AUGUST. 1985 .2600 VOLUME TWO, NUMBER EIGHT .Vrti K pthUH-il hy -■Wl fjilrqiriu, Irr , an flrrriMuuiy wianilUi4t Silrtiipfrin nria: II ?- j yr.ir. nAHAul. M I UNIT. -to pi I If. Sit jMi tu-LL tetf. Ownuii O I K u>- Lilrimr Hlfwipiirn- < Jnpwalf f EM». Mllrf :Wtki jW lb hi: irtK- firmvjflSflK Ilk. WrlK gk JS®, Fk04 ?S2, Mklik lit-v.J NV I l'WK'75j Dul: SliTSIWK. liBft-' 2QI7464471. ISSN I. Wrilr In His. TftJ. MiitjLc | !.Ji>j . NV 2 IPB-fltfM f..T ad vcit* i ■£ nras uni vrlkt mi hm umi SEIZED! i, 6Iice had uncovered in April a credit carding ring operated around a Middlesex County electronic bulletin board, and from there _ investigated other North Jersey bullet id hoards. Net understanding subject ■matter of tli* Private Sector S&5, police assumed that the sysop was involved in illegal activities. Sis other computers were also seized in this investigation, including those of Store Manager who ran a BBS of uis own, Eeewolf , Red Borchetta, the Vampire, NV! Hack shack, sysop of the JfJ Hack Shack BBS , and that of the sysop of the ^Treasure Chest BBS, I mated lately after this action, members of “2600 contacted the media, who were completely unaware of any of the raids. They began to bombard the Middlesex County Prosecutor h a Office with questions and a press conference was announced for July 16, The system operator of the Private Sector BBS attempted to attend along. with reporters from 2l>00. They were effectively thrown off the premises . Threats were made to charge thorn with trespassing and other crimes. An officer who had at first received them civilly was threatened with the lose of his job if ho didn't got thorn removed promptly. Then the car was chased out of the parking lot. Perhaps prosecutor Alan Rockoff was afraid that the presence of seme technically literate reporters would ruin the effect of his press release on the public. As it happens > "be didn't nurd our help. The next day the details of the press conference were reported to the public by the press. As Rockoff intended, paranoia about hackers ran rampant . Head 11 ness got as ridiculous as hackers ordering tank parts by telephone from TRW ant! moving satellites with their home computers in order to make free phone calls. These and even more; exotic stories were reported by otherwise respectable media sources: The news con- ference understandably made the front page of moht of the major newspapers in the US, Odd Was a. major nows item as far away as Australia and in the United Kingdom due to the Sensationalism of the claims. We will ■ try to explain why these claims ray have 1 |een made in thi£i issue. On July 28 the operator of The Private Sector was formally charged with "computer conspiracy" under the above low, and U9 released in the custody of his parents. The next day the Araoricsn Civil Lihei’tiea Union took over his defense. The ACtU oowpeiitod that it would be Very hard for Rockoff to prove ft conspiracy juat ^because the same information, construed by the prosecutor to be ill ega 1 , appears on two bul let i n boards , " especially fts Backoff admitted that "he did not believe any of the defendants knew each other," The ACIU believes that the system Operator's righto were violated* as he wan assumed _ to bo involved in an i 1 legal activity just because of other people under investigation who happened to have posted messages on his board. In another Statement which seems to confirm Rockoff 1 m belief in guilt by ftSSoc- j Sti on i he announced the next day that "630 people were being investigated to determine P W)y ward their computer eouipmant fraudu- lently, We believe this ls enly the user list of the fJJ Hack Shack, so the actual list of those to be inveatj, gated nay turn out to be almost 5 times that. The sheer overwhelming difficulty of this task may kill this Investigation, especially us they find that many hackerc simply leave false information. Computer hobbyists all across the country have already been called by the Bound Brook, Row Jersey office of the FBI. They reported that the FBI agents used scare tactics in order te force confessions or to provoke them, into turning in others. We would like to remind those who get called that there is nothing inherently wrong or illegal in calling nity BBS, nor in talking about nay activity. The i’BI would not comment on the case as it is an ''ongoing investigation" and in Che hands of the local prosecutor. They will soon find that many on the Private Sector BBS’s user list