Note: The following article is reprinted from the autonomist/anarchist publication Wind Chill Factor, issue #9. WCF tends to have a chaotic layout, lots of graphics, and reprints many stolen (photocopied) tidbits & articles, so reprints like this one in a dry electronic format are usually paler in comparison. Just a creative disclaimer. Contact WCF at: mail: POB 81961, Chicago, IL 60681, U$A phone: (312) 384-2991 or (312) 384-9129 fax: (312)252-8269 (call first) email: thak@midway.uchicago.edu single copies are $1, a 6-issue sub is $6 plain/$9 in envelope w/extras. A DISCUSSION ABOUT HACKING Lately i've wandered further and further into the realm of cyberpunx. After several months of hitting underground bulletin board systems (flame it, baby), hanging out at 2600 meetings (lesssons in paranoia), getting access to internet (jack into the matrix...), dumpstering trash from IL Bell (dumpster nation!), building and using red boxes (free fone fun), and various other sundry pasttimes, i've started to get a feel of what the hacker- phreak community is like, and what possibilities and dangers cyberspace has to offer... I decided to have this conversation with Lvx and Sarlo, so you and i could get an idea of how joe hacker sees things... Wind Chill Factor: So define Hacking & Phreaking in your own view. Sarlo: Basically exploration. Hacking is more computer-oriented, the exploration of computer networks, learning about computer software, learning how to manipulate it, changing it to fit our needs. Phreaking is the exploration of the telephone system, signalling, how to manipulate so we can jump to other circuits. The phone network & the computer network are becoming one, telephones & computers are now basically the same thing. And we're just trying to learn as much about it as we can, trying to get something for nothing. Lvx: I'd say free phone calls is a big factor in phreaking, because, as it stands now, calling anyone not in your little part of the world is incredibly expensive. The actual manipulation of the phone system has fallen under the Hacking heading... WCF: Well, why did you get into it? Sarlo: When i first started, i saw it as a real cool thing where i could get into & see things that other people normally couldn't using the phone system. Lvx: Getting something for nothing. We can use things that other people generally can't use cuz they dont have the right mindset. They don't get the opportunity...they never find out about all the little scams you can pull to get phree stuff. To really hack, you have to go against established norms of behavior...especially with regards to "property". So, people who are already supposed to doing unacceptable things, namely more subversive and criminal individuals, get into it... WCF: What do you think 2600 is trying to do with these public meetings? Sarlo: Get people together & allow them to finally connect a face & a voice to the words they see on the screen, plus to let people realize they don't have to hide behind a computer screen or a telephone. They can actually come out there & meet each other & not have to worry perpetually about being raided, as has been the case recently. Lvx: It's sort of a way to thumb our nose at authority and say "We're not afraid of you. What we do is not wrong!" WCF: Do you think there is a H-P "community"? It seems there's some polarization, with some being in it for money, others for scamming (Code Kidz!), and most for the exploration and learning. But can anyone, like, say there is a hacker "ethic"? Lvx: Community! Ha! Too many folx in it for the notoriety,,,not the subject matter. Ethic, tho? Sure! But, no one claims they ever truly follow that ethic. It's sort of a medeley: learning how to scam, exploration to learn, etc. There is little money in hacking. I was personally just offered money to hack into a company's computers...however, since the company does not interest me, and since i don't believe in taking money for what i do anyway (not to mention receiving money to commit a felony...entrapment city), the ethic comes into play. In this case it is sort of a backwards thing...but, in general, there is a hacking ethic. It sez: get in, play around, but don't damage, and don't profit. The learning is all, ya see. In the case of getting calls for free---a very dark grey area. Technically, it's profitting, but since it's at the expense of the Phone Nazis, it evens out. They rob from us, we rob from them--it all comes out ok conceptually. Sarlo: Yes, in most cases, its something inbred in us--don't destroy information, don't gain monetarily from the information found, and of course, "yield to the hands on imperative!" Whenever possible, USE the machine, don't just read about it! WCF: Would you say 2600 is about info-sharing? If so, why aren't the meetings organized more towards skill-sharing? People seem to let the paranoia rule the meetings... Lvx: No, not at this stage. The kind of info you can share is the kind of info that will get you busted--a public disclosure is generally not a smart move. The