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| | | | | | | | | |____ | ___| | | | |-| \ |zZ! /___
l______|_____|__|-|__|_____|__/__|___\___|_|_|___|_ ___________ ___________
| _ | _ | |-| | ___/_ | | _ \_ __/_|_ _ | \_
D a m a g e , I N C .| | | | | | | |___ | | | | | \_ _/ | | |__/
| | | ___| | | | | | |--| ___| | | ___| |
N e w s l e t t e r |__|__|___\ |_______|_____|_____|___\ |__|__|___\ |__|
Volume 2, Issue #17
(Released: 01/20/00)
"Follow your Leader."
http://surf.to/damage_inc
damage_inc@disinfo.net
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C O N T E N T S :
<EFBFBD> INTRODUCTION - An Introduction to the Damage, INC. Newsletter.
<EFBFBD> ADVISORIES - The Stentor Alliance explained.
<20> Search String: {ADVISORIES}
<EFBFBD> BIG BROTHER BASHING - American Civil Liberties under seige, etc.
<20> Search String: {BIG BROTHER}
<EFBFBD> CONSPIRACIES AND COVERUPS - Dulce's secret alien facility, WTO equals NWO.
<20> Search String: {COVERUPS}
<EFBFBD> CORRUPTION AND GREED - Bell Canada's greedy, cash grabbing schemes.
<20> Search String: {GREED}
<EFBFBD> CROSSED WIRES - An Advertisement for K-1ine.
<20> Search String: {WIRES}
<EFBFBD> DAMAGE, INC. REVIEWS - H/P and Security Web Sites.
<20> Search String: {REVIEWS}
<EFBFBD> H/P INFORMATION - An explorer's guide to hacking the planet.
<20> Search String: {H/P}
<EFBFBD> INTERVIEWS AND INTERROGATIONS - Interviews with The Clone and Lord Narayana.
<20> Search String: {INTERVIEWS}
<EFBFBD> NEWS FROM THE TRENCHES - Damage, INC. releases, updates and news.
<20> Search String: {NEWS}
<EFBFBD> OBJECTIVE OPINIONS - Following the trends and going with the grain.
<20> Search String: {OPINIONS}
<EFBFBD> REPORTS FROM THE FRONT - Kevin Mitnick saga, Hotmail, AOL, The L0pht, etc.
<20> Search String: {REPORTS}
<EFBFBD> THOUGHTS, POEMS AND CREATIVE WRITING - The Followers, Freedom of Thought, etc.
<20> Search String: {WRITING}
<EFBFBD> CLOSING COMMENTS - BLACKENED's blunt closing comments.
<20> Search String: {CLOSING}
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< DISCLAIMER >
All articles contained in the Damage, INC. Newsletter are for informational
purposes only. Damage, INC. is not responsible for how any of the information
presented is used. It is not intended to be a manual with instructions to be
followed. We won't be held responsible for any damages caused, illegal and
fraudulent acts committed, etc. by our readers. If/how you use the information
presented is entirely up to you.
< COPYRIGHT NOTICE >
All articles and source code contained within this file are (C) Copyright by
Damage, INC. (unless stated otherwise). No part of this work can be modified,
reproduced or changed in any way without the expressed written consent of
Damage, INC. That means, electronically or otherwise, in part or in whole
this file must not be altered. It cannot be distributed and sold for profit.
You cannot claim that you wrote it, or alter any articles and source code that
has been written and Copyrighted by us. Also, you must *not* distribute any
Damage, INC. releases in "packages" with other text files or utilities. They
must only be distributed alone in their present, original form. You are hereby
permitted to read and distribute the Damage, INC. Newsletter freely to quality
h/p boards and sites only.
Copyright 2000 by Damage, INC.
All Rights Reserved.
_______________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION:
Man, it has been two years since the first issue of the Damage, INC. Newsletter
was released. And to say the least, it has been a real trip publishing this
magazine for that duration of time. Even though this isn't going to be called
our official "2nd Anniversary Issue", it will still be interesting and special
in its own right. We'll make damn sure of that.
To say that this zine has evolved since its humble creation would be an
understatement. Just as, to say that we've changed because of it wouldn't
begin to describe what we've gone through. So instead, I'll just say that
I couldn't have imagined how this would turn out when it began. Nobody could
have predicted where this zine would be after it had been in publication for
two years, seventeen issues and several group alterations later. And no one
can say with any certainty where it will be years from now. With the future,
there aren't any definitive answers, just guesses. I'm not going to start
playing the guessing game. I'd rather comment on the current state of the zine
by stating that it's in good shape and I'm satisfied with the progress that
has been made thus far.
I won't say I don't have any regrets though, because in fact I do. Shatazar and
Blackie Lawless have said they have some regrets as well. Basically, I regret
publishing some of the articles in the early issues and wish we'd been more
mature back in the beginning. More editing and better proofreading should have
been done back then. Some of the first interviews and interrogations were lame
as well. However, I don't regret creating this zine at the time I did, and
can't change the past. Nor will I try to hide it by pretending the zine was
never new and still developing into what it is today. Regardless of that, the
foundation hasn't cracked. It's still there, standing strong... just as we are.
The quote chosen for this issue, "Follow your Leader"... might be deserving
of an explanation since it could be misleading. And we wouldn't want anyone
to feel deceived. First, it isn't the name of a Korn CD. Second, it isn't
the name of a children's game. Third, it isn't the old cliche. That's right,
it isn't "Follow the Leader". Nor does it carry the same meaning as that
saying. In a way, the quote is meant to be sarcastic. Yet, in a very real
way it's meant to make you, the reader, stop and think about what it means to
"Follow your Leader." By no means are we telling people to join a cult or
find a person to follow around though. So, don't get us wrong. ;)
Your leader can also be yourself. In fact, that's actually who it should be.
The issue is more about leading your own life than it is about choosing someone
else to follow. But I think instead of explaining it in great detail, I'll
let the issue speak for itself. They always seem to have a way of doing that
anyway. Then after having read it, you can sort it out and decide what it all
means to you personally. Yeah, now there's a concept. Think about what you
read and figure it out on your own.
ADVISORIES - {ADVISORIES}
The Stentor Alliance explained.
We apologize for the inconvenience, but the Stentor Alliance article wasn't
complete at the time this issue was released. However, it will appear in the
next issue. And we're confident it'll be worth the wait.
BIG BROTHER BASHING - {BIG BROTHER}
American Civil Liberties under seige.
The United States of America is thought of to be the last place where civil
freedom exists. Compared to other countries, I personally believe this to be
true. Although the U.S. Constitution has been attacked and eroded, it has not
totally fallen... yet. It does not contain weak wording like other countries'
Constitutions do. That is, the countries that contain them as part of their
system. However, Big Brother does continue its attacks on what the Founding
Fathers had in mind for all Americans. Instead of writing another feature
article on this subject, I'd like to share a very, very small sampling of
various types of civil liberties abuses that have been perpetrated against
ordinary Americans in the past 12 months.
* * *
On March 13, 1999, five teens that live near the city of Atlanta, Georgia were
arrested because an Internet web site claimed that they were gang members. In
late 1998, one of their "buddies" created the site as a "joke", which listed
their names along with the name and logo of a local gang. Their local sheriff's
department stormed their high school and arrested the teens. Later, the sheriff
admitted that the kids were just "wannabes." Although the teens were later
released, their First Amendment rights were obviously violated based totally on
a perceived thoughtcrime.
* * *
On April 6, 1999, the Supreme Court made a ruling that expands the powers of
American Law Enforcement. By a ruling of 6 to 3, it is now legal for police
officers to search a car passenger's belongings simply because they are
suspicious that the driver may have committed an illegal act. Now pigs can
search everything and everyone in a car without a search warrant. The so-called
"war on drugs" exemptions have been used by Big Brother to weaken the
Constitutional rights of Americans to be protected against unwarranted searches
and seizures. No reasonable evidence of a crime being committed is required.
* * *
With American prisons filling up more and more each day, Big Brother has a new
"toy" to keep them "in line." Over 20 states have authorized the use of stun
belts to be used on prisoners. The stun belt was designed to deliver a heavy
jolt to the prisoner's kidney, which causes temporary paralysis and loss of
bodily functions. Big Brother has so far been able to shrug off critics that
claim it is "cruel and unusual punishment," which is prohibited by the
Constitution and international human rights agreements. Their valid argument
has fallen on deaf ears and been ignored by the courts.
What is even more disturbing is that 30 states use them in routine local law
enforcement. That's right. You can be arrested, and a stun belt can forcibly
be attached to your waist in order to "protect the officers." I can see pigs
abusing this power as some officers have brutalized arrested suspects in the
past, countless times. Unfortunately, knowing zombies, I'm sure they'll believe
law enforcement's promise that they'll only be used when a prisoner/suspect/etc.
threatens to escape custody or attempts to assault an officer. Of course, the
use/misuse/abuse of stun belts are up to the individual police officer and/or
prison guard.