are data processing manngcra, telecommunications security people, und others who are interested in the subject matter of the BBS. hardly the underground community of computer criminals depicted at the news conference. The Private Sector BBS was u completely open BBS, und police and security people were even invited on in order to- participate. The BBS was far from the "elite'' type of underground tolecoa hoards that Rockoff attempted to portray. Within two days, Rockoff took hack almost all of the stutcrants he made at the news conference, as AT&T and the BOB discounted the claius he made, (le was under st audibly unable to find, real proof of Private Sector s alleged illegal activity, and was faced with having to return the computer (continued on jiogs 2-J f } COMMENTARY: THE THREAT TO US ALL 7 on this kind £>f A ivtorj, Wo ve done it 30 many timed in onr p^ OB th«t KETf: tempted to gloss over rand stories; because t hey 1 ve lsocome so oommon^Qce,. Put we realise that f ^LiP K>: [ a 4.‘ a 1 ch L Went ? ► because w* all need to know what js happening out there It h - realiy not a pretty sight. "??£ 7" thft ‘^“Puter to someone ant) cl“e I it S ^ufd Va hiL C ' ty reactions . In ou,r H^ uid bH " overwhelming on thus iasm „ mucn like iui explorer confronting a new adventure. But lo many ]»o™ c!™!tE™ ^ taks * t™ TS™f tbe CCdnputer* themselves, tuid complete ignorance us to what they and choir operators are capable of doing. ive saw bl®cty °T the latter last month. C ? r '“ if re fuse to under— fltdnd computers and how they fit in What MODI fit t0p 3™ ver * iB *' bft b these same r k 015 bein # t “ i oneei to pasm laws I£er? inv • ™ c £rning «*nef*. In ^k^ tY j inV ’ligation we have seen, ignorance ^ true, such ignorance can the v™ L - 1 got a ,g 0ft ® ta..gh when we hoard the wu! ' rac y authorities insisting that the Nore iw n g ftatellites "through bb< 4 . b 1 “ e havens But. losing The Private cRller^L ?y Mother you were n caller to tbvc bulletin board or not. ^whlf 53 Lfl ™! v S ry trc,ub Jtng sign r What, was Jfho Private Sector? Picture a bt T d ?f idoaa, thcori*£ ^d\ K - ^Mvate' : L^?^ yoU 13 h ? vc a * 00 that people undor- j-tund the threat to thfM whenever a bulletin S i! ut ^ C-|>.T When we received chit June SBS Skyline hill, we wlsc a bk surprised. Over sis hundred dollm ot' it ciiiot; from uu Ih w never [raids, But wh;iiA rvidlv i ikicrcitirig is the wav tha.L the Skyline pem;il£ handled Lt. In early June, vt gee a call tcjlinjus line; llidr sophisticated equipment deleted backers trying 1o gucs;; a code by scanning numerically. They sikt ljut ecale won Id sewn he d iseoverod, so they wt n goi ng lo give us a new One, with i ven extra dibits added. They did this and that very day our did code was inactivated The iilegii I «i 13s hud occurred before 1 hill day, and wv figure Skyline mijM have known Lhis. Maybe they Thought that JdW, in our corporate clumsiness, would pay a huge bill without invest ignr inn. Many big cumpa hies wcmld. Gods. give litem credit tor frying. W lien weeal ied up about it, liicy didn't want lo handle it over the phone! "Send the bill through Ihe rraiiL,” they said, “Mark the calls you rraide and deduct the rest." Why lire jtfiooe companies so i'dnud Id do things over the phone? As h]ri|c as Skyline decided to give the "■perpetrators" some extra time before the invcstigiilion skirts, we figure wc might as well lend a hand tuo. OuioM code was ii>Q09L>. Wc loved that code and arc very upset at Losing it. Our new si^ht digit one is very difljeu It to remeirihcT suvt nowhere near as fun. And one lasL note about these new eight digit numbers. Phone phreaks have already figured out n way arourxl them, if you dial the first six digits of an eight digit code, ihen the ien dtgtL phone number a rat hu n S key, you ’ll set your tone hack: Thu nncaris i licit- air cm ly a hundred possible codes since there a re only two mo re dig Its to figure out and one of them definitely WOrVs! If you triE£ r sis digits that are not part of an eight digit code, and then a ten digit phone number, you! I get n n ernor nvissiixe immediately or ilia; take carder nunc Sly Line loves to send out. Tint cone, incidentally, is for you hackers with Apples ami C jnmjnOdOrvs that s::;i r, ,i ll nighl lung look my. Lei i the crd£ shat will pet you through to a number that responds wrtb a carrier Lone. In tbe morning, you see how rrainy earner detects you jsOL aru .1 which codes gpi them for you- Skyline's iden