Taken from MIND LINK! on Sat Jul 22 23:03:59 1995 Sat Jul 22 13:01:31 1995 Message : #29248309 From: Lewis De Payne Address : lewiz@netcom.com Group : Usenet.alt.2600 Length : 6655 words 37665 bytes Subject : Re: Will Spencer, and his silliness.... Read 1 times Msg-ID: References: <74463-805953248@mindlink.bc.ca> Posted: Sat, 22 Jul 1995 19:17:10 GMT Org. : NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Stephen H. Kawamoto stopped to think, then wrote: : : The reason why Suzie and Kevin got 'flamed' in CPunk was because only : DePayne and DiCicco talked. And they talked despite one of them doing : something illegal which Hafner knew about but didn't mention to autho- : rities for reasons known only to her. I didn't realize that was the only reason they got "flamed." What was this illegal thing which Hafner knew about but didn't mention? I thought De Payne talked to Hafner because he enjoys pulling coordinated pranks on the media at-large. Take a look at this, for example: From: johamill@nic.cerf.net (Joe Hamill) Newsgroups: alt.recovery Subject: SCOOP ON DE PAYNE & ROSS Date: 19 Nov 1994 04:04:55 GMT Organization: CERFnet Dial n' CERF Customer Message-ID: <3ajth7$is9@news.cerf.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: nic.cerf.net THE SCOOP ON ROSS JEFFRIES AND LEWIS DE PAYNE "Wretched are the Peacemakers, for they shall be shit on by both sides." -- after Monty Python, Life of Brian Well, don't I feel silly. Trying to bring peace between Ross Jeffries, Lewis De Payne, and Jacquelyn. Jacquelyn, my apologies for suggesting you make peace with people who don't want peace. Some of us have been completely had by a couple of phonies. The Lewis De Payne name kept nagging at me. I knew I knew that name from somewhere. Then I read some more of his posts. Then it all came in a flash! Not "The" Lewis De Payne? Computer hacker extrordinaire? Friend of Kevin Mitnick? A man who skunked me good once already? I signed off AOL and called up a Nexis on Lewis De Payne and Ross Jeffries (appended below). Of course! Lewis is a cyberpunk Merry Prankster! A hacker! A computer whiz, with an incredible bent for mischief! He's not in recovery, and neither is Ross Jeffries, or rather, Paul Jeffrey Ross (his real name). Both of these guys are from LA, and are probably friends. Paul Jeffrey Ross is a right-wing anti-woman pseudo-comic, a la Andrew Dice Clay, and Lewis De Payne is a clever rascal with no discernable agenda other than tricking people. And he's good at it. How De Payne skunked me (almost): I work at KCOP TV news in LA. We wanted to do a story on Kevin Mitnick, another infamous computer hacker, who is on the lam from the FBI. De Payne's name came up as a childhood friend of Mitnick's in the LA Times clips, a nd we contacted his lawyer to try to get an interview. Either with De Payne, or through his aegis, with the fugitive Kevin Mitnick. We never speak directly to De Payne, only the lawyer. Then we get a phone call: the guy says he's Kevin Mitnick, give him a number to call Sunday Morning at 10AM. Our researcher gives him a number. The guy calls, and our Executive Producer conducts the interview with "Mitnick." We record it. Whoever it was who called us, comandeered the recorded Pac Bell female telephone voice and made it say, "Thank You, for using Kevin Mitnick." We play the tape for Mitnick's father, his psychiatrist, and another friend. All say, "That's not Kevin Mitnick." They also say it sounds a bit like Lewis De Payne. The Executive Producer was philosophical about it. I laughed a lot. "This guy's good," I said. Anyway, Lewis, I admire such virtuosity. Which of course is not to be confused with virtue. But, then, you'd rankle at being accused of virtue, wouldn't you. You are good at the Merry Prankster bag, though. You and I would have gotten along well when I was 16, and one of my fondest fantasies was to dose all the communion hosts at midnight mass on Christamas with blotter acid. In a snowstorm. At Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. (Instead, I shot heroin using holy water that night.) No need to heap any abuse on De Payne and Ross. They are part of another world. One cannot, in good conscience, criticize a barracuda for not behaving like a good guppie. That level of floating malevolence is almost sublime. One pulls back in awe at such things, and quietly lets them swim past. One can only get angry if one takes the bait. And then, the chances of getting bitten and torn to shreds are greater. I salute you, Paul and Lewis! You had us going good and well. Forgive my part in unmasking you, but you would have