think all +these new problems for the Bureau as well. + +TK: New problems in the sense that, when Judge Sessions says you can't +bring it to court if it hasn't been done through proper procedures, +he's quite right obviously. + +MR: But it may not be the Bureau that we would be concerned about. It +may be people acting outside of any type of authority. For the last +several years, we've seen that the telephone network is increasingly +vulnerable, and this vulnerability plays out as new weaknesses are +introduced. + +WS: Well, I'd have to interject that with the new systems, with the +new technology, it would be far more secure and far less likely that +could happen, and if it does happen, again, the recourse is the +criminal charge for the improper criminal conduct in accessing that +information. + +TK: Judge Sessions. Mr. Rotenburg. Thank you both very much for being +with us. + +WS: Thank you Mr. Koppel. + +MR: Thank you, Mr. Koppel. + + ** END ** + + + diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/nsw-porn.txt b/textfiles.com/news/nsw-porn.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..29ef36df --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/nsw-porn.txt @@ -0,0 +1,113 @@ +From an article in the Herald, 16.8.90. + +ЪДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДї +і The following text was from an article in the іЬЬЬ +і New Zealand Herald on Thursday, August 16 1990 іЫЫЫ +АДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДЩЫЫЫ + ЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫЫ + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + FORGET HOMEWORK, COMPUTER KIDS DISCOVER ELECTRO-PORN + -======================================================- + By BEN HILLS writing in the + Sydney Morning Herald + + +It is getting on for midnight and the crack of light under young Danny's +bedroom door shows he is still up. You walk in, and there he is still +tapping away on his Amiga computer. Instead of watching television or +hanging out in the streets, he is hard at work on... + +The screen blacks out, then lights up with a spreadsheet of Australian +agricultural exports. Danny swings around on his chair, his finger still on +the dump button, and gives an innocent smile:"Sorry, mum,just got carried +away with this interesting homework..." + +"All right, just another 10 minutes." You shut the door, and give an +indulgent smile to your spouse. "It's just the best thing we ever bought +him." + +Back in the Bedroom, young Danny reboots his system and the image he was +really interested in coalesces on the screen. It is a naked couple - the real +thing, not a line drawing or cartoon animation. + +He takes his computer joystick in hand and manouvers the matching parts +into place, watching as his score clicks up for the number of +successful penetrations. + +AD 2001? No way. This is just a sample - and one of the more inoffensive +samples at that - of the sort of electronic pornography that is available to +now to any half-literate home computer hacker in Sydney. + Welcome to lovebytes - the censor's ultimate nightmare. + Sale of X-rated videos might be banned everywhere outside the Northern +Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. Imported films without a +Censorship Board classification might be illegal. States might have +restrictions on the display of explicit material, or its sale to under-18s. + +But for the cost of a local phone call, anyone with a home computer and a +modem can log into any one of hundreds of electronic bulletin boards - +preferably one which taps into an overseas network - and obtain a +memory-bank-full of material, some of which would bring a blush to the +cheek of the Marquis de Sade. + +Forget about Dungeons and Dragons, Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja +Turtles - the hottest games on the Sydney home computer hit parade this +winter have names like Party Games, McPlaymate, and Animal House. + +Twenty years ago, Marshall McLuhan said television would make the world a +village. Cheap, user-friendly computers have created the global brothel. + +Without much trouble, I arranged a meeting with a young man who preferred +to be known by his nom-de-modem of Crudd. I was shown a selection +which ranged from soft-core shots of Penthouse centrefolds to the latest La +Cicciolina movie (The Rise and Fallof a Roman Empress) to Animal House, +which features various unspeakable acts with dogs, donkeys and chickens, +to "interactive party games" in which the player(s) can compete. + +Most of the material is taken from an overseas network of bulletin boards +- there is much demand for the output of military installation in the +American Mid-West where bored computer operators create much of the +raunchier electro-porn. + +But, thanks to a $750 gadget known as a digitiser, a local cottage +industry has sprung up in do-it-yourself dirty discs. +"There's no control over it at all," says Crudd, who admits to having +embarrassed a girlfriend by using computer technology to graft her head on +to an explicit Penthouse chassis and transmit it to friends. + +The technology explosion that made this possible has left regulators +floundering in its wake. Most of the state vice squads contacted had not +heard of love-bytes - or (when it was explained) did not know whether they +were breaking any law. + +The first move to ban computer porn has come from a member of the ACT +Legislative Assembly, a self-styled broadminded former policecman named +Dennis Stevenson, leader (and sole member) of the Abolish Self Government +Party. + +Two weeks ago he tried, and failed by one vote, to legislate to ban the +booming trade in X-rated videos in Canberra, the national capital's biggest +export industry. + +Mr Stevenson says he was shocked at the material which his staff were +able to obtain with a cheap Amiga computer from bulletin boards around +Australia and overseas. + "I have a couple of printouts on my desk right now, and even though the +quality is not that good, you can see they are explicit ... not the sort of +stuff you'd want in the hands of 14 or 15-year-olds." + +He says computer pornography is worse than X-rated videos because:"The +kids don't need to use the family video. They can do it in the privacy of +their bedrooms ... anyone who knows how to use a computer and a modem can +obtain this stuff, and the parents wouldn't have a clue." + +But the matter of enforcement is, understandably, vague. Police raids on +home computers? Tapping the billions of bytes that flow down the +phone-lines? Restricting PC sales to those over 18? + "The first stept is obviously to make it illegal to sell or distribute +this material, and I intend to do this by reintroducingmy bill to ban +X-rated videos with a section including computer material. We will just +have to see where we go from there," he said. + + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/nzidcard.txt b/textfiles.com/news/nzidcard.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d1369b95 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/nzidcard.txt @@ -0,0 +1,226 @@ + + +From Computerworld, 1 April 1991. Typed in by The Bear... +I have spoken with Randall Jackson of Computerworld's Wellington office, +this story is NOT a hoax. + +PM'S TEAM GETS SET TO MOVE ON ID CARDS + +by Clive Mathew-Wilson + +The Government plans to introduce a National Identity Number scheme for +all New Zealanders by the end of next year, Computerworld sources say. + +The numbering system is likely to involve the use of a "smart" ID card. + +A team working on the project with the Prime Minister's office has yet +to announce its findings to Parliament, but it is understood it is the +format of the ID scheme, not the scheme itself, that is being debated. + +Usually reliable sources within Parliament suggest the ID scheme - +originally proposed by the International Monetary Fund - was already +part of Treasury's economic reform plans before the election, and that +it is being implemented virtually without change by the new Government. + +The first stage of implementation - data sharing between the Social +Welfare department and the IRD - is expected to take place shortly. + +It is understood that in place of any new common identity numbering +scheme, the issuing and control of IRD numbers will be tightened, and an +IRD number used in all relevant transactions throughout various +government departments. + +More than 1.7 million ID numbers are currently allocated to wage and +salary earners, and recent changes to tax laws require every bank +account to be tagged with an IRD number by 1992. + +This would, in effect, give every New Zealander a unique, computerised +serial number. + +It is believed the only real problems facing the ID card scheme are +those of computer power. + +Doubts have been raised over the ability of existing systems to cope +with the information-handling and storage needs of a National ID Card. + +The most likely scenario at present, entails a gradual phasing-in of +both the card and the information-matching based around it, starting +with data-matching between the huge Social Welfare and IRD computer +systems, which operate out of the same GCS installation at Trentham. + +One key target of the ID card is understood to be the public health +system. The computerised "smart" card, with its instant reference to a +person's income details, is to be used to target healthcare as the +public health system is wound down. + +If Computerworld's source is correct, a number of politicians and civil +servants appear to have been economical with the truth. + +Prime Minister Jim Bolger, while he was in opposition, undertook not to +introduce a common identification number system, despite a confirmation +by the IRD at the time that the IRD number was, in fact, such a system +already. + +Similarly, shortly before the elections last year Inland Revenue +Commissioner Dave Henry denied the IRD had plans to link its computer +systems with those of Customs, Births, Deaths and Marriages, Social +Welfare, Housing Corporation and ACC. Shortly after the election, plans +to link the Social Welfare and IRD computers were announced. + +The Australian Government, which failed dismally in its plans to launch +a national ID card, is understood to be watching the New Zealand +experiment with interest, pending a possible re-introduction of the +scheme in Australia in a somewhat different form. + +Civil liberties spokesperson Barry Wilson attacks what he terms a +"conspiracy of silence" over the issue. + +"When has there been any informed public debate over whether New +Zealanders need or want ID cards? The public, by and large, has been +completely ignored," he says. + +"New Zealanders voted against the ID card scheme when they dumped +Labour." + +Computerworld sought ministerial and IRD response on the issues, but +neither had answered our calls by press time. +EOF + + KIWICARD AND YOU + ---------------- + + New Zealand Privacy Foundation + PO BOX 3385 + AUCKLAND, NZ + + Phone (011649) 298-8651, (011649) 674-429 + + MEMBERSHIP $10 WAGED, $5 UNWAGED + + +KIWICARD AND YOU... + +In a pre-election speech Ruth Richardson said, "ID cards have got +all the trappings of Big Brother - I am a freedom loving New +Zealander." Jim Bolger said "National absolutely rejected any +proposal for a common numbering system between the two departments +[Inland Revenue and Social Welfare] or for identity cards." + +BROKEN PROMISES! + +Soon the data matching between these departments is to commence, and +the first Kiwicards, or Community Services Cards, as we are supposed +to call them, are to be sent to beneficiaries. + +THE GOVERNMENT TELLS US THE CARDS ARE VOLUNTARY, yet they are +automatically to be sent out to beneficiaries and pensioners. They +are needed to obtain free or subsidised health care and many +families are so hard pressed by job losses and benefit cuts that the +card will be a necessity. Each card has the CARDHOLDER'S NAME AND +IDENTIFICATION NUMBER. So much for that promise. + +THE CARDS HAVE A MAGNETIC STRIPE which Mrs Shipley states is never +to be read by a machine. If that is the case, why is it on the card? + +THEY ESTABLISH ENTITLEMENT TO SUBSIDISED HEALTH CARE BUT ARE NOT +SUFFICIENTLY SOPHISTICATED TO DO THIS ON THEIR OWN. The Minister of +Health has said that "up to five cards may be involved." The +obvious next step is to make the card "smart". How long do you +think it will take for the Government to break its promise not to +make it a "smart" card? Maybe they will keep that promise and give +the "smart" card another name. "Dumb" or "smart", and whatever it +is called, the Kiwicard still stinks. + + +QUESTIONS WE NEED TO ASK + +- Why are new cards being devised for health