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Note: The following article is reprinted from the
autonomist/anarchist publication Wind Chill Factor, issue #9.
WCF tends to have a chaotic layout, lots of graphics, and
reprints many stolen (photocopied) tidbits & articles, so
reprints like this one in a dry electronic format are usually
paler in comparison. Just a creative disclaimer. Contact WCF
at:
mail: POB 81961, Chicago, IL 60681, U$A
phone: (312) 384-2991 or (312) 384-9129
fax: (312)252-8269 (call first)
email: thak@midway.uchicago.edu
single copies are $1, a 6-issue sub is $6 plain/$9 in envelope
w/extras.
A DISCUSSION ABOUT HACKING
Lately i've wandered further and further into the realm of
cyberpunx. After several months of hitting underground bulletin
board systems (flame it, baby), hanging out at 2600 meetings
(lesssons in paranoia), getting access to internet (jack into the
matrix...), dumpstering trash from IL Bell (dumpster nation!),
building and using red boxes (free fone fun), and various other
sundry pasttimes, i've started to get a feel of what the hacker-
phreak community is like, and what possibilities and dangers
cyberspace has to offer...
I decided to have this conversation with Lvx and Sarlo, so
you and i could get an idea of how joe hacker sees things...
Wind Chill Factor: So define Hacking & Phreaking in your own
view.
Sarlo: Basically exploration. Hacking is more computer-oriented,
the exploration of computer networks, learning about computer
software, learning how to manipulate it, changing it to fit our
needs. Phreaking is the exploration of the telephone system,
signalling, how to manipulate so we can jump to other circuits.
The phone network & the computer network are becoming one,
telephones & computers are now basically the same thing. And
we're just trying to learn as much about it as we can, trying to
get something for nothing.
Lvx: I'd say free phone calls is a big factor in phreaking,
because, as it stands now, calling anyone not in your little part
of the world is incredibly expensive. The actual manipulation of
the phone system has fallen under the Hacking heading...
WCF: Well, why did you get into it?
Sarlo: When i first started, i saw it as a real cool thing where
i could get into & see things that other people normally couldn't
using the phone system.
Lvx: Getting something for nothing. We can use things that other
people generally can't use cuz they dont have the right mindset.
They don't get the opportunity...they never find out about all
the little scams you can pull to get phree stuff. To really
hack, you have to go against established norms of
behavior...especially with regards to "property". So, people who
are already supposed to doing unacceptable things, namely more
subversive and criminal individuals, get into it...
WCF: What do you think 2600 is trying to do with these public
meetings?
Sarlo: Get people together & allow them to finally connect a face
& a voice to the words they see on the screen, plus to let people
realize they don't have to hide behind a computer screen or a
telephone. They can actually come out there & meet each other &
not have to worry perpetually about being raided, as has been the
case recently.
Lvx: It's sort of a way to thumb our nose at authority and say
"We're not afraid of you. What we do is not wrong!"
WCF: Do you think there is a H-P "community"? It seems there's
some polarization, with some being in it for money, others for
scamming (Code Kidz!), and most for the exploration and learning.
But can anyone, like, say there is a hacker "ethic"?
Lvx: Community! Ha! Too many folx in it for the notoriety,,,not
the subject matter. Ethic, tho? Sure! But, no one claims they
ever truly follow that ethic. It's sort of a medeley: learning
how to scam, exploration to learn, etc. There is little money in
hacking. I was personally just offered money to hack into a
company's computers...however, since the company does not
interest me, and since i don't believe in taking money for what i
do anyway (not to mention receiving money to commit a
felony...entrapment city), the ethic comes into play. In this
case it is sort of a backwards thing...but, in general, there is
a hacking ethic. It sez: get in, play around, but don't damage,
and don't profit. The learning is all, ya see. In the case of
getting calls for free---a very dark grey area. Technically,
it's profitting, but since it's at the expense of the Phone
Nazis, it evens out. They rob from us, we rob from them--it all
comes out ok conceptually.
Sarlo: Yes, in most cases, its something inbred in us--don't
destroy information, don't gain monetarily from the information
found, and of course, "yield to the hands on imperative!"
Whenever possible, USE the machine, don't just read about it!
WCF: Would you say 2600 is about info-sharing? If so, why aren't
the meetings organized more towards skill-sharing? People seem
to let the paranoia rule the meetings...