In fact, abuse of the stun belts has already been recorded. In July, 1998 a
Los Angeles municipal court judge ordered a bailiff to shock a bound defendant
with 50,000 volts of electricity because, in his opinion, he was talking too
much. The judge's actions prompted the ACLU of Southern California to call for
an immediate and permanent ban on the use of stun belts by county judges or
other court personnel as a means of punishing or otherwise restraining any
non-violent defendants. However, since these devices are new, there are no laws
governing their use... just the legal system's empty promises. In most
instances, a blind eye is turned towards their use anyway.
* * *
Good Ol' Janet Reno is at it again. In early March, 1998 she asked the National
Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence to study the legality of taking DNA
samples from everyone arrested. Current law only allows DNA extraction from
convicted sex offenders and "violent felons." It's just more proof that in the
United States, as well as all over the world, the words "innocent until proven
guilty" are meaningless and powerless. To put this issue into perspective,
approximately 15 million (or more!) people are arrested by U.S. law enforcement
every year. Several million are arrested on felony charges for possession of
a controlled substance, such as marijuana, and jailed. Meanwhile, many high
profile politicians (including Bill Clinton) have publicly admitted to using
the same drug in their past, laughed about it during interviews, and faced no
charges. And they have the audacity to campaign on increasing the length of
jail sentences and have a stance of "getting tough on drugs". Hypocrites. No
one should have to spend 20 years behind bars for possessing marijuana for
their own personal use. It's hypocritical and ridiculous for that to happen,
especially considering the vast majority (well over 50%) of Americans have
used marijuana at one time or another in their lives.
The commission reported that DNA collection from every person arrested in the
United States is impractical under current archival conditions. The
commission did not address the fact that innocent arrestees would be raped of
their civil liberties and privacy when their DNA is extracted and analysed by
the Government. They didn't even acknowledge the fact that being arrested is
not the same as being convicted of a crime. It is obvious that this kangaroo
commission was offering a readiness report to Reno, and did not address any
important civil right or Constitutional issues behind this terrible scheme.
* * *
It may not be well known that since 1997, Image Data, a company in New
Hampshire, has been paid well ($1.5 million) by the U.S. Secret Service to
create a "national identity database" that contains a picture of every adult
American. It is only a matter of time before their goal is acheived, as State
run Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) changes to digital camera systems. Image
Data is already compiling and digitizing pictures from several States.
Image Data denies that there are "any legitimate privacy issues at stake" in
a report released in early 1999. "Many other newspapers, television programs,
magazines also did news stories on Image Data LLC and its system [that] in some
cases... focused on the 'Privacy' concerns and presented an inaccurate
presentation," Houvener, CEO of Image Data, wrote.
Privacy and Civil Rights activists are concerned that there is no way to opt
out of this scheme. A picture must be surrendered to the DMV in order for the
recipient to renew their driver's license.
Houvener, who claims that he has been a "victim of identity fraud," says his
national photo file will be targeted at "identity criminals" that he estimates
cost businesses billions of dollars a year. Legislators who funded the project
believe the database would be used to stop illegal immigrants and terrorists.
Ah yes, the ol' trade privacy for crime prevention gambit that Big Brother uses
time and time again is still alive and well.
Image Data's "True ID" technology currently feeds photos into its database in
one of two ways. The company has contracts with State motor vehicle departments
that supply the analog negatives or the digital images on magnetic tape. It
also persuades shoppers (zombies) to scan their IDs into the database by
inserting them into devices at specially equipped stores. And zombies don't
require much encouragement to do something that steals their privacy.
According to one of Image Data's monthly reports sent to Special Agent Cary
Rosoff of the Secret Service's financial crimes division, company
representatives were negotiating a contract with Missouri officials, too.
"Missouri [is] in the final stages of implementing a digital driver license
system." However, Image Data has run into some difficulties. They have
millions of 35 mm photos, but it takes a lot of time to digitize them. Also,
some States allow renewal by mail on occasion, which prevents people from
getting their faces digitized by Image Data. Time is running out. This
Secret Service initiative will eventually be completed, with your co-operation
of course, unless Big Brother is stopped.
* * *
The State of Michigan has plans to make its poorest families into true
second-class American citizens. Michigan plans to require all welfare
recipients to submit to drug tests before they receive their benefits. This
applies to families only because it is impossible for a single person in
Michigan to receive welfare. I can't understand how this action can be allowed
under the U.S. Constitution. It's currently being challenged by the American
Civil Liberties Union. "Forcing parents to choose between providing for their
children and giving up their privacy rights is a giant step backward for public
policy in Michigan," said Kary Moss, Executive Director of the ACLU of Michigan
and an attorney in the case.
The Fourth Amendment guarantees that no individual in the U.S. can be subjected
to a search by the government unless there is reasonable suspicion that they
have committed a crime. It is evident that Big Brother believes that being a
poor person is a crime. I can tell you that Americans aren't alone in this
threat. Ontario dictator Mike "Harrass" (Harris) promised to initiate a
similar program here.
* * *
In Cicero, Illinois, it is currently legal for the police to seize and impound a
motor vehicle if they suspect it is owned by a member of a gang. The cops do
not need a warrant, nor do they have to defend their "suspicions" in any way.
In other words, a pig can take seize a car based solely on a whim, without fear
of punishment from any source. By declaring itself a "gang free" zone, the Town
of Cicero is ignorantly claiming victory. Basically, if a driver cannot prove
"innocence" (which is not possible when dealing with a member of the Thought
Police), his or her car can be immediately seized. Hopefully this boastful town
will not be allowed to send out vigilantes dressed in blue for very much longer.
Written by Shatazar <20> Damage, INC. (C)opyright 1999.
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Prison Phone Rights Fading....
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by Phractal (The newbie that nobody likes)
First off, let me introduce myself. I am Phractal. I am a newbie to h/p, and
have only had a very deep interest in h/p for about a year. I own a redbox and
crimson box. That's pretty much all the (lame) phreaking I have done so far. As
for my computer hacking. I'm currently working on two virtual servers which
both are a variant of Unix, and hopefully it shouldn't be too hard because they
both have PHF, and just when I thought that PHF was extinct.
On to the article:
According to a study by the U.S. Justice Department on August 12th, 1999,
criminals inside the US's 94 federal prisons are committing crimes by making
drug deals, frauds, etc.. all by picking up payphones. (As to whether they are
telco operated as opposed to blood sucking cocots, we will never know)
The study found that this problem "appears to be widespread", and found that 117
"serious" crimes were committed by prisoners' calls via pay phones in "recent"
years. These are all ambiguous terms that the government has released to the
public concerning this matter. The problem "Appears To Be Widespread". They have
no definite count. For all we know, the problem could only be serious in two or
three prisons. Big Brother is only trying to use these "criminal activity" calls
to further take away the few rights prison inmates have.
The study found 117 "serious" crimes were committed by payphones in "recent"
years. What is to be considered serious, what is to be considered recent? Big
Brother considers even THINKING about redboxing that phone down the street a
"Serious" crime, let alone when someone actually "does" it. And this study
proves that these 117 crimes were committed in "recent" years? What Big Brother
means is that only about 5 or 6 of these crimes could have committed a year for
the past 20 years, or maybe only two or three a year for the past 50 YEARS! Why
would Big Brother use the term recent, if he didn't want to cover up the fact
that this isn't a very serious issue and has only totalled up the amount of
crimes over a long time, and he is just looking to take what little rights we
have left away from us! You could do just as well or better for that matter with
a common crime such as shoplifting. If you add up the number of busts over
shoplifting for the past 20 or even 5 years, you would have a mighty big number.
The same goes for speeding, drinking and drug use. This phone crime that has
supposedly "wide-spread" is just like any of those, but in this case Big Brother
is kicking them when they're down because they are already in prison and most
likely guilty of some other crime, but you never know nowadays, as the
government gets more corrupt and chaotic everyday.
Personally I have no doubt in my mind that not many (if any) of the criminals
in the federal prisons are using payphones for crimes.
I'd like to thank the Damage, INC. Newsletter if this ever gets published in
their zine, as RedBoxChiliPepper said "You Guys Are Really Cool, I Swear". Some
of your articles really started to put me on the right track.
And here is some advice for newbies that are even newer than me:
READ! Read whatever you can come across about hacking or phreaking. Of course
texts won't make you a hacker overnight, but they point you in the right
direction. Heck, I'm no hacker and I've read tons of texts, and tried to hack
too. But I'm getting there, and I will also give you some texts which I thought
helped me out the most.
