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==Phrack Inc.==
Volume Three, Issue 29, File #2 of 12
==Phrack Pro-Phile XXIX==
Created and Presented by Taran King
Done on November 12, 1989
Welcome to Phrack Pro-Phile XXIX. Phrack Pro-Phile was created to
bring information to you, the community, about retired or highly important/
controversial people. This edition of the Phrack Pro-Phile starts a different
format as I'm sure you will notice. The skeleton of the Pro-Phile is a form
in which the people fill in the blanks. Starting now, using their words (and a
little editing), the Pro-Phile will be presented in first person format. This
month, we present to you the editor of one of the most prominent printed
phreak/hack newsletters of all times...
Emmanuel Goldstein
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Handle: Emmanuel Goldstein
Call Him: Call me anything. Just look me in the eye.
Past Handles: Howard Tripod, Sidney Schreiber, Bob Hardy, Gary Wilson,
Clint Eastwood, 110. There are others that I keep quiet
about.
Handle Origin: I prefer using regular names rather than descriptive
boastful titles (i.e., "The Hacker King," who,
incidentally, I don't wish to offend if he/she even exists;
this is just an example). The names I use are either
people I've "become" or names that bestow a certain image.
Emmanuel Goldstein, for instance, led the resistance in
"1984." But then, there was talk that he never really
existed and was just created by the government in order to
capture the real subversives. I don't think that's the
case with me.
Computers: I use PC compatibles for the most part. I also play around
with Macs but they're not REAL computers to me. My
favorite machine of all time is the Zenith Z-100, a
dual-processor computer that can emulate an old fashioned
H8 or an IBM PC. It runs lots of operating systems and has
a great keyboard. Too bad it was discontinued four years
ago....
Sysop/Co-Sysop Of: The old Plovernet on Long Island (1984), Private Sector in
New Jersey (1985, 1986), and the present and future 2600
boards.
Origins in Phreak/Hack World
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've been playing with phones all of my life and I started playing with
computers the first time I saw one. I always seemed to get in trouble for
doing things I wasn't supposed to... crashing the PDP-10 in high school...
flashing the switchhook on my phone 95 times and getting an angry switchman who
wouldn't release the line, claiming I broke it (I was 10). As computers and
phones started to become integrated, I realized what hacking really was -- just
asking a lot of questions and being really persistent. A lot of people don't
like that, whether it's computers or real life, but how else are you going to
learn what's REALLY happening and not just what others WANT you to know?
Origins in Phreak/Hack BBSes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't really have a BBS reputation to speak of. They tend to disappear
rather quickly and that tends to dampen my enthusiasm towards them quite a bit,
but I do want to see more and more of them come up and begin to reach out and
be creative. They also have to challenge the system some more. 2600 has a
very strong opinion on BBS privacy, namely that the same rights afforded to any
publication should be extended to a bulletin board, but every BBS owner should
know the importance of this and should be willing to fight for it. If you
didn't believe in preserving the First Amendment, you probably wouldn't go out
and buy a newspaper, would you? A BBS is the same thing and anyone who runs a
system should see this connection. Hackers tend to bring this issue to the
forefront a bit more, but this is something that applies to all bulletin
boards.
Encounters With Phreakers and Hackers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meeting Captain Crunch in Amsterdam this past summer was a real trip. Finding
out who Cable Pair really was certainly resulted in some highlights. I've met
a lot of "famous" phreaks and hackers and now I know a lot of foreign ones, but
I'm always amazed at the number of people I meet (mostly in New York) who say
they've been hacking since the sixties. There's an awful lot of people out
there who are into this kind of stuff, which is something I never knew before I
started being open about these particular interests.
Experience Gained In The Following Ways
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Social engineering, of course. I like hacking computers when I'm not feeling
social because you don't have to adjust your attitude to get a reply, but
people hacking is so much more satisfying. No matter how many security codes
and precautions are taken, as long as one person without knowledge is able to
talk to another with knowledge, it will always be possible to get things out of
them. Most of the really important bits of information I've been able to get
are through people, not computers.