is thid if cvcj-y invalid code gives a luaeker a can icr tone, ihuic is m? way for a computer to separate file good codes from the bad ones. Come on! How about setting your computer to dial a rrorj -carrier and Idling it to pnnt Oul only Ibose codec that ij’iciW V get a oai rler tone? And there a re pi ohahly a hundred more ways, Gig corporations cun he so much fun New Phone System For Courthouse ■■■Vn H - ■ r.xi k IIiSsb 1 h r an Thy Middhiwa County Courthouse and Administration Building wi It liave a new phnne system inxiadlinl in iiiergase the .security of Che complex, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Alan J . RookoiT. [Yes, (he sume Alan J . Rodtofif thaL was convinced computer hackers were moving caLcliitcs through the "blue heavens") The phone system, due by ScpieiiTbCT, will be able to detect and cut off unauthorised calls nude in on emergency situation. “Once u phone is activated it will show up on this massive d nigrum that will ljo on a omnpiiler screen and wi 1 1 show where thal phone is being used in the courthouse or the administration building," Rockoff said. 3 Tie syslem would niorulor which phones were active and would be' ahlC Lu euL QfinnuCLiOnx in ari trtsliiciE- Linekoff promised lhal the system would not be designed to hi p phones- [Of course, if his knowledge of lapping is anything Like his knowledge of satellites....] Seizure of Private Sector equipment with nothing to show for hia effort. Rockoff panicked, and on July 31 , the system operator had a maw charge against him, 'wiring up hia computer as a blur; box. H Apparently this was referring to hi a Nova- tion ApipleCut modem which is capable of generating any hertz tons over the phone line, [ly this stretch of imagination an Applecat could! produce n 3 E 3 CJQ hertK tofift as well U# the MB’ which is necessary for "blue boxing, w However , each and avary other owner of an Appiocnt or any other aodram that can ganemta i ts own tones therefore has also 11 wired up his conuputor os a blue box 1 ' by merely i natal linrt the modem. This charge is so ridiculous thut Rockoff never bothar to proas it, wording of wiring Rockoff an excuse to the computer longer in iUegot activity. "We have rctiuostod. that the prosecutors give us more specific infqirmation, " said jirthur .Millar, tea lawyer for The Private Sector. The charges are so Can 1 1 really pres ent d c&sa filler will appear in court tai a this in format ion . He demand, for the return of i'lt:i min ut?d / 'o?t i peg r 2-49} will owever, the up the computer gives continue to hold onto cases hi® futile search for 'Ai 0t- Vogue that we St this point . N on August 16 i to is also issuing the equipment 241 if the prosecutors don't cooperate,, commence court proceedings against "They haven’t been particularly und. will thesi . H Tlioy haven ’ t cooperative," he nnid. li&ckoff probably will soon raco insider taking Private Sector’s case to court, oS ho wil 1 have to udmi t he Just didn 3 1 know wluil he was doing when he seized tha &HS . The arrest warrant listed only "computer con- spiracy" against Private Sector, which is much more difficult to prosecute than the multitude of charge:? uguinst some of tha other defendants, which include credit card fraud, toil fraud, the unauthorized entry into computers, and mmerpua others , Both Rockoff and the ACM) mentioEicd tire Supreme Court in their press releases, but he wi 11 assuredly take one of his stronger to tost the new Hew Jersey computer CE'Lme law, JJy seizing the BBS just because of ^ supposed activities discussed on it, Rockofr raises constitutional questions, Dnrrcll Paster, a lawyer who centers much of his work on computer crime, says the New Jersey case is just another exustple of loeal law enforcement getting on the band- wtyfon of crime that Saa COme into vogue to prosecute, and they haw proceeded with very (continued on ;.wi' J-J/LJ moving satellites right up in the blue... £*3?^ People knowleilgoahle about technology and commit*.