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==Phrack Inc.==
Volume Two, Issue 20, File 12 of 12
PWN ^*^ PWN ^*^ PWN { SummerCon '88 } PWN ^*^ PWN ^*^ PWN
^*^ ^*^
PWN Phrack World News PWN
^*^ Issue XX ^*^
PWN PWN
^*^ "SummerCon Strikes Again" ^*^
PWN ----- PWN
^*^ Created, Written, and Edited ^*^
PWN by Knight Lightning PWN
^*^ ^*^
PWN (It is good to be back!) PWN
^*^ ^*^
PWN ^*^ PWN ^*^ PWN { SummerCon '88 } PWN ^*^ PWN ^*^ PWN
Welcome to Phrack World News Issue XX. Whew! Issue 20 already? I have been
gone too long. This issue features the exclusive coverage of SummerCon 1988,
which took place in St. Louis, Missouri during the weekend of July 22-24, 1988.
Before we get to the bulk of the issue I'd like to make a note that this year's
turnout was even greater than last year's with the majority of those claiming
they would attend, actually showing up... we had a great time. -KL
Please Note: All the events depicted in this story are based on the
observations as seen by Knight Lightning (me).
PreCon '88; A Little Background
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Taran King and I went off to college, Sir Francis Drake picked up running
Phrack Inc. and PWN. Taran gave the rights to SummerCon to Sir Francis Drake
as well, although it was not really his right to give away. At any rate, SFD
intended to hold SummerCon '88 in New York City, possibly by trying to get Bill
>From RNOC or Tuc to help him out, since SFD lived out on the west coast. A lot
of publicity was put out in both 2600 Magazine and WORM (a hardcopy magazine
for "cyberpunks" written and distributed by Sir Francis Drake himself).
However, eventually it became quite clear that SummerCon '88 would not be held
in NYC, at least not by SFD.
In the meantime, there was quite a bit of controversy concerning SummerCon '88
on a bulletin board known as The Forgotten Realm, run by Crimson Death 618.
Apparently the members of TFR were trying to figure out where to have the
convention. Control C said that he would hold SummerCon '88 in Detroit,
Michigan, but the only person who really liked that idea was Ax Murderer.
Eventually it came down to two places; New York City or St. Louis, Missouri.
The discussion went on for over a month with everyone leaning heavily towards
St. Louis. The clincher came when Prime Suspect received word from myself,
that we were indeed planning SummerCon '88 here in St. Louis. So on June 19,
1987 (the ONE year anniversary of SummerCon '87) Crimson Death contacted
Phantom Phreaker to get to Taran King who in turn passed the word on to me and
I called Crimson Death. We set the date and as such, the actual preliminary
planning for SummerCon '88 had begun.
Crimson Death sent the word out and I finally had a chance to release the idea
I had conceived two months prior... The Phoenix Project. The new millennium
has begun and the rebirth of the phreak/hack community has been achieved. In
fact, this rebirth is currently evident in a more physical fashion on a fairly
new bulletin board earning its name from my idea...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Phoenix Project
300/1200/2400 Baud
(512) 754-8182
Brought to you by The Mentor!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SummerCon '88; Not As Planned... Friday Morning, July 22, 1988
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coincidentally, Tuc was again this year's first arrival from out of town.
Taran King, Forest Ranger, and I arrived at the airport to greet him and after
some hassle at Lambert Field, we grabbed some lunch and went to this year's
official SummerCon hotel; the Ramada Inn - Westport.
>From here things did not go exactly to plan. Over three weeks in advance I had
reserved a double room in Forest Ranger's name to serve as the Phrack Inc. room
or whatever as sort of a base of operations. Ramada had a super savers weekend
promotion going on all through summer where a limited number of rooms (doubles)
could be purchased for a special weekend rate of $33.90. Well I was sure to
get this rate and was given a reservation identification number. However, the
check-in counter at first denied this and then finally pulled up the file.
They insisted that the room was for $68.00 and that was what we were told.
They were incorrect. At about this time, Taran and I had wandered into the
main lobby where we were confronted by a guy who subtly said, "Are you here for
SummerCon ?"
It was The Dictator, who had come from Phoenix, Arizona (602 NPA). He had
already gotten a room (211) at the ridiculous price of $68.00. Unfortunately,
we still had a problem, because the hotel supervisor insisted that we weren't
21 anyway and by Missouri State Law they could not legally rent us a room at
any rate. This is when I jumped in saying we had reserved the room for Tuc who
was 22 and I had been promised the rate of $33.90. The supervisor began to
tell some story of a computer error (yeah right) and the person who guaranteed
the room was wrong. I argued that it was their problem and not ours if there
was indeed this computer error and that this gross display of bad business and
false advertising would be reported to the Better Business Bureau. In the
meantime Tuc, Taran, and Forest Ranger had grabbed a copy of the Southwestern
Bell Yellow Pages (it really is easier to let your fingers do the walking) and
were checking out other hotels in the Westport area. My biggest concern was
for all the guests driving in who thought we would be at the Ramada. It was
not long before the hotel supervisor had spoken to the hotel manager and they
offered us the room for a flat rate of $40.00. We took it. The rooms were
quite nice actually and would serve our purposes well.