care when we already + have adequate existing systems? + +- Why was the legislation for the Kiwicard rushed through without + consultation with the public or a Parliamentary Select Committee + hearing? + +- Why are enormous amounts of money being spent on computer system + when these funds could be targeted to health care users? + +- If the Kiwicard is not to be extended to other fields, why is the + legislation authorising it worded to allow much more extensive use? + +- Why are there no safeguards against the misuse of the card by + Government agencies, such as the police, or by private enterprise? + +- There has been no formal cost-benefit analysis to assess a need + for data matching. It is likely to cost well in excess of half a + billion dollars and will bring unproven and unknown financial + return. How can this sort of expense be justified? + +- Although the card has been presented as a health entitlement card + for low income earners, it has been stated to be inadequate for + the task. A member of the Government "Change Team" told TV3 that + a "smart" national ID card is being planned for all New + Zealanders. The New Zealand Privacy Foundation believes that the + Kiwicard is the thin end of the wedge, paving the way for the + "smart" card. + + +AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE NEW ZEALND PRIVACY FOUNDATION + +- To act as a watchdog on privacy issues. + +- To put a stop to the Kiwicard (now known as Community Services + Card) and related erosions of personal privacy, including + information swapping between Government departments and proposals + to introduce "unique personal identifiers." + +- To oppose the development of surveillance systems that intrude + upon the rights and privacy of the indiviual, especially systems + of data matching, identification cards and unique numbering + systems. + +- To campaign and lobby for the protection of the individual against + privacy intrusion. + +- To educate New Zealanders and increase public awareness in + relation to the right of personal privacy and privacy issues. + +- To conduct research into privacy related issues and technologies. + + +JOIN THE NEW ZEALAND PRIVACY FOUNDATION: + +Send to : The Trustees + NEW ZEALAND PRIVACY FOUNDATION + PO BOX 3385 + AUCKLAND + +CONTACT PHONE NUMBERS : (09) 298-8651, (09) 674-429 + + +............................................................................... + +MEMBERSHIP FORM + +Please enrol me as a member of the New Zealand Privacy Foundation. + + +Name .......................................................... + + +Address .......................................................... + + .......................................................... + + .......................................................... + + +Phone ................................... + + +I enclose $ .......................... annual membership/donation + + (MEMBERSHIP $10 WAGED, $5 UNWAGED) + + + + diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/paranoia.pro b/textfiles.com/news/paranoia.pro new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ace7db1f Binary files /dev/null and b/textfiles.com/news/paranoia.pro differ diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/pbust.txt b/textfiles.com/news/pbust.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..9abbaebb --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/pbust.txt @@ -0,0 +1,32 @@ + PORTUGUESE PIRATES BUSTED BY POLICE + + + + Two young guys were busted last friday by the portuguese police. + + The investigation ended after a week. The police done domiciliary inves- +tigations in four houses and informatic material was captured by them, that +the experts investigated. + + The two guys are acused of carding, entering in a european network, +and capturing credit cards and then, and magnetizing the credit cards, +with one machine that they carded from the usa. The method they used was +deleting their credit cards and introducing the victims informations, that +they got from the european networks. + + The phraud was discovered in the initial phase when a envolved 10/20 of +citizens that noticed strange debits in their bancary accounts. + + Those young guys were the first to be busted by carding in Portugal. + + They are acused too of steel and then sell confidential information. + + The informatic 'experts' of the police investigated the computers, but +those guys teached them how to use their engine, and maybe something else. + + The police says that millions of escudos were phrauded. + + Signed: Dr.Kaos & Traderfox + + PS: This text is true, you can consult Diario De Noticias of 14th of July. + diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/pcomhck.txt b/textfiles.com/news/pcomhck.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..611dc71b --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/pcomhck.txt @@ -0,0 +1,228 @@ + + +Printed in Popular Communications November 1992 issue. +Page 4 +By Tom Kneitel, K2AES + + +You say that someone overheard your cordless telephone and +learned your bank account number? Ho boy! + +You claim that despite a federal privacy law your cellular +phone was monitored but someone who told your boss you said he +was a skinflint? Whoa, but who cares? + +You tell me that some 16 year old got your company computer's +security password from a BBS, then used it to open a $5000 +credit line charge account for himself? Hey, I'm all choked up. + +Every couple of years a few computer hackers get caught and +are written up in the newspapers. That triggers yet another round +of astonished revelations on the tabloid TV shows. the indignant +show hosts act mortified at learning some of the computer files +that hackers have been able to invade. This invariably includes +financial and educational records, court +and police information, scientific data, and national defense +data. + +This ritual of hacker discovery takes place regularly every +two or three years. Each time it's as if none of these +practices had ever before been made known to the public. +We are asked to have limitless pity for those poor owners of +those computers whose private and sacred data has been +ruthlessly violated at the hands of marauding cyberpunks +with their evil computers. + +Another round of this drivel appears to be in progress now. I +recently saw a replay of the entire scenario right down to +Geraldo Rivera on TV discussing computer hackers. With a face +of stony seriousness, it was as if he had personally +discovered the first young hacker ever captured alive and +forced to confess his many sins in front of a TV camera. +Personally, I thought the hacker came across a lot better than +did Geraldo. + +Despite this continuing negative public relations campaign to keep +the world living in dread fear of hackers, I'm still not +sold on the need to immediately sign up for the tar and +feather brigade. In fact, methinks I smell a red herring. +I'm beginning to suspect that all of this medial coverage +consists of nothing mote than the chintziest possible way of +finding convenient scapegoats to blame for the failure of the +nation's data security systems. + +Somewhere along the line someone forgot that it's the +responsibility of those wanting security to sufficiently +upgrade their own technology to the point where it works. The +Primary responsibility for providing computer security can't +be relegated to third parties on the basis of expecting they +will offer security simply by ignoring the tempting and easily +accessible data because they are told it's "illegal" to +access, and because they should realize that it's not nice to +snoop. + +That logic doesn't wash. That system of security can't work. +Why should it work for those seeking security for their +computerized data? + +In the July '92 issue of U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, +there was a feature on C4I by Robert David Steele, Assistant +Chief of Staff (in charge of C4I- command , control, +communications, computer, and intelligence) at Headquarters, +U.S. Marine Corps. He stated "The inherent danger in a +necessary but risky strategy of reliance on commercial +communications and computer equipment-to transmit much of our +operational logistics, personnel, and even intelligence +information. around the globe- exacerbates the targeting-data +and mapping shortfalls. The Marine Corps is off the limb and +out in free fall when it comes to vulnerability to our C4I +links...Our reliance on commercial satellites and ground +switching stations leaves us wide open to total shutdown of +our communications, and complete penetration of our +administrative and logistics computer systems by any skilled +hacker." He noted that this was the weakest and most +neglected, C4I link in the Marine Corps. + +The man spelled it out very well. If commercial +telecommunications landlines, satellites and other facilities +are to be relied upon, then they can be penetrated by skilled +hackers. + +And have you noticed that the majority of skilled hackers you +learn about from the media are young adults or even teen age +hobbyists using home computers? Some of these hackers are +benign and merely curious, others just like the challenge of +seeing how many systems they can invade. Sure, there are also +pranksters, plus a sprinkling of those who are truly +malicious. The media seldom mentions the really dangerous +professional computer security violators-those involved in +industrial espionage , or who work for foreign governments, +international drug cartels, terrorist groups, and organized +crime. Nevertheless, benign or malevolent, hobbyist or +professional, all who snoop through presumed secure computers +have the potential to steal, modify, or destroy all kinds of +data. That this can still so easily be accomplished seems rather +astonishing at this point. + +Underground BBS's offering information on these techniques are +popular and known to all who wish to seek out the information. + +The data in the computers that hackers are accused of +accessing is just sitting there. It's tempting, tantalizing, +juicy, ripe and practically crying out to be called up. To +some amateurs and computer hobbyists, this is what amounts +to an "attractive nuisance", similar to a swimming pool of a +high tension electric tower. Attractive nuisances are +potentially dangerous, but desirable and easily accessible +things that require a fence or other security measures, lest +the owner be declared negligent. Every individual, industry, +and government entity is responsible when they create and +maintain an attractive nuisance. They can post all of the "No +Trespassing" signs they want, but they still must have +safeguards such as fences. If their safeguards are violated, +the owner of the attractive nuisance can still be considered +to have been less than diligent in keeping out intruders. The +intruder may be only minimally held responsible for getting +through. + +Somehow, though, the communications industry is unique in that +it gets off the hook with being responsible for its many +attractive nuisances. A "No Trespassing" sign is hung up, and +intruders are considered to be in the wrong after that. + +Common sense dictates that those wanting or needing real +security have no right to fall back upon low tech public +access telecommunications systems, then cry "foul" when the +security systems don't work for them. This includes all +categories of governmental users, including the military. +Maybe they'll have to hang up and use circuits closed to the +public. + +Those business firms, universities, government entities, and +others who demand tight security but need to or elect to +remain connected to the public access telecommunications +system are going to have to get better security advice, and +more efficient programs. Don't want to? Then they can and +will continue to have their data exploited by outsiders. They +must tolerate it without complaining. + +It's hard for me to have very much pity for multi-million +dollar companies, or the federal government when I hear about +their broached computer security. Not when I learn that it +can be zapped by a hobbyist with a personal computer and a +program that was downloaded from a BBS. I don't quite go so +far as those hackers who claim that they're performing a +public service by pointing out the security loopholes in +computer security systems. The main service they are +performing is in embarrassing those folks in charge of +computer security. This is a service that is hardly +appreciated, and is undoubtedly what has sparked their +hilarious and hysterical media diversionary blitz and +smokescreen on the evils of hackers + +My own policy on cellular and other comms has been that if you +want