The Ultimate Beginners Guide to Hacking and Phreaking-by LOA ASH
A Beginners Step by Step Guide to becoming a Hacker-by IceKool (edited by kM)
A Novices Guide to Hacking 1989 Edition(old but still good)-by The Mentor
Confidence Remains High Issue 1(one of the best h/p/v texts I've ever read)
Phrack Magazine Issue 47 (Contains a special "Phrack" Version of the
alt.2600 FAQ)
Damage, INC. Newsletter Issue 2 (More info and files for newbies)
1999 --={[ Phractal ]}=--
CONSPIRACIES AND COVERUPS - {COVERUPS}
Dulce's secret alien facility.
In past issues of the Damage, INC. Newsletter we've delved into the alien
conspiracy. We've looked at secret organizations and examined testimony of a
secret base dedicated to alien craft technology. In this article, the subject
will be the infamous secret, underground base that is believed to be near the
small ranching town of Dulce, New Mexico. This base is considered to be the
focal point of cattle mutilations and human abductions on the North American
continent.
Dulce, New Mexico is a small town very close to the New Mexico-Colorado border
and is approximately three hours north of Albuquerque. It's near the Jicarilla
Apache Reservation. It is rugged country, especially to the north where the
Archuleta Mesa is divided by the state border. Under the harsh landscape of
the Archuleta Mesa is where the Dulce secret underground facility is believed
to exist.
Even before witnesses claimed there was a secret alien facility near Dulce,
strange or "occult" cattle mutiliations were reported by Dulce area ranchers.
Dulce residents, as well as residents in the general "Four Corners" area
`disappeared' at a higher rate than other areas of the United States. UFO/Alien
researchers focused their attention on Dulce in the early 1980s after several
abducted people came forward with the tales of being taken to an underground
base. They reported seeing little "gray men" with four clawed fingers and black
slits for eyes. They also saw other human beings in cages, awaiting whatever
the scientists desired of them. Dulce investigators got their first "inside"
witness when Thomas Edwin Castello, a former Dulce Base Security officer escaped
the facility after a human/alien battle known as the "Dulce Wars". In order to
inform you about the Dulce conspiracy in the small space provided in the
Damage, INC. Newsletter, this article will focus on Castello's description of
the base, its occupants, and so on.
When asked about the origin of the base, Castello said that there was a vast
network of underground tunnels that stretch many thousands of feet into the
earth. In these caverns, alien beings have supposedly lived in such caves for
centuries. Castello stated that "Dulce was started in 1937-38 by the Army
engineers, enlarged over the years, most recent work was completed 1965-66 to
connect tunnels to the Page [Arizona] Base, site of one of the older underground
facilities." As a side note, most of the Native Americans living in that area
are aware of that base, and could tell us about the underground life forms that
frequently are spotted near those communities, even hundreds of years ago
according to the tribe's legends and artwork.
As a technical security officer, Thomas Castello had access to all seven levels.
When asked if there were hidden levels or caverns below the seventh, he said to
an interviewer, "Your guess is as good as mine... Sure, there was lots of TALK
but that doesn't mean it's there. However, I will tell you I saw elevators that
were "off limits" unless you had an UMBRA or higher security clearance. At that
base, information is supplied to me at a `need to know' basis ONLY!" Different
alien activities occur at Dulce than at Area S-4. The Dulce facility is a vast,
seven-level laboratory complex. Most of the work done in the Dulce labs deals
with the grays and another race named the "Reptoids", that do various types of
human genetic research. Needless to say the soulless aliens don't allow any
moral or ethical codes to "hinder" their work.
The security at the secret Dulce facility was obviously very tight and
oppressive. After the Second Level, everyone is weighed, in the nude, then
given a uniform to wear. "Visitors" (abductees) are given an 'off white'
uniform. In front of all sensitive areas are scales built under the doorway,
by the door control. The person's card must match with the weight and code or
the door simply won't open. Any discrepancy in weight (any change over three
pounds) will summon Security. No one is allowed to carry anything into or out
of sensitive areas. All supplies are put thru a Security conveyor system.
Castello: "At Dulce there also are still and VCR cameras, eye print, hand print
stations, weight monitors, lasers, ELF and EM equipment, heat sensors and motion
detectors and quite a few other methods. There is no way you could get very far
into the base. If you made it to the second level, you would be spotted within
fifteen feet. More than likely, you would become an inmate and never see the
light of the surface world again. If you were `lucky', you would be
re-programmed and become one of the countless spies for the Ruling Caste." The
security system, like everything else at the Dulce base, is powered by magnetic
power.
The First Level of the Dulce facility starts 200 feet from the surface. Each
level has a ceiling of seven feet, except levels six and seven, the ceiling
there is 45 and 60 feet. There's approximately 45 feet or more between each
level. The average highway ceiling is twenty five feet. The hub at the base is
3,000 feet wide. Level 1 contains the garage for street maintenance. There are
many underground highways that leave the Dulce base. From all other levels the
roads will climb in a steep spiral to join the upper levels. After a few miles
more those three levels too, join in a huge intersection that rivals any
'cloverleaf' exchange, anywhere. The five main exit roads that leave the base
have no markings anywhere, but after the exchanges, there are mileage markers
in English posted in the walls of the tunnels. The underground highways
occasionally follow the same direction as the Terradrive shuttle. That shuttle
is also known as the Sub-Global System.
Castello said that Level 2 contains the "garage" for trains, shuttles,
tunnel-boring machines, and disc (UFO) maintenance. Not only are there
underground highways, but the aliens and their human conspirators have created a
huge network of underground shuttle tubes that create what is known by them as
the "Sub-Global System." It has "check points" at each country entry. There
are shuttle tubes that 'shoot' the trains at incredible speeds using a mag-lev
and vacuum method. They travel at a speed that exceeds the speed of sound.
The Sub-Global System connects all of the aliens bases together. For example,
Castello stated that from Dulce, there is a train that can shuttle people to the
Los Alamos Labs. Area 51, and all other secret bases are connected to this vast
network of tunnels that have been bored out of solid earth. Level 3 of the
facility wasn't described fully by Castello. He did state that this level
contains more underground highways that reach towards the surface.
Starting at Level 4 is where the bizarre and frightening research begins. Level
4 is dedicated to Human-Aura research, as well as all aspects of Dreams,
Hypnosis, Telepathy, etc. They (the aliens) know how to manipulate the
bioplasmic body (of Man). They can lower your heart beat, with Deep Sleep
"delta waves", induce a static shock, then re-program via a Brain-Computer Link.
They can introduce data and programmed reactions into your Mind (Information
impregnation - the "Dream Library".) We are entering an era of the
"Technologicalization of Psychic Powers."
The development of techniques to enhance man/machine communications, Nano-Tech,
Bio-Tech Micro-Machines, PSI-War, E.D.O.M. (Electronic Dissolution of Memory),
R.H.I.C. (Radio-Hypnotic Intra-Cerebral Control) and various forms of behavior
control (Via Chemical Agents, Ultra-Sonics, Optical and other forms of EM
Radiation). The Physics of "Consciousness" are also studied here. It has
been documented by many researchers that the Grays and Reptoids have and still
practice mind control techniques on humans. When they abduct a human, they
can inject a small implant that enables them to take control of that human via
some kind of beam. Castello also claims that the aliens have facilities to
capture human spies that use astral projection to remotely view their facility.
The fifth level is dominated and controlled by the Grays and Reptoids because it
contains their living quarters. On this level, more than others, the alien
language of symbols is preeminent. Human workers at Dulce are told to keep
their curiosity in check or else their lives could be in danger. Castello
claims to have formally negotiated with alien subleaders on this level for the
release of human workers.
Level 6 of the Dulce facility is privately called "Nightmare Hall" by those that
work there, although Castello said that the proper name for this level is
"Vivarium." It holds the Genetic Labs. Reports from workers who have talked to
Dulce researchers have seen bizarre experimentation, as follows: "I have seen
multi-legged 'humans' that look like half-human / half-octopus. Also
Reptilian-humans, and furry creatures that have hands like humans and cries like
a baby, it mimics human words... also huge mixture of Lizard-humans in cages".
There are fish, seals, birds and mice that can barely be considered those
species. There are several cages (and vats) of Winged-humanoids, grotesque
Bat-like creatures...about 3 1/2 to 7 feet tall. On this level, low ranking
Grays do the daily chores, mopping the latex floors, cleaning the cages,
bringing food to the hungry people and other species. It is their job to
formulate the proper mixture for the type one and type two beings that the
Draco Race (the leading alien race at Dulce) has created.
