Date: Sun, 17 Aug 92 19:31:08 CDT
From: Dr Ripco <Ripco BBS>
Subject: File 3--Response to Privacy Times Article
 
In the July 30, 1992 issue of Privacy Times (v12, #15), a story appears
on page one entitled "Hacker 'Manual' Tells Wannabes How To Penetrate
TRW Database'. Within this article my board, "Ripco" is mentioned in a
manner that implies "the manual" is either available or was sanctioned
by myself or the system.
 
This is totally false.
 
The way I see it, the author of the article either failed to check
facts or simply irresponsibly reported misinformation. No one from this
newsletter has ever contacted me and to the best of my knowledge ever
attempted the same.
 
The first sentence of paragraph two reads as follows:
 
    >"Entitled 'TRW Masterfile,' the manual was published recently on
    >the 'Ripco' bulletin board by two authors who identify themselves
    >as 'CitiZen-One' and 'Evil Priest.'"
 
This document has never been "published", distributed or been
available in any other form on my system. By checking the logs I have
determined that a user by the name of Evile Preist did call the system
once in January of 92 but no activity was shown on the account. In
April of 92 a user by the name of Citizen-0ne called 5 times and did
in fact upload a file called "TRW_MAST.TXT" on or around April 28th.
 
That file was immediately removed from the uploads directory by myself
under the strict rules I self-imposed after being victimized by
Operation Sundevil.  The uploads on my system are locked and cannot be
downloaded by anyone until I clear the lock. Therefore, it was
impossible for it to be downloaded during th time it was first
uploaded and removed.
 
The logs, which I examined using the bulletin board program that
generates a complete listing of uploads and downloads, support my
claim. A record is made every time a file is either uploaded or
downloaded. This file shows one upload, no downloads.
 
Citizen-0ne and Evile Preist were never regular users of the board. I
do not know either one of them and never have had any contact with
them that I am aware of. Within the TRW_MAST.TXT file, my system along
with its phone number is mentioned but I have no idea why. The cDc
(Cult of the Dead Cow) is also mentioned but this does not appear in
the article.
 
I cannot control being mentioned in any file. Bulletin board names as
far as I know are not copyrighted or trademarked and it's been a
tradition for people who write files to stick a plug in for their
favorite system or two.  Why my system is mentioned by authors who
appear to rarely use it is beyond me.
 
I have doubled checked most (if not all) of the files on my system
including a telecommunications newsletter and neither this file nor
any part of it is or ever on my system available to the users.
 
The two words "published recently" on the Ripco bulletin board
contained in the Privacy Times newsletter (p. 1) is absolutely,
unequivocally, and egregiously false.  Besides, the correct name of
the system is "Ripco ][", because the original "Ripco" was removed
from service by the Secret Service on May 8 of 1990.
 
				    Dr. Ripco
 
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