privacy, it's solely your responsibility to assure that +you take whatever steps are required to cause your system to +be secure from outside interception. The responsibility can't +be effectively dumped onto third parties either by +legislation or by appeals to public ethics and good-will. So +let it also be with the data stored in computers. + +I'm not an advocate for computer hackers, or for hacking- +quite obviously some of it has resulted in damage to and theft +of data. But let's be at least a little fair bout this +ridiculous media overkill relating to amateur hackers. How +about sharing some of the blame by shifting the complete focus +off the hackers? Let's also see groups of these inept and +impotent computer security experts dragged out in front of the +tabloid TV cameras to own up to the public about their total +inability to protect data about you and I, and on national +defense, stored in and exchanged between public access +computers. + +How about asking financial institutions, business, and +governmental agencies to explain why the data they are +supposed to be holding in trust? And, forgetting about the +hobbyists, let them admit to the potential threat to their +stored data from terrorist groups, foreign governments, +organized crime, and other high powered professional operations. +Nobody wants to talk about any of these things. If the public +ever learned the real threats to stored data, they would no +longer be too worried about amateur and hobbyist hackers. + +Hobbyist hackers have been around for more than a decade. +It's really time now to stop the crocodile tears for the +government and big companies that get their data rifled by an +image of *Billy Whizbang* and his souped up *Commodore 64*. +If companies and agencies are so stupid and lazy that they +still can't protect important and vital data, then what they +deserve is our anger and derision, not public pity. The +public, in turn, needs some real answers instead a of a lot of +garbage blaming it all on teenage hackers. + +Fifty years ago, young people reacted to attractive nuisances +by swimming in a neighbors's pool while the people were on +vacation. Or they stole the bell from the town church. +Today, maybe they are into computer hacking instead. These +are bright and creative people-let's not forget that. One the +one hand, people complain young people wrecking their brains +on drugs and loud rock music. Hobbyist hackers are young +people who aren't spending money on drugs and rock CD's +(typist's note...I have a LOT of rock CD's). Take your choice. + +We aren't condoning computer hacking. Certainly the practice +must be monitored and discouraged until the computer industry +can find some people intelligent enough to devise valid +security systems. But we should be mindful that in a few +years, these young hackers are the bright people who will be +on the cutting edge of developing future technologies. +Instead of getting bent all out of shape about their +undirected curiosity, let's think about trying to channel +their talents and interests into more constructive +directions! In all fairness, we can't allow the inept +computer security industry make them sound too evil when, +after all, hackers are (at worst) no more than a small part of +the computer security problem. + +Retyped for your pleasure by BMO (scanners? BAH!) + diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/phrack.txt b/textfiles.com/news/phrack.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b90afdb4 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/phrack.txt @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ + +MISSOURI MAN PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO +CHARGES OF CRACKING 911 SYSTEM + + (Feb. 17) + A 19-year-old University of Missouri +has pleaded not guilty to federal +charges he invaded the 911 emergency +phone network for nine states, then +passed along stolen information in an +electronic publication. + Craig Neidorf was indicted earlier +this month along with Robert J. Riggs, +20, of Decatur, Ga. They are charged +with interstate transportation of stolen +property, wire fraud and violations of +the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act +of 1986. + As reported earlier, prosecutors +allege the two used computers to enter +the 911 system of Atlanta's Bell South +and copied the program that controls and +maintains the system. The stolen +material then allegedly was published on +a computer bulletin board system +operating in the Chicago suburb of +Lockport. Authorities contend Neidorf +edited the data for an electronic +publication known as "Phrack." + Associated Press writer Sarah Nordgren +reports that at a hearing Thursday, +assistant US Attorney William Cook was +granted a motion to prevent the 911 +program from becoming part of the public +record during the trial. US District +Judge Nicholas Bua set April 16 as the +trial date. + The 911 system in question controls +emergency calls to police, fire, +ambulance and emergency services in +cities in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, +Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, North +Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. + +Downloaded From P-80 Systems 304-744-2253 diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/piratpub.hac b/textfiles.com/news/piratpub.hac new file mode 100644 index 00000000..59a59791 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/piratpub.hac @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ + THE SOUTH POLE..........[312] 677-7140 + ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: + -DATELINE MAY 14, 1983 + -FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE + + "PUBLISHER PIRATES PUBLISHER?" + ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: + + + AVANT-GARDE, THE EUGENE, OREGON-BASED PUBLISHER OF SOMETIMES OFFBEAT APPLE +SOFTWARE, WAS EMBARRASSED RECENTLY BY THE DISCOVERY THAT THEIR MOST RECENT +CREATION, "TRIPLE ARCADE INSANITY", CONTAINS CLEAR EVIDENCE THAT THE PROGRAMS +WERE WRITTEN USING PIRATED SOFTWARE. THE DISK CONSISTS OF THREE ARCADE-STYLE +GAMES WRITTEN WITH A COPYRIGHTED GAME-WRITING UTILITY PROGRAM CALLED "THE +ARCADE MACHINE" FROM BR0DERBUND SOFTWARE INC, OF SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA. +ALTHOUGH AVANT-GARDE'S PRODUCT PACKAGING STATES THAT THE PROGRAMS WERE DESIGNED +USING BR0DERBUND'S UTILITY, EACH OF THE THREE GAMES CONTAINS A MENU WHICH IS +PART OF AN ALTERED VERSION WIDELY CIRCULATED AMONG APPLE "PIRATES". + + THE UTILITY'S NORMAL MENU CONTAINS EIGHT OPERATIONS TO BE PERFORMED ON THE +GAME UNDER DEVELOPMENT. APPARENTLY DISSATISFIED WITH THE RESTRICTED MENU, +WHICH ALLOWS THE GAME TO BE SAVED ONLY ON A DISK WITH A COPY-PROTECTED FORMAT, +A WELL-KNOWN EXPERT IN SOFTWARE "UNPROTECTION" (OR "KRACKIST", AS THEY PREFER +TO BE CALLED) MADE SUBSTANTIAL ALTERATIONS TO THE PROGRAM. NOT ONLY WAS THE +COPY PROTECTION REMOVED FROM THE DISK, BUT A NINTH MENU ENTRY WAS ADDED WHICH +ALLOWS THE DEVELOPED GAME TO BE STORED AS AN APPLE DOS BINARY FILE ON A +NORMALLY-FORMATTED DISK. + + WHAT THE GAMES' AUTHOR, BRAD POSEN, APPARENTLY DID NOT KNOW WAS THAT WHEN A +GAME IS STORED, OR "SAVED", WITH THE ADDED FEATURE, THE INCRIMINATING +NINE-CHOICE MENU IS SAVED WITH IT. THUS, EACH COPY OF THE DISK DISTRIBUTED BY +AVANT-GARDE ADVERTISES THE ILLICIT SOURCE OF ITS GENERATION. PROBABLY EQUALLY +EMBARRASSING IS THE PRESENCE OF AN APPLE II "SCREEN" IN ONE OF THE PROGRAMS +WHICH CONTAINS A CATALOG LISTING OF SEVERAL "BROKEN" AND PIRATED APPLE PROGRAMS +SUCH AS GEBELLI SOFTWARE'S "HORIZON V", SIERRA ON-LINE'S "CANNONBALL BLITZ", +AMONG OTHERS. + + IT WOULD APPEAR THAT AVANT-GARDE, IN A RUSH TO CASH IN ON SOME RELATIVELY +UNIMAGINATIVE ARCADE GAMES, COPIED AND DISTRIBUTED THE ENTIRE DISK SUBMITTED BY +WHAT MUST BE A YOUNG, NAIVE AUTHOR. IN SO DOING, THEY HAVE INADVERTANTLY +EXPOSED AN AMUSING IRONY--ONE PUBLISHER GAINING VIA THE ILLEGAL USE OF ANOTHER +PUBLISHER'S COPYRIGHTED PRODUCT. IT IS WIDELY KNOWN BY MAJOR SOFTWARE +PUBLISHERS THAT PIRATED COPIES OF SUCH DEVELOPMENT UTILITIES ARE WIDELY +DISTRIBUTED, AND PROBABLY FREQUENTLY USED FOR THE GENERATION OF COMMERCIAL +SOFTWARE, BUT THIS EPISODE MARKS THE FIRST PUBLIC CONFIRMATION OF THE FACT. +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= + +Call The Works BBS - 1600+ Textfiles! - [914]/238-8195 - 300/1200 - Always Open + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/prank.txt b/textfiles.com/news/prank.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5d2f96d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/prank.txt @@ -0,0 +1,245 @@ +File: MERRY PRANKSTERS-WOZNIAK&JOBS + Read 11 times + + -=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=- + - MERRY PRANKSTERS - + = InfoWorld -- October 1, 1984 = + - By Allan Lundell & Geneen Marie Haugen - + = Word Processed for SF][ by BIOC Agent 003 = + -=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=- + + ------------------------------------------------------- + Jobs and Wozniak unearth the secrets of phone phreaking + ------------------------------------------------------- + + The year was 1971. Two silent figures were observing the entrances to SLAC, +the complex that housed the Stanford Linear Accelerator. With one of the +newest, shiniest atom smashers in the world, the SLAC facility at Stanford +University was a physicist's dream -- a center for investigation into the most +basic elements of reality. + + But the two observers were not interested in the nature of reality. Racing +to a side entrance, they snuck past the SLAC security patrols and entered the +high-technology library. They knew their way around, having visited the SLAC +facility several times before. It was always exciting to break in; there was +no limit to the information they could absorb. + + This time, however, they were on a specific mission. Thumbing through a +document on multifrequency telecommunications systems, Steve Wozniak whispered +to his friend, Steve Jobs. + + "This is it! This matches the frequencies in Esquire exactly! With this +information, we can build one!" + + The future creators of the Apple II computer pulled out their pens and +notebooks, scribbling data almost faster than a high-speed line printer. This +was no minor treasure. They had unearthed some of the secrets of the little +blue box, topic of the infamous Esquire article on phone phreaks by Ron +Rosenbaum. [Esquire article on-line -- parts I - VI - SF Phreak L2 (9)] + + The blue box was the magical device needed to enter and exercise control +over the world's phone system -- the world's electronic nervous system. And +now the two Steves had the access codes. + + Days of intensive effort followed, until they held their first model, with +wires and coils spilling out, to the phone and punched the secret codes. After +many exasperating failures, the phone rang a long-distance number. Someone +answered.... + + Jobs yelled out to the person on the line: "Hello! We've got a blue box, +and we are calling you from California! Where are you located?" + + A little confused, their first planetary contact yelled back: "I'm in Los +Angeles!" + + The boys needed help. Now that they knew the Esquire story was truth and +not fiction, they imagined its hero, Cap'n Crunch, must be real, too. The two +Steves put out the word through the underground that they wanted to meet him. + + It was some meeting. The infamous Cap'n had named himself after Cap'n +Crunch breakfast cereal when he'd discovered that their free bos'n whistle +produced a fundamental tone for long-distance calls. He also found out other +phone intelligence information he needed from Bell System publications and by +making himself obnoxious at the Bell switching offices. Cap'n Crunch was +charting the unkown seas of the phone system with the true "Star Trek" spirit +of seeing what there was, going where no man has gone before, and having fun +doing it. + + Woz had imagined Crunch to be a superengineer, a consultant to the computer +industry, an ultragenius driving a van equipped to do everything but fly -- a +hybrid version of James Bond, the Man from U.N.C.L.E., and the professor on +"Gilligan's Island." but at this first meeting in the Berkeley dorms ol' Woz +did a double take. Standing before him was, well, a madman. With long frizzy +hair, the Crunch was wild-eyed and almost toothless, to boot, like a pirate +from the seven seas. + + Cap'n Crunch launched immediately into his discoveries. After many hours +had passed, Wozniak and Jobs knew how to access different countries, overseas +information operators, satellites, and transoceanic cables. + + Woz and Jobs were handed an opportunity to test out their newfound knowledge +late that night. On their