Of all the levels, Level 7 is the most insidious. This level proves that the
Grays, Reptoids, and Draco races have nothing but malevolent goals where the
human race is concerned. Row after row of thousands of humans and human
mixtures in cold storage. Castello and abductees that were brought to this
level testify that there are vats filled with a sick-smelling liquid that
contained body parts from human men, woman and children. Here too are embryo
storage vats of Humanoids in various stages of development. Castello: "I
frequently encountered humans in cages, usually dazed or drugged, but sometimes
they cried and begged for help. We were told they were hopelessly insane, and
involved in high risk drug tests to cure insanity. We were told to never try to
speak to them at all. At the beginning we believed that story." The Gray aliens
FEED from the vats of mutilated human and bovine bodies. The Gray's digestive
system is non-functional, so they absorb this horrible mixture through their
skin. They then excrete waste through their skin as well. Truly, this terrible
level proves that the Government has sold us out to the aliens for technology.
There was unrest among the humans, as well as some aliens that were part of the
"working caste." After being observed by this group, Castello was approached
and asked for help to stop the butchering of humans on Level 7, as well as the
rest of the base. In late 1979, there was a confrontation between Castello and
his supporters, which were armed with alien weapons, with a group of men from
DELTA group (armed with conventional automatic weapons) and the 18,000 residing
aliens. Sixty-Six men died as they were badly outmatched. Castello was
fortunate enough to escape the Dulce facility through one of the Level 3
highway exits.
However, Castello claims to have taken a huge risk. A few years later, he
secretly reentered the Dulce facility. Using a small camera, he took over 30
photos of areas within the multi-level complex. He removed a security video
tape from the Control Center which showed various security camera views of
hallways, labs, aliens, and 'U.S. Government' personnel. He also collected
documents to take with him. Then, by shutting off the alarm and camera system
in one of the over 100 exits to the surface, he left the facility with the
photos, video, and documents. These `originals' were hidden after five sets of
copies were made. These were placed in the hands of five individuals, who were
told that if they failed to hear from Castello for three consecutive 6 month
periods -- normally he would visit each of them every six months -- then they
could release the information or do whatever they wanted with it. No one except
Castello and the recipients themselves know who these people are. However, with
rumors of Castello's death or disappearance in Costa Rica in recent years, the
chosen recipients can release the information if they choose to do so.
It's believed that Castello disappeared from the face of the earth in around
1990 or so. And yet none of the information he gave to his comrades and
entrusted them with has been released thus far, to our knowledge at least.
Granted, Castello makes some very large, outrageous, almost unbelievable claims
but even if some of them are true, no matter how exaggerated they might be, it
would change the way we think of this world, the government and the universe.
If indeed he did acquire the tapes, photographs and information mentioned in
this article, and passed it along to the afformentioned associates/comrades,
then why hasn't this evidence been publicly released to prove his case to the
world? Why haven't they done what they were instructed to do? Have they been
silenced somehow to prevent this knowledge from escaping the grasp of the
Government and aliens? Or did they willingly relinquish the evidence Castello
gave them to the other side? It's also possible that they're still holding and
for some strange reason haven't decided to go public with it yet. I mean, they
could easily use technology to distribute the truth to the masses if they so
desired. And isn't that what this whole story is about, technology? If nothing
else, perhaps this article will make you think twice about technology and the
cost that we've all paid for it. As human beings that's something that we all
must stop and consider from time to time while living in this so-called
'high tech' world, that's driven and controlled by Big Brother and all of his
lesser conspirators.
Written by Blackie Lawless <20> Damage, INC. (C)opyright 1999.
The WTO equals the NWO.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) which held its annual meeting in Seattle,
Washington this year isn't merely an organization that's devoted to promoting
free trade across the borders of the world, without tariffs and other trade
restrictions. It is in fact an agency that works for the New World Order,
hiding under the umbrella of "world trade". The reality is that their umbrella
is stamped with an NWO logo, proudly displayed to members only. They're
partners in crime, namely the crime of trying to control humanity. And that's
the truth that I hope to reveal in this article, so that people may better
understand why there has been such opposition to the WTO in various countries.
In this past week, through the media's own eyes (another NWO faction in my
opinion), I've watched the demonstrations, marches, sitdown protests, etc.
against the WTO. I've also witnessed the police brutality. The riot squad
used pepper spray, rubber bullets, clubs and tear gas against what I would
personally describe as relatively peaceful protestors, that posed no danger or
threat to the police or the uninvolved citizens of Seattle. I saw students,
still blinded by pepper spray, sitting on the pavement in the streets. I saw
injured people trying to flee the wrath of the police. All of this was done
in the name of the WTO, and trying to ensure that a route was cleared for
conference attendees. Above all else, they wanted to make sure the meetings
wouldn't be delayed, even at the cost of human lives. Now then, that being
said, doesn't it stand to reason that the WTO is viewed by the government and
police as being *very* important? Isn't it logical to think that the government
(in this case, the United States government) chose to do everything in its power
to make sure the WTO meetings went ahead as planned, on schedule? The planning
started taking place a year prior to the date of the meetings. The security
forces used were trained especially for the WTO. Additional manpower was set
aside in case it was needed. Millions of dollars were spent on security. Not
only did they expect "trouble", but they attempted to prepare for it. They knew
ahead of time that there would be opposition. They just underestimated how
large it would be. Plus, they tried desperately to stop any attempts to delay
the start of the meetings in order to show that they were in complete control.
That's another trait of the NWO. The fact is, they weren't. They were
surprised by the amount of people that made the voyage to Seattle in order to
speak their minds, and speak out against the WTO. They simply didn't expect
that many people to feel that strongly about the WTO. In other words, they
assumed that by now we're all zombies and nobody would care enough to speak out
and voice their opinions, publicly. Nobody would risk their lives for a cause.
So what's so important about global trade? Why would the government care?
Why would anyone care? Well, globalization, more specifically, economic
globalization, is a step towards the New World Order. It's something that
certain governments are working desperately to achieve. If they can agree
to globalize the economy (and thus enslave a great many people, including
children as a cheap source of labour), then they can eventually meet their
goal to control us all through a New World Order. And of course, if that
happens, there won't be any boundaries. There won't be any checks and balances.
There will just be a watchdog named the NWO that rules the world. Globalization
is just one of the steps. It destroys nationalism. It takes jobs from one
country and places them in another. It rapes the poor. It makes the rich
richer. It gives the large corporations higher profits. It breaks down the
barriers and at the same time, breaks apart the unions that've been formed
over the last few decades. That simply means that the workers suffer. Some
lose their jobs while others are exploited. And inevitably, the environment
suffers as well. It's all in the name of capitalism. And it doesn't just
benefit the huge corporations of the world. It also benefits the governments
greatly, which is why they support the WTO so vigorously.
In addition to all of that, the WTO wants to create a "global culture", which
is just as destructive as a global economy. To explain, just think of how
very different the various cultures of the peoples of the world were previous
to the start of this century. Obviously trade, technology and mass immigration
changes things on a dramatic scale. However, so do organizations like the WTO.
And above all else, so does globalization. It destroys the uniqueness of each
individual culture and masses them together into one ambiguous one, making
them almost indistinguishable. And in the process, making us the same and
taking away our identity.
The WTO is about control, not free trade. It's about control over labour,
resources and the cheap labour sources in the world. And it's about control
over consumers. However, it's also about control over resources, not just
natural resources, but every resource that a country has to offer, including
their technology, people (thinkers, workers, consumers), products, etc. The
WTO isn't concerned about the environment. They aren't concerned about the
exploitation of children in labour. And what people think of them definitely
isn't a concern of theirs. Nobody governs the WTO. That's the reason they can
be called corrupt without it simply being an unjust insult or label. That's
what makes them an oppressive organization that's accountable to no one.
In conclusion, if the WTO (and the various representatives from the nations
involved) have nothing to hide, then why do they hold secret, closed door
meetings? Why is the organization run by a group of cowardly bureaucrats?
Why aren't the meetings open to the press and more importantly, the public?
Also, why don't they speak publicly about their objectives and overall agenda?
Afterall, that would prevent the type of publicity and protests that the police
claim, on their behalf, that they wish to avoid. Who is the WTO working for?
Who's working for them? Who else is cooperating with them? What's their
ultimate goal? Will it be achieved? Will anyone stop them? Who can stop them?
How powerful will the WTO get if they're left unopposed? All of these questions
are valid and important. Not only that, it's important for people to think
about them. Secret, faceless organizations like the WTO are Big Brother at its
best, or worst... depending on your perspective. Brave New World? Welcome to
the New World Trade Order, or NWTO for short. It isn't 1984, but it's going to
be Big Brother in 2000. And they're off to the races.
Written by Blackie Lawless <20> Damage, INC. (C)opyright 1999.
CORRUPTION AND GREED - {GREED}
Bell Canada's greedy, cash grabbing schemes.
In issue #4 of the Damage, INC. Newsletter, Shatazar wrote an article which
explained one of Bell Canada's cash grabbing schemes. It dealt with the true
cost of "equipment rentals", namely renting Bell phones. An abiguous charge
that Bell did their best to hide from customers. It clearly demonstrated
that for the price Bell charges monthly for renting a phone, you could purchase
a high quality phone and save a lot of money, instead of making Bell wealthier.