Taran and I ran off on separate errands, while Forest Ranger and Tuc visited
Westport Plaza to do some shopping. When Taran and I returned, we ran into
another interesting person who said, "You guys here for SummerCon?" It was
Dr. Cypher of Bellcore and with him was Mike (a non phreak/hack type, but cool
just the same) and Hatchet Molly, a 23 year old graduate student at Northern
Illinois University who was working on his thesis; the social atmosphere of the
phreak/hack community or something like that.
It was only about 20 minutes later when I wandered down to the lobby and found
Lucifer 666 and Synthetic Slug checking in. Standing five feet behind them was
another fearsome threesome made up of Crimson Death 618, Phrozen Ghost, and
Surfer Bob. PG and SB had been visiting Crimson Death earlier that week prior
to reaching SummerCon and they all arrived at the same time. Lucifer 666 and
Synthetic Slug got a room, while the others crashed in the Phrack Inc. room.
SummerCon '88; Back At Lambert Friday Afternoon, July 22, 1988
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was time for another trip to the airport for me, Taran, Tuc, and Forest
Ranger. We arrived just in time to meet up with The Mentor and Cisban Evil
Priest. They were easy to spot because they were the only guys on the plane
that were not wearing suits and/or did not have any children with them.
Once greetings had taken place, Mentor unveiled a surprise -- buttons
especially made for distribution at SummerCon '88. Created with a laser
printer they displayed a large "NO FEDS" with a circle and line through it
(like a No U-Turn sign), and also naming The Phoenix Project (the board), the
baud rate, and phone number. He brought more than enough for everyone.
After some running around the airport and a brief lounge at one of the
airport's bars, we proceeded to meet up with Control C and Bad Subscript who
had flown in from Detroit, Michigan. We divided up again and headed for the
hotel. Taran King, Tuc, and Cisban Evil Priest rode with me while The Mentor,
Control C, and Bad Subscript rode with Forest Ranger. Control C decided he was
hungry and FR drove to the nearest McDonald's where he went on to cut off a
customer in the drive-through lane and pulled right to the window to pick up
some food... not his food, but who cares.
"That will be $3.00, sir."
"What exactly do I get for my $3.00?"
"Two regular cheese burgers, a large fries, and a large Coke."
"Okay!"
They took it and left, leaving McDonald's in a total disarray for at least a
half hour.
The Mentor and Cisban Evil Priest as well as Control C and Bad Subscript both
got rooms and from there SummerCon '88 really began.
SummerCon '88; Let The Good Times Roll Friday Night, July 22, 1988
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Basically it was just a big party from here on, with the old phreaks meeting
the new, and some re-acquaintances. Control C brought down some gifts as well
-- posters from Michigan Bell.
"I would shred everything, because we get so much
information out of the dumpster, it's unreal..."
It was signed by Control C himself and he told us that these posters now appear
in all Michigan Bell central offices and other places of business. The picture
on the poster featured Control C's own personal stash that he had gotten from
Michigan Bell.
We had some other guests arrive during the night. Terminal Technocrat and a
friend of his (who did have a handle, but I didn't catch it) arrived from
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A friend of Forest Ranger's named Mike also showed up
with Kari, Cary, Katie, Susie, and Amy [some serious bitches]. The main party
ran through The Dictator's room until a series of threatening calls from the
front desk forced TD to clear everyone out of his room.
In the meantime, Cary (a nymphomaniac 14-year old) was running up Tuc's phone
bill and hitting on everyone at the convention. She ended up with Cisban Evil
Priest in his room (that he shared with The Mentor). However, since clearing
out of The Dictator's room the majority of the party crew all ran into Mentor
and Priest's room causing quite a disturbance. When The Mentor heard about
this he ran to his room and threw them all out. This action set the rest of
the night's activities to a certain theme -- The Fury of Forest Ranger.
You see Forest Ranger was quite a bit drunk and became incredibly pissed off
when he found out that his friends were mistreated. A few of us returned to
The Dictator's room where FR made several threatening phone calls to The Mentor
and was promptly hung up on. Apparently that was the last straw because FR
went into an unstoppable rage that trashed most of the items in the room and
then he started through the hotel. After damaging several items in the hotel
hallways, Forest Ranger proceeded to attack a light fixture in the emergency
stairwell and in doing so, sliced his hand open on the newly broken glass.