*-* ... ; : people tc . technology end computer* very disgusted. Manyxinple and innocent bits Jf inf onto lion activities. With the aid of The Shadow wy* have put together e guide to the™ misinterpretations in the hopes fW ^frryone can *ro how this invest ij± it ion hit* gotten completely out of control, r ‘ Alan Kockr.fi- said^VhS^ ing the positions; of satellites up in the aifSi v ? HWe V B Ir !M ld Causing crianutii cat ions l - 1 i tc> Change prosit torts 1 ' in order l.y intike J roe phone ctil is "'boss ihly d ": srunt in tr wft^"£ ine E t ' Ql Cdmmun feat ions mid making WitiBnto phono calls impossible, Ir ThiE of° r Sir^ 3 n^i a ? by the “6tfia to the extent satolti u-C r ^ lctlon f .of hueker-s causing satoilitos tnj crash into the Soviet Utiion »gi? 3 anv^rtttt-^T^ 17 ^ AT8lT C easy that it is not even necessary to dis- cuss the topic with others to be able to Conn.Lt the crime 4 Because of the use of [,'g Office boxes, the post office is investigating this type of crip»c, The Secret Service wain authorised last October to investigate credit card fraud. The FBI Variety of reasons to investigate. 5 1 ready laws everywhere against credit card fraud, and there are already as- sociated penalties. It is nothing now to law enforcement. In addition, much 'of nil credit card fnmd is ctsmniittftd by those who steal, manufacture , or find whol cords. We hope that this thorou will help to got rid of t stories wo ve seen abounding. ■e credit explanation e inaccurate Again wc l d 1 -E - *0 ve seen armunding, Again we d ?^ art ^V that law enforcement people ,-houlfl loam a bit about computers and te I e comm uni cat 1 Ona and above all try to con- trol thoir gllthuin nam - course t only qualified to comment on the specific case of The Private that Rockoff and hie cohorts will have to search a long time for tho special codes that provided illegal access to the information at issue 11 ’ on The r-riyate_ Sector, fts th ey just aren 1 t there. Lot cot noNS.1 03 - 29-03 charged ^ods, it easier for u System hkrwd Pootod! RULES OF THIS BBS! 1J MS CDQSF '■PASSWORDS/ CC *' = arc to bb fl-CHtted or ejiclidnqcO via. E— it.il ] T Violutjcn o-f this ru: « wl ] 1 CObit you ycur sccssc. R6£b*hti |ir- h w see every- thing you type. 2> POST INFORMATION relating to tblerw ONLY? These ruios jrs to protect bath you tho user jnJ w tlw -.yatjpii. I-f you have any i n tern ot \ ng pr IS Cl es pi ee sc t.c."id tftem to 24.00 y \ * Cue : 1 to H IOOO hAGhilUb.“ Hv iippr ug 1 *to dll pood anO Informative W11Y COMPUTERS GET SNATCHED When a computer System is confiscated from ft young person b&Cftuso thoy break inis someone s mainframe, because UKy have a BBS wl t h ] ots of codes or passwords pos ted on 1 t of. because they arc caught mek i ng illegal E>hono calls, no one complains. It is Often said that the young parson obviously comm i ted a crime and deserves to lose their computer, '/be kid's parents are not going to complain, because they know enougn to think twice about arguing with the FB I , The Secrc t Scrv i ce, or whomever . Plus the parents do not want to make headlines in the local papers. So whet the author itien ln effect are doing is convicting people and punishing them by taking away their computer ftp tern. This is r in part, due to the fact that charges are often not pressed uguinat young people who break into computers, Witcd one -asks &ubh> bip compares public relations department whether or‘ not people brettk into their cwiputors they atv likely to snyl Oh no, of course not, wo .have the most secure sys toms This is becuuso i t looks bad to admit to security broaches in one’s system; one's livelihood, in the case of GTE— fe 1 ema i 1 , the peop 1 e there saw some- thing going wrong, told the FBI and then the Cftse was out of their hands, A full four HObths or more after the raids in October, JaoJ the default password was still the letter A . And it was not until weeks after this was publicized that this was corrected (see 2600 , April 1984), Ob- viously Telemail did Hot want to admit that they were reluctant to deal with the real problem. TFW was upset last, k uamcr when the press {see 2600, July 13B1) had to tell the wer Id about breaches into the company’ s credit gathering system. These companies make money because their systems arc reliable and secure and not because they will prosecute people who break in. Th*y know that it is not worth it to try to prosecute kids, and it is better to prosecute those who try to use a computer to anberzle. In addition kids are often exempt from prosecution or, because of youthful offender laws, will have little of no penal- ties placed against them. It is for these reasons that it is more advantageous for companies to have author- ities confiscate equipment, and punish the hacker that way rather than dragging them through court. They keep the c^ulfssent by calling it evidence in an ongoing investiga- tion, and they often return it if the kid tc 1 is them