Lvx: No, not at this stage. The kind of info you can share is
the kind of info that will get you busted--a public disclosure is
generally not a smart move. The skill-sharing sort of happens,
behind the scenes. It is difficult to explain hi-brow advanced
concepts to people who lack a solid (if any at all) background in
the subject. And, relying on elementary skills becomes tiring
for the teacher (who often has little skill in teaching) to
rattle off and the student to digest. There is a wealth of
learning materials free for the taking (or stealing) about
computers in general...in a basic sense. It is the advanced
topics that are hard to find about...and that is what gets kicked
around between the players that can understand it.
Sarlo: The meetings are based on total freedom--there's no
agenda, no formal speakers (usually, this may change soon,
however). The information sharing usually takes place after the
meetings, in private discussion. But the meetings also provide a
human side for what we do. We see each other as text across the
screen. Its great to see faces to the name. But as for the
spreading of information, we often forget what its like for
someone to begin, or at least i do, and i tend not to actively
shove the info in their faces. But if they choose to come up and
ask how to start, what are good places to check out, etc., then i
doubt you will find anyone more willing to give you the
information, or if we don't have it, where you might find it, but
they have to make an effort as well. Besides. Nobody ever went
to jail for being paranoid.
WCF: Do hackers & phreaks, or the people involved in 2600 see
themselves in opposition to big brother, the government, the
corporations?
Sarlo: I dont think its so much institutions, like the govt or
corps, so much as its an idea they hold. Our idea is that
information should be free, that information shouldn't only be
given out to a select few. A company believes that when they
stamp confidential on a document, then the person who may come in
contact with it has agreed with the company that they won't
disclose the information, that it's private. Well, we've made no
such agreement.
Lvx: Well i think that by necessity, yes, we are in opposition
becuz information is turning into this same property thing where
people try to OWN it. I personally don't see it that way--how
can it be property when information isn't even physical? I don't
know, the whole hacking thing is kind of opening up the door so
that it goes out rather than in for profit.
Sarlo: Security is a joke. Intellectual property just a
handjob.
WCF: I've heard talk about using technology to decentralize the
control over information, but don't you think it only
decentralizes it to the people who have access to it? Access to
that technology?
Lvx: Information, in the useful sense, is a lot like heinz 57
sauce. You can't keep it bottled up. It never gets used up, and
it keeps getting copied (thru brainz or otherwise), so eventually
even the most carefully guarded secrets get spread around. A
good library, for instance, has an incredible amount of
information about almost everything. Technology moves that
information into a more user-oriented mode...the hard part of
searching and finding is done for you by computer..to your specs.
WCF: Do you see technology as aiding citizen participation in so-
called democracy? Like TVs were originally supposed to have been
used for?
Lvx: No. It might help people make more informed decisions, but I
think as a whole democracy is going to hell. Soon.
WCF: So, in terms of communication thru nets, don't you see a
danger in them being created and sustained by corps & govts?
Internet was started by the Dept. of Defense, right? In the
future, do you see them tightening their control over these nets?
Lvx: IRC [Internet Relay Channel] is maintained by no one. It's
a self-serve thing. As for internet...it has evolved far beyond
the makers hopes (and wants). No one controls internet. It is a
symbiosis...information creators and info carriers.
WCF: I have here an article by Feral Faun on the "Cybernet of
Domination", which argues that these new forms of tehnology which
supposedly "decentralize" power and promote direct democracy and
have the appearance of being liberating, are actually a more
subtle form of social control. Already the cybernet permeates
our homes, workplaces, schools, hang-outs...
Lvx: Yep, and it will never go away. Control it, or be
controlled thru it.
Sarlo: Well one thing i personally would like to see is
everybody in the world having access to computers. But everybody
goes "Oh no, oh no my god! This is horrible, we're going to have
commie people in here!..."
Lvx: It also seems that this central control is not just one big
sprawling thing...its decentralized, there is no single final
authority or group of authorities. Even the manufacturers have
to get together to compromise on standards to maintain
compatibility...
Sarlo: That's the whole thing about the network.
Lvx: There's so many networks...
WCF: I think what its saying by control is that you have to
participate in the network in order to work within and take
advantage of it...so you're bound by the network.
Lvx: Nah, you can expand it easily. Just look at your mailing
list for anarchy [the anarchy-list]...that is a network in and of
itself. It's not about control its just another medium...