But that's just one of the scams that Bell Canada is infamous for perpetuating
over the decades in which it has operated. By no means is that the only cash
grabbing, money making scheme that they rely on for profit. So, due to their
greed, I felt it was necessary to write an up-to-date article on the topic, and
share my opinions about some of Bell's biggest, greediest, most corrupt schemes.
The consumer needs to be informed so that they can avoid being unnecessarily
ripped off by good ol' Bell Canada. No longer could we stand idly by and watch
the telco monopolize the local service market, and exploit people through scams.
Bell FirstRate plan:
Sure, on the surface it looks like it's a good deal. $20/month maximum for
"unlimited" long distance calls to anywhere in Canada! So, how can Bell afford
to provide customers with a long distance calling plan such as this? Before
you start thinking it's impossible, or that they're losing money with FirstRate,
make sure you read the fine print. There are limited hours in which you can
call. If you make a long distance call from Montreal to Vancouver before 6pm,
the charge isn't 10 cents per minute and won't go under the $20/month max
charge. You'll have to fork out big dollars to Bell when the next phone bill
arrives in the mail. A lot of people have been scammed by that stipulation
and fooled into thinking that long distance in Canada is virtually free. Plus,
some people that never used to call ld now spend $20 every month on long
distance. So, in effect, Bell has lured more people into calling ld and paying
something for it. And the $20/month FirstRate plan only applies to residential
customers. I can assure you that they still make plenty of profit from
businesses, calls to the United States and International calls.
The only customers that aren't being ripped off by FirstRate are the ones that
used to pay more than $20/month for long distance anyway, don't need to make
those calls during certain hours, and now make more ld calls at night to take
advantage of the $20 maximum fee. Even so, no matter how many times you call ld
or how much you use FirstRate each month, Bell doesn't lose any money. So don't
think that you're "ripping off Bell" or "abusing FirstRate". Don't bother to
figure out what your phone bill would've been without it either. Nobody cares
if it "would have been $400 or 4 grand." Just keep in mind that if you run
up the full $20 in ld per month that you're still handing them a total of $240
per year, in addition to the cost of local service and any other services (such
as SmartTouch) that you pay for monthly. With Bell Canada you always have to
read the rules, restrictions and conditions with a magnifying glass, just to
make sure you aren't getting ripped off. Hell, check out the terms and
conditions of use printed in the phone book sometime.
SmartTouch services:
Most people already know that Bell's SmartTouch services are a big ripoff. But
I had to mention them anyway, just in case someone didn't realize they were.
For the people reading this that don't understand why SmartTouch features are
a ripoff, consider this: Services such as Caller-ID have monthly fees, yet
they can easily be defeated. So can Call Blocking/Screening. Plus, many people
pay for features that they never use and don't need. Bell Canada influences
them (mainly through telemarketing calls and advertisements) into ordering
extra features with tricks like limited time offers and "free for a month"
scams. They're laughing in the end because a lot of customers don't ever
bother to cancel them. That earns them an extra few million per year alone.
Installation/repairs:
This is one of the biggest Bell Canada scams of all. They can charge $90+ just
for connecting two wires in a phone jack. As soon as they enter your house,
it's classified as being a service call, and even if they do absolutely nothing
you have to pay them for the cost of a full hour's repair work. Could anyone
defend that and argue that it's a fair business practice?
As for installation charges, they're yet another scam. Installing telephones
wires and connecting a line is a very simple task, which Bell overcharges every
customer for. The same goes for installing multiple wall mounted telephone
jacks. Never have more than one jack installed by Bell. And never pay them
to move a jack. The jacks can be purchased elsewhere, can be installed by
anyone and are relatively inexpensive. Of course, prices will vary depending
on the area you live in, and the stores that sell phone jacks, etc.
Deposits:
Bell Canada is infamous for charging customers outrageous deposits before they
can get a phone line installed, or have the ability to make long distance calls
using their home phone line. The usual deposit amount they request ranges
from $200 to upwards of $500, or more. Since most people don't simply cancel
their phone service after a short period of time, like a month or two, Bell
invests the money and makes a tremendous amount of interest on *their* deposits.
If you consider that almost every adult has at least one phone line, just think
about the millions of dollars that Bell has taken, tied up, and used for their
own benefit to profit. If you're planning to move out of Bell Canada's service
area, and want to make the most out of losing your $200 deposit, the best thing
to do is ring up $10,000 or more in international ld calls right before moving.
Then after they've disconnected service, call Bell from a payphone and say
"You can keep my deposit..." and hangup on them.
Interest/service charges:
Just like your average bank or credit card company, Bell Canada profits greatly
from service charges and interest on bills that weren't paid in full, on or
before the date they're due. Basically, if the payment you make isn't for the
full amount Bell is requesting, they will charge you interest. And of course,
they set the interest rates, which they can change at any time without prior
notice. If you pay a late charge/interest each month, it adds up fast.
As for the service charges, I'm not referring to equipment rentals or anything
of the sort. There are actual service charges that appear on each customer's
phone bill, every month. Some of the services that we're forced to pay for
aren't even ones that we need or will ever use. Bell Canada just takes it upon
itself to charge everyone equally for them, including TTY service for the deaf,
etc. Personally, I don't feel that adding service charges to obtain higher
profits from local service is fair. In my opinion, you should only be
responsible for paying for the services that you actually use.
The newest Bell Canada scam:
Bell Canada is going to start charging for all calls to 411 Directory
Assistance. A 75 cent service charge will be applied to your phone bill each
time you dial 411, regardless of whether the Bell Operator provides you with
any information. The charge applies even if the number is unlisted. The CRTC
granted Bell Canada permission to change 411's billing. What a shock. They
always give them 'permission' to charge and do whatever the hell they want.
Again, Bell relies on deceiving and brainwashing the ignorant, naive zombies
in order to make profit. Don't fall prey to their scam by dialing 411 from
home and getting billed for a service that *should* be free. Paying for a
service that's given is one thing. Paying for receiving no service(s)
whatsoever is entirely another. Please don't help make Bell richer. I urge you
not to dial 411 from anywhere, except payphones. Dial it from payphones as
often as you want. Misuse it as much as you want, in as many ways as you can
think of. Just don't pay Bell anything for it. Don't let them get away with
charging for 411.
Yes, dialing 411 from a payphone is still free. Amazingly enough, the CRTC
made a token ruling that Bell cannot charge 75 cents for dialing 411 from
payphones. Of course, that decision could be changed at any time.
Another way to avoid being billed is to use Bell's own web site (www.bell.ca) or
another internet 411 directory search engine. Even though most people have
probably already heard of this latest Bell money grab, I thought I'd inform our
readers anyway so they wouldn't become a victim of another ripoff telco scam.
Update: The 75 cent charge for dialing 411 from home is now in effect.
Hopefully this short article has helped educate a few readers by informing
them about some of Bell's greedy money making schemes. And if you stay alert,
informed and aware of their scams, you won't become their next victim.
Written by THC Phreak <20> Damage, INC. (C)opyright 1999.
CROSSED WIRES - {WIRES}
An Advertisement for K-1ine.
|| // ^ _
||+ ~ 1 | / / (_
|| \\ | / \/ (_
[K-1ine]
Editor: The Clone
E-mail: theclone@code.penguinpowered.com
URL: http://nettwerk.hypermart.net - Nettwerked
Group(s): Nettwerked, Hack Canada (www.hackcanada.com)
Comments: This is a new zine, but it's definitely a must read for Canadian
phreaks, and anyone into scanning, phreaking, etc. Watch out Telus! ;)
___________ .__.__ ____________________ _________
\__ ___/___ ________ __|__| | _____ \______ \______ \/ _____/
| |_/ __ \/ ____/ | \ | | \__ \ | | _/| | _/\_____ \
| |\ ___< <_| | | / | |__/ __ \_ | | \| | \/ \
|____| \___ >__ |____/|__|____(____ / |______ /|______ /_______ /
\/ |__| \/ \/ \/ [def] \/
The UK's Premier Underground Bulletin Board System
Operating from Brighton, UK
tequila.darktech.org - +44-(0)1273-xxxxxx
http://www.tequila.f9.co.uk/bbs/tqbbsfaq.htm for info
Comments: Tequila BBS is Damage, INC.'s newest Distribution Site. It's also
our only Dist. Site located in the UK.
DAMAGE, INC. REVIEWS - {REVIEWS}
H/P and Security Web Sites.
Here are a few reviews of quality h/p sites that might interest you. They're
some of my personal favourites. Check our Links page for these and other
interesting sites. It's continually growing and being updated.