everything they know . f In addi t ion „ the kid* s confession about the poor security of whatever ayst^st he may have broken into is rarely related to the proper security personnel at the company that owns f lic" system. ) This is also a fora of Ji-EoraBS— neat or scare tactica. Aren’t young people citizens and don't they have rights just like the rest of us? They have the right to due process and have to bo proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Law enforcement types have said that they occasionally have to make hacking headline:} in Order to reduce the amount of Tata night computer activity. They have admitted that they need to gat a good bust in before the stjwmior a tarts, because they knew that all young people with computers may spend their summer trying to start World Wur III from their homo. And fhis is a no-no. Some important Questions To Ask Who* l h T ■ftsf'fr sysop how about remote sysops? How much can one do to regulate a BBS' 1 On the private Sector mea sages were regularly scanned for potential illegal material and then deleted when found- Then the user who posted the massage was denied any further access, What more can one do than this? Especially if t.he BBS is simply a hobby and not a full time job. On the Private Sector it was extremely unlikely to see A. credit cord number or an Allnct code, Plus isn t it really illegal to use these codes? This ia because a crime has been comn ed only after a code has been used, But .n again in Rome states, namely California., it is illegal to tell people code formats. This makes all credit card otHMercials, sample credit cards, and this publication illegal there. Does this sound right? It also raises a variety cd Questions on the admissibility of o Loot rente evidence. The Middlesex prosecutors consider reading messages on a BBS the same as overhearing a conversation. Is this the proper way to look at BBS messages? And what about elec - tropic mail? Is the sysop responsible for the contents of electronic mail just because he provides the service? Isn’ t it just as sacred as U& mail? Now, there are cur- rently no laws that require court approval in order to tap data lines, &o s how does one consider evidence that ift received bv a legal, vet unapproved tap? If authorities can confiscate a suspect, computer systems because it has un illegal message on it, why^^ don’t they confiscate CompuServe when at » used by criminals to exchange illegal infer mat ion? Or is the government just upset about the fact that people are comscun icut ing in an unregu 1 uted manner? These questions go on and on. What are the answers? Some of the answers are only starting to appear as legislators address the problems that are connected with the computer ago. But often they are only responses to head- lines. For instance, we wore told that Sen- ator Paul. Trible { lf r V frgin ia \ has recently proposed legislation, (S--1B05) that would regulate obscene material on a BBS. Called the "’Computer Pornography and Child , Exploi tat ion Prevention Act of 19B5 t r the legisla- tion would prohibit the posting of names _ or addresses of children and prevent discussion that could bo construed as pertaining to child exploitation, A couple of eX[J licit sessugos might give sufficient cause t.o get a warrant to seise your BBS. We have not Seen the legislation itself yet, hut it was related to us by Jerry Barman of the Amer- ican Civil Liberties tin? on’s Privacy Project in Washington . He said that this showed "■Congress trying to regulate on industry that no One understands and that has no con- stituency. 1 ' This is all. too truc- On the other side, Bcrnian told us about legislation that is being draft ad by Patrick beahv (D-Vermont) that, would extend laws which limit wiretaps ih order to protect data transmission, electronic moil, and BBS's. This is something that would be harder to get through Congress, as reduces the power of law enforcement . tfc will try to keep you informed when any* t.b i ng new happens . So ask the uucsti otis now, before they are answered for you. 2-54 HOW CANS YSOPS PRO TEC T THEMSEL VES? ”"h™ a £j b§| riot^h^r E nL^ 3Dr ® 1 'i b,or P abcmt Aether or u^erWs ^ m W - U B * ww lip in Ufler j. Oga , Ah We’ve now seen, it imikeft no ditference whether or not you’re actually in iUzsr activity. V Any b3l£ in Sfj th;-r hare K f ^ d . be n *»* Eherc'rSot t that eon be done to prevent w ° *** ■"■• i«™ wS«d“; t] }* mnntioe, however, there are a few loosen the odds of a. raid or to thwart the J 9 ss*ni b issi“* y i ° * et i ” t ° ™- you con almost expect to get visited, even What^p u nly b ? ing .