way to Jobs' house in Silicon Valley, the car died +out near a phone booth in the town of Hayward. They tried to beep their way +back to Berkeley with their trusty blue box, but Woz had trouble making the +connection. He was getting very nervous trying to "explain" to the operator +what he was doing, when a police car pulled up and slammed on the brakes, +lights flashing. The office sauntered over to the phone booth, and the two +Steves knew they had been tricked by the operator. The officer, trained in the +ways of criminals caught in the act, shifted his attention to some nearby +bushes -- thinking the boys had thrown something in them. In this instant, +Jobs passed the blue box to Woz, who quickly shoved it in his coat pocket. + + Brave move. But to no avail: The officer routinely searched both and +liberated them of their new tool. The officer randomly pushed buttons, and the +blue box responded: bleep, bleep, blup, bloop! + + "What's this?" he demanded. + + Woz took a chance: "I-it's a m-m-music synthesizer, officer." + + Another police officer arrived and started trying to figure the thing out. +He grilled them: "What's the orange button?" + + "That's for calibration," Jobs said. "It's designed to interface with a +computer." + + The two boys were escorted into the back of the patrol cruiser. Feeling +doomed, they were beginning to realize that being a pioneer and a prankster had +its risks. Then the cop with the box turned around from the front seat and +handed them the blue box, saying, "A good idea, but a guy named Moog beat you +to it...." + + There is probably no one in the computer industry who has not heard of Steve +Wozniak and Steve Jobs. A lot of people in the industry have heard of John +Draper, alias Cap'n Crunch, and a lot of people haven't. But probably everyone +in the industry -- probably everyone in Western society -- knows someone like +them: The guy with the ham radio next door. The kid down the street who +crashed his school's computer from home. The hacker in the office across the +hall who's always tampering with everyone else's files. They all seem to be +propelled by some inborn drive to do what few -- if any -- can do or have done. + + These are the brethren of the high-tech frontier, the would-be merry +pranksters of computerdom. The brethren break new ground, thinking the +unthinkable, charting the unknown. Wherever their minds go, we will all go -- +eventually. No one holds the future so much in their hands as the pioneers of +today's supertechnology. Thank God, they've got a sense of humor. + + In the formative years of the brethren, before they'd settled on a field of +specialization, when they were young and unconsciously adventurous, they were +unaware of the strength of the cultural rules. for some of them, a +prankstering spirit could mean disaster, but Woz and Jobs seemed to live an +almost magical existence beyond the law and trouble. After mastering the blue +box, they organized blue-box parties at the Berkeley dorms. Once a week, with +an audience of 20 or 30 people, they held demonstrations. They'd call +operators in other countries and go around the world by switching from an +operator in one country to an operator in another. Finally a phone would ring +in the dorm room next door. Someone would pick up and hear Woz's voice coming +from around the world. + + They'd call Dial-A-Joke in New York (Woz subsequently started his own +dial-a-joke service), weather numbers in Australia, phone booths in Cape Town, +bars in Ireland, all amplified so the entire audience could hear. Before the +night was through, everyone in the room would talk to some friend or relative +in another country -- all for free, all for fun. Woz was always thinking +up fantastic feats for the Berkeley Blue Box Show. Everyone loved him, and he +loved being the star. Before long he was calling himself Berkeley Blue and had +an almost professional routine. When whe was finished blowing away the +audience, Blue's partner Jobs, code-named "Oct Tobor," would step in and offer +shiny new blue boxes for sale -- guaranteed at a low, low price of $80. Shades +of things to come.... + + Woz and Jobs didn't just hand-wire their boxes. Woz created them with +state-of-the-art technology and laid them out on personally designed printed +circuit boards. This was a professional operation, a miniature high-technology +company, complete with product, sales, service, and support. Woz immersed +himself in the tech, Jobs collected the money. Those boys sold more than two +hundred boxes and lived off the revenues for an entire school year. + + A charmed life, some might say. But then the blue-box luck ran out. One +night Woz and Jobs stopped at a pizza parlor practically next door to Woz'a +elementary school in the Silicon Valley town of Sunnyvale. They were on their +way to Berkeley to sell a blue box, but they need some money right away and +thoght they might save themselves the trip by selling it in Sunnyvale. Almost +eeryone feels safe in a familiar haunt in his hometown, and Jobs and Woz were +no exception. Chewing their pizza, they surveyed the customers at the other +tables. The families were out of the question. So were the tables full of +teenagers. + + But there were some really disreputable-looking characters at another table +who looked as if they might be able to put the blue box to good use. Feeling +confident, Wozniak and Jobs approached the table and had a low conversation +about the merits of the box. Were they interested? They were interested all +right. And they were hooked after they watched the demonstration. They didn't +have the money right then, so they took Woz and Jobs out to their car under the +pretext of giving them their business card. + + The only problem was that the business card was a gun. That blue box +changed ownership pretty fast, and the shady characters drove off. They had +the box -- but they didn't know how to use it, and Woz and Jobs never told +them. The secrets of Cap'n Crunch were safe. + + In 1974, Cap'n Crunch, aka John Draper, was busted for blue-boxing. For the +second time. By federal, state, and local authorities. Fraud by wire was the +charge. He had already spent six months in a federal penitentiary in +Pennsylvania. The second time, he was sent to Lompoc -- a federal pen in +California. + + The likable yet unfortunate Cap'n. How could he have know when he learned +how to make free long-distance calls from blind kids who whistled their +frequencies into the phone, that he'd do time? How could he have know that the +Cap'n Crunch cereal that inspired the blue box would lead to this? How could +he have know when he blue-boxed his way to Nixon's bedside to inform the +president of the nation's toilet paper crisis that he might end up in the +slammer? + + In Lompoc an inside informer for the Mafia broke [the Cap'n's] back when he +refused to impart the secrets of the blue box. That was the end of Cap'n +Crunch but not of John Draper -- a man described by Wozniak as being wanted by +the FBI because he was "too intelligent." If Draper hadn't been made such a +folk hero by the press, it might not have gone badly for him. Then again, his +final stay in jail led him to computer fame and fortune. It was while he was +in a work program that he wrote Easy Writer, the first professional-style word +processing program for the Apple. + + A couple of years later, IBM was looking around for software to bundle with +its PC. By that time, there were better packages than Easy Writer, but someone +at IBM had a sense of humor. IBM asked Draper and his new software company, +Cap'n Software, to design and program this now classic word processing package +for its first entry into the personal computer market -- an irony not lost on +those familiar with his bouts with AT&T. + + After their brushes with the dark side of the force, John Draper, Stephen +Wozniak, and Steve Jobs got a whole lot smarter. They wised up to some of the +mysterious workings of the power structures. They lost their innocence, but +they gained something else. + + Wozniak and Jobs struck it rich early in the Silicon Rush. They made +history with their Volkswagen-like Apple II. John Draper became wealthy enough +to drive a Mercedes-Benz through the streets of Berkeley with his first release +of Easy Writer for the Apple II. + + New fortunes are still being made regularly in Silicon Valley, if not as +often as they once were. And empires that once were, already are no longer. +A new crop of microcomputer genius-pranksters is making headlines. Their +exploits have inspired movies and a television show. As technology's first +wave of pranksters comes of age, they are shifting their curiosity to things +that are, as Wozniak explains, "creative and useful." But they're still doing +things that few -- if any -- have done. Wozniak sponsored live satellite +linkups with the Soviet Union at his outdoor musical US Festivals. Draper is +masterminding a vast artificial intelligence network. Some of the others early +pioneers are funding private space programs. Some are pursuing medical +applications such as life extension. Others are entering the arena of +politics. + + In the realm of genius-pranksters and supertechnology, just about anything +is still possible. + + Putting the most powerful tools into the hands of individuals with +creativity, integrity, and courage is bound to have awesome consequences. When +the real whiz kids get together to conspire, they create not simply pranks, but +miracles... <> + +[Courtesy of Sherwood Forest ][ -- (914) 359-1517] + +-----End of File + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/press.txt b/textfiles.com/news/press.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..2ebf574c --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/press.txt @@ -0,0 +1,110 @@ + + How To Talk To The Press by Johnny Mnemonic + Excerpt from Computer underground Digest 4.45 (23-Sep-92) + +((It was rumored that, immediately after his appearance on +an NBC news show, that John (Cap'n Crunch) Draper was +released from his job for reasons of fiscal expediency. +Whether true or not, this seems like a good time to reprint +Mike Godwin's advice on "How to Talk to the Press" for those +who are in the rolodexes of media folk)). + +This is a file I posted to an Austin BBS back when I gave the SJG +story to the local papers. + + 104: Talking to Media, part 1 + By: Johnny Mnemonic [54] +Date: 11:07 3/18/90 + +As I've promised on another message base, here's the beginning of +discussion of how to bring stories to the media. + +Since I keep thinking of different things people ought to know about +how to take a story to the media, I'm going to make this a multi-post +discussion. + +1) TRY TO THINK LIKE THE REPORTER YOU'RE TALKING TO. + +One of the things that happens when people know about an event or +series of events that may make a good news story is that they assume +the importance of the story will be obvious to anyone. + +Sometimes this is true (when the tipster knows about a murder, for +example). Often it's not. + +So, when I tell a reporter about a story I think she should want to +cover, I make sure to stress the aspects of the story that are likely +to interest that reporter and/or the readers of her publication. For +example, when I spoke to Kyle Pope about the Illuminati seizure, I +stressed the following: + +a) Steve Jackson Games is an Austin business that may end up being +damaged by the seizure. + +b) Nobody has given this story anything like major coverage in the +national media, or (so far as I knew) in other geographic areas. (I +was telling him he had a major "scoop" opportunity.) + +c) There are some very dramatic aspects to this story. (I told him +about the 20-year-old LoD member who woke up on the morning of March 1 +with a gun pointed at him by a Secret Service agent.) + +2) IF YOU'RE GOING TO MEET THE REPORTER IN PERSON, TRY TO BRING +SOMETHING ON PAPER. + +There are lots of good reasons to follow this rule: + +a) Believe it or not, but people take stuff on paper a little more +seriously than the spoken word. It's nice to give the reporter +something that lends substance to what you're saying, even if the +substance is printouts from your own computer. + +b) It makes life easier for the reporter, who doesn't have to write +down every single thing you tell her. Reporters like to have materials +they can use for reference as they research and write their stories. + +c) It helps you remember to say everything you want to say. Nothing is +more frustrating than trying to get a reporter interested in your +story, getting inconclusive results, and then realizing later that you +should have told the reporter about something. (E.g., "Damn! I forgot +to tell him what 'cyberpunk' means, so he won't know how the federal +agents misinterpreted the manual.") + +When I went to the Statesman, I took edited printouts of discussions +from Flight, from SMOF, and from comp.dcom.telecom on Usenet. I also +took some private Email I had received, with the names of the senders +deleted. And I took my copy of the WHOLE EARTH REVIEW with the article +on Usenet. My object was to convey to him the scale of concern about +the seizures, plus give him enough background to be able to ask +reasonably informed questions of the people he talked to. + +3) GIVE THE REPORTER OTHER PEOPLE TO TALK TO, IF POSSIBLE. + +Two basic justifications for this rule: First, it'll help your +credibility (especially if you don't already know the reporter +personally). Second, multiple sources or witnesses usually enable the +reporter to filter out what is mere opinion or speculation from what +everybody actually knows for a fact. + +4) DON'T ASSUME THAT THE REPORTER WILL COVER THE STORY THE WAY YOU'D +LIKE HER TO. + +Reporters' accuracy and focus in a story are constrained by several +factors: + +a) The amount of available time. Reporters have to be quick studies, +and often have to assimilate a complex story in a hurry. This +necessarily increases the risk of inaccuracy in a story, and gives you +an even greater reason to follow Rules 1 through 3. + +2) The reporters' obligation to be fair. This means they have to talk +to people on the other side of the issues from you. This in turn means +that you're unlikely to get a story that represents or promotes your +point of view at the expense of those who oppose you. + + + +------------------------------ +-/Vuarnet International/- + 617/527.oo91 + 24oo-16.8k HST/V32bis diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/pump.txt b/textfiles.com/news/pump.