Sarlo: What we're looking at is not so much control over...well
there is control over access but a lot of it nowadays is social
control. There's all these special interest groups that are
self-important, that want a say in where the industry
goes...there was a forum for Harpers Magazine on a computer
system called the Well. It was originally created to be a kind
of town hall forum, a free speech thing...
Lvx: Run by older hippies.
WCF: The electronic town hall idea is a way some people have put
forward as a way to make democracy more direct..everyone have a
computer and communicate through your computer.
Sarlo: What Ross Perot wanted to do. But the way he wanted it
set up, you could only hit 1 for yes, there was no no option. If
you said no it wouldnt allow you to voice your opinion...
Lvx: How are you going to get 250 million people with computers?
That's an impossible logistics task, but also you wouldnt be able
to talk at the same time. Everyone voicing their opinion is just
too much noise. And i dont think that that sort of "democracy"
could really exist, except in principle.
Sarlo: We have what, 32 billion people in the US...if Ross Perot
ever got power and put a system like that into effect, the
temptation to change or delete the messages, in effect squelch
the american public...theres no doubt in my mind, the same goes
for Clinton. Abuse of power.
WCF: It seems that already happens today.
Sarlo: Yeah, to an extent.
Lvx: Doing it on computers would be even more lame.
WCF: This kinda relates to another criticism of electronic
direct-democracy...that while it may help facilitate-control
decision making (albeit with the usual separation of decision and
action), the system itself cannot be questioned because it
controls the questioning. Its like voting, you can vote for this
government or that govt, but you cant choose an alternative to
govt by the nature of the process.
Lvx: Agreement here. Just a facade of self-determination.
Freedom of Choice is no freedom at all.
WCF: When your choices are limited...Well, coming from the
anarchist perspective, there's a lot of questioning technology,
and a fundamental question is is technology neutral? Obviously
computer networks can be used and in terms of hacking taken
advantage of...but isn't that even only partially offsetting the
overall negative impact of these networks, as they're used by
corps and govts to fuck people over?
Sarlo: They use us as scapegoats to say "Oh, we have to tighten
security so we have to look thru your mail to make sure your not
doing something wrong." Big Brother. Anybody who says that big
brother doesn't exist is either part of the conspiracy or isn't
paying attention. Look at the IBM building downtown. There's
cameras all around the building. Why?
Lvx: What do they have to hide?
Sarlo: Not that so much as why are they so interested in the
people walking down the street for? The potential for abuse by
our side--which i'm not going to say hasn't happened--people have
disconnected phone lines on a whim (ahem)--there have been people
like that on our side...but the govt also uses us as an excuse to
intrude on everybody elses privacy.
WCF: Everybody "else"?
Sarlo: The common people. They listen in on your phone
conversations. When you make an international call, there's a
computer that listens in on the call for key words: drugs, guns,
terrorism, assassination, president...i mean they listen for
those words and when they hear them they'll just start recording
your conversation..then that recording goes to the NSA, the NSA
takes the info and determines what department it should go to, if
it should go to the FBI, etc. It may take months but it still
gets filed and goes to an organization.
Lvx: Yeah, i see what you mean by how tech is used to control but
i don't know, it's mostly because there's people with the
resources to design it & implement and they get it first. This
hi tech started with people with lots of money, lots of power,
lots of resources, and they'll always stay one step ahead. You
can buy a PC now for real cheap but you can't buy the cutting
edge real cheap because it's not for you. Look at radar
detectors. The tech becomes obsolete once it's in wide use, and
the same company is marketing a new product.
Sarlo: Talk about companies, they're 6 generations ahead with
microchip technology, they just won't release it, it's a
marketing ploy. They wait 6 months for everybody to get
something and then say "Oh, that's obsolete now, get this". And
i dont even need the newest thing on the market i just need
something that suffices for now.
Lvx: What can i do argue that technology is not used to control?
Lots of things about it are evil...
Sarlo: Like a knife, it can be used as a tool to carve something
out or to kill someone. It all depends on how it's used.
Lvx: But the people with the biggest power and resources make the
biggest knives and can use them the best.
WCF: So you kind of see your role in society to be keeping
Orwellian police-state society in check.