Phearios
www.phearios.org
Phearios is operated by fringe and the rest of the crew from Chitown. It's
been moved from dope.org, so PIMP issues are available at the new phearios.org
site. Some of you might remember fringe from my interview with him. And to
the rest, check out his new site anyway. You'll have to apply for an account,
but it's a quick and easy process. Once you have a login that's been validated
through Email, you'll be all set to enter and explore his site. It's still
new and fringe is still working on things, but it looks very promising. You
can send and receive Email from other users from within Phearios... post
messages in the bases, grab issues of PIMP, etc. Overall, the site has a really
cool setup. It's very unique and I think it will be a place with some good
discussions of various topics, including Big Brother, conspiracies and the like.
Basically, it's not just your typical, average h/p site.
9x
www.ninex.com
9x's site has been moved from dope.org as well. The entire site has a new look
now... but still offers the same variety of 9x releases that people have grown
accustomed to... and expect from Substance and the 9x crew. Check it often for
new releases, that range from carrier scans, hand scans, to texts on anything
and everything that's h/p related. They even have some good UK informational
texts. New texts and scans are released regularly.
Phone Punx Network
http://fly.to/ppn
The Phone Punx Network is an actual network of several sites. They have their
own zine, which is appropriately named Phone Punx Magazine. The site also
carries other Phone Punx files, a H/P zine archive, has News, a Guestbook,
Network Links and links to other hacking/phreaking related sites, etc. Overall,
it's a good phreaking resource. ;)
Phone Rangers
www.phonerangers.org
The Phone Rangers are a phreaking group out of New Jersey that's well known in
their own local scene. Their site offers phreaking related articles they've
written, specific NJ info, a mailing list, links, etc. It has good resources
for U.S. phreaks on the east coast.
El_Jefe's Payphone Directory
www.payphone-directory.org
This is an excellent site for payphone numbers and pictures. It's the domain
of El_Jefe, and it offers payphone numbers from many NPAs... as well as a
Discussion board, Guestbook, pictures of payphones, COs, payphone sound clips,
a phone recording archive, payphone news, phone related links, etc. You can
search for payphone numbers, view payphone pics, or discuss payphones and
numbers (such as telco test numbers, etc.) in the discussion board. It's a
must visit for real phone phreaks. ;)
United Phone Losers
www.phonelosers.net
Besides running their site, the UPL has taken over the PLA Phone Director0y
and released a new edition this summer. They also release their own UPL issues
(phreaking texts, social engineering, etc.) and have a message board. The
site has recently undergone a lot of changes. Hopefully they'll keep releasing
the UPL/PLA Phone Director0y. Their new Phone Director0y is also available to
download from www.phonelosers.org (PLA's site). And if you visit there, make
sure you play some sound clips while using demo computers in local computer
stores, really loud. ;)
IIRG
www.iirg.org
The International Information Retrieval Guild has been around forever. The
group's site has issues of Phantasy, IIRG Technical Journals, IIRG CEJ/OCL
Magnitude Archives online. Their site has pages that explain what the group
is about, its history, etc. Besides h/p, they're also into Survivalism and
have many excellent texts that educate people in that area. If you haven't
heard of them, or haven't visited their site for some reason, do yourself a
favour and check it out. Even if you aren't into hacking and phreaking, go
there and grab Cybertek issues...
Wraith Tech Industries
www.internettrash.com/users/wraithtech
This site is a personal favourite of mine. Wraith Tech Industries is a group
of hackers and phreaks from various areas... Their site offers a lot of
information and resources. Goldeneye and the rest of the group are a
knowledgable crew that write articles and work on projects of all types. I've
been in contact with Goldeneye, and we've discussed collaborating on some
projects in a joint venture in the future. He definitely has some unique ideas
for devices and things of that nature that I'd like to explore further.
They're also a friendly group of people that get what Damage, INC. is doing,
which is a bonus. So, make sure you check out their excellent site. ;)
Written by BLACKENED <20> Damage, INC. (C)opyright 1999.
H/P INFORMATION - {H/P}
An explorer's guide to hacking the planet.
As we enter this new Millennium, one that will no doubt contain advancements
in science and technology that we currently cannot imagine, it's the perfect
time to get back to the basics. And that's just what I intend to do in this
article. Some might call it old school. Others might think of it as low tech.
Regardless of what it's called, or how it's viewed as being, the ideas discussed
in this article are just as relevant and practicle now as they ever were. In
fact, with the dawning of this new Millennium and the advent of the things that
it'll bring in the decades ahead, the spread of this type of information is more
needed now than ever before. Hacking, in the truest sense of the word, is
exploring the unknown. Even in the strictest definition it doesn't necessarily
have to involve computers. However, these aspects of hacking have often been
neglected by most... and so that's the reason I've decided to outline a few of
the ways that a hacker can explore, and thus "hack the planet". If it isn't
already obvious what I'm referring to, it'll all become clear to you in the next
few paragraphs. Be warned though, this type of exploring is dangerous and can
present a serious threat to your life if you're not careful.
The Underground:
Caves, caverns, corridors, bunkers, drains, tunnels, manholes, pipes, subways,
subterrainean rooms, etc. are all examples of the underground world that exists.
Most of the urbanized world's infrastructure is hidden beneath us. But it's
definitely an interesting, exciting world that a relatively small number of
people will ever choose to enter and explore. Indeed, it's for the brave,
adventurous few that have the need to go where nobody else goes. Of hackers,
they're the truely hardcore. And the places they go are the real underground.
Like urban explorers they walk the depths in search of the strange and unique.
Others simply want access to the infrastructure itself, such as the miles and
miles of telco lines that are buried beneath our cities in a maze of jumbled
wires massed together. The rest that choose to enter are either maintenance
workers, murderers hiding dead bodies, or zombies that find themselves lost.
In order to explore these places of the underground world, there's certain
equipment, skills and knowledge that you'll require that is crucial to your
survival. However, since I'm still relatively inexperienced at exploring things
such as storm drains and the like (which can be a very dangerous venture for
newbies to attempt -- especially alone at night), I'll revert to the experts on
the subject of underground exploration and refer you to the excellent text
"Approach: A Sprawling Manifesto on the Art of Drain Exploring", written by
Predator of the Cave Clan. It's available to read by visiting either
www.caveclan.org or www.infiltration.org
Basically, I don't feel qualified to hand out advice on equipment, techniques,
avoiding hazzards, precautions, etc. since I still lack the necessary experience
to do so. The Infiltration site also offers a dictionary that covers some of
the terminology that you'll encounter while reading about this type of
exploring. It's helpful, and highly recommended that you read the material
and become as informed as possible *before* attempting to do anything that's
mentioned in this, or any other article on the subject. Being well educated is
so much more important in cases where your very life could depend on if you
know what to do in that situation. And there are definitely life threatening
situations that a person could find themselves in, if they decide to become
involved in exploring these types of places and don't know what the hell they're
doing. So, again, make sure you know the risks, are well equipped and are
well informed/knowledgable before you get started. Chances are nobody else is
going to warn you again, or be there to save your ass once you get into some
serious trouble... so heed the warnings I've given.
Above Ground:
Now that I've covered underground exploration, it's time to go topside for a
tour around the city landscape. In a large metropolitan/urban area (such as
major cities like New York, London, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver) there
are a vast amount of things to explore, from subway tunnels, manholes, drains,
etc. to above ground structures like buildings and the infrastructure that
supports the actual city. That's the focus of this section - the places that
aren't hidden beneath the surface, but still have a lot to offer the curious,
intelligent, urban explorer.
In terms of access, many of these places don't have a wealth of security. Sure,
some buildings are secured more than others and measures have been taken to
ensure that unauthorized people can't enter them easily, or wander through them
unsupervised or undetected. They use a combination of locks, guards,
surveilance cameras and security systems to prevent access, surveil and protect
their property. But that's to be expected from Banks and large financial
institutions, etc. Some cities, like New York for example, have literally
thousands of government and privately owned cameras mounted on the outside of
buildings. Indeed, Big Brother *is* watching. But Big Bro still isn't
everywhere, yet. And the areas where he isn't spying are precisely where I want
to concentrate the focus of this particular section. Physical security will be
discussed, but not in any great detail.
Public buildings such as libraries, schools (Universities and Colleges), etc.
are a great starting point. Large buildings, especially older ones, usually
have a variety of areas that are hidden to the public. They're ripe for
exploration. In terms of schools, I've found that summer is the best season
to explore them since there aren't as many people around on campus. You may
encounter the odd janitor or student wandering around, but generally you can
go wherever you want, unobstructed and undisturbed. And even if you aren't
able to find anything really interesting to explore (like a hidden underground
tunnel, a room, passageway, etc.), at least there are always numerous payphones
to play around with. They're also a good cover, since if you're ever questioned
by someone about your activities, you can just claim that you were looking for
a payphone to use. Or make up an equally believable explanation, such as saying
that you're waiting for someone to meet you there.