skill-sharing sort of happens, behind the scenes. It is difficult to explain hi-brow advanced concepts to people who lack a solid (if any at all) background in the subject. And, relying on elementary skills becomes tiring for the teacher (who often has little skill in teaching) to rattle off and the student to digest. There is a wealth of learning materials free for the taking (or stealing) about computers in general...in a basic sense. It is the advanced topics that are hard to find about...and that is what gets kicked around between the players that can understand it. Sarlo: The meetings are based on total freedom--there's no agenda, no formal speakers (usually, this may change soon, however). The information sharing usually takes place after the meetings, in private discussion. But the meetings also provide a human side for what we do. We see each other as text across the screen. Its great to see faces to the name. But as for the spreading of information, we often forget what its like for someone to begin, or at least i do, and i tend not to actively shove the info in their faces. But if they choose to come up and ask how to start, what are good places to check out, etc., then i doubt you will find anyone more willing to give you the information, or if we don't have it, where you might find it, but they have to make an effort as well. Besides. Nobody ever went to jail for being paranoid. WCF: Do hackers & phreaks, or the people involved in 2600 see themselves in opposition to big brother, the government, the corporations? Sarlo: I dont think its so much institutions, like the govt or corps, so much as its an idea they hold. Our idea is that information should be free, that information shouldn't only be given out to a select few. A company believes that when they stamp confidential on a document, then the person who may come in contact with it has agreed with the company that they won't disclose the information, that it's private. Well, we've made no such agreement. Lvx: Well i think that by necessity, yes, we are in opposition becuz information is turning into this same property thing where people try to OWN it. I personally don't see it that way--how can it be property when information isn't even physical? I don't know, the whole hacking thing is kind of opening up the door so that it goes out rather than in for profit. Sarlo: Security is a joke. Intellectual property just a handjob. WCF: I've heard talk about using technology to decentralize the control over information, but don't you think it only decentralizes it to the people who have access to it? Access to that technology? Lvx: Information, in the useful sense, is a lot like heinz 57 sauce. You can't keep it bottled up. It never gets used up, and it keeps getting copied (thru brainz or otherwise), so eventually even the most carefully guarded secrets get spread around. A good library, for instance, has an incredible amount of information about almost everything. Technology moves that information into a more user-oriented mode...the hard part of searching and finding is done for you by computer..to your specs. WCF: Do you see technology as aiding citizen participation in so- called democracy? Like TVs were originally supposed to have been used for? Lvx: No. It might help people make more informed decisions, but I think as a whole democracy is going to hell. Soon. WCF: So, in terms of communication thru nets, don't you see a danger in them being created and sustained by corps & govts? Internet was started by the Dept. of Defense, right? In the future, do you see them tightening their control over these nets? Lvx: IRC [Internet Relay Channel] is maintained by no one. It's a self-serve thing. As for internet...it has evolved far beyond the makers hopes (and wants). No one controls internet. It is a symbiosis...information creators and info carriers. WCF: I have here an article by Feral Faun on the "Cybernet of Domination", which argues that these new forms of tehnology which supposedly "decentralize" power and promote direct democracy and have the appearance of being liberating, are actually a more subtle form of social control. Already the cybernet permeates our homes, workplaces, schools, hang-outs... Lvx: Yep, and it will never go away. Control it, or be controlled thru it. Sarlo: Well one thing i personally would like to see is everybody in the world having access to computers. But everybody goes "Oh no, oh no my god! This is horrible, we're going to have commie people in here!..." Lvx: It also seems that this central control is not just one big sprawling thing...its decentralized, there is no single final authority or group of authorities. Even the manufacturers have to get together to compromise on standards to maintain compatibility... Sarlo: That's the whole thing about the network. Lvx: There's so many networks... WCF: I think what its saying by control is that you have to participate in the network in order to work within and take advantage of it...so you're bound by the network. Lvx: Nah, you can expand it easily. Just