Sarlo: Not even so much in check so long as i'm able to keep
myself and my friends outta trouble and let them know whats going
on...i dont really feel an allegiance to the rest of the world
where i feel i must let everybody know that this Orwellian future
isn't just fiction. It's a dark future. Technology is going to
be abused by both sides. I see all these people who drop acid,
do shrooms and read Mondo 2000 and think computers are going to
be the greatest thing on earth. It's going to be this magical
superb thing and the thing is it's just not going to be.
WCF: Actually a big section of the Green Movement, of all people,
does see technology as being useful in stopping eco-destruction
and making society more democratic. Kind of a green techno-
utopia.
Lvx: I am suspicious of the word utopia. It implies some sort of
platonic ideal, and as we all know, plato just plagiarized
socrates.
WCF: Well do you see this as a losing battle then?
Sarlo: Not so much a losing battle as a battle that can't ever be
won by either side.
WCF: So do you see the future becoming a police state or social
chaos?
Lvx: The world's not getting any bigger and the population's not
getting any smaller and we can't seem to control it. The more
people the more things get fucked up. I can't see a police
state--they hate each other, the FBI, police, CIA...they work
together but they each try to sabotage one another. The security
forces have rebelled and have their own agendas now.
WCF: How about nation states breaking down? That's common in
cyberpunk fiction. Will technological decentralization lead to
state decentralization? Look at Eastern Europe right now,
Russia, Bosnia. Already states seem to be getting more and
subdivided. Often along ethnic, tribal lines.
Lvx: I hope so. I want the nation of Lvx...a nation of one...I
figure most decisions would be unanimous!
WCF: Tell me about information services.
Sarlo: There's a service called Information On America which is
basically a database on every single person in america. If
you've ever filled out a form, it'll provide your home address,
phone #, phone bills, payments, info on up to 10 of your
neighbors...
WCF: Who has access to it?
Sarlo: It's $95 an hour to anybody. Some hackers have learned
how to crack the system however.
Lvx: It's like Big Brother's subcontractor. There's so many info
services. It's mostly info gathered for marketing.
WCF: In other countries people will refuse to take the census but
in this country there is more control, there is more technology.
Credit card records show everything you've bought, phone
companies know everybody you call...
Sarlo: It's getting so you can't wipe yer ass without some agency
knowing you're doing it.
Lvx: And what the breakdown of yer feces is.
WCF: Something interesting too is like the Museum of Science &
Industry here in Chicago, like every little section they have is
sponsored by some company that has an interest in pushing that
topic. Like there's a big thing about petroleum and how great it
is--sponsored by Amoco. Nothing about the Exxon Valdez or going
to war for oil. They have really simplistic info, a lot of
packed truths...
Sarlo: I've occasionally gone to the Illinois Bell section at the
museum and passed out flyers about red boxes and how to make
them. A museum is nothing more than a big cultural conditioning
store.
WCF: Besides D.C. and the Bellcore incident, what other kinds of
pressure has 2600 gotten?
Lvx: I think there's been some random incidents of harrassment,
just people getting raided, and when people get raided especially
by the SS, your stuff gets confiscated, no charges get
filed...it's not so much to prosecute so much as to harass you
and develop scare tactics...
Sarlo: Boards containing "anarchist" material on creating
explosives have been shut down for threatening social
disruption...
WCF: A lot of "anarchist" material on bbs's that i've seen has
been stupid chaos i-wanna-be-anarchy-blow-shit-up stuff, but
there's also a fair bit of radicalism and anarchist influence.
Lvx: Sucks, doesn't it? It's a matter of public opinion. In the
opinion of the public, anarchy=bombs & guns.
WCF: On the 2600 teleconference the other day i was talking to 2
hackers who were in the military, and i was thinking on one hand
they work for the govt but on the other hand their hobby is
something the govt finds criminal...
Lvx: Maybe they're saying you can work for the govt but still be
against it?
Sarlo: It's the same thing with telephone company employees.
Commmunications workers are getting fired left and right & the
way they're being treated...and it's gettinng easier and easier
to get into their computers! You can ask them for their password
and say "Yeah, i'm a hacker" and they'll give it to ya!
Lvx: Yeah, lots of phone company employees really hate the phone
company.
Sarlo: And that's something--a lot of computer crime is committed
by disgruntled employees...
WCF: You've said before that the Tribune wanted to interview you
but you refused. Why, and what do you think of the media's
portrayal of hackers?