Knowledge Attributed To...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ignorance. I built up my knowledge by wandering around in places others
thought unimportant. Hacking can be like trashing. It looks like garbage or a
waste of time to most, but if you keep your mind open, you can learn a lot. If
more people felt this way, hackers would stand out less because everyone would
be a bit more adventurous, but ignorance prevails and we learn what nobody else
cares about...that is until it affects them.
Work/Schooling
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I got an English degree at Stony Brook (it's currently gathering dust in a
closet). I should note that I've never taken a computer course, nor do I
intend to. I've worked as a limo driver, a Good Humor man, and a typesetter,
and more recently, as a freelance writer, a reporter for Pacifica Radio, and a
radio engineer/producer and talk show host.
Busted For...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I used to make free phone calls all the time. Now, obviously, I can't do that,
since I'm in the public eye, but that's not a drawback to me because I can
still experiment all I want. Nothing can change that. For the most part I was
careful while I was doing these things, but there was one time when my luck ran
out. I had been using Telemail to communicate with some other people and they,
unknown to us, had been looking for hackers on their system. They found us,
the members of PHALSE (Phreakers, Hackers, and Laundromat Service Employees
[I'm told the feds spent a lot of time investigating the laundry connection,
even though we only used it to spell out the word PHALSE!]). I believe four
people got indicted in that adventure. I was one of them. Bill Landreth was
another. They thought I was the ringleader so they gave me a 10 count
indictment, more than twice what anyone else got. Without hiring an expensive
lawyer, I talked to a roomful of feds about the system and what was wrong with
it. I made it clear that I wasn't turning anybody in -- even if I wanted to I
still didn't know who or where they were. I think I was dealt with fairly. I
told them what I did and paid for the time I used. Nothing more. That was in
1984 when 2600 was just getting off the ground. A couple of years ago, one of
the feds who had questioned me tried to get me to work for them. Not to entrap
hackers, but Soviet spies. And so it goes.
Interests
~~~~~~~~~
I guess I'm an explorer because everything I like doing involves exploration of
some sort. Obviously, hacking contains a good amount of that. I like
traveling quite a bit, particularly when I'm free to do whatever the hell I
want. Traveling with people is fun but it can also be a drag because something
you want to do puts them off and then you either wind up not doing it or doing
it and pissing them off. I like to ride subways to weird places and walk
through bad neighborhoods. It's all a part of exploring and seeing the world
through different eyes. A couple of years ago I went to Baffin Island and hung
out for a week with Eskimos. Everyone thought I was crazy but I had a great
time. I'm also into astronomy, but not the classroom kind. I took a course
in astronomy once and it was the biggest mistake of my life. All we did was
talk about equations. I like to look at the sky and read about what's being
discovered up there. When the space telescope goes up next year, interest in
space will rise again. Then there's free-lance writing, which I have to devote
more time to. I'm working on a couple of plays, some short stories, a
screenplay for a movie, and a screenplay for TV. I'll probably focus on the
plays only because there's so much bullshit involved in TV and movies. And
finally, there's radio. I've been in radio for just over 10 years, doing
whatever comes to mind on WUSB-FM in Stony Brook, NY, a small, noncommercial
radio station at the State University. Now I also work at WBAI-FM, a much
larger station in New York City with the same kind of free-form attitude.
There's so much you can do with radio, but so few stations want to take a
chance any more. That's why they all sound the same. Unfortunately, when you
sell commercials, you also sell your freedom. I've seen it enough times to
know it's true and that's the reason I've stayed out of commercial radio.
Right now I do a weekly talk show on WUSB called "Brain Damage" where I take
calls, play with the phones, and air tapes from Radio Moscow. On WBAI I'm
doing two shows: "News of the World" which is a compilation of foreign news
reports and "Off The Hook," a program about, you guessed it, phone phreaks.