done the same. Move on, O denizens of the Net, and leave this poor school of fish in peace, wounded and limping as we are. THIS ONE IS ABOUT ROSS JEFFRIES: Copyright 1991 The Times Mirror Company Los Angeles Times July 19, 1991, Friday, Home Edition SECTION: View; Part E; Page 1; Column 4; View Desk LENGTH: 1807 words HEADLINE: RETURN OF THE BRUTE; RELATIONSHIPS: FORGET SENSITIVE. FORGET NICE. WHAT WOMEN REALLY WANT IS A BIG, STRONG BARBARIAN, ACCORDING TO A NEW CROP OF SELF-HELP BOOKS. BYLINE: By ROBIN ABCARIAN, TIMES STAFF WRITER BODY: Hub Thompson didn't used to be too lucky with the babes. A 26-year-old San Diego guitar teacher, Thompson describes himself as good-looking -- "real good-looking" -- but previously devoid of discrimination. "I would just go for any girl who went for me," he said. "I wasn't selective. It was a confidence thing." Then he bought a copy of a mail-order book called "How to Get the Women You Desire Into Bed." Now he's humming a different tune. "I am learning to dump them if they need to be dumped," said Thompson. "This romance stuff is totally trench warfare. It's almost like bargaining for the price of something. If somebody doesn't want what I want, hey, there's the door, babe." Ah, honesty. Ah, sensitivity. Ah, nuts. The sexual landscape has always been a treacherous one, but there is a brewing meanness out there, a harsh '90s twist on the war between the sexes. It might be a backlash against feminism and double messages (Be manly! Cry, too!) -- or maybe guys are just tired of being told to get in touch with their feelings. Whatever the reasons, in some quarters, honesty is out, manipulation is in. For this crowd, the sensitive New Age male is not just dead and gone, he's been dragged back into the Dark Ages by the Neo-Neanderthal. Deep down the brute may be looking for love (and someone to do the laundry), but you'd never know it from his approach. The brief apotheosis of Andrew Dice Clay and the misogynistic lyrics of rappers were perhaps the early warning signs of incipient Neo-Neanderthalism. But recently, brutishness has blossomed all around. Consider: * It is possible to buy a T-shirt in several stores on the Venice boardwalk that says in huge block letters, "Shut Up Stupid Bitch." * "Studs," a new show on the Fox television network, features this low concept: "Two men go out on dates with three of the same women. Then, all convene on the set to find out which of the guys is 'the bigger stud.' " * Last month, Boston Red Sox fans were treated to the sight of bleacher bums simulating sex with inflatable dolls, until complaints caused officials to ban the dolls from the stadium. * Recently, the world of vanity publishing has spewed forth such titles as "How to Get all the Girls You Want" ("The three main types of women are the "ho," "the freak" and "the good girl.") and "The Bartender's Guide on How to Pick-Up Women" ("I've also included a section for women, because I feel they are the most misunderstood, abused group in terms of relationships -- by their own choice."). For the married brute, there is "How to Cheat on Your Wife and Not Get Caught" ("The best place to meet women who are the most vulnerable and the easiest to conquer is at the Parents Without Partners group. If the organizers make you sign some type of statement that you are single, separated or divorced, go ahead. After all, you're not forging a tax return or killing someone.") * Even Cosmopolitan magazine is endorsing a return to the old double standard. Last December, it published "How to be a Great Date," a feature that suggested, among other things, "At the table, be a little geisha-like -- butter his roll, put the sugar alongside his coffee," and "Say, 'That's absolutely fascinating!' at least once before the evening is over." An unlikely hero of the Neo-Neanderthal movement is ROSS JEFFRIES, the pseudonym of a 32-year-old Culver City man whose real name is PAUL JEFFREY ROSS. The tall, reedy Jeffries, who grew up in Lawndale, has spent the last 1 1/2 years on the talk-show circuit promoting his book, "How to Get the Women You Desire Into Bed." He claims to have sold thousands of copies and is planning an info-mercial in the fall. The book is aimed, he said, at those who do not possess the money or looks that most people presume are natural magnets of the dating scene. He offers some sound advice, but some behavior experts raise their eyebrows at his proposals for psychological warfare. The book is shot full of hostility toward women, because, as Jeffries explained, they deserve it. "Well, you have to understand, the animosity comes from