Sarlo: Newspapers will try to make things be as interesting as
possible. Well, hackers can do cool things but...they say we
break into credit agencies, find out all this info, shut down
phone services...well, what they never point out is, yeah, we can
do this but why shut things down? We're hackers not
criminals...they never point out that we're out exploring. News
is a lot of sensationalism, society gets off on negative things,
and exploration is really unexciting especially in the realm of
computers.
WCF: What do you think about tech being used in warfare on other
countries? Like the supposed virus the US allegedly fed to iraqi
computers to crash their air defences. Sarlo, you have a pretty
individualistic approach to using tech to defend yourself, but
what about you, Lvx? Are you a hero of the revolution?
Lvx: Well i'd protect anyone from it. I'm kinda the helpful
sort, but yeah that kind of stuff sickens me. The government
couldn't field any decent talent in the way of hacking. Hacking
is an expression of defiance against the law, government is based
on law. No good hacker could work for the man.
WCF: How would you suggest someone get started at hacking?
Sarlo: Buy a computer.
Lvx: Or steal a computer.
Sarlo: Rule #1 is get access. Or just start dialing numbers,
pick an obscure prefix (the first 3 numbers) and just start
dialing from 0000 to 9999. You'll find a lot of really
interesting things usually from in prefix 99 and from 9900 to
9999.
Lvx: I started by going to the library and picking up some books,
first on digital switching. It might not make any sense at first
but just start playing around. Most of my starter info i got
completely legally.
Sarlo: Things have changed tho, if you start asking questions
about digital switching or ISDN, you'll get the hairy eyeball.
Unless you're well known in telecom circles, if you start asking
questions about how certain tones work or anything people won't
trust you.
Lvx: And i think it's a damn shame, we're all supposed to have
phones and computers without knowing the secret workings...
Sarlo: It's all completely mindless. When you scan numbers, the
telephone central office just goes nuts, they go "What the hell
are you doing? Why are you scanning these prefixes? You
shouldn't be doing this! Don't explore! You'll break our phone
system!" It shouldn't cost 5 cents a minute to call 3 miles away
either.
Lvx: There's so many things, stuff you're not ever supposed to
find out, like where their operations are at. Their central
offices are set up like fortresses--steel doors, cameras, you
have to phone in to gain entry...I can see wanting to protect
from random stuff, i mean it is everyones phone network even tho
Illinois Bell thinks its theirs...and it's all fucked up...It's a
fact of life now...not a luxury!
Sarlo: I don't think phone bills should exist, i think once we
have a technology that's so integrated that we practically can't
live without it then things need to be changed...electricity,
gas, water,...this country needs an overhaul.
Lvx: I totally agree. If it's a necessity, i can see charging a
little to provide for costs, but...pay for upkeep, pay for
advances, but not so rich wanks can pad the ole portfolio.
Sarlo: It's just profiteering gluttons serving themselves.
WCF: Where's 2600 going?
Sarlo: Word is getting out, it's really easy to set up a meeting.
The thing to remember about 2600 meetings is there's no rules,
that's what's really cool about this network of computers where
people communicate without racial bias, without gender, yer just
judged by who you are & what you do, how you act...and we have
corporations and govt coming in and saying what we can and
cannnot do. They're going to regulate everything. Why do credit
rating companies even have info on whether you're white or black,
why should it matter?
WCF: You have to admit that computers are still mostly used by
white, male, middle class types. And i've seen lots of sexism on
bbs's, which are mostly playgrounds for boys it seems. And i've
seen bbs's with racist material--right-wingers use the nets too.
Lvx: Yep, gotta have money and an introduction to play. I'll be
the last person to deny that BBS's are lame. A great majority
are just little playgrounds. Occasionally, there are decent
forums where actual OPINIONS and IDEAS are argued rather than
childish insults...and it is these few places that make it semi-
worthwhile.
WCF: So while hackers are eager for equality in the net, why
don't they fight for equal acces to the net?
Lvx: We do. Every time you steal an account, you increase access
to the net. If you want in, you have to grab it. When you crawl
to Papa Gore and say "Oh, please, can we have access to the
future?", the reply is "Of course! Money permitting! If no one
minds!" with an unsaid "On our terms, where we let you, when we
let you, and with us watching every step. "Access for all" means
access to little, if any at all.
WCF: Do you feel dealing with just a computer for communication
is dehumanizing? Its much more impersonal than direct contact,
and look at the tendency of people to "flame up".
Lvx: Not any more than the telephone. Text communication allows
more thought to be taken in how you reply to things...some people
just don't take that time...