^ono in private mail, S ^ ? h J V . ln, E iortan t. at this, stage is the r^lc the sya text is olavitw w -j f-v. re^rda.to this inf-Uat ion. if h£/5L i£ tainT^h* 6 emit ti oi pant there will mo.; I c er- theft y T+^ r ' io make an axomplo of tntift. It £ a mil, air to draft rdifiat ration Who pub Hoi EC their opposition— tiny ™. kpp*„ ‘}s if ‘fc running a bulletin beard, you aro call lap attention to yourself, so it stands to £5^ ^.should keep your act clean. ly 1. ^fniT^ 16 bo™ written before July itfi.. houJj have advised B-ysopt; +o eh— courage people not to post credit rurd b™«Te*’ etc, in order not to ‘get With 1 ?i. n E p^H. th i s h* Ioil £°r the case, inlL r a Pri L vli te Sector, authorities moved i K-t, the board whs kept spunking clean of the above, So now, the only way we Oun guarantee that your board won^t ™ snutchec from you is if you unplug it ?tsd ™ In - a B 030 ?,. Using a bulletin board lor communication between two or more people cun now be considered risky. ,w AE ?J?" illK ^ bat. you still want ydur board there ore other precautionary measures, tot onft . l-b Ln Ss the boards that ask the COUer whether or not they work for law en- forcement really arc working against then- *elves. First off, do they honestly expect all low enforcement types to dutifully soy yes and never call buck when they’re denied access; ho they really think that these people can get their foot in tho door even if it raan elite board? Even if there is nothing illegal on such a board, attention , drawn to 1 1 by such s tatemen ts and it H1 tl become impossible to persuade tho authorities that there simply inn’t- a higher access level On the same token, sysops t f?Lf“ n ^ a i t 4 .^ 3cIail “ sr with words to the ertect of the sysop takc^ no responsibility .or wnut is said on this board" are kidding themselves if they think this is going to Save them iron harassment, Those words jfiouJd apply, naturally, but at the moment they don’t seen to. Whether or not you want to censor the patera U up to you. Some- t Lmcs it helps to Wood out undesirobl ea and sometimes it s an intrusion into someone’s privacy We never Liked, the practice a l though i t was done regular 1 y on The Private Sector. It’s your board nn$ yob have tho right to run it your way. What really aceds to be addressed at this point is the concept of protection. Tea, you r have the right to protect yourself against thugs that came into your home, no matter who sent them. One way in by scrambled data. There ora .±ony scrambling programs around and some of them are quite f ood, oven the KSA would have a time crack— dg the code. We feel that all. UScrlogs should be scrambled, at the verv least, (in some cases, a valid form of protection would bo to keep no userlog at nil. > System oper- ators should try to figure out a wav to scramble everything so that nothing 1 is available to unauthorized parties. When raids become totally fruit leas, maybe then they will stop. Of course, now there is the problem of being forced, under penalty cf law,, to; unsertsmbie everything. A vivid imagination can probably find a way around this as well. The best method of protection is complete destruction of data. Soae people hook up their computers *0 that if the wrong door is opened or a button isn’t preaood, a magnet activates and wipes the disk clean. Bookies like to do this with their Apples. fiimi lor sys terns can be rjggcd so that if a computer jp unplugged, the first thing it does upon is u piiftfe [not- 41 dirtttQry pur&ft which .cures with simply deleting file names, u complete reformatting of the disk which erases #.U data} , Ibis means, though, that evory power failure- will have the same 1 1 feet. It will talfO some time to make a good system of protection, but. this is pro- bob ^y the most constructive project that BBS Operators OUn engage In, It dceisn’t matter if you have H nothing to hide”. The fact U you have everything to protect from in- truding eyes. Because when they sei^e equipment they read everything without concern that the sysop may be the caretaker of people, p. personal messages end writings. We a l-iko- to hear other methods of out- a&sirtiti^ those gd>i>i-:is. It's &iot very hai’cl. for mstunoc t you could have a bulletin board dinl-in at one location, which will then call-forward to the real location or still another dummy Location. Each of these requires another phone line, but you’ll get Plenty of warning, especially if o dtamuy computer is set up at one of the locations. And this is only the beginning. 