Emergency measures were called for -- Tuc and Lucifer 666 played rescue team
and took Forest Ranger to a not so nearby United States Air Force Hospital in
Illinois, where Forest Ranger was stitched up.
After the excitement, most of the people at the convention had mellowed out and
Dr. Forbin left to take Cary home (we still don't know what happened to the two
of them, but rumor is that Forbin is making a tremendous recovering from
several serious venereal diseases.)
At some point this evening Terminal Technocrat, Dr. Cypher, and a few others
decided to go on a trashing run. It didn't really turn out as planned and they
ended up at Southwestern Bell Publications (where the cameras are almost as big
as the dumpsters). It was unsuccessful, but at least there were no casualties.
The final interesting part of this evening was the arrival of The Leftist and
The Ur-Vile from Atlanta, Georgia. This arrival is important to make a note of
because with the exception of the time spent immediately after they got to the
hotel, The Ur-Vile spent the entire remainder of SummerCon '88 asleep.
SummerCon '88; So What Now? Saturday, July 23, 1988
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just about everyone went to Union Station, a luxurious shopping mall in
downtown St. Louis. However, a few of us including Taran King and myself
arrived at the hotel in time to meet our final guests for the weekend --
Phantom Phreaker and Doom Prophet.
Taran King and myself took a Crimson Death back to TK's to let him copy some
unreleased files for Phrack Inc. (since he had been running it at the time).
However, now those files will be put out by the original Phrack team.
The main part of the convention started sometime after that and I presented the
second public hearing of the now famous Dan The Operator/John Maxfield and the
Dan The Operator/Il Duce (Phiber Optick) recordings which were featured in
Phrack World News XV, which was published last year. I have decided to make
this an annual event and those wishing a copy of the tape should get in contact
with me through Epsilon, The Prophet, or through Bitnet.
Unfortunately, the most important information learned at this year's convention
cannot be published. However, when looking at the amount and the extent of
information brought forth at this year's convention, it makes last year's look
like a day at pre-school. If the level jumps like this next year, I think that
the world had better watch out because today's phreak/hacks are definitely
getting smarter and better every year. The key is to stay out of trouble long
enough to gain experience that will keep you out of trouble.
The Leftist brought a terminal with him and it would have been a great "toy" to
have at the convention except no one had the extra phone cord necessary to put
it to good use.
The rest of Saturday evening was just a mix of story telling, partying, and
some deep technical discussions. There was some element of danger present. It
would seem that because of the trouble from the previous evening that the hotel
management had arranged to have some extra security present in case things got
out of hand. The Maryland Heights police force sent a pair of officers over,
and they were indeed the rudest individuals I have ever met.
At one point in the evening, Lucifer 666 and I had traveled down to the lobby
by way of the stairs and when arrived, the greetings from "officer friendly"
reminded me of last SummerCon's police incident ("Run to me boys!").
(We were wearing our "NO FEDS" pins during this incident)
"You two come here, NOW!"
"What? Waitasec we are guests here (holding up keys)."
"I can't see that far, you come here, NOW!"
"Why did you take the stairs instead of the elevator!?"
"The elevator was too slow, sir."
"What are you doing down here?"
"Going to the soda and candy machines."
"I don't want any messing around here tonight, you got that!?"
"Yes, we are not looking for problems."
A couple of hours later, I had decided to go to my car to drop a few items off
and found myself being followed by the same officer. After I had been to my
car, I started back towards the hotel with this jerk eyeballing me. When I had
reached the building I asked him...
"Is there a problem officer?"
"No, you got a problem!? Do you want to have a problem!?"
"Nope."
After this incident I returned everyone's room keys, exited the hotel by a back
stairway, hopped into my car and pulled around to the front where the lobby and
the two officers were. I calmly honked a couple of times and with my lights
off so as not to reveal my plates, gave them "the bird." I left the area at a
rather fast pace after that.
SummerCon '88; All Good Things Must Come To An End Sunday, July 24, 1988
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time I returned on Sunday morning, Terminal Technocrat and his friend
had long since been gone as well as Dr. Cypher, Hatchet Molly and Mike. The
rest of us hung out for a while as we prepared to pack everything up and send
everyone home. The Leftist, The Ur-Vile, Lucifer 666, and Synthetic Slug had
to cruise and in the meantime I took Tuc, Control C, and Bad Subscript to the
airport breaking five speed limits in order for them to catch their newly
scheduled flights.
After which this left me, Forest Ranger, Phantom Phreaker, Doom Prophet, The
Mentor, Cisban Evil Priest, Crimson Death, Phrozen Ghost, and Surfer Bob. We
were soon joined by Amy and Katie and we all headed out to the St. Louis
Galleria, another shopping plaza. On the way, we toured through some of StL's
richer sections of town and as we went on became separated from Forest Ranger
in downtown Clayton. After five minutes of massive confusion we were once
again on track and eventually met up with Forest Ranger and Surfer Bob who was
with him at a music store inside the plaza.