Sarlo: Not so much dehumanizing as treating people as
individuals...sort of like 2600 meetings are big but not
gigantic, and they still allow people to be individuals. On the
computer, if you log on and you see lots of people on there--its
words. It's not just words so much as ideas and peoples actions.
And people on computers produce real tangible results. I think
one of our greatest vulnerabilities to computers is our reliance
on them. We rely on them blindly. We assume they're always
going to be there. Our reliance on technology is going to be our
downfall. Computers are great to explore and all...but look at
people and television. Hell, they can't even change a channel
without a remote control and can't even figure out how to hook up
the vcr...
Lvx: Technology being used even as a convenience that other
people can control--and they know how to, and they have all the
specs, all the ins and outs, but they don't want to let anyone
else to know the ins and outs, cuz that would empower them.
Sarlo: Look at how manuals are written...incredible
bureaucracy...virtually no way to right off the bat understand it
all. They make it so that they can keep the common person in
check, so that they suddenly don't come up with the inspiration
to create something. They want to monopolize it.
Lvx: Information as property, this is mine, you can't know it.
Sarlo: Intellectual property is a joke. The idea that you can go
to prison for looking at a document is absurd. I've learned
security holes out of necessity because i want to learn how to
use the computers, but i could live quite comfortably without any
type of security, being able to log right in i would love it.
The only problem with security i see is enormous databases like
TRW & Info On America, where info is being harmfully abused. I'm
totally against the amassing of that kind of data anyways. If
you break into TRW and look at your own credit report, you're in
violation of law, but they can amass all this info on you without
your permission and sell it to other people.
WCF: Do you think elite BBS's are necessary? Are you "elite"
enough?
Lvx: I am so 3leeT it hurts. There will always be a separation
between the tourists and the dwellers. Computers are not without
risks...so until one can individually make progress, it is
pointless to give out sensitive information. You don't let
children play with the guns until they know what the guns can do.
WCF: Do you consider "ego" to be a problem in the h-p community?
Lvx: Ego ain't so much of a problem once you meet people face to
face. It kills a lot of the supposed superiority one feels.
WCF: Are you cyberpunks?!
Lvx: No. I am a technarchist...in the techno, anarchist, and
narccistic sense of the word...
WCF: Any last words?
Lvx: Buy our record.
This is of course, just the beginning...we will have more on this
in future issues, and we encourage those of you who can to use
this information and get started...
GETTING ONLINE
First acquire a computer and modem. If you can't steal or scam
one, you can usually buy a cheap used IBM PC-compatible for about
$300 plus $60 for a modem. If you're a student (or your friend
is), you can probably get a free internet-access account at your
college/univ. If not, there are various services that cost. The
best in Chicago is Gagme (312)282.6806, info@gagme.chi.il.us.
$50/yr, $35 students. For a list of such services around the U$,
contact Todd at Love & Rage (email address below).
Some interesting local BBS's to check out:
(708)265.1984 Room 101: H/P, lots of message and file bases
(312)463.0252 Red October: H/P
(312)262.7125 Woodge City: Mac-oriented. Kinda dull.
(708)459.7267 Hell Pit: Viruses, social issues.
(708)587.2398 Security: Survivalism. Some right-wing crap.
(708)934.6224 Far Post: Music and attitude.
Some worthwhile e-mail addresses:
thak@midway.uchicago.edu Wind Chill Factor
loveandrage@igc.apc.org Love & Rage anarchist network/newspaper
iww@igc.apc.org Wobbly IWW syndicalist union
nlns@igc.apc.org New Liberation News Service
anarchy-list-request@cwi.nl Anarchy mailing list
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nyt!nyxfer@speedway.net NY Transfer News Collective, way-cool
non-profit activist news distribution service
RESOURCES:
2600, the Hacker Quarterly, PO Box 752, Middle Island, NY 11953,
(516)751-2600, $21/yr. An excellent magazine that has spawned a
H-P network. There are 2600 meetings in 20 U$ cities and Munich,
Germany the first Friday of every month, 5-8pm local time. Often
people teleconference with groups in other cities. Call 2600 to
find out about meetings in your area or starting your own.
PHRACK, phrack@well.sf.ca.us, an on-line H-P publication.
This is our world now--the world of the electron and the switch,
the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already
existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it
werten't run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals.
We explore--and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge--
and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without
nationality, without religious bias--and you call us criminals.