'We don t enjoy having to ' suggest these Courses of action. We'd like very much to he ub le to get on wi th what wc ’ re supiKised to be doing; discussing telecommunications arid computers in our own way. Inateod we have to pause again to defend our right to « ay t hose th t Ugo , Its a utodcssary course uCt ion ant! , if wc hold our heads up, i t wi 11 be o -succeas ful one. HOW CANS YSOPS PRO TEC T THEMSEL VES? B BS ■" j.’H SHhw ,r "serio* s w i 1 1 3how U P i I " raided 4?££ io £ fi - wo've now seen. it makes rto dl fforence whether or not you* rf- actual 1 v a "f in ill egr act iv ity . * Any ffi let 1 n t[=r herft v f ^L d l l5e neift ■ , ' nd there 'k hot t that l ;cm bf! rb>nf - tc > prevent iriteS ** ™ Iawa to ...^ the meantime, however, there are u few ^K‘Sr«a 0 r a Ta!d g*s fidcntial b mat^iol? y * mB ** l ° * et into ^n~ tw vi tv2i y ' if yoti ]wVo fl bulletin board trint frequently posts codas and passwords if U it^ i° a £ .OKpeol, to get visited, even ? nly h £ in £ ^4onc %n private mail, ?ol^ nt this stage is the role tne system operator is playing with reguria to this information. If fie/sHo is hi* participant there will most cer : thim ly Tf'Sf 1 J 10 ,“«*« «n example Of tfu.m. It s similar to draft rejfi strati on are^ThJ^o ■ publ *£ i S e t t eir opposition— they STL bT lCB t ^ rjt prosecuted, rot the P™fila about it. By b you ore calling attention to yourself, so it stand* to £1^* y °^ a ^ ]a L ld ke*P your act. clean, had this article been written before July 12„ we would have advised sysop* to en- courage people not to pest credit card j etc ' in ° rder not to get hoHaled. But this is no longer the ease, " th u i h - Sector, authorities moved i? _ thfi ^ourd was kept spunking clean of the above . EJ-0 now, the only way we .P f 5 r 5 nteft thj ? fc your board won't bo snatched from you is if you unplug it find f?* 3 ' Using a bulletin board 1 or com man icat i on between two or moro peopl r oan now be considered risky, * that you a till want ybur board UP, there arc bther precautionary measures. I'or one things the boards that ask the caller whether or not they work for law en- forcement really are working against thexr- sejves. First off, do they honestly expect flU law enforcement types to dutifully aav ye* and never call buck when they 1 re denied flCocas? ho they really think that these people can t ip got their foot in tho door even ^£, iT- i s . 1 & board? Even if there is nothing illegal on such a board, attention is drawn to it by such a t atejnen ts and it wlU become impossible to persuade tho Monties that there simply isn't a hi gher access level On the same token, sysops ^ 4 ^ 114 . . with to the errect of the sysop takes no responsibility xor whtit is said on this beard" are kidding themselves if they think this is going to save them from hurossment „ Those wards Naturally, but at the .moment i-tLov don't seem to. Whether or not you want to censor the ayatem is up to you, Som«- -J iL he ] ¥* E ° we< ^ c| . c>ut - ul::iJEo3 “ c* and w:s s ™ intrusion into someone 1 n f:y i. - IK ™ e3 '‘ liked tlie practice although it was done regularly on The Private Sector, It's your board anti you havo tho right to run it your way. What rea 11 y needs to be addressed at thi a point is the concept of protection. Yes, you, have the right to protect yourself against thugs that come into your home, no matter who sent them. One way is by scrambled det£u Thers nn: •■ mny scr ccccsb 1 infi programs around and some of them are quite good' oven the NS A would have a time crack- ing the code. We feel that all user logs should be acradbled, at the very least, (Tn seme esses,, a valid form of protection would be to keep no userlog at all.) System oper- ulois shonld try to figure oyt a way to scramble everything so that nothing is available to unauthorized partie-s. When raids become totally fruitless, maybe then they will step. Of course, now there is the problem of being forced, under penalty of law, to unscrumb le everything. A vivid imagination can probably find a way around this as well. The best method of protection is complete destruction of data, Some people hook up their computers so that if the wrong door is opened or a button isn' t prosisod, a magnet activates and wipes tho disk clean. Book