ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? IMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM; ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? 3 Founded By: 3 : Network Information Access : 3 Mother Earth BBS 3 3 Guardian Of Time 3D: 26JUN90 :D3 NUP:> DECnet 3 3 Judge Dredd 3 : Guardian Of Time : 3Text File Archives3 @DDDDDDDDBDDDDDDDDDY : File 39 : @DDDDDDDDDBDDDDDDDDY 3 HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM< 3 3 IMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM; 3 @DDDDDDDDDDDD: HACKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! :DDDDDDDDDDDY HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM< Newsweek JULY2, 1990 2.50$ HACKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! As the Feds widen their crackdownon computer tampering, some pioneers of the industry have joined to defend freedom on the keyboard --- It is not your average keynote speech. It's more like a call to arms. A couple of hundred software developers sit entralled by Mitch Kapor, who dropped by their recent Ann Arbor convention in his private jet -- one of the nifty things you can buy for yourself if you happen to be the guy who wrote Lotus 1-2-3. The once portly computer star has shed 25 pounds lately through a detmined combination of exercise and diet. He's doffed his jacket and slipped on a convention T shirt over his shirt and tie. While the fashion statement might be confused, his message is not: there's a threat out there. Not computer viruses. Not nasty hackers. It's the Feds. Kapor first asks which members of the audience use electronic "bulletin boards" and conference systems. Almost all the hands go up. Kapor then puts the scare into them with tales from the "Hacker Dragnet" ( Newsweek, April 30 ). Law-enforcement agencies have stepped up efforts against computer crime ( box ). Kapor believes they have gone too far. He cites police raids on teenagers' homes, with guns drawn and family members forcibly restrained. He tells of widespread equipment seizures, and the raid that neraly shut down Steve Jackson Games, a small Austin, Texas, producer of fantasy role-playing games -- even though it was not a target of the investigation. And he talks about a student indicted on charges stemming from publishing a private telephone-company document in his electronic newsletter; Kapor says that prosecution may violate freedom of the press. "The first thing that happens is the government goes around busting a bunch of teenagers," Kapor complains, "and calls them criminals." The threat, he warns, extends to virtually anyone who links his computer to others. Law-enforcement officials accuse Kapor of romanticizing crooks who are violating the rights of their victims, and most peole still think that hackers are a bigger threat than the cops. But the crackdown has spurred Kapr and such industry legends as Apple Computer cofounder Steve Wozniak to band together behind the new generation. Their gol: To protect the flow of information and innovation that helped bring about the personal-computer revolution. Within the next few weeks they will officially announce a new foundation, yet unnamed, inteded to combat computer phobia and provide legal aid for some of those snared in the dragnet. The computer rights movement has gained support on Capitol Hill, where Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, has planned upcomming hearings on how far law enforcement should go. While advocating some punishment for lawbreakers, Leahy adds, "We cannot unduly inhibit the inquisitive 13 year old who, if left to experiment today, may tomorrow develop the telecoummunications or computer technology to lead the United States into the 21st century. He represents our future and our best hope to remain a technologically competitive nation." it's not that Kapor thinks he's defending choirboys. Although some hackers insist they should be able to traipse digitally wherever they please, Kapor says that trespassers should be prosecuted -- "I don't want people breaking in where they don't belong." But he says the zealousness of the investigations is out of proportion to the threat. To Kapor, there is more at stake than keeping a bunch of teenagers out of jail. He cites the case of Craig Neidorf, the University of Missouri student indicted after his eletronic newsletter, Phrack, featured the private telephone-company document. If the government is right in Neidorf's case, says Kapor attorney Terry Gross, The New York Times could have had its printing presses confiscated for publishing the Pentagon Papers. "Its very, very clear First Amendment implications should threaten all traditional media," says Gross -- Whose firm, Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky and Lieberman, represented