We killed about two hours there between lunch, Phrozen Ghost's Unix Manual
heist from B. Dalton Booksellers, and the Phantom Phreaker/Doom Prophet Vs.
"Goons From Hell" skateboard confrontation. So after all was said and done,
Forest Ranger took Crimson Death, Phrozen Ghost, and Surfer Bob back to Ramada
to get their car, Phantom Phreaker and Doom Prophet hit the highway, and The
Mentor and Cisban Evil Priest went with me back one last time to Lambert Field,
where I dropped them off.
And that was SummerCon '88 ...
_______________________________________________________________________________
PostCon '88; Some Things To Make A Note Of...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This year's SummerCon posters were made by Knight Lightning and they featured
AT&T, MCI, U.S. Sprint and the FON card, Southwestern Bell, ISDN diagrams, Pink
Floyd, Domino's Pizza, and many other interesting items including; Oryan QUEST!
"I *Demand* you attend SummerCon!"
"I demand to be let back on MSP! or I will UNLEASH
with FULL FORCE (and put a maintenance busy on you!)"
To obtain a copy of this poster contact
Epsilon, The Prophet or try and find me on Bitnet.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Control C and The Mentor were both made members of the Legion Of Doom/Hackers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Mentor's now famous Hacker's Manifesto which was first released in Phrack
Inc. Issue VII appeared in the September issue of Thrasher Magazine.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Dictator is looking for users to call his bulletin board...
The Dark Side (Commodore 128) 602-789-9269
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who Was This Year's Fed/Informant? I have some strong possibilities about
that, , but there is an interesting twist to the story. On Monday evening,
July 25, 1988, Forest Ranger claimed that he had received a call (from a source
he refused to disclose) stating that Secret Service was indeed at SummerCon '88
and were in room 209 (right next to 211 - The Dictator's room) and another room
supposedly under Control C and Bad Subscript's room.
There were reports of supposed Secret Service agents at Ramada, but the general
idea was that even if they were legitimate, it was because of Democratic
Presidential nominee Govenor Michael S. Dukakis, who was visiting St. Louis
that weekend. When I heard all of this, I paid no attention to it because the
way it was described, it was just a bunch of jerks being pesky about the "NO
FEDS" pins.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special Thanks goes to Epsilon and Crimson Death. Without their help, there
would not have been a SummerCon this year and thanks to their efforts, I will
see to it that there will be a SummerCon for many years to come.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to Dr. Cypher, Byteman was supposed to fly down to St. Louis for the
convention, but ran into a mishap with airport security. In his carry-on bag
he had several switch blade knives and six blue boxes, which at the time were
believed to be detonators for some kind of explosive. After being held at the
airport, Byteman was met by the FBI who had verified that the items in question
were not detonators, however they did recognize what they were and now Byteman
is facing charges of conspiracy to commit toll fraud, etc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crimson Death claims to have received a call from John F. Maxfield a few days
preceding SummerCon '88. Apparently he wanted an invitation to the convention.
Nevertheless, he did not show up. Also, there was some talk about Richard
Sandza going to SummerCon, but he was not there either.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ramada Inn Lost And Found:
- Has anyone seen the 1981 Employee Of The Month Plaque?
- Whoever took it must have been out of CONTROL.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SummerCon '88 Guest List
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bad Subscript / Cisban Evil Priest / Control C / Crimson Death
Dr. Cypher / Dr. Forbin / Doom Prophet / Forest Ranger / Hatchet Molly
Knight Lightning / Lucifer 666 / Phantom Phreaker / Phrozen Ghost
Surfer Bob / Synthetic Slug / Taran King / Terminal Technocrat / The Dictator
The Leftist / The Mentor / The Ur-Vile / Tuc
Plus;
Katie, Cary, Kari, Amy, Susie, Mike1, Mike2, and Terminal Technocrat's friend.
Bringing this year's total attendance to 28 people.
Hope you enjoyed the article because the future is forever.
:Knight Lightning - The magic is back... With a VENGEANCE!
_______________________________________________________________________________
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><K><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<> <>
<> THE COMMUNICATIONS FRAUD CONTROL ASSOCIATION IS DEADLIER THAN WE THOUGHT <>
<> <>
<> Even the most elite fear for the fate of the phreak/hack world... <>
<> but Knight Lightning has a plan <>
<> <>
<> <>
<> THE VICIOUS CIRCLE <>
<> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <>
<> Shadows Of A Future Past \ The Judas Contract \ Subdivisions <>
<> <>
<> A three part series appearing in Phrack Inc. Newsletter. <>
<> <>
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^*^