lea like to do this with their Apples, Similar systems ean be rjggcd ao that if a computer is unplugged, the first- thing it does upon revival is u purge [not a directory purge which co»es with simply deleting file names, u complete reformatting of the disk which erases sJJ dutaj. This means, though, that every power failure will have tho same if feet, it will take Some time to make a good system of protection, but. this is pro- bably the most constructive project that B&$ Operators eon engage in. It doesn't matter if you have 'nothing to hide". The fact U you have everything to protect from in- truding eyes. Because when they seise equipment they read everything without concern that the sysop may be the caretaker of people s. persona L messages and writings. We d like to hear othe r met hods of ont- smartipg those goons. It's not verv hard mi- ItMiliinoB, yooi could have a bulletin board dial-in at One location, which will then call-forward to the real location, or still another dummy location. Each of these requires another phone line, bnt you'll get plenty oi warning, especially if a dtmay computer is set up at one of the locations, ■and this i* only the beginning . ¥c don't enjoy having to auggesr. these courses of action, We’d like very much to be able to get on with what we're stipposed to be doing: discussing tel cconmrun i cations and computers in our own way. Instead kg have to pausse again to defend oar right to sey these things. It s a tlccoaoary course fit fiction aricEj, 11 we hold our heo.de yp, it will be o auceiFrissful one- 2-55 PRIVATE SECT OR SEIZED (amiimwd fr&m 2-5!) Utllo technical understanding. and in the process they have abused many people's constitutional rights. What we have devel- oping as a mini vUuS hunt which i.s analo- goua to some .of the arrests at day care centers where they swoop in and arrest everybody, ruin reputations, and then find that there is only one or two guilty parties. We feel that law enforcement, not understanding the information on the ni3E n decided to strike first and ask questions Later . 2600 atage^ine and the sysops of the lYivate Sector BUS stand fully behind the system operator. As soon e.« the equipment I* returned, the BBS will be hack up. Wo &sk alt our readers to do their utmost to Support us in our efforts t and to educate hs nany of the public os possible that a hacker if. not a computer criminal. We are ail convinced of our sysop's innocence, and await Rookof f s dropping of the charges. [ NOTE : Header* will notice that our reporting of the events are quite different than those presented in the media cund bv the Middlesex County Prosecutor. Wc can only remind you that we arc much closer to the events at twnd than the media is and that we are much _ more technologically literate Middlesex County Prosecutor * « ' Office. The Middlesex Prosecutor has already taken back many of his ntatemonts. alter his contentions were disprove^ by AT&T und the DOI), One problem is that the media and the police Lend to treat the seven cases a* one case, thus the charges against and activities of some of the hackers has been extended to all of the charged. We at P$$Q can only speak about the case ef Private Sector . \ nm qf ntw uriLvir \ MY COMPLIMENTS TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR ! CFJWmV£KNt WS A DUALITY BULLETIN ROAR D SYSTEM WHEN THEY SEP ONE. 11 [ATS WHAT THE PRIVATE. SECTOR WAS— AND WTIJ, HE AGAIN, WiTII YOUR H£LP tell. tiib world what ti ie private sector was all ABOUT AND IlOW XT WAS UNJUSTLY SNATCHED 1M ITS ™™E. WRITE OR CALI. YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS AMD OFFER TO EXPLAIN THIS KJNDOFTHlNOTOTIIEM. THEY WILL LISTEN BECAUSE NO ONE FT. SI: IS OOJNU TO TF1.T. theaii donate your time, resources, and/or ■ AR1T.1TISS AND STAY IN’ TOUCH W1TI E MW *T(jM) 751 -SfcOfl YOUR IDEAS ARE WELCOME. OQUtfl y Y I v 4H ^ ^ H35 2C J 2t«-3- , if£:J h 2C:2-«5 -C.'rAq. I L.'rh I y ji ■- V -^ 1 U t h r tfrl ft | 4p£0hf hCLl]y , COBJHjfctfh’ Oi'|oS|rWlFit r 'in-= l C.T.r. , r-Ai.iu.uir, pOCIvucVj h d r. j a i a j iinniii'! ■ >j ) -p ] L r. ■ , AkhirdAt LpOtAh, r-rL-zTd.r . nj3C«iir *!■■-:.. |,4 hm'd r 1+KT.r. I..1..I li.j liFHic ncardd AFri .... . i.-jj-u r ■ Ir n r n rajACLPh; ■*£. n.r LfrerdtJan ot ihw fo^iiliT. ^■LVu-: | I S ..-J IUH 1 V 1 I hr iruvr rf r-i^ir 1 , 1 3 *■* ■> mui *1 n ^kv^F..i h.^. r.i , 1^.^. Kr-i ■ i-Vn .H ■!.■■■■,» ik. |>.i.m™ — m»i h ih»-,i ■* .. 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