being slapped down when I was too nice. But also some of that is a character I get into." A paragraph from the book suffices to impart its unsubtle flavor: "When it comes to sex, women have a massive power advantage," he writes. "It's relatively easy for even a fat, ugly troll to obtain sexual satisfaction. All she has to do is go to any bar or club, act even mildly flirtatious and be willing to put out. She's sure to get laid, if not by the best-looking guy, then at least by someone." In an interview at the Sidewalk Cafe in Venice, during which Jeffries attempted to hit on two women (one was "too young," one was married; both seemed flattered), he said his most essential advice to men is this: "Don't be too nice. When you accommodate, you get what the commode gets, which is the crapola." He advocates faking warmth or being outrageous (send flowers, sign the card "secret admirer" and show up later wearing a T-shirt that says "I am your secret admirer"). He also suggests that men prowl dormitories telephonically, dialing random numbers using known dorm prefixes until they find a student willing to grab a cup of coffee on the spot. ("This way," he said, "you find the adventurous ones.") In a bawdy seminar last month at a Westchester hotel -- his first -- he awkwardly demonstrated the techniques borrowed from hypnosis and neurolinguistic programming, which claims to help people overcome fear of failure. The 22 men who paid $55 for 3 1/2 hours, seemed receptive, except when Jeffries allowed a couple of energy drink salesmen to solicit distributors ("Why not get rich and get laid?"). Some men left the room. Jeffries advocates covert hypnosis to induce trance-like attention in a woman, using such techniques as the mirroring of speech and breathing patterns pioneered by psychotherapist Virginia Satir and psychiatrist Milton Erickson, neither of whom is alive. ("I bet they would have been appalled," said Kate Wachs, a Chicago psychologist who founded a center that specializes in romantic relationships. "You can use any good technique to con people, and this is certainly a very unhealthy use of a very good technique.") But Jeffries, who says he was recently dumped by his girlfriend of several months, equates courtship to street fighting, an arena in which all is fair. "I am trying to get these guys to protect themselves. . . . Women love a guy who will listen, but the problem is when they aren't interested in you sexually, you wind up getting slapped around. I put up with that for years, and finally I said, 'No more.' That is why when a woman starts telling me her problems, (he snaps his fingers) adios!" The message seems to resonate for the men who read his book. Anthony Alpert, a 25-year-old financial consultant in Huntington Beach, said his pattern of getting dumped by women after three or four months of dating ended after he read Jeffries' book. "I think women love a challenge," he said. "I was unchallenging. I laid everything out on the line. So I got the book, read it cover to cover and pretty much knew what I was going to do the next time I met a girl." He cooked dinner for his next date, Julie Jerez. "I acted like I had thousands of women over to my house for dinner. There was a hockey game on," he said. "And it didn't matter if she liked hockey or not, I was gonna watch the darn hockey game." Jerez, a 22-year-old law office receptionist, said she was impressed by Alpert's confidence. "Actually," she added, "I did want to watch the hockey game. I was kind of hoping a fight would break out because I like it when they start slapping each other with the stick." Alpert and Jerez have been together for 14 months, and although Alpert attributes this in part to Jeffries' book, Jerez thinks she would have fallen in love with him anyway. Therapists who specialize in courtship and relationships disagree with the premises and techniques of the Neo-Neanderthal approach, but say the books do represent a phenomenon. "Men are feeling less empowered. Maybe because of the economy, maybe because of the diffusion of roles between men and women that makes it more threatening for men," said Carl Hindy, a New Hampshire therapist who wrote "If This is Love, Why Do I Feel So Insecure?" Men who read books like Jeffries', Hindy said, "have very low freedom of movement -- their expectations of being able to satisfy their need are quite low. That is usually due to problems like shyness and shame and social skills deficits. I also wonder if you have these men . . . reading this stuff not for instruction, but for fantasy gratification." Jerrold Lee Shapiro, an associate