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..81e403bf --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/pump.txt @@ -0,0 +1,33 @@ +(NEWS)(GOVERNMENT)(NYC)(00001) + +Computer Access Arrests In NY 11/03/92 +GREENBURGH, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1992 NOV 3 (NB) -- The +Greenburgh, New York Police Department has announced the arrest of +three individuals, Randy P. Sigman, 40; Ronald G. Pinz, Jr, 21; and Byron +J. Woodard, 18 for the alleged crimes of Unauthorized Use Of A computer +and Attempted Computer Trespass, both misdemeanors. Also arrested was +Jason A. Brittain, 22 in satisfaction of a State of Arizona Fugitive From +Justice warrant. + +The arrests took place in the midst of an "OctoberCon" or "PumpCon" +party billed as a "hacker get-together" at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel in +Greenburgh. . The arrests were made at approximately 4:00 AM on +Sunday morning, November 1st. The three defendants arrested for +computer crimes were granted $1,000 bail and will be arraigned on +Friday, November 6th. + +Newsbytes sources said that the get together, which had attracted up to +sixty people, had dwindled to approximately twenty-five when, at 10:00 +Saturday night, the police, in response to noise complaints arrived and +allegedly found computers in use accessing systems over telephone lines. +The police held the twenty-five for questioning and called in Westchester +County Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Citarella, a prosecutor versed +in computer crime, for assistance. During the questioning period, the +information on Brittain as a fugitive from Arizona was obtained and at +4:00 the three alleged criminal trespassers and Brittain were charged. + +Both Lt. DeCarlo of the Greenburgh police and Citarella told Newsbytes +that the investigation is continuing and that no further information is +available at this time. + +(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19921103) diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/r&e_bust.txt b/textfiles.com/news/r&e_bust.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..cce0ed84 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/r&e_bust.txt @@ -0,0 +1,67 @@ +.FBI raids major Ohio computer bulletin board; action follows joint +investigation with SPA + +The Federation Bureau of Investigation on Saturday, Jan. 30, 1993, raided +"Rusty & Edie's," a computer bulletin board located in Boardman, Ohio, +which has allegedly been illegally distributing copyrighted software +programs. Seized in the raid on the Rusty & Edie's bulletin board were +computers, hard disk drives and telecommunications equipment, as well as +financial and subscriber records. For the past several months, the Software +Publishers Association ("SPA") has been working with the FBI in +investigating the Rusty & Edie's bulletin board, and as part of that +investigation has downloaded numerous copyrighted business and +entertainment programs from the board. + +The SPA investigation was initiated following the receipt of complaints +from a number of SPA members that their software was being illegally +distributed on the Rusty & Edie's BBS. The Rusty & Edie's bulletin board +was one of the largest private bulletin boards in the country. It had 124 +nodes available to callers and over 14,000 subscribers throughout the +United States and several foreign countries. To date, the board has logged +in excess of 3.4 million phone calls, with new calls coming in at the rate +of over 4,000 per day. It was established in 1987 and had expanded to +include over 19 gigabytes of storage housing over 100,000 files available +to subscribers for downloading. It had paid subscribers throughout the +United States and several foreign countries, including Canada, Luxembourg, +France, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United +Kingdom. + +A computer bulletin board allows personal computer users to access a host +computer by a modem-equipped telephone to exchange information, including +messages, files, and computer programs. The systems operator (Sysop) is +generally responsible for the operation of the bulletin board and +determines who is allowed to access the bulletin board and under what +conditions. For a fee of $89.00 per year, subscribers to the Rusty & Edie's +bulletin board were given access to the board's contents including many +popular copyrighted business and entertainment packages. Subscribers could +"download" or receive these files for use on their own computers without +having to pay the copyrighted owner anything for them. + +"The SPA applauds the FBI's action today," said Ilene Rosenthal, general +counsel for the SPA. "This shows that the FBI recognizes the harm that +theft of intellectual property causes to one of the U.S.'s most vibrant +industries. It clearly demonstrates a trend that the government understands +the seriousness of software piracy." The SPA is actively working with the +FBI in the investigation of computer bulletin boards, and similar raids on +other boards are expected shortly. Whether it's copied from a program +purchased at a neighborhood computer store or downloaded from a bulletin +board thousands of miles away, pirated software adds to the cost of +computing. According to the SPA, in 1991, the software industry lost $1.2 +billion in the U.S. alone. Losses internationally are several billion +dollars more. + +"Many people may not realize that software pirates cause prices to be +higher, in part, to make up for publisher losses from piracy," says Ken +Wasch, executive director of the SPA. In addition, they ruin the +reputation of the hundreds of legitimate bulletin boards that serve an +important function for computer users." The Software Publishers Association +is the principal trade association of the personal computer software +industry. It's over 1,000 members represent the leading publishers in the +business, consumer and education software markets. The SPA has offices in +Washington DC, and Paris, France. + + + CONTACT: Software Publishers Association, Washington + Ilene Rosenthal, 202/452-1600 Ext. 318 + Terri Childs, 202/452-1600 Ext. 320 + diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/races.txt b/textfiles.com/news/races.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e28f6a55 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/races.txt @@ -0,0 +1,76 @@ +Prof Pilloried for race theory + +By Jeffrey Ulbright in Toronto + + Professor Philippe Rushton has been confined to lecturing into a video +camera at Western Ontario University, where his theories on race and +intelligence have made him a discomforting presence. Since the academic year +began, students taking Dr Rushton's undergraduate course - Theories of +Personality - have been obliged to pick up his 90-minute taped lectures, view +each one alone and in seclusion, and telephone the psychology professor with +any questions. Dr Rushton gained notoriety throughout North America by +announcing that his research showed whites were more intelligent than blacks, +Orientals were more intelligent than whites and the reasons were genetic and +evolutionary. University officials say the special treatment of Dr Rushton's +lectures is necessary to avoid disturbances, even violence, by some elements +on the campus at London, Ontario. Dr Rushton responded in an interview: "In +my view, it's an infringement of my academic freedom because I cannot discuss +my views with the students and the students are not allowed to challenge me. +The whole normal student-teacher relationship is gone." His performance +evaluation also has been dropped from a consistent "very good" or "excellent" +to "unsatisfactory." That could have been the first step in an administration +attempt to sack him, but the university senate grievance committee has +overturned the psychology department evaluation. "That means I get a pay +increase," Dr Rushton said, "and most importantly, it removes any possibility +of the university initiating dismissal proceedings against me on those +grounds." Administration officials deny the university is trying to muzzle or +harass Dr Rushton or interfere with his academic freedom. "No one involved +thinks videotaping lectures is the best solution to the problem, but it's the +only one we could come up with that we think is viable," said Dr Tom Collins, +vice-president for academics. "A lot of people are critical of that +situation." Dr Rushton, aged 46, has been at Western Ontario for 13 years +and, until January 1989, laboured in relative obscurity. He was known in +academia as co-author of the best-selling textbook Introduction to Psychology +and won a Guggenheim research fellowship in 1988, but burst into public view +only with a 20-minute speech to the American Association for the Advancement +of Science. Many scientists stormed out of the hall in San Fransisco when Dr +Rushton set out his thoughts on genetic and evolutionary differences between +the races. "My conclusions are totally unpopular," he admitted. "I conclude +that, on 50 or 60 different measures, Orientals and blacks are at opposite +ends of a continuum with whites, or caucasoids, falling consistently +somewhere in the middle. These measures include intelligence, sexual +behaviour, brain size, law abidingness, social organization skills, +personality and speed of physical maturation." Dr Rushton also teaches a +graduate course called Human Life History, covering the evolutionary basis of +personality. Only two students are enrolled and he teaches it "more or less +normally", he said. "We meet once a week in a location that is kept secret +from everybody but me and the two students." For the twelve undergraduates in +his theories of Personality course, he goes to a different classroom each +week to tape a lecture. "Normally there would be up to 60 students in this +class," he said. The students are allowed to telephone him during one hour a +week to ask him questions or make appointments. An appeal of the ruling that +he must teach by videotape is still before the university senate. "This is +consuming an enormous amount of my time," Dr Rushton complained. Dr Collins, +the university vice-president, said when asked whether the university was +embarrassed by the professor: "In the university in general, some people are +embarrassed by his work. The official stance is he has academic freedom and +will be judged by his peers." Dr Rushton says racial difference is a +fascinating question on which he has worked since 1981 and published since +1984, "even getting ratings of excellent from the university for my race +work. It was when it began to be public that the axe began to come down on my +head." Race was a taboo, he said, but that "only goes back to the Second +World War as a result of Hitler's so-called racial policy." In the aftermath +of the war, there had been a virtual self-imposed taboo on the scientific +study of race differences from a genetic perspective. No known environmental +cause explained the differences between races, said Dr Rushton. "Things like +white racism and poverty just don't do it." "If I had said either that the +differences do not exist and it's all due to white racism, then I would not +have run into trouble. But once you suggest genetics or evolution in the +context of race, you're in for trouble, and I knew I would be." Dr Rushton +says he does not like being unpopular and that he wants to make a +contribution to science and be rewarded with approval for doing so. "I do +not like to have my views totally unpopular as they are," he said, "but I do +believe I'm right. I feel that this is something that is going to be +recognized." + +Typed in by Mark Norman, for The Pinnacle Club BBS Library.  \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/racist.net b/textfiles.com/news/racist.net new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e1a0877b --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/racist.net @@ -0,0 +1,276 @@ +From werner Thu Oct 27 14:06:34 1988 +Flags: 000000000001 +From: funny@looking.UUCP (Funny Guy) +Subject: KW Record Article on Joke Debate +Keywords: administrivia +Date: 30 Nov 88 20:20:15 GMT +Organization: Looking Glass Software, Waterloo Ont. + +The following article appears today on the *Front Page* of the Kitchener- +Waterloo Record, the major daily in the town in which I live. + +It is reproduced *with* permission. (How often do you see that?) +It may not be reproduced for commercial purposes. + +[ In my opinion this is a gross misrepresentation which will possibly +result in not just the downfall of rec.humor.funny, but many other +groups as well. Further comment follows. Don't reply to me, yet.] + +The Kitchener-Waterloo Record +225 Fairway Rd. +Kitchener, Ont. +N2G 4E5 + +1-519-894-2231 + +Wayne MacDonald, Managing Editor +Story Byline: Luisa D'Amato + + + +=========== + +Editor's note: As a matter of general policy, the Record does not +publish material judged to be racially offensive. We have made an +exception in this article because the actual jokes and comments +contained within represent the central issue and are the key +elements in aid of full reader understanding and appreciation. + +By Luisa D'Amato +Record Staff + +Controversial racial jokes are being sent by computer from Waterloo to +about 20,000 people world-wide, using the University of Waterloo +mathematics computer systems as part of the chain of communication. + +>From California to Massachusetts to Isreal, computer users are bitterly +arguing about Brad Templeton of Waterloo adn whether he ought to be +transmitting jokes that some see as offensive and racist. + +Templeton, who owns Looking Glass Software in Waterloo, is the editor +of a computer joke exchange that is part of the USENET computer network. + +One recent joke depicts a black man, who is dating a gorilla and isn't +allowed to buy it a drink in a bar. He dresses, shaves and puts +makeup on the animal, which is then let into the bar and +is mistaken for an Italian woman. + +Another joke describes a Jew who is murdered after he tricks a Scotsman +into buying him dinner. + +Officials at UW say they are discussing what to do about the fact the +institution carries Usenet -- including the joke exchange. + +Templeton said in an interview that he's edited the joke exchange without +pay, as a hobby, since August of 1987. He said only about 10 per cent +[No, I said 5%] of the jokes he sends out are racially, sexually or +otherwise offensive. + +His usual practice with offensive jokes is to put them in code. Then, +the people who want to read it press a couple of keys to decode it. + +He receives dozens of jokes each day from readers and sends out about +two a day. He said he doesn't judge the jokes based on their content, +but only their comic value. + +"Jokes which offend some people do come through," Templeton said. +"It's my belief that it is better to have a world in which we can +laugh at the evil things that are in the world, than a world where we +must carefully consider whether or not anything can offend someone." +[I doubt my grammar was that bad.] + +But others don't agree. + +"This sort of thing just enhances stereotypes," said Abyd Karmali, who +graduated this year from UW with a chemical engineering degree. "It +legitimizes having these feelings and sharing them with people. That +can only be damaging." + +Karmali now studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He +shares an appartment there with another student, Jonathan Richmond, one +of several people who sent messages objecting to Templeton's judgement. + +After lengthy debate on this, Templeton sent a joke, in code, entitled, +"Top 10 reasons not to replace Brad as moderator." + +Among the 10 reasons: "Kill six million of 'em, and the rest lose their +sense of humor. Jeez." + +Asked about that line, Templeton said, "Mostly I was just making fun there. +That line was sarcasm... A lot of people wrote back to say that line was +tremendously funny. + +"The idea is what you're laughing at is the absurdity of the line; the +absurdity of suggesting that killing six million Jews was something to be +taken lightly. That's why the 'Jeez' is there. And so I feel that's +definitely an example of a line where you're laughing at the racist +attitude rather than the race. + +Richmond said he sees the joke as an "act of violence" which "defames +the memory" of the Holocaust victims. + +"One racist joke disseminates over a network of thousands of people. +It's the promotion of an underground network of bigots," he said. + +"People feel that have a different relationship with computers than with +other people," he said. "They feel that can type on to a keyboard what +they might not say to someone's face." + +Meanwhile, Karmali, who was a student residence don and president of the +chemical engineering society while at UW, says his alma mater is +"acting as an accessory" in the matter. + +UW gets USENET because many of the network's hundreds of different groups +offer "valuable information" on computer software, said Lyn Williams, +executive assistant to the dean of mathematics. + +The university sees itself as a "common carrier" of information, with +no mandate to review information passing through its computer system, +she said. + +But she said it would be possible for UW to discard the so-called +recreational services in USENET, such as the joke exchange and tips +on sports and leisure activities. + +Alan George, UW vice-president academic and provost, said Tuesday that +he hasn't heard about the controversy, but "I'm certainly going to +ask a lot of questions." + +"In some way, the university is facilitating this... and I think, as +such, we'll certainly look into it," he said. + +"The university generally would be opposed to any ethnic or racially +offensive jokes." + +About 180 people at UW regularly read the joke exchange, Templeton said. +And "no one from Waterloo that has contacted me has expressed anything +but support," said Templeton, who was a UW student in the late 1970s and +early 1980s. + +Templeton said he believes the controversy arose because the joke about +the Jew and the Scotsman was transmitted close to the 50th anniversary of +Kristallnacht, Nov 9-10, 1938, when Jewish businesses were gutted and +synagogues burned in Germany. + +After richmond complained, Templeton apologized for having neglected to +put the joke in code. + +However, Richmond said that doesn't answer his concerns. "It's still +there... He ahs sent it out with the (descriptive) keyword, 'racist'... +He is an editor. He should not include jokes which are racially offensive. + +Richmond, who is Jewish, sent a message to other computer users. He said +he worked in Watts, the black ghetto of Los Angeles, and "I have +many eyewitness accounts of the hurt caused by racial stereotyping and +by the jokes which promote it." + +But many users disagreed with him. One message from Tel Aviv University +in Israel asked Richmond: "Maybe you should ask yourself why do you +take it so badly; maybe there is something wrong with your sense of +self-identity?" + +Another wrote: "My ultimate goal -- to reply to Jonathan Richmond -- is +the elimination of Jonathan Richmond." + +--30-- + +-- +The rec.humor.funny fascist. (Thanks to whoever gave me that title!) + +From werner Thu Oct 27 14:06:34 1988 +Flags: 000000000001 +From: funny@looking.UUCP (Funny Guy) +Subject: You can Reply to the K-W Record Article by electronic mail +Summary: Information on how to reply to the record article +Keywords: administrivia +Date: 30 Nov 88 22:40:44 GMT +Followup-To: news.misc +Organization: Looking Glass Software Ltd. + +As you can see, Johnathan Richmond took the RHF debate to the press. +His attempt to do so caused the article you just saw, which among other +things, will put pressure on the University of Waterloo administration +to cut not just rec.humor.funny but all the non-technical groups from +this region of the net. This would include many groups Mr. Richmond +did not intend, such as soc.culture.jewish! + +What the University does is of course, up to them. + +If you wish to express an opinion, you can mail one, phone one, fax +one or, though a mailbox I have set up, EMAIL one. Email will of course +be easiest for you, but I suspect that the other media might be more +impressive. It's up to you. I will forward the contents of the +mailbox record@looking.UUCP to their editors. You MUST follow certain +rules if you wish your letter to be considered an official letter to the +editor, as it will not be signed. + +I would ask people in K-W to use regular postal mail if they can. + + +PLEASE BE MODERATE IN YOUR OPINIONS, AND DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO ENSURE +THAT THE FLAMES ARE NOT FANNED FURTHER THAN THEY HAVE TO BE ON THIS MATTER, +PARTICULARLY IN THE GENERAL PRESS. We can solve these problems by ourselves. + +=================================== +Title the letter "LETTER TO THE EDITOR" +Mark the letter "c/o Ross Weichel" + +Make the salutation: "To the Editor:" + +Keep the letter short, and to the point. And, to be honest, don't write +like most people do to the net. :-) + +Sign your letter with your full name, and give your address and some +phone numbers where you can be reached. They will want to verify what +they print as authentic. + +You can reply to this message, and it will go to record@looking.UUCP, not +to me. Be warned, however, that the mail you send will not be private. +(As a letter to the editor, that's not surprising.) + +While I'm an honest man, I can understand if you don't wish to use this +method of mail considering my bias on the issue. I vow to retransmit +as is. +===================================== + +If you wish to FAX a letter, the FAX number is: 1-519-894-3912 + +If you wish to telephone, the number is 1-519-894-2231. I am not sure +how phone calls are counted. + +If you wish to write with regular mail, use: + +The Editor +c/o Ross Weichel +Kitchener-Waterloo Record +255 Fairway Rd. +Kitchener, ON +N2G 4E5 + +Canada +====================================== + +I can't tell you what to say, or whether to support me or not. +What I want is to show them that they have seriously misrepresented +the nature of the affair, and the level of public opinion amongst those +who have seen the full context of the matter. + +Don't be abusive -- be reasoned, whether for or against me. +They are a medium sized large paper, with circulation of about 90,000. +(That's actually fairly big for a daily.) + +My own detailed comments will follow when I'm a tad calmer. +Don't reply to me right away, or rush to offer me a feed. I am sure +that these sort of things can be dealt with if they arise. I still +believe they will not. + +***Remember, replies to this message go to record@looking.UUCP.*** + +PLEASE, TRY TO KEEP THINGS CALM, he shouted. + +Looking talks to math.waterloo.edu (watmath) and "att", but they will +only forward from within AT&T. +-- +The rec.humor.funny fascist. (Thanks to whoever gave me that title!) + + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/radhoax.txt b/textfiles.com/news/radhoax.