Other buildings, such as office towers, Bank headquarters, telco Central
Offices, Hospitals, large factories and production company buildings, etc. can
be more difficult to explore without being harrassed by security. Many of these
require employees and visitors to wear security badges at all times. They're
also known to have security cameras, and in the case of Banks, security guards.
However, most older Hospitals have lax security and are great places to explore.
Their security usually consists of a guard or two, stationed in or around the
emergency room. Many telco buildings don't have guards on patrol at all. They
rely solely on cameras and signs to ward off would be "intruders". And the
vast majority of telco switching stations have very little security. Regardless
of that, if one is intelligent, prepared and determined, any building can be
infiltrated successfully. And sometimes you can walk away with some nice
merchandise that has been generously discarded on or around the premises. What
some view as trash, others look at as being treasure. This falls into the
"trashing" category. Whether you look in trash cans, dumpsters, desk drawers,
shelves, file cabinets, storage bins or any other place in which items may be
for the taking, it's still trashing as far as I'm concerned. And it's as much
a part of hacking the planet (along with recycling, reusing) as anything else.
During your expeditions you may be required to do certain things in order to
maintain a low profile, avoid being thrown out of a building, or arrested.
It's always best to have a cover story to explain why you're there, have a good
plan, and a backup plan or person to contact if necessary, and sometimes even
a disguise can be helpful in gaining access. This is all part of social
engineering, which can be an extremely useful talent to have at your disposal.
Read my article on Social Engineering in issue #11 for tips on how to talk
and make up cover stories, etc.
For example, if you're carrying a large stack of documents through the hallway
of a University building during the night, you might look out of place and
a little suspicious to onlookers. But if those documents are piled in a blue
recycling box, and you're questioned about the contents, you can always say that
you were instructed to carry them out to be recycled. Just make sure no one
follows you. An example of using a disguise to enter a restricted area (or a
secured building) would be if you were to borrow and wear a UPS deliveryman
uniform, carry a clipboard and a fake package. Just make sure it looks
authentic so that if you're questioned you are able to pass as a UPS employee.
If you don't look old enough, or don't have the confidence, don't even attempt
it. Also, it's always a good idea to let someone that you trust know what
you're doing, and have a set time to contact them if anything goes wrong.
Always plan it out thoroughly first. Don't try to do any of these things
without being fully prepared and have everything planned ahead of time.
Planning is a very important process, takes time, and should be taken seriously.
It should be done first, well before you enter anywhere, and shouldn't just be
an afterthought. Scout out the place ahead of time if possible. Note the
location of cameras, posted guards, their number and try to find out as much as
possible about the building, like the amount of exits and the general floor
plan. Have a planned route of escape. If you have to go in cold, be extra
careful and aware of who's around and who is watching. The best scenario is
one in which you can explore at your leisure when there's nobody else around.
As for the rest, it's up to you where you go and what you do while you're
there. Everything is at your discretion and you'll have to decide, based
on your own morals and ethics what to do and what not to do. However, I
will say that I don't advocate destroying and vandalizing property. Nor do
I encourage anyone to do that. It's an unnecessary risk and doesn't offer
you any gain. Other than that, if you're exploring a building that's owned
by a large corporation and want to steal something, that's your choice. Just
as, if you want to access their systems/networks and use services for free,
take data, documents, or whatever else, that's also your choice. I won't
discourage anyone from doing that. I won't discourage anyone from taking
pictures or trophies either. Whatever you do, just as long as you don't put
the lives of other people at risk (such as Hospital patients, the 911 system or
something along those lines), then I wouldn't deem the actions as going too far.
Personal Experiences:
I've explored many buildings, including ones that are located on major
University campuses, manholes, tunnels, corridors, hidden rooms, halls, several
Hospitals, a morgue, a psychiatric facility, a funeral home, a military camp,
etc. over the years. Most of the time I wasn't alone on my expeditions. More
than once I was nearly caught. A few times I was lucky that I wasn't arrested,
seriously injured or killed. In almost all cases there was at least one
instance of an adrenaline rush. I don't regret exploring any of them. Each was
its own unique experience. And each chance that I took was worth it in the end.
Sometimes I needed to take a chance just in order to escape. Sometimes I
wondered what the hell I was doing in certain places. But risk is part of it.
If you don't take any risks, you can't make any discoveries. Nothing ventured
is nothing gained in other words. I won't describe all of my personal
experiences, or the places that I've explored though. I'll just say that it
was interesting, and I don't think I'll ever quit exploring.
In conclusion, it's all about exploring and going places that you previously
hadn't thought of going before. It's about gaining access the low tech way.
It's about learning and experiencing things the old fashioned way -- in person
rather than from behind a terminal. And it's about collecting the trophies
and treasures that are out there, waiting to be had. Just as importantly, it
is about honing your skills and social engineering the people that are out
there, just waiting to be had. In the process you'll learn a great deal about
physical security, infrastructure, technology, psychology and what it means to
enter the true underground world and face the unknown. You'll learn your
lessons the hard way, with only your wits, skills and your adrenaline to aid
you. But it'll be worth it because in the end you'll have the knowledge and
survival skills to stand on your own. Plus, you will have the opportunity and
ability to explore the world in a way that only a hacker can. So go ahead and
hack the planet... from the inside out.
Written by BLACKENED <20> Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
INTERVIEWS AND INTERROGATIONS - {INTERVIEWS}
In this issue, I decided to do something different by interviewing people
that are actively involved in the Canadian h/p scene. Since this is the 2nd
anniversary issue of the zine, I felt that it was the perfect time to show our
respect for certain Canadians that are making contributions to the scene.
Featured in the spotlight are exclusive interviews with The Clone and
Lord Narayana. Each has their own unique interests, ideas and talents. We
need more people like them to help strengthen and build our scene. I had
planned to include an interview with Cyborg/ASM (Hack Canada), but due to time
constraints he was unable to do an interview at this time. However, we hope
to publish an interview with him in a future issue. At any rate, I hope you
enjoy reading the interviews and make sure you check out their web sites. ;)
Alias: The Clone
Group(s): Hack Canada, Nettwerked
Age: Between 2 and 99
Country: Canada
Description: I believe I failed this very same question back in Junior-High
School, grade eight [1994/1995]. Initially the question was:
"WHO are YOU? Tell me about YOU!" My answer was: "I'm me. I'm
in junior high. That is all." But I'll try not to be a smart
ass. Come on, it's been five years. Alright here were go;
I'm a phreaker as well as a hacker... but I phreak more.
I'm from NPA 780. I started into the "scene" back in 1992.
I'm a mild drinker, a non-smoker, an occational pot smoker,
a frequent speed user, shroomer, popper inhaler. I'm a raver,
party-kid, club-kid whatever the hell you want to call me.
I dislike the AOL children. I dislike the SPAM children.
I dislike wannabe ravers, I dislike wannabe "COMPUTER SECURITY
PROFESSIONALS" with their "professional" web-sites and their
E-Commerce fetish. I dislike the fact that it's "cool" to be
into PSN's [Packet Switching Networks]. I dislike the fact that
it's cool to run Linux. I have Windows and FreeBSD.
"but cl0ne mah m4n.. h0h0h0h0.... it ain't k3wl to run wind0ws.
dOnt j00 kn0w that micr0s0f7 i5 l4me?!!?" Microsoft may be
"lame" but I believe that Windows serves its purpose. I also
believe that if I learn Windows NT security that I will have
a better chance at a good career in the future. Get with the
program you stubborn, naive, bitch. FreeBSD; it's been around
for longer than Linux has. It has less vulnerabilities
than your conventional Linux flavours, more Universities
use it, FreeBSD is source code compatible with most popular
commercial Unix systems and thus most applications require few,
if any, changes to compile. FreeBSD is based on the 4.4BSD-Lite
release from Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the
University of California at Berkeley. It's sexier, and it's not
as commercial as Linux [ie. Redhat]. There you go. Come 0wn me.
Interests:
Most forms of technology, Music, Raves, Raver girls, Web-site design and
development, FreeBSD, Aix, OpenVMS, X25 Packet Switching Networks,
phreaking/telephony; Centurian Pay-Phones, Fortress Pay-Phones, Millennium
Pay-Phones, Elcotel CPC 9520C Smart Phone Pay-Phones, Skanning, Voice Mail
Box Systems, Poetry, Dj'ing, the occult, and much much more!
Music:
Now this such a general question. *sigh*. Music; I love it. I cannot see
how anyone cannot love music. Music has shaped my character, has made me
feel emotions to their extremes. If one were to ask me "What is the love
of your life?" I would not hesitate to tell them "music". Music to me is
more than a mind altering DRUG, is more than a character shaper, more than
a love. Music is everything. Music is life. Favorite types of music.
Hmm... anything that sounds good? Not specific enough.
Trance music; because the energy of it makes me feel like
I'm in heaven with the most powerful drug shot into me.