look at your mailing list for anarchy [the anarchy-list]...that is a network in and of itself. It's not about control its just another medium... Sarlo: What we're looking at is not so much control over...well there is control over access but a lot of it nowadays is social control. There's all these special interest groups that are self-important, that want a say in where the industry goes...there was a forum for Harpers Magazine on a computer system called the Well. It was originally created to be a kind of town hall forum, a free speech thing... Lvx: Run by older hippies. WCF: The electronic town hall idea is a way some people have put forward as a way to make democracy more direct..everyone have a computer and communicate through your computer. Sarlo: What Ross Perot wanted to do. But the way he wanted it set up, you could only hit 1 for yes, there was no no option. If you said no it wouldnt allow you to voice your opinion... Lvx: How are you going to get 250 million people with computers? That's an impossible logistics task, but also you wouldnt be able to talk at the same time. Everyone voicing their opinion is just too much noise. And i dont think that that sort of "democracy" could really exist, except in principle. Sarlo: We have what, 32 billion people in the US...if Ross Perot ever got power and put a system like that into effect, the temptation to change or delete the messages, in effect squelch the american public...theres no doubt in my mind, the same goes for Clinton. Abuse of power. WCF: It seems that already happens today. Sarlo: Yeah, to an extent. Lvx: Doing it on computers would be even more lame. WCF: This kinda relates to another criticism of electronic direct-democracy...that while it may help facilitate-control decision making (albeit with the usual separation of decision and action), the system itself cannot be questioned because it controls the questioning. Its like voting, you can vote for this government or that govt, but you cant choose an alternative to govt by the nature of the process. Lvx: Agreement here. Just a facade of self-determination. Freedom of Choice is no freedom at all. WCF: When your choices are limited...Well, coming from the anarchist perspective, there's a lot of questioning technology, and a fundamental question is is technology neutral? Obviously computer networks can be used and in terms of hacking taken advantage of...but isn't that even only partially offsetting the overall negative impact of these networks, as they're used by corps and govts to fuck people over? Sarlo: They use us as scapegoats to say "Oh, we have to tighten security so we have to look thru your mail to make sure your not doing something wrong." Big Brother. Anybody who says that big brother doesn't exist is either part of the conspiracy or isn't paying attention. Look at the IBM building downtown. There's cameras all around the building. Why? Lvx: What do they have to hide? Sarlo: Not that so much as why are they so interested in the people walking down the street for? The potential for abuse by our side--which i'm not going to say hasn't happened--people have disconnected phone lines on a whim (ahem)--there have been people like that on our side...but the govt also uses us as an excuse to intrude on everybody elses privacy. WCF: Everybody "else"? Sarlo: The common people. They listen in on your phone conversations. When you make an international call, there's a computer that listens in on the call for key words: drugs, guns, terrorism, assassination, president...i mean they listen for those words and when they hear them they'll just start recording your conversation..then that recording goes to the NSA, the NSA takes the info and determines what department it should go to, if it should go to the FBI, etc. It may take months but it still gets filed and goes to an organization. Lvx: Yeah, i see what you mean by how tech is used to control but i don't know, it's mostly because there's people with the resources to design it & implement and they get it first. This hi tech started with people with lots of money, lots of power, lots of resources, and they'll always stay one step ahead. You can buy a PC now for real cheap but you can't buy the cutting edge real cheap because it's not for you. Look at radar detectors. The tech becomes obsolete once it's in wide use, and the same company is marketing a new product. Sarlo: Talk about companies, they're 6 generations ahead with microchip technology, they just won't release it, it's a marketing ploy. They wait 6 months for everybody to get something and then say "Oh, that's obsolete now, get this". And i dont even need the newest thing on the market i just need something that suffices for now. Lvx: What can i do argue that technology is not used to control? Lots of things about it are evil... Sarlo: Like a knife, it can be used as a tool to carve something out or to kill someone. It all depends on how it's used. Lvx: But the people with the biggest power and resources make the biggest knives and can use them the best. WCF: So you kind of see your role in society to be keeping Orwellian police-state society in check. Sarlo: Not even so much in check so long as i'm able to keep myself and my friends outta trouble and let them know whats going on...i dont really feel an allegiance to the rest of the world where i feel i must let everybody know that this Orwellian future isn't just fiction. It's a dark future. Technology is going to be abused by both sides. I see all these people who drop acid, do shrooms and read Mondo 2000 and think computers are going to be the greatest thing on earth. It's going to be this magical superb thing and the thing is it's just not going to be. WCF: Actually a big section of the Green Movement, of all people, does see technology as being useful in stopping eco-destruction and making society more democratic. Kind of a green techno- utopia. Lvx: I am suspicious of the word utopia. It implies some sort of platonic ideal, and as we all know, plato just plagiarized socrates. WCF: Well do you see this as a losing battle then? Sarlo: Not so much a losing battle as a battle that can't ever be won by either side. WCF: So do you see the future becoming a police state or social chaos? Lvx: The world's not getting any bigger and the population's not getting any smaller and we can't seem to control it. The more people the more things get fucked up. I can't see a police state--they hate each other, the FBI, police, CIA...they work together but they each try to sabotage one another. The security forces have rebelled and have their own agendas now. WCF: How about nation states breaking down? That's common in cyberpunk fiction. Will technological decentralization lead to state decentralization? Look at Eastern Europe right now, Russia, Bosnia. Already states seem to be getting more and subdivided. Often along ethnic, tribal lines. Lvx: I hope so. I want the nation of Lvx...a nation of one...I figure most decisions would be unanimous! WCF: Tell me about information services. Sarlo: There's a service called Information On America which is basically a database on every single person in america. If you've ever filled out a form, it'll provide your home address, phone #, phone bills, payments, info on up to 10 of your neighbors... WCF: Who has access to it? Sarlo: It's $95 an hour to anybody. Some hackers have learned how to crack the system however. Lvx: It's like Big Brother's subcontractor. There's so many info services. It's mostly info gathered for marketing. WCF: In other countries people will refuse to take the census but in this country there is more control, there is more technology. Credit card records show everything you've bought, phone companies know everybody you call... Sarlo: It's getting so you can't wipe yer ass without some agency knowing you're doing it. Lvx: And what the breakdown of yer feces is. WCF: Something interesting too is like the Museum of Science & Industry here in Chicago, like every little section they have is sponsored by some company that has an interest in pushing that topic. Like there's a big thing about petroleum and how great it is--sponsored by Amoco. Nothing about the Exxon Valdez or going to war for oil. They have really simplistic info, a lot of packed truths... Sarlo: I've occasionally gone to the Illinois Bell section at the museum and passed out flyers about red boxes and how to make them. A museum is nothing more than a big cultural conditioning store. WCF: Besides D.C. and the Bellcore incident, what other kinds of pressure has 2600 gotten? Lvx: I think there's been some random incidents of harrassment, just people getting raided, and when people get raided especially by the SS, your stuff gets confiscated, no charges get filed...it's not so much to prosecute so much as to harass you and develop scare tactics... Sarlo: Boards containing "anarchist" material on creating explosives have been shut down for threatening social disruption... WCF: A lot of "anarchist" material on bbs's that i've seen has been stupid chaos i-wanna-be-anarchy-blow-shit-up stuff, but there's also a fair bit of radicalism and anarchist influence. Lvx: Sucks, doesn't it? It's a matter of public opinion. In the opinion of the public, anarchy=bombs & guns. WCF: On the 2600 teleconference the other day i was talking to 2 hackers who were in the military, and i was thinking on one hand they work for the govt but on the other hand their hobby is something the govt finds criminal... Lvx: Maybe they're saying you can work for the govt but still be against it? Sarlo: It's the same thing with telephone company employees. Commmunications workers are getting fired left and right & the way they're being treated...and it's gettinng easier and easier to get into their computers! You can ask them for their password and say "Yeah, i'm a hacker" and they'll give it to ya! Lvx: Yeah, lots of phone company employees really hate the phone company. Sarlo: And that's something--a lot of computer crime is committed by disgruntled employees... WCF: You've said before that the Tribune wanted to