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f35d0784 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/radhoax.txt @@ -0,0 +1,88 @@ + Disc jockeys who were suspended by a radio station +for concocting an elaborate on-air murder confession apologized to listeners +Friday. + + Morning radio personalities Kevin Ryder, Gene ``Bean'' Baxter and former +Arizona radio personality Doug Robert - who now works at the Southern +California station - were suspended for the incident at KROQ-FM. The duration +of the suspension wasn't disclosed. + + Ryder and Baxter were heard on a pre-recorded apology aired Friday. + + The disc jockeys were in a meeting with KROQ executives Friday afternoon and +couldn't be reached. A receptionist who refused to give her name said none of +the executives was available. + + Officials at the parent company, New York City-based Infinity Broadcasting +likewise were unavailable, said a secretary for Mel Karmazian, Infinity +president and chief executive officer. + + The trio was suspended a week after KROQ acknowledged the stunt to the Los +Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which spent 10 months investigating +hundreds of called-in leads. + + In Washington, the head of the Federal Communications Commission's +enforcement division said Friday that similar hoaxes have led to FCC license +revocations. The KROQ incident was being investigated by the FCC. + + ``We are evaluating what action, if any, we should take,'' said Charles E. +Kelley, adding the station ``could lose its license for this type of incident +if it was judged by the commission that the incident showed an abdication or a +loss of control by the station.'' + + The Sheriff's Department plans to bill the Burbank station for time spent +investigating last June's hoax, said sheriff's spokesman Bob Stoneman. + + ``I don't even want to guess'' the amount of the bill, Stoneman said. + + KROQ officials were considering further disciplinary action against the disc +jockeys based upon listeners' responses, the Los Angeles Times reported. + + On Thursday, the station was deluged with hundreds of calls from angry +listeners and at least one advertiser was threatening to pull its ads. + + The bogus confession was made June 13 during a ``Confess Your Crime'' skit + + in which Ryder and Baxter encouraged listeners to call in and reveal their +transgressions on the air. + + The caller, who refused to give his name, said: + + ``I heard you guys talking. I really need to tell somebody about this. + + ``I had this girlfriend for like about six years and we were right on the +verge of getting married and all of this stuff. And I came home and caught her +with somebody ... a good friend of mine, as a matter of fact.'' + + After some prodding by the disc jockeys, the caller admitted that be had +badly beaten his girlfriend: + + One disc jockey asked: ``Is there a chance, seriously, that you killed +her?'' + + The caller responded: ``Yeah, I know I did.'' + + More than 60 calls and faxes flooded the station shortly after the +confession aired. Hundreds more phoned authorities after the local news +agencies and the TV series, ``Unsolved Mysteries'' reported the confession. + + Among the most persistent callers were a mother and father in Northern +California who are trying to solve the mystery of their daughter's death. + + + + + +X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X + Another file downloaded from: The NIRVANAnet(tm) Seven + + & the Temple of the Screaming Electron Taipan Enigma 510/935-5845 + Burn This Flag Zardoz 408/363-9766 + realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 510/527-1662 + Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 801/278-2699 + The New Dork Sublime Biffnix 415/864-DORK + The Shrine Rif Raf 206/794-6674 + Planet Mirth Simon Jester 510/786-6560 + + "Raw Data for Raw Nerves" +X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/rdr.asc b/textfiles.com/news/rdr.asc new file mode 100644 index 00000000..992ccfa9 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/rdr.asc @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +Date: 06-25-91 00:37 +From: James Hartman + +The following is in the original text as it printed in Roswell +------------------------------------------------------------------------- +Roswell Daily Record for Tuesday, July 8, 1947. +RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region +No Details of Flying Disk Are Revealed + Roswell Hardware + Man and Wife + Report Disk Seen + The intelligence office of the 509th Bombardment group at Ros- well Army +Field announced at noon today, that the field has come into possession of a +flying saucer. + According to information released by the department, over authority of Maj. +J. A. Marcel, intelligence officer, the disk was recovered on a ranch in the +Roswell vicinity, after an unidentified rancher had notified Sheriff Geo. +Wilcox, here, that he had found the instrument on his premises. + Major Marcel and a detail from his department went to the ranch and +recovered the disk, it was stated. + After the intelligence officer here had inspected the instrument it was +flown to "higher headquarters. + The intelligence office stated that no details of the saucer's construction +or its appearance had been revealed. + Mr. and Mrs. Dan Wilmot apparently were the only persons in Roswell who seen +what they thought was a flying disk. + They were sitting on their porch at 105 South Penn. last Wednesday night at +about ten o'clock when a large glowing object zoomed out of the sky from the +southeast, going in a northwesterly direction at a high rate of speed. + Wilmot called Mrs. Wilmot's attention to it and both ran down into the yard +to watch. It was in sight less then a minute, perhaps 40 or 50 seconds, +Wilmot estimated. + Wilmot said that it appeared to him to be about 1,500 feet high and going +fast. He estimated between 400 and 500 miles per hour. + In appearance it looked oval in shape like two inverted saucers, faced mouth +to mouth, or like two old type washbowls placed, together in the same +fashion. The entire body glowed as though light were showing through from +inside, though not like it would inside, though not like it would be if a +light were merely underneath. + From where he stood Wilmot said that the object looked to be about 5 feet in +size, and making allowance for the distance it was from town he figured that +it must have been 15 to 20 feet in diameter, though this was just a guess. + Wilmot said that he heard no sound but that Mrs. Wilmot said she heard a +swishing sound for a very short time. + The object came into view from the southeast and disappeared over the +treetops in the general vicinity of six mile hill. + Wilmot, who is one of the most respected and reliable citizens in town, kept +the story to himself hoping that someone else would come out and tell about +having seen one, but finally today decided that he would go ahead and tell +about it. The announcement that the RAAF was in possession of one came only a +few minutes after he decided to release the details of what he had seen. +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + I gather from this record account that it was real flying saucer and could +not have been a weather related object or condition. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/requiem.txt b/textfiles.com/news/requiem.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ed33239e --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/requiem.txt @@ -0,0 +1,193 @@ +Requiem for a Sysop + +SUBMITTED BY: Jim Anderson - SysOp MSB - Billings, MT + + REQUIEM FOR A SYSOP + ------------------- + + Excerpt from an article in "PC WEEK", Nov. 20, 1984: + + There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but there is an ample supply +of free software that's yours for the asking. All you have to do is dial up, +make a connection, browse through a couple of menus, check over long lists of +available software, make your choices and start downloading. + + - + - + - + - + + Exchange of E-Mail between sysop and BBS user: + + Well, John, the good news is that the faulty file has been fixed but the +bad news is that your downloading privileges have been revoked. I just went +through the last two months of logs and came up with some interesting +statistics. During that time you have logged on 23 times, downloaded 66 files +and uploaded NONE. You have called for chat twice, and left a total of two +messages on the board, one requesting a specific program and the other +informing me of a disk error in a download file. I can only draw the +conclusion that you are interested in this board for ONE REASON ONLY -- to +rape hell out of the download menus. I've left plenty of messages regarding +PARTICIPATION in the BBS and the Message Base, but you either haven't read +them or else you ignored them. Sorry, but one-way streets just don't hack it +around here. Jim. + + Jim, I have been taking part in the BBS. Every time I log on I read all +the new messages. John. + + John, I just can't help but feel that in all that time you could have at +least said "Hi" or "Thanks for the downloads" or SOMETHING to acknowledge that +there's a real live human being on this end. Jim. + + - + - + - + - + + Except for power failures, my computer has been continually running since +Nov. 11, 1982, and has fielded over 12,000 telephone calls operating as a BBS. +Back then, it was a joy to be a part of the realm of computer +telecommunications -- now it's a drag. It seems to me that a "GIMMEE" +attitude has pervaded the whole arena of BBSing, with callers interested in +nothing more than material gains in the way of software. My board is far from +the busiest, being isolated in the "foreign country" of Montana, but an +average day will see about 20 or 25 calls to the system. An average day will +also see about three or four messages (of ALL types, including E-Mail) being +posted. The typical log entry shows so-and-so logging on, going to the file +transfer area, downloading several files and then ,ogging off. Thanks, that's +why I started up a BBS, to supply people with free programs. Really makes my +day to see that I've spent all this time and money just to watch pigs at the +trough. + + Whatever happened to the COMMUNICATIONS in telecommunications? Is this +the result of the Computer Age, that people don't talk or communicate with +each other? Are we getting so totally in tune with our equipment that we're +excluding PEOPLE? If so, then Orwell's predictions are tame in comparison with +the reality. Who took the BULLETIN BOARD out of Bulletin Board System? The +file transfer section of my board is shiny from daily use, but the bulletin +section is obscured by cobwebs. The thought has crossed my mind more than once +just to load up a host program and let people grab whatever programs look +interesting. + + "Do you have a logon code for this system (Y/N) ==> Y <==" + "What is your account number? 775" + "What is your logon code? PASSWORD" + "INVALID LOGON CODE" + "Do you have a logon code for this system (Y/N) ==> Y <==" + "What is your account number? 305" + "What is your logon code? PASSWORD" + + et cetera, ad infinitum et ad nauseam. + + Hackers. Or so they'd like to believe. Vandals, pests, yes. Hackers? They +should be so talented, devoted and lucky. Why do these computerized +delinquents find such delight in trying to break into bulletin boards? Don't +they realize that sysops are ordinary people just like themselves trying to +find a little enjoyment in their hobby? Why pick on me? I'm spending a lot of +time and money trying to provide people a service for free, and they want to +go and spoil it for everyone. Heck, if they want onto the system, all they +have to do is apply for a logon. Why make life difficult for everyone? Leave +me alone. Go pick on CompuServe. + + Caller logs on. Leaves E-Mail to a friend. Lines only fill half the +screen, so he's probably using a Commodore 64. Goes to file transfer section, +and selects UltraTerm protocol. Chooses a file that indicates it's a TRS-80 +program. BBS goes to send, he figures out that he's somewhere he doesn't want +to be and drops carrier. + + Another caller logs on four times in a row, but keeps losing carrier +before he can do anything. Probably phreaking on a cheapie phone service. + + Another caller successfully downloads a file. Sit. Wait. Wait some more. +System eventually times out and drops him. + + I'm not the most polite person in the world and I'm certainly not one to +stand on ceremony, but I am old enough to remember what manners were. They +also went down the tubes with "communications" and "bulletin boards." Whoops! +Dropped carrier! So what? If it's a halfway decent system, it'll reboot. Well, +I'll just go to bed while downloading this long file, the system will +eventually throw me off and reboot. Never mind that there's other people +wanting to call into the board. Who cares that the sysop climbs the walls when +he sees someone drop carrier or time-out on the system? Lately I've gotten +into the habit of dropping carrier ON MY END for the worst offenders. One good +hang-up deserves another. + + Along with all the other goodies that