professor in counseling psychology at Santa Clara University, finds a lot of "interesting and valid pieces (in Jeffries' book), but then they are kind of twisted into a single-mindedness of purpose." Some experts say there is truth to the adage that women do not like nice men, but they offer caveats in the same breath: "I've had guys ask me, 'Why don't women like nice men?' " said Wachs, the Chicago psychologist. "But there is a difference between nice and too nice. (Women) don't want to be conned, but they don't want someone who gives in to everything. "I could see where this approach might work with certain people, people who want to be abused, people who are attracted to psychopathic men. This sounds very antisocial." All of which probably means precious little to Hub Thompson, the San Diego guitar teacher, who tells several stories about how he has applied Jeffries' techniques to his love life. Each has the same ending, a sort of Neo-Neanderthal coda: "I went out with a girl for a week, and my hands started doing too much," said Thompson. "So she is like, totally flipped out because she thought I was going too fast. She said give me a couple of days to think about it. I called Ross and said, 'What should I do?' "He said, 'Don't call her on Friday. Call her on Sunday! She left you hanging, so you leave her hanging.' So I called her on Sunday and told her I had a great weekend. I told her I went out with 'a person' and had a great time. It made her dig me more because it made her feel like she had lost me. I want a girl that just can't wait to jump my bones, otherwise it's no fun. Eventually, I ended up dumping her." The next date using the Jeffries method produced similar results. "I went out with this one girl and I told her right off, 'I want to go out with you, I really dig you. But if you don't want to sleep with me later on, I am gonna feel like you are leading me on.' Well, it made her mad. But what does she expect? Well, I ended up dumping her because it just wasn't happening. But at least I let her know what I wanted." GRAPHIC: Drawing, COLOR, HANK HINTON / For The Times ; Photo, "How to Get Any Woman You Desire Into Bed" author ROSS JEFFRIES, a.k.a. PAUL JEFFREY ROSS, shows off his charms to a woman he met on the Venice boardwalk. It turned out that she is married. PATRICK DOWNS / Los Angeles Times Copyright 1991 The Times Mirror Company Los Angeles Times July 28, 1991, Sunday, Home Edition SECTION: View; Part E; Page 4; Column 2; View Desk LENGTH: 102 words HEADLINE: READERS LAMENT 'RETURN OF THE BRUTE' BODY: Neo-Neanderthals like (author) PAUL JEFFREY ROSS and his lecherous, boorish followers will unfortunately be around until the end of time. Are Ross and his fellow primates so threatened by the empowerment of women that they'd resort to bullying tactics to get a girl in the sack? Not only is it insulting, but it sends the message that abuse is appropriate and deserved. The fact that the Los Angeles Times would print such a testament to hatred toward women, sadly proves that we are still considered second-class citizens whose most desirable position is lying on our backs. ANGELA AIELLO Studio City THE REST OF THESE INCLUDE REFERENCES TO LEWIS DE PAYNE: Copyright 1994 The Times Mirror Company Los Angeles Times July 31, 1994, Sunday, Valley Edition SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 1; Column 2 LENGTH: 1691 words HEADLINE: HACKER IN HIDING; DIGITAL DESPERADO WHO CLAIMS TO HAVE WORKED FOR THE FBI IS NOW BEING SOUGHT BY THE AGENCY BYLINE: By JOHN JOHNSON, TIMES STAFF WRITER BODY: First there was the Condor, then Dark Dante. The latest computer hacker to hit the cyberspace most wanted list is Agent Steal, a slender, good-looking rogue partial to Porsches and BMWs who bragged that he worked undercover for the FBI catching other hackers. Now Agent Steal, whose real name is Justin Tanner Petersen, is on the run from the very agency he told friends was paying his rent and flying him to computer conferences to spy on other hackers. Petersen, 34, disappeared Oct. 18 after admitting to federal prosecutors that he had been committing further crimes during the time when he was apparently working with the government "in the investigation of other persons," according to federal court records. Ironically, by running he has consigned himself to the same secretive life as Kevin Mitnick, the former North Hills man who is one of the nation's most infamous hackers, and whom Petersen allegedly bragged of helping to set up for an FBI bust. Mitnick, who once took the name Condor in homage to a favorite movie character, has been hiding