interview you but you refused. Why, and what do you think of the media's portrayal of hackers? Sarlo: Newspapers will try to make things be as interesting as possible. Well, hackers can do cool things but...they say we break into credit agencies, find out all this info, shut down phone services...well, what they never point out is, yeah, we can do this but why shut things down? We're hackers not criminals...they never point out that we're out exploring. News is a lot of sensationalism, society gets off on negative things, and exploration is really unexciting especially in the realm of computers. WCF: What do you think about tech being used in warfare on other countries? Like the supposed virus the US allegedly fed to iraqi computers to crash their air defences. Sarlo, you have a pretty individualistic approach to using tech to defend yourself, but what about you, Lvx? Are you a hero of the revolution? Lvx: Well i'd protect anyone from it. I'm kinda the helpful sort, but yeah that kind of stuff sickens me. The government couldn't field any decent talent in the way of hacking. Hacking is an expression of defiance against the law, government is based on law. No good hacker could work for the man. WCF: How would you suggest someone get started at hacking? Sarlo: Buy a computer. Lvx: Or steal a computer. Sarlo: Rule #1 is get access. Or just start dialing numbers, pick an obscure prefix (the first 3 numbers) and just start dialing from 0000 to 9999. You'll find a lot of really interesting things usually from in prefix 99 and from 9900 to 9999. Lvx: I started by going to the library and picking up some books, first on digital switching. It might not make any sense at first but just start playing around. Most of my starter info i got completely legally. Sarlo: Things have changed tho, if you start asking questions about digital switching or ISDN, you'll get the hairy eyeball. Unless you're well known in telecom circles, if you start asking questions about how certain tones work or anything people won't trust you. Lvx: And i think it's a damn shame, we're all supposed to have phones and computers without knowing the secret workings... Sarlo: It's all completely mindless. When you scan numbers, the telephone central office just goes nuts, they go "What the hell are you doing? Why are you scanning these prefixes? You shouldn't be doing this! Don't explore! You'll break our phone system!" It shouldn't cost 5 cents a minute to call 3 miles away either. Lvx: There's so many things, stuff you're not ever supposed to find out, like where their operations are at. Their central offices are set up like fortresses--steel doors, cameras, you have to phone in to gain entry...I can see wanting to protect from random stuff, i mean it is everyones phone network even tho Illinois Bell thinks its theirs...and it's all fucked up...It's a fact of life now...not a luxury! Sarlo: I don't think phone bills should exist, i think once we have a technology that's so integrated that we practically can't live without it then things need to be changed...electricity, gas, water,...this country needs an overhaul. Lvx: I totally agree. If it's a necessity, i can see charging a little to provide for costs, but...pay for upkeep, pay for advances, but not so rich wanks can pad the ole portfolio. Sarlo: It's just profiteering gluttons serving themselves. WCF: Where's 2600 going? Sarlo: Word is getting out, it's really easy to set up a meeting. The thing to remember about 2600 meetings is there's no rules, that's what's really cool about this network of computers where people communicate without racial bias, without gender, yer just judged by who you are & what you do, how you act...and we have corporations and govt coming in and saying what we can and cannnot do. They're going to regulate everything. Why do credit rating companies even have info on whether you're white or black, why should it matter? WCF: You have to admit that computers are still mostly used by white, male, middle class types. And i've seen lots of sexism on bbs's, which are mostly playgrounds for boys it seems. And i've seen bbs's with racist material--right-wingers use the nets too. Lvx: Yep, gotta have money and an introduction to play. I'll be the last person to deny that BBS's are lame. A great majority are just little playgrounds. Occasionally, there are decent forums where actual OPINIONS and IDEAS are argued rather than childish insults...and it is these few places that make it semi- worthwhile. WCF: So while hackers are eager for equality in the net, why don't they fight for equal acces to the net? Lvx: We do. Every time you steal an account, you increase access to the net. If you want in, you have to grab it. When you crawl to Papa Gore and say "Oh, please, can we have access to the future?", the reply is "Of course! Money permitting! If no one minds!" with an unsaid "On our terms, where we let you, when we let you, and with us watching every step. "Access for all" means access to little, if any at all. WCF: Do you feel dealing with just a computer