have bitten the dust, there's good +old APPRECIATION. As I mentioned before, my BBS has fielded over 12,000 calls. +Out of all of them, I have gotten maybe a dozen messages saying "Thanks for +running your BBS." That's about one "Thank You" per THOUSAND calls! +Unfortunately, it seems that people think they have all this automatically +coming to them. It's their right! Sorry to disillusion anyone, but that just +ain't so. The master switch for this system is two feet away, and I'm not so +decrepit that I can't hit it in a flash. Alternatively, I can ban anyone I +wish from my system. Callers use this BBS at my forbearance only, and it's not +a God-given right. It's a sysop-given privilege! I sincerely feel that we +should proclaim a "Sysop Appreciation Day." We certainly don't get any on a +day-to-day basis! + + Don't get me wrong. There ARE joys and benefits in running a BBS, although +sometimes in my nether moods I'm hard pressed to enumerate them. But the fact +is, there have been many occasions when I've rested my finger on the switch +with the idea of going offline forever. + + Now for the moral of the story. I'm only one sysop among many, and I'm not +trying to evoke sympathy for myself through this article. The point is that +almost every sysop around has these feelings to some extent or another. And +further, most of these sysops (especially the best and most devoted ones) are +going to reach a saturation point and wind up depriving the general public of +their services. I foresee a day coming, and very soon at that, when the high +quality BBS's will be all gone. So all this is really a plea for everyone to +shape up their acts before it's too late. If nothing else, when you're on a +bulletin board, leave a little message to the sysop. "Thanks for the use of +your system" or "Fine BBS you have here." Let them know they're appreciated. +When I see a message like that, I say to myself, "THAT's why I'm doing all +this!" Sysops are real, live human beings with feelings and emotions. Let's +start treating them as such! + + - + - + - + - + + EPILOGUE: Twelve hours after the above was written, I find out that one of +my best friends (with higher than normal access to the system) has allowed a +third party to use her logon. That's forbidden for anyone on my BBS to do, but +it hurts even more because a valued and trusted friend who should have known +better went and did it. That's the final straw. The Most Significant Byte BBS +is no longer in existence. + + Jim Anderson, Ex-Sysop + The Most Significant Byte BBS + Billings, Montana + January 13, 1985 + +NOTE: I agree completely with Jim in his above comments, if not his action. I +find it difficult to comprehend the mind of individuals, who take those of us +who, through our generosity and good nature, are supplying them +this service. Please note, this attitude of SysOps is spreading and +BBS's around the country are disappearing or getting more difficult to access. +I certainly hope this action in tiny Billings, Montana has some effect on the +community of computerists. Don't abuse a good thing! + + Dave Williams, still SysOp + Magic City RBBS + Billings, MT + January 13, 1985 + +NOTE: Even we here in faroff New Zealand are not immune to the above problems. +Most SysOps try hard to provide a good service. We're all human, though, so +expect the occasional problem. Let's hear it for the things we do right, for +a change. And PARTICIPATE. That's the key to making it work. The file may be +old, but its still relevant. + + Jeff Whiteside, Sysop + The PORTAL + Christchurch, New Zealand. + +NOTE: OK, so I'm not an experienced SysOp of a large BBS, but I second that. +PARTICIPATION and COMMUNICATION are what it's all about. + + Bernadette Mooney, new SysOp + The Pinnacle Club + Auckland, New Zealand. + 12 November 1989. + +rong. There ARE joys and benefits in running a BBS, although +sometimes in my nether moods I'm hard pressed to enumerate them. But the fact +is, there have been many occasions when I've rested my finger on the switch +with the idea of going offline forever. + + Now for the moral of the story. I'm only one sysop among many, and I'm not +trying to evoke sympathy for myself through this article. The point is that +almost every sysop around has these feelingsееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееее \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/response.hac b/textfiles.com/news/response.hac new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f277fde3 --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/response.hac @@ -0,0 +1,120 @@ + A Case for Mistaken Identity... Who's Privacy was Really Invaded? + +By Jim Bigeloww +SLO Bytes PCUG + +According to the San Luis Obispo County (California) Telegram-Tribune, dated +Saturday, March 23, 1991, the San Luis Obispo Police raided the homes of two +Cal Poly students and two other residents including one in Santa Margarita for +alleged computer crimes, "hacking." The suspects had, through their computer +modems, unknowingly tried to access a computer owned by a group of local +dermatologists. That same number had previously belonged to a popular local +bulletin board, Cygnus XI. The police were alerted by the dermatologists and +their computer technician who was afraid someone was trying to access their +patient records. The police put a phone tap on the computer line for 10 days +which showed over 200 calls placed to that number in one 24 hour period. + +Armed with a search warrant, police went to the house of the first suspect who +later said he only called that number 3 times in a 24 hour period (I wonder who +made the other 197 calls?). Unfortunately he was not home... this cost him two +broken doors as the police had to enter the house some way. All computer +equipment, disks and computer related equipment was "seized" and taken to +police headquarters. Follow-up articles reveal that the individual had not +committed local crimes, that no charges would be filed and that the computers . +would be returned. Disks which were determined to contain illegally copied +commercial software were to be turned over to Federal authorities. + +Like most personal home computer users I have interviewed, I didn't think much . +of this matter at first, but I am now becoming alarmed. I am a 64©year old +senior citizen, perhaps a paranoid senior. I think most seniors are a bit +paranoid. I am a strong supporter of law enforcement, an ex-peace officer, a +retired parole agent, and as a senior I want law enforcement protection. +. +In this situation, according to the Tribune report, the police "had legitimate +concern." But, apparently they didn't know what they were doing as the officer +in charge stated "We are learning as we go." + +Accessing a modem is not easy. I, with five years of computer experience, find ? +it difficult and frustrating to set up a computer and keep it operating, to +understand a manual well enough to get the software to operate, to set the ) +switches and jumpers on a modem, and then contact a BBS, and in the midst of +their endless questions, coupled with my excitability and fumbling, answer them +and get on line. I have many times tried to connect to BBS's only to be +disconnected because I typed my name or code incorrectly. I have dialed wrong +numbers and gotten a private phone. + +I do not want to be considered an enemy of law enforcement merely because I own +a computer. I do not like to be called a "hacker," and especially because I +contacted a BBS 3 times. The word, "hacker" originally applied to a computer +user, now has become a dirty word. It implies criminality, a spy, double +agents, espionage, stealing government secrets, stealing business codes, etc. +Certainly, not that of a law abiding and law supporting, voting senior citizen, +who has found a new hobby, a toy and a tool to occupy his mind. Computers are +educational and can and do assist in providing community functions. I hope that +the name "personal computer user" doesn't become a dirty word. + +The "hacker" problem seems to be viewed by law enforcement as one in which "we +learn as we go." This is an extremely costly method as we blunder into a +completely new era, that of computerization. It causes conflicts between +citizens and law enforcement. It is costly to citizens in that it causes great +distress to us, to find ourselves possible enemies of the law, the loss of our +computers and equipment, telephones and reputation by being publicly called +hackers and criminals. It causes more problems when we attempt to regain our +reputation and losses by suing the very agencies we have been so diligently +supporting, for false arrest, confiscation of our most coveted possession and +uninvited and forced entrance into our homes, causing great emotional +disturbances (and older people are easily upset). + +I have a legal question I would like answered. Who is obligated in this +incident: the owners and operators of Cygnus XI for failure to make a public +announcement of the discontinuance of their services? or the phone company for +issuing the number to a private corporation with a modem? the police for not +knowing what they are doing? the computer user? It is not a problem of being +more cautious, ethical, moral, law©abiding. It is a matter of citizen rights. + +The "hacker" problem now applies not only to code breakers, secret and document +stealers, but to me, even in my first attempts to connect with a BBS. Had I +tried to contact Cygnus XI my attempts would have put me under suspicion of the +police and made me liable for arrest, confiscation of my computer, equipment, +disks, and subsequent prosecution. I am more than a little bewildered. + +And, am I becoming a paranoid senior citizen, not only because of criminals, +but of the police also? Am I running a clandestine operation by merely owning a +computer and a modem, or am I a solid senior citizen, which may well imply that +I don't own "one of those computers?" Frankly, I don't know. Even though my +computer is returned, and I am not arrested or prosecuted, I wonder what +condition it now is in after all the rough handling. (Police who break down +doors do not seem to be overly gentle, and computers and their hard disk drives +are very fragile instruments). Just who and how many have scrutinized my +computer? its contents? and why? my personal home business transactions? and +perhaps I supplement my income with the aid of my computer (I am a writer)? my +daily journal? my most private and innermost thoughts? my letters? my daily +activities? (This is exactly why personal computers and their programs were +designed, for personal use. My personal computer is an extension of my self, my +mind, and my personal affairs.) + +Can the police confiscate all my software claiming it is stolen, merely because +they don't find the originals? (I, at the suggestion of the software companies, +make backup copies of the original disks, and then place the originals +elsewhere for safekeeping.) Do I need to keep all receipts to "prove" to the +police that I am innocent of holding bootleg software? Is there a new twist in +the laws that applies to personal computer users? + +Also any encoding of my documents or safeguarding them with a password, such as +my daily journal, my diary, I have read in other cases, is viewed by law +enforcement as an attempt to evade prosecution and virtually incriminates me. +("If it wasn't criminal why did the "suspect" encode it?") + +This recent incident arouses complex emotions for me. What will the future +bring for the home and personal computer user? I do not care to fear the +police. I do not want to have to register my computer with the government. Will +it come to that in our country? I do not want to have to maintain an impeccable +record of all of my computer usages and activities, imports and exports, or to +be connected to a state police monitoring facility, that at all times monitors +my computer usage. The year "1984" is behind us. Let's keep it that way. + +This matter is a most serious problem and demands the attention of all +citizens. As for myself, I wasn't the one involved, but I find it disturbing +enough to cause me to learn of it and do something about it. + + ### diff --git a/textfiles.com/news/rivera b/textfiles.com/news/rivera new file mode 100644 index 00000000..54b65a6a --- /dev/null +++ b/textfiles.com/news/rivera @@ -0,0 +1,725 @@ + Transcript of _Now_It_Can_Be_Told_: "Mad Hackers' Key Party" + Hosted by Geraldo Rivera (Sept. 30, 1991) + +Geraldo: I'm Geraldo rivera. And now, It can be told. + + + +Geraldo: You're watching life imitate art. + + + +Geraldo: Exclusive video of teenagers playing a dangerous and +mind-boggling version of War Games. + +