for almost two years to avoid prosecution for allegedly hacking into computers illegally and posing as a law enforcement officer. Authorities say Petersen's list of hacks includes breaking into computers used by federal investigative agencies and tapping into a credit card information bureau. Petersen, who once promoted after-hours rock shows in the San Fernando Valley, also was involved in the hacker underground's most sensational scam -- hijacking radio station phone lines to win contests with prizes ranging from new cars to trips to Hawaii. The mastermind of that scheme was Dark Dante, whose real name is Kevin Poulsen. He is awaiting sentencing in connection with that case, having already spent three years in custody, the longest term in jail for any hacker in history. Petersen's case reveals the close-knit and ruggedly competitive world of computer hacking, where friends struggle to outdo each other and then, when they are caught, sometimes turn on each other. Petersen boasted of his alleged exploits trapping his former colleagues. Petersen gave an interview last year to an on-line publication called Phrack in which he claimed to have tapped the phone of a prostitute working for Heidi Fleiss. He also boasted openly of working with the FBI to bust Mitnick. "When I went to work for the bureau I contacted him," Petersen said in the interview conducted by Mike Bowen. "He was still up to his old tricks, so we opened a case on him. . . . What a loser. Everyone thinks he is some great hacker. I outsmarted him and busted him." How much of Petersen's story is true and how much is chest-thumping is at issue, for he is a shadowy person who didn't even use his own name during the years he spent on the fringes of the Los Angeles rock scene. Tall, good-looking, with long hair down the middle of his back, Eric Heinz, as he was known by everyone, shattered the computer nerd pocket protector stereotype. He frequented the Rainbow Bar and Grill on Sunset Boulevard, often with different women on his arm, and handed out cards identifying himself as a concert promoter and electronic surveillance specialist. Riki Rachtman, an MTV "veejay," said Petersen had a reputation for technical wizardry among the club crowd. "Everybody knew, if you screwed (him) over, he had the power to screw everything" with you, Rachtman said. But was he really working as a government informant at the same time to ensnare his hacker buddies for the bureau? The FBI refused to talk about Petersen directly. But J. Michael Gibbons, a bureau computer crime expert, expressed doubts. He advises against such relationships. "It's not safe. Across the board, hackers cannot be trusted to work -- they play both sides against the middle," he said. The agents "could have had him in the office. They probably debriefed him at length. Send him out to do things? I doubt it." But Santa Monica attorney Richard Sherman, who is representing a friend of Mitnick's in another hacker case, has accused the FBI of not only actively using Petersen as an informant, but also of turning a blind eye to Petersen's alleged crimes during the time he was in their care. The crimes involve alleged credit card fraud. In a May 19 letter tS. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, Sherman said three agents in Los Angeles engaged "in a course of conduct which is illegal and contrary to bureau policy" in handling Petersen. Jo Ann Farrington, deputy chief of the public integrity section, responded on July 18 that there were no grounds to begin a criminal investigation. Because Sherman had called "into question the ethical conduct of the named special agents," the letter was referred to the Office of Professional Responsibility for review. "It is factually incorrect that we allowed Mr. Petersen to commit crimes," said Assistant U. S. Atty. David Schindler. Those who knew Petersen best described him as a bright, verging-on-arrogant man who dressed well and sometimes walked with a cane, a result of a motorcycle accident six years ago that cost him a foot. He sometimes promoted after-hours clubs in the Valley and in Hollywood, according to a partner, Phillip Lamond. One night the two men were talking about Petersen's adventures. "The difference between you and me," Lamond said Petersen told him, "is I get a thrill from breaking the law." In the Phrack interview, published on the Internet, an international network of computer networks with millions of users, Agent Steal bragged about breaking into Pacific Bell headquarters with Poulsen to obtain information about the phone company's investigation of his hacking. He