Date: 18 Jul 92 07:12:11 CDT (Sat) From: peter@TARONGA.COM(Peter da Silva) Subject: File 7--Re: Cu Digest, #4.31 (MOD Indictment) I'd like to make some comments on John McMullen's response to the MOD indictment. While I agree with some of the things he has to say, I have two serious problems with his commentary: first of all, the abuse of the term "hacker" by phreaks and the government *is* a problem, and attempting to trivialise people's concerns about it is counterproductive. Second, his characterization of Phiber Optik seems to directly contradict the facts as presented in the indictment: > (a) On or about November 28, 1989, members of MOD >caused virtually all of the information contained within the >Learning Link computer operated by the Educational Broadcasting >Corporation to be destroyed, and caused a message to be left on >the computer that said, in part: "Happy Thanksgiving you turkeys, >from all of us at MOD" and which was signed with the names "Acid >Phreak," "Phiber Optik" and "Scorpion" among others. This is not a prank, and shouldn't be shrugged off as one. Particularly disturbing is the type of system attacked: the Learning Link is not a typical phreak victim with a Big Bad Big Business image. Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253