for communication is dehumanizing? Its much more impersonal than direct contact, and look at the tendency of people to "flame up". Lvx: Not any more than the telephone. Text communication allows more thought to be taken in how you reply to things...some people just don't take that time... Sarlo: Not so much dehumanizing as treating people as individuals...sort of like 2600 meetings are big but not gigantic, and they still allow people to be individuals. On the computer, if you log on and you see lots of people on there--its words. It's not just words so much as ideas and peoples actions. And people on computers produce real tangible results. I think one of our greatest vulnerabilities to computers is our reliance on them. We rely on them blindly. We assume they're always going to be there. Our reliance on technology is going to be our downfall. Computers are great to explore and all...but look at people and television. Hell, they can't even change a channel without a remote control and can't even figure out how to hook up the vcr... Lvx: Technology being used even as a convenience that other people can control--and they know how to, and they have all the specs, all the ins and outs, but they don't want to let anyone else to know the ins and outs, cuz that would empower them. Sarlo: Look at how manuals are written...incredible bureaucracy...virtually no way to right off the bat understand it all. They make it so that they can keep the common person in check, so that they suddenly don't come up with the inspiration to create something. They want to monopolize it. Lvx: Information as property, this is mine, you can't know it. Sarlo: Intellectual property is a joke. The idea that you can go to prison for looking at a document is absurd. I've learned security holes out of necessity because i want to learn how to use the computers, but i could live quite comfortably without any type of security, being able to log right in i would love it. The only problem with security i see is enormous databases like TRW & Info On America, where info is being harmfully abused. I'm totally against the amassing of that kind of data anyways. If you break into TRW and look at your own credit report, you're in violation of law, but they can amass all this info on you without your permission and sell it to other people. WCF: Do you think elite BBS's are necessary? Are you "elite" enough? Lvx: I am so 3leeT it hurts. There will always be a separation between the tourists and the dwellers. Computers are not without risks...so until one can individually make progress, it is pointless to give out sensitive information. You don't let children play with the guns until they know what the guns can do. WCF: Do you consider "ego" to be a problem in the h-p community? Lvx: Ego ain't so much of a problem once you meet people face to face. It kills a lot of the supposed superiority one feels. WCF: Are you cyberpunks?! Lvx: No. I am a technarchist...in the techno, anarchist, and narccistic sense of the word... WCF: Any last words? Lvx: Buy our record. This is of course, just the beginning...we will have more on this in future issues, and we encourage those of you who can to use this information and get started... GETTING ONLINE First acquire a computer and modem. If you can't steal or scam one, you can usually buy a cheap used IBM PC-compatible for about $300 plus $60 for a modem. If you're a student (or your friend is), you can probably get a free internet-access account at your college/univ. If not, there are various services that cost. The best in Chicago is Gagme (312)282.6806, info@gagme.chi.il.us. $50/yr, $35 students. For a list of such services around the U$, contact Todd at Love & Rage (email address below). Some interesting local BBS's to check out: (708)265.1984 Room 101: H/P, lots of message and file bases (312)463.0252 Red October: H/P (312)262.7125 Woodge City: Mac-oriented. Kinda dull. (708)459.7267 Hell Pit: Viruses, social issues. (708)587.2398 Security: Survivalism. Some right-wing crap. (708)934.6224 Far Post: Music and attitude. Some worthwhile e-mail addresses: thak@midway.uchicago.edu Wind Chill Factor loveandrage@igc.apc.org Love & Rage anarchist network/newspaper iww@igc.apc.org Wobbly IWW syndicalist union nlns@igc.apc.org New Liberation News Service anarchy-list-request@cwi.nl Anarchy mailing list spunk-list-request@lysator.liu.se Spunk Archive electronic @ archive activ-l@mizzou1.missouri.edu Activist mailing list nyt!nyxfer@speedway.net NY Transfer News Collective, way-cool non-profit activist news distribution service RESOURCES: 2600, the Hacker Quarterly, PO Box 752, Middle Island, NY 11953, (516)751-2600, $21/yr. An excellent magazine that has spawned a H-P network. There are 2600 meetings in 20 U$ cities and Munich, Germany the first Friday of every month, 5-8pm local time. Often people teleconference with groups in other cities. Call 2600 to find out about meetings in your area or starting your own. PHRACK, phrack@well.sf.ca.us, an on-line H-P publication. This is our world now--the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it werten't run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore--and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge-- and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias--and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe its for our own good, yet we're the criminals. Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for. I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you can't stop us all. --Manifesto of The Mentor, one of loose alliance of expert hackers known as the Legion of Doom. PIRATE TV All you need is a vcr and a tv antenna. Plug the antenna into the out socket and either throw in a tape or do a live transmission with a camcorder. The range for this is about 3-5 city blocks, sometimes farther. It comes in on channel 2 or 3, below 100 mWatts so its legal! So start your own community TV network! RED BOXING A red box is a device that simulates the tones a quarter makes in a Bell telephone, thus enabling one to make free, fraudulent, long distance or international phone calls. While we at WCF would never conceive of defrauding Ma Bell, we thought it was pretty nifty how these things are made, and thought we'd share the info. The easiest way is just to buy yourself a Radio Shack 33-memory pocket tone dialer (about $25), and a 6.5536 mHz crystal. Open up the tone dialer, and first remove the little white disk speaker cuz its kinda unneccessary, and you need that room for the new crystal. Then remove the old crystal and attach the new one, using the white speaker wires if you want. Just solder to the spots the old crystal was connected too. Be careful you don't solder them together! Now seal it back up, and program 5 * (star) buttons into the memory. When you press the button, it emits tones close enough to simulate the tones you need and fool Ma Bell. TIPS FOR USE: First, red boxes only work on Bell phones. Second, they are good for long distance & international calls usually. You can sometimes scam a local call by going thru the long distance carrier (dialing 10288-number for example) or by asking the operator to dial the call for you. You can also program dimes (2 stars) and nickels (1 star). Don't abuse the same payphones repeatedly, as you will get them "adjusted" or worse, get caught. While skimming a bit off of Ma Bell's profits isn't a bad thing, red boxes are first and foremost a tool for phreaking--exploration of the phone system. Besides, overabuse will just get Bell to switch the systems so red boxes don't work, as is already the case in some parts of NY and CA. So have fun, but be careful. Mr. Dan Carver, the Grand Wizard of the KKK in Tennesee got a surprise on his phone bill during the month of February. Seems someone called an anti-apartheid hotline in S. Africa and 3-wayed the $4000 bill to Carver. Sometimes there is justice. In an attempt to teach computer crime prevention, children in a Berkeley elementary school are being shown a 30 minute presentation on ethics and security. The program consists of several skits using puppets...in one episode, Gooseberry, a naive computer user, has her files erased by Dirty Dan, the malicious hacker, when she neglects to log off. --SF Chronicle The BATF reported 958 bombing incidents last year, the highest in 15 years. Police blame teens gathering information on explosives recipes via computer and modem. There was a 50% increase in the number of homemade explosives found this year. THE HACKER CRACKDOWN: recent attacks on hackers: 1990 An "acquired" BellSouth document, E911, makes its way through various underground bbs's and online papers. The Secret Service, eager to bust, uses it as an excuse to launch Operation Sun Devil, resulting in several raids and the confiscation of computer equipment. BellCore feeds the hype by saying the E911 document is worth over $79,499 (it can be ordered from them by mail for $23) and could be used by hackers to crash the 911 emergency system (a lie). The SS, investigating The Mentor, raids his work, Steve Jckson Games, despite evidence, and seize and keep for months all their equipment and files. The pretext: that the soon to be released SLG roleplaying game GURPS Cyberpunk was a "manual for computer crime". The raid devastates SJG, who are forced to reduce their staff by nearly half. Summer 1992 Bellcore threatens 2600 with a lawsuit for printing information from an internal Bellcore document that detailed a security hole that could have been used to eavesdrop on phone conversations. 2600 doesn't even think about backing down. Nov.1992 The Washington DC 2600 meeting was disrupted by Pentagon Mall guards who, at the behest of the SS, took pictures, harassed the hackers, conducted illegal searches, confiscated equipment, and coerced id's from the group. 1993 With the help of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, SJG wins a court case against the SS, who must pay more than $50,000 in damages plus legal fees for violating privacy laws and for lost profits as a result of their mismanaged raid.