said they found "a lot of information regarding other investigations and how they do wiretaps." "Very dangerous in the wrong hands," replied Bowen, according to a transcript of the interview. "We are the wrong hands," Petersen said. Bowen said Petersen still calls him from time to time. Petersen was arrested in Texas in 1991, where he lived briefly. Court records show that authorities searching his apartment found computer equipment, Pacific Bell manuals and five modems. An FBI affidavit reveals fear that Petersen could have been eavesdropping on law enforcement investigations. The affidavit says Petersen admitted "conducting illegal telephone taps" and breaking into Pacific Bell's COSMOS computer program, which allows the user to check telephone numbers and determine the location of telephone lines and circuits. A grand jury in Texas returned an eight-count indictment against Petersen, accusing him of assuming false names, accessing a computer without authorization, possessing stolen mail and fraudulently obtaining and using credit cards. The case was later transferred to California and sealed, out of concern for Petersen's safety, authorities said. The motion to seal, obtained by Sherman, states that Petersen, "acting in an undercover capacity, currently is cooperating with the United States in the investigation of other persons in California." Petersen eventually pleaded guilty to six counts, including rigging a radio station contest with a $20,000 prize. He faced a sentence of up to 40 years in jail and a $1.5-million fine, but the sentencing was delayed several times while, Sherman believes, Petersen continued working for the government. Lamond said Petersen told him the FBI was paying him $600 a month "to help them track down hackers." Then on Oct. 18, 1993, 15 months after entering his first guilty plea, Petersen was confronted outside federal court by Schindler, who asked if he had been committing any crimes while on bail. Petersen said he had, according to Schindler. Petersen met briefly with his attorney, then took off. "I've got a big problem and I'm splitting," a friend said he told him the same day. Attempts to reach Petersen were unsuccessful and his attorney, Morton Boren, said he has "no knowledge of Justin committing any crimes." Sherman also scores the government for allegedly allowing Petersen, while an informant, to utilize a Pacific Bell Telephone Co. computer called Switched Access Services, or SAS. Sherman said the computer allows operators to intercept telephone calls and place other calls, making it appear the calls originated from other phones. Rich Motta, executive director of applications, reliability and support for Pacific Bell, said he would not "take a position one way or the other" on Sherman's allegations. While declining to discuss Petersen's actions, Schindler acknowledged that in the Poulsen case, "we alleged and he pled guilty to the fact of using the SAS system. Among other things, they rigged radio station contests using SAS. It is a test technology they managed to hijack and use for criminal purposes. Once we became aware of it we took steps to correct it." There are tantalizing hints at links between Mitnick and Petersen, despite their obvious differences in style. Mitnick was the classic computer jockey, overweight and shy, who asked his eventual wife out on their first date by sending her a computer message. Petersen, on the other hand, is flamboyant and self-assured. The California Department of Motor Vehicles has a file on Petersen, but refused to divulge any information about him, saying the file was being used in another case. "The indications are that it's Mitnick," said Bill Madison, a spokesman for the agency. Friends say they think Petersen can survive well on the run. "He's already got a lot of experience" living undercover, said one friend. But Mitnick may be having a tougher time. LEWIS DE PAYNE thinks his friend would like to find a way out of his predicament. "It is my opinion he would like to surrender to some type of news media that could provide legal counsel," he said. In the Phrack interview, Petersen makes no apologies for his choices in life. While discussing Petersen's role as an informant, Mike Bowen says, "I think that most hackers would have done the same as you." "Most hackers would have sold out their mother," Petersen responded. Times staff writer David Colker contributed to this story. Copyright 1994 The Times Mirror Company Los Angeles Times July 12, 1994, Tuesday, Home Edition NAME: KEVIN MITNICK SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 1; Column 2; Metro