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Date: Sun,  6 Mar 94 02:21:40 PST
From: raustin@pro-palmtree.socal.com (Ronald Austin)
Subject: File 4--Starring Tom Cruise as Kevin Poulsen?

((The following is reprinted from Telecom Digest (V 14: #115))

                                Daily Variety
                           March 3, 1994 Thursday

SECTION: NEWS; Pg.1
BYLINE: MICHAEL FLEMING

PAR'S HACK ATTACK: Though the minds of Paramount execs have surely
been on potential whackings, computer hacking was the chief focus of
execs Bob Jaffe and John Goldwyn last week. The execs got Par to pay a
low six-figure fee against mid-six figures to Jonathan Littman for the
rights to make a movie from his Sept. 12 {L.A. Times Magazine} article
"The Last Hacker," and major names are lining up to be involved. It's
the story of Kevin Lee Poulson, a skilled computer hacker who was so
inventive he once disabled the phone system of KIIS-FM so he could be
the 102nd caller and win the $50,000 Porsche giveaway.

More seriously, he's been charged with using his expertise to breach
national security by accessing top secret files and selling the
information.  He's even suspected of disabling the phone systems of
"Unsolved Mysteries" after he was profiled, so that callers couldn't
furnish clues to his whereabouts. Poulson was caught and has been in
jail for the last three years, facing more than 100 years in prison.

ICM agent Kris Dahl got Littman to turn the article into a book for
Little, Brown, and ICM's Irene Webb racked up yet another sale for the
screen rights to the hacker story. It was a vigorous tug of war
between Touchstone, which was trying to purchase it for "City
Slickers" director Ron Underwood, and Paramount, chasing it for
producer Oren Koules.

Littman chose Koules, and now, Dish hears, Underwood wants to join
Koules to direct. Littman, meanwhile, has remained tight with the
underground community of hackers as he researches his book. That takes
its toll. Among other things, the mischief meisters have already
changed his voice mail greeting to render an obscene proposal.

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[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for passing this along. For
readers who do not remember/know of Poulsen, we have a file about him
in the Telecom Archives. As the article above points out, he will
probably be in jail for a long time to come. Articles about other
hackerphreaks who have been arrested and their exploits are in the
same sub-directory in the Archives. You can reach the Archives using
anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu.    PAT]

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