You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie
to us and try to make us believe its for our own good, yet we're
the criminals.
Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime
is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what
they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something
that you will never forgive me for. I am a hacker, and this is
my manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you can't stop
us all.
--Manifesto of The Mentor, one of loose alliance of expert
hackers known as the Legion of Doom.
PIRATE TV
All you need is a vcr and a tv antenna. Plug the antenna into
the out socket and either throw in a tape or do a live
transmission with a camcorder. The range for this is about 3-5
city blocks, sometimes farther. It comes in on channel 2 or 3,
below 100 mWatts so its legal! So start your own community TV
network!
RED BOXING
A red box is a device that simulates the tones a quarter makes in
a Bell telephone, thus enabling one to make free, fraudulent,
long distance or international phone calls. While we at WCF
would never conceive of defrauding Ma Bell, we thought it was
pretty nifty how these things are made, and thought we'd share
the info. The easiest way is just to buy yourself a Radio Shack
33-memory pocket tone dialer (about $25), and a 6.5536 mHz
crystal. Open up the tone dialer, and first remove the little
white disk speaker cuz its kinda unneccessary, and you need that
room for the new crystal. Then remove the old crystal and attach
the new one, using the white speaker wires if you want. Just
solder to the spots the old crystal was connected too. Be
careful you don't solder them together! Now seal it back up, and
program 5 * (star) buttons into the memory. When you press the
button, it emits tones close enough to simulate the tones you
need and fool Ma Bell.
TIPS FOR USE: First, red boxes only work on Bell phones.
Second, they are good for long distance & international calls
usually. You can sometimes scam a local call by going thru the
long distance carrier (dialing 10288-number for example) or by
asking the operator to dial the call for you. You can also
program dimes (2 stars) and nickels (1 star). Don't abuse the
same payphones repeatedly, as you will get them "adjusted" or
worse, get caught. While skimming a bit off of Ma Bell's
profits isn't a bad thing, red boxes are first and foremost a
tool for phreaking--exploration of the phone system. Besides,
overabuse will just get Bell to switch the systems so red boxes
don't work, as is already the case in some parts of NY and CA.
So have fun, but be careful.
Mr. Dan Carver, the Grand Wizard of the KKK in Tennesee got a
surprise on his phone bill during the month of February. Seems
someone called an anti-apartheid hotline in S. Africa and 3-wayed
the $4000 bill to Carver. Sometimes there is justice.
In an attempt to teach computer crime prevention, children in a
Berkeley elementary school are being shown a 30 minute
presentation on ethics and security. The program consists of
several skits using puppets...in one episode, Gooseberry, a naive
computer user, has her files erased by Dirty Dan, the malicious
hacker, when she neglects to log off.
--SF Chronicle
The BATF reported 958 bombing incidents last year, the highest in
15 years. Police blame teens gathering information on explosives
recipes via computer and modem. There was a 50% increase in the
number of homemade explosives found this year.
THE HACKER CRACKDOWN:
recent attacks on hackers:
1990 An "acquired" BellSouth document, E911, makes its way
through various underground bbs's and online papers. The Secret
Service, eager to bust, uses it as an excuse to launch Operation
Sun Devil, resulting in several raids and the confiscation of
computer equipment. BellCore feeds the hype by saying the E911
document is worth over $79,499 (it can be ordered from them by
mail for $23) and could be used by hackers to crash the 911
emergency system (a lie). The SS, investigating The Mentor,
raids his work, Steve Jckson Games, despite evidence, and seize
and keep for months all their equipment and files. The pretext:
that the soon to be released SLG roleplaying game GURPS Cyberpunk
was a "manual for computer crime". The raid devastates SJG, who
are forced to reduce their staff by nearly half.
Summer 1992 Bellcore threatens 2600 with a lawsuit for printing
information from an internal Bellcore document that detailed a
security hole that could have been used to eavesdrop on phone
conversations. 2600 doesn't even think about backing down.
Nov.1992 The Washington DC 2600 meeting was disrupted by
Pentagon Mall guards who, at the behest of the SS, took pictures,
harassed the hackers, conducted illegal searches, confiscated
equipment, and coerced id's from the group.
1993 With the help of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, SJG
wins a court case against the SS, who must pay more than $50,000
in damages plus legal fees for violating privacy laws and for
lost profits as a result of their mismanaged raid.