Favorite Things
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I like hanging out with fun people who are open-minded, non-judgmental, and
preferably insane to a degree. I enjoy talking on the phone with friends and
strangers alike. Strangers are different because you can be whoever you want
to be with them. They tend to believe almost anything you say. Music is
really important. Right now I like rappers and toasters the most, with soca
and hardcore close behind. Ska's real good too, but there's not much coming
out. The record I put on when I wake up sets my mood for the day. I like
music with lyrics that mean something. There's a time and a place for mindless
droning but there's too much of it around. Music should have meaning. In
Jamaica, people don't buy newspapers. They buy records and that's how they
learn what's going on and what the latest catch phrases are. Some of my
favorite rock bands include The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite, Dead Kennedys,
Donner Party, Public Enemy, Camper Van Beethoven, Pink Floyd, Fun Boy Three, De
La Soul, and Anti-Nowhere League. Some of my favorite solo artists are Tracy
Chapman, John Lennon, Elvis Costello, and Patsy Cline. I realize I'm very
lucky because I work in an environment (noncommercial radio station) that gets
over 100 new albums a week. I don't know how I would have ever found some of
the stuff I like if I didn't have that kind of access.
Inside Jokes
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"OK, if we can't have a tour, can we at least have a look around?"
"I'm not allowed to talk to you any more."
"This is the Sprint operator. I have a collect call from AT&T."
"There aren't any more supervisors, sir. You've spoken to all of them."
"Iran, will you hang up! Sir, do you speak what he speaks?"
"I said, DON'T hit return!"
"But we didn't know it was the foreign minister!"
"Repair serv-- damn! There it goes again. What the hell's wrong with
these phones?"
"Just tell me how much money you lost and I'll arrange for a trial date."
Serious Section
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Being a part of the hack/phreak community, you get to experience unique little
adventures that the "average" person has no conception of. We talk to people
over the phone and have no idea what they look like, often no idea what they
even sound like (BBSes). We play with technology and are thought of as
geniuses merely because the rest of the world doesn't understand what we're
doing. I think that goes to our heads sometimes, which is bad for everyone.
We should apply our knowledge and skills not only to help ourselves by getting
a high-paying job somewhere but to help others as well. Look what happened in
China. Using FAX machines, modems, and redial functions, people forced
information into the country and tied up the government's snitch lines which
probably saved a few lives. The "average" person would never think of applying
technology in this way, but we do and we know how to do it efficiently,
quickly, and without spending money. It's because of that last one that we've
got freedom. Most people don't do things because of the cost. Without having
to worry about that, you can be a lot more imaginative. Of course, that also
makes it illegal, which is enough to stifle some of us. What we do and how we
do it is a decision we each have to make, but we should stop wasting time
boasting and get on with the exploring and the learning and the new
applications. Another thing that really gets me is the person who says,
"hacking and phreaking isn't what it used to be." First off, if nothing
changes, life gets pretty dull. Second, that statement is usually a precursor
to something like, "what kids do today isn't real hacking. What I did 5, 10,
20 years ago was REAL hacking." Generalizations like that are worthless. It's
just like yuppies going on about the Beatles, calling that real music, and
saying the sounds of today are crap (by the way, I like the Beatles a lot). At
the same time, too many hackers are just starting out and thinking they know it
all, dismissing everything that happened before they were around. The spirit
of today's hacker is often the same as that of a phone phreak of the sixties.
And there were people like us around 100 years ago but we're even more far
removed from what they could have possibly been doing. The point is that
there's a bond that ties a lot of us together -- it cuts through time and
backgrounds. Like anything else, there's too much hypocrisy and judging going
on in the hack/phreak world. I think it's a real waste of time.
Are Phreaks/Hackers You've Met Generally Computer Geeks?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not in the least. Those people that I've come to know have turned out to be
just about everything you can imagine. White/Black, Jew/Gentile, straight/gay,
male/female, opened/closed, you name it. Everyone's got different sides to
them, stuff they don't always want others to know. Sometimes we try to squash
those other sides of us, but they still exist. I've met hackers who have
geekish qualities but once you get to know them, you realize there's more to
them. Of course, there are lots of hackers I would never want to know in a
million years; that's just the way I am with a lot of people. I think it was
Linus Van Pelt who said, "I love mankind. It's people I can't stand."
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