Desk LENGTH: 1429 words HEADLINE: THE FUGITIVE HACKER; HUNT CONTINUES FOR MAN ACCUSED OF RAISING HAVOC WITH COMPUTERS BYLINE: By JOHN JOHNSON and JULIE TAMAKI, TIMES STAFF WRITERS BODY: He's one of America's most wanted digital desperadoes. Kevin Mitnick, a legendary "dark side" hacker whose computer was, in the words of one investigator, an "umbilical cord . . . to his soul," is being sought by federal and state authorities for once again allegedly using his technical wizardry as a weapon. A warrant has been issued accusing him of violating the requirement of his federal probation that he not enter a computer illegally. At the same time, the California Department of Motor Vehicles is accusing him of posing as a law enforcement officer to gain classified information and to possibly create false identities for himself. Authorities have not been able to catch up with him since they visited the Calabasas company that he worked for in late 1992. Mitnick's life now seems to have come tantalizingly close to replicating the Robert Redford movie role in "Three Days of the Condor," about a man who goes into hiding and uses his technical knowledge to outwit the government. Mitnick once used the nickname "Condor." For Mitnick, 30, a former computer nerd who dropped 100 pounds before going into hiding, these are just the latest accusations spanning a career of hacking that began at Monroe High School in North Hills, when he learned how to access the school district's main computers. Eventually, he was able to break into a North American Air Defense Command computer in Colorado Springs, Colo., several years before the movie "WarGames," about a hacker who nearly starts a war after entering a defense computer. Mitnick also became a skilled "phone phreak" who was able to manipulate the telephone system to pull pranks on friends and enemies, according to authorities. He disconnected service to Hollywood stars that he admired, and a former probation officer said her phone service was terminated just as she was about to revoke his probation. "He's an electronic terrorist," said a onetime friend who turned him in to authorities in 1988. After his arrest in 1988, he was denied bail by three different federal judges, who feared what he could do once back on the streets. Much of the fear about Mitnick in law enforcement quarters appears to stem not from what he has done in any one case, but from what mayhem he could cause in our computer-dependent society if he put his mind to it. Mitnick eventually pleaded guilty to one computer crime and served a year in prison. Afterward, he spent almost a year in a Los Angeles residential treatment program, Gateways Beit T'Shuvah, during which time he was not allowed to touch a computer. Harriett Rossetto, the program director, said Mitnick suffered from an addictive-obsessive disorder. "I saw his hacking as an addiction," she said. Mitnick was a loner who was very vulnerable and did not open up easily. In appearance, he resembled the classic computer jockey, with clunky glasses and shirttail hanging out. But at the keyboard of a computer, he felt strong and capable. Rossetto liked him, but was not particularly impressed by his intelligence. This has been a recurring theme over the years. Some people see him as a genius with a terminal, while others say his technical abilities are not extraordinary. What is extraordinary, say friends, is his willingness to be consumed for as long as it takes by his task, such as finding a way past a computer's security system. Undeniable, however, are his skills at what is called "social engineering" by some and "gagging" by others -- the ability to manipulate others to turn over information he desires, such as access codes and passwords. Beit T'Shuvah uses the 12-step recovery model. While at the center, Mitnick made good progress and lost weight. After leaving the program, he moved to Las Vegas, then returned for a relative's funeral. Rossetto saw him briefly. He told her he wasn't doing well. "I said, admit yourself back here," she said. He didn't. In June, 1992, Mitnick went to work for Teltec Investigations Inc. in Calabasas. Company executive Michael Grant said Mitnick was training to be an investigator for the firm, which does asset investigations, surveillance and research. Grant said he knew about some of Mitnick's past problems, but "he told me he had gone straight." Grant said that while Mitnick was at the firm, he did a good job. He lived with another company official, Mark Kasden, a friend of Mitnick's father, Alan. Then in late September of that year, FBI agents showed up and