Pentagon Paers Leaker Daniel Ellsberg. Chilling Effect? Not everyone is singing along with Mitch. Software companies, long angry over "piracy" ( passing around bootleg copies of programs ), are glad to see the authorities cracking down. Ken Wasch, executive director of the Software Publishers Association, calls Kaper a friend, but says, "For Mitch to believe that there is a government-sponsored witch hunt going on is completely without foundation." Gail Thackeray, an Arizona assistant attorney general who deals with high-tech crime, insists the authorities are being mindful of civil rights. She predicts that when the facts come out at the various trials, the cops will be vindicated: "Some of these people who are loudest on the bandwagon may just slink back into the background." Thackeray dismisses claims that prosecution will shut down legitimate computer networks; she speaks approvingly of one former hacker who told agents he had quit as word spread of the raids. "That's not, to me, a constitutionally suspect chilling effect," she says. "That's what we in law enforcement call a 'deterrent'." If Kapor's stance seems surprising, he's used to surprising people. His 1-2-3 bundle of business tools was an overnight hit, making him a multimillionaire. Once his Lotus Development Corporation became a giant, he shocked the industry again by walking away; Lotus, he says had outgrown its innovative beginnings. "Most of what you do in business is business," he explains. "I'm interested in business as a medium for creating products." He is now creating products again at his new firm, Cabridge, Mass-bassed On Technology. Kapor developed the idea for the computer foundation with John Perry Barlow, a writer and self-described "professional techno-crank." Barlow says hackers typically try to sound more dangerous than they really are, a kind of digital vogueing. He says most live by a "hacker ethic" Described by a Phrack essay. The piece tells prospective hackers to do no harm, because "The thrill of the hack is not in breaking the law, it is in pursuit of knowledge." Barlow says if this weren't the case, there would be even more damage to computers. Future shock: With the outlines of the organization sketched out, Kapor began calling on friends in the industry. While some have been reluctant, there was one instant convert: Apple cofounder Wozniak. Like Kaper, Wozniak walked away from his company when it grew too far past its funky beginnings. He has since put on rock concerts, gone back for his college degree and taken stabs at high-tech ventures. Wozniak says a little mischief is important to the quest of knowledge. He credits his college experience building "blue boxes" ( Devices for making free phone calls ) with honing his hardware-design skills. He compares electronic trespass to driving a few miles per hour over the speed limit. There are people who never break any such rules, he says, but adds, "do you think I'd want my son to turn out like that, or marry one? I'd still support him, but ... I kinda hope he has a more fun life." "Woz" pledged to match Kapor's contribution, which helped put the initial funding over 150,000$. Kapor, captain of his high school math team, has thrown in his lot with the nerds. He and his allies are attempting nothing less than to keep the ideals of the computer revolution alive. They hope to turn around a public increasingly resentful who are adept at using them. "You've got a lot of people out there who do not understand the present," Barlow says, " and in the absence of understanding, default to fear...The real disease here is future shock." Somebody has to stand up for the pencil necked and the pimply. Luckily for them, the men who have chosen to do so are filty rich. John Schwartz NEWSWEEK:JULY 2, 1990 Page 36/37 GREAT MOMENTS IN MISCHIEF The word "hacker" once meant any dedicated programmer; lately it's taken on a criminal tone. Somve events that got us from there to here: : September 1970: John Draper makes free calls with a cereal-box whistle that matches AT&T's tones. Hence his nom de hack: Captain Crunch. : 1986: The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act passes, toughening police powers against hackers. : February 1990: Four indictments in an alleged scheme authorities say endangered 911 service. They cite a group calling itself "Legion Of Doom." : May 1990: Rober T. Morris Jr. is found guilty of setting loose a "worm" program that stilled thousands of linked computers in November 1988. His sentence includes no jail time. : May 1990: Operation Sundevil, one of several antihacker investigations, seizes 42 computers and 23,000 floppy disks in 14 cities with four arrests. $_END OF NIA039 [OTHER WORLD BBS] Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253 12yrs+