asked to search Mitnick's office. According to an affidavit for another search at the same time, the FBI was conducting a computer and wire fraud investigation into computer hacking and unauthorized entry into Pacific Bell Telephone Co. computers. Mitnick wasnamed as a suspect. The FBI believed that Mitnick the "phone phreak" was back. According to the affidavit, Mitnick or others residing and working at three apartments and a Compton company had tapped into telephone and electronic communications to obtain passwords belonging to security investigators, tampered with the computers and intercepted company voice mail. Investigators also alleged that special calling features not then available to the public had been placed on Kasden's phone and were not being paid for. They included speed dialing and priority ringing. The FBI declined to comment on the investigation, but Grant said he and Kasden believe that Mitnick rigged the phones for himself while he was staying with Kasden. Grant believes that Mitnick is "probably one of the brightest individuals with a computer that ever set foot on Earth." After the search, Mitnick disappeared. Kasden said he later saw him once briefly at a gas station. "He said, 'Adios, I have problems I have to take care of.' " Neither Grant nor Kasden sees him as destructive. "He's a gentle guy and nonviolent. He's never going to hurt anybody. But some of the stuff he does is irritating," Grant said. Concurring in that assessment are some people who have known him longer. Alan Rubin, an attorney who once represented him, said Mitnick has never used his skills to enrich himself. When he was arrested in 1988, he was living in a modest Panorama City apartment. And LEWIS DE PAYNE, 35, who befriended Mitnick when both men were teen-agers, said his friend is often judged to be something he is not. "He's brash, but effective, and that causes some people some discomfort as far as rubbing them the wrong way." DE PAYNE says people overestimate Mitnick's computer wizardry. But others insist that his activities go beyond curiosity and pranks to serious crime, such as posing as a law enforcement officer to gain private information. The New York Times has reported that Mitnick is suspected of stealing software and data from half a dozen cellular phone manufacturers, compromising the security of the phone networks. The DMV has requested a warrant for his arrest, contending that in the fall of 1992 he began posing as a law enforcement officer to obtain sensitive DMV information, including driver's licenses and vehicle information and photographs. "He would give a requesting officer's name and would basically use his identity and birth date," said Bill Madison, a DMV spokesman in Sacramento. Madison believes that Mitnick could have gotten the secret law enforcement personal identification numbers that he needed by tapping into DMV phone lines in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Authorities got wind of the trouble after a DMV technician became suspicious when a man, identifying himself as an investigator for the fraud division of the Los Angeles County Welfare Department, requested DMV information and supplied a fax number that the technician did not recognize. The number was traced to a Studio City copy shop. Other fax numbers were traced to copy shops in Sacramento and Santa Monica. Investigators staked out the copy shop and watched Mitnick pick up the materials, Madison said. A chase ensued, but Mitnick got away. "We almost had him," Madison said. Madison said he believes that Mitnick may be using the information to change identities, to wreak havoc on other's lives or for some type of monetary gain. In one case, Mitnick allegedly gained access to a Bay Area man's records and used information in the file in an attempt to change his health care provider so that he could benefit from the man's medical coverage. He also allegedly used the information to take on the identity of the man's dead son to obtain a phony driver's license. "It's very scary," Madison said. "You don't want him in your records." GRAPHIC: Photo, Hacker Kevin Mitnick, shown in a file photo, remains at large. -- --Joe Hamill "Where it is a duty to worship the sun it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat." johamill@cerf.n --John, Viscount Morely of Blackburn -- Better connectivity than uunet, featuring the following accounts: abostick@netcom.com matuse@netcom.com fmayhar@aol.com root@westside.com ethercat@netcom.com lewiz@netcom.com mlegare@aol.com dave@westside.com smayer@netcom.com lewis@netcom.com lozenge@aol.com kotm@westside.com