[See Artist; Anti-Loop]
Ambient; beautiful, hauntingly beautiful. The mellowness
of it. The obscurity of it. Definately one of my favorite
types of music. [See Artist; Aphex Twin]
Acid; ACID! Who cannot love this stuff? High pitched bleeps
beeps and beats. ;) Hardcore acid is dark and fuckin' cool.
[See Artists; Chemical Brothers (album; Exit Planet Dust)
and Josh Wink.]
Drum & Bass; Drum and Bass is da shit. One of my favorite
types of music. Old-school drum and bass kicks ass. One of
the few underground things in this sick mainstream society.
[See Artists; Chemical Brothers (album; Dig Your Own Hole),
and Aphrodite (The Takeover Bid: Round One).
House; Old-school funky house is good. A lot of it is
complete and utter chachie/preppy crap. But Astralwerks
(my favorite record label: www.astralwerks.com) has changed
that. [See Artists; Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx]
Movies:
Trainspotting, Terminator II: Special Edition, Foxfire, Vibrating Vixens,
All Three Angels Delight.
Books:
I don't have time for books. I'm a Lynx user, so I get my daily reading
wheather I like it or not.
Email:
theclone@code.penguinpowered.com
theclone@edmc.net
IRC:
irc.2600.net
#2600ca
URL(s):
Web-site: Nettwerked - http://nettwerk.hypermart.net
Group Web-site: Hack Canada - http://www.hackcanada.com
<B> - Introduce yourself to the readers of the Damage, INC. Newsletter...
Hey there folks in computer land *waves*. I am The Clone. From NPA
[Area Code] 780 located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
You're reading this because you are interested in me. I'm not surprised at
all. A lot of people have become interested in me after I popped out of no
where, shooting out some original and fairly good articles on a new
web-site called 'Nettwerked'. I'm also known for my contributions to
Hack Canada as well.
I'm interested in many aspects of the Hacking and Phreaking world.
I've had a lot of fun with telephones because I'm always exploring new and
exciting systems only available if you find that phone number. Skanning some
prefixes, searching for a challenge.
Exploiting the security on all types of telephone networks is a high for me.
Field Phreaking is great but I can't say I do it often enough. Laziness I
suppose.
Computers; there is so much I do with them I don't know where to start.
Web-site design, learning FreeBSD, and playing on OpenVMS boxes is a thrill.
Finding new buffer overflows in Lynx is quite a rush. Inventing new forms
of DoS attacks, packet-switching networks, nua skanning, newsgroups,
flaming, falling asleep infront of my computer, staring at a computer screen
for 5 hours straight, staying up late talking to amazing people on chat and
IRC, etc. etc. etc.
<B> - How and when was Nettwerked started? What are the goals and purpose of
it?
Nettwerked was started back in May of 1999. Not too long ago if you read
this file before the 21st century. :)
Nettwerked started for one main purpose; to contribute to the somewhat dying
Canadian hacking scene. But not just the Canadian hacking scene, the hacking
scene in general. Too many posers out there who haven't discovered that
hacking is more than talking da shit. You have to do projects. You can't
sit there, read a million files and then simply expect to get respect
because you can memorized them. One must invent, innovate, discover, and
learn through experience. Not by standing on the side lines learning old
material. This isn't history class kids.
Nettwerked has already become what I wanted it to be 4 months ago.
I achived success after the first month and a half of its existance.
My goal was to offer a computer hacking/phreaking site for everyone
specifically Canadians and more specifically Albertians. To offer
new files on a regular basis, and lastly to have a local network for
all local hackers/phreakers (hence the name Nettwerked).
<B> - What's your zine, K-1ine about? How was it started?
-- snipped from K-1ine --
{'K-1ine' is a quarterly zine intended for phreakers, old-skool hackers,
and the regular bored housewife
looking for some fun while sweety is at work.}
-- snipped from K-1ine --
Why did I start my own zine? To tell you the truth, I wanted to see what
my files would look like on a huge file with some random gibberish
inbetween. It looked okay.
<B> - Which articles that were published in K-1ine stand out in your mind,
and why?
'An introduction to skanning' where I showed people how cool skanning really
is and why it's worth doing it.
'The AGNPAC system' A local Government Packet Switching Network Wizbone
and I discovered a few years back. Probably one of the coolest systems
I've ever played around on.
'Project: INWATS; 909-0000 | 909-6000 Suffix Skan (i909_60SS)'
The 909-xxxx prefix took me a hell of a long time to skan out by hand.
6000 numbers. One of the larger hand skans on the internet today.
<B> - What types of articles and information can we look forward to reading
in future issues of K-1ine?
Obviously more telephone related material from me, and definately
file contributions from friends. I plan on starting
'K-1ine III: Y-III-K the winter of 2000'
in late November and finishing by at least January, 2000.
<B> - What types of things can be found on http://nettwerk.hypermart.net?
780 Undergr0und Message Board, Two DEFCON picture archives, a growing
E-zines section, a HUGE FILES archive section [all written by me] with
K-1ine I & II, the krew section for my friends, my affiliates section
consisting of HNN, Hack Canada, and Damage Incorporated, Links section,
Lynx Advisories, Nettwerked News, Nettwerked Archived Updates [old
Nettwerked news], News Archives from Wired, Operating System Advisories
[AIX, FreeBSD, OpenVMS], and lastly Skanning.
<B> - How do you think Nettwerked is viewed by the majority of visitors to
your site?
Positively I'm hoping.
<B> - What do you think of the current h/p scene, and in your opinion how has
it changed since you began? Also, what's the status of the local h/p scene in
your NPA?
The current h/p scene is growing in many ways thanks to all of the people
who make it an art and not a crime. Since I've began I can't say it's
changed hugely globally but nationally I can safely say it has.
In the local scene Nettwerked is helping along side Hack Canada.
Keeping the scene strong.
Newbies - Keep on learning, trying new things, doing what you love.
K0d3z/script kids - You make it bad for everyone. You annoying shits...
stop corrupting the poor little newbies!
Conf whores - Hi whores.
IRC kiddies - Don't you know that pedophiles hang out here. Watch out.
You'll get cyber ass-raped.
OUR LOCAL SCENE IS THRIVING! THANKS MAINLY TO HACK CANADA AND NETTWERKED.
<B> - What has been your experience with telco employees as a whole?
I once talked to a Telus employee about job opportunities with TELUS.
He told me to go to NAIT and take a Telecommunications course before I
even think about it. Nice guy though.
<B> - How was DefCon?
Visit: http://nettwerk.hypermart.net/files, and read
D E F C O N 7 . 0
It's a 27 page article all about DEFCON 7 in Las Vegas this summer '99. :)
<B> - Do you read any h/p related zines? If so, please list a few of the
ones that you read and respect.
Yes!
BlackZine, Catslash Magazine, Damage Inc., and RuSsIaN UnDeRGrOuND CluB
are all my favorite zines.
I've helped out Dissident Magazine as well I've contributed some skans to
Damage Inc.
<B> - Which h/p groups, if any, do you respect?
Hack Canada - Obviously. Cyb0rg/asm started it last year and it continues
to grow.
L0pht - The largest hacker organization in North America. These guys do
so much for the scene it's unbelievable. Props to L0pht.
Damage Inc. - Damage Incorporated! 416 hackers! Canadian! Excellent zine,
kick ass files. Keep it up.
Rhino9 - I know I know they broke up. The best security team on the net.
Microsoft better fear the NT WarDoc. ;)
<B> - Which web sites do you usually frequent?
Hack Canada - www.hackcanada.com
Hacker News - www.hackernews.com
L0pht - www.l0pht.com
Astralwerks - www.astralwerks.com
Attrition - www.attrition.org
Security Focus - www.securityfocus.com
<B> - Do you want to share any memorable hacking/phreaking related experiences?
Joke
----
Q: When is a cat not a cat?
A: When it's a dog!
hehehe. =)
<B> - Have you ever been busted? Or, do you know anyone that's been busted?
If so, would you like to describe the event, the circumstances of the bust
and the conclusion?
Nope, never.
<B> - Do you want to mention any boards that you call or people in the scene
that you know?
Shout outs to:
All the crew in Hack Canada, Damage Incorporated, irc.2600.net: #2600ca,
ravers, the therapy krEw, Mr.T.
<B> - Are there any other interesting things or general comments that you have
and wish to share?
Yeah! I love raver chicks. I seriously do. I scored with a raver chick
this past weekend. I'm so proud! :)
<B> - Thanks for agreeing to be interviewed. Keep up the good work with
Nettwerked, K-1ine and everything else that you're involved in. I visit your
site often to check for new releases, updates and news and think that it's
an excellent source of information. In fact, it's one of my favourite Canadian
sites. ;) It's obvious that you put a lot of time and effort into your site.
Thanks again for the articles and numbers you've contributed. We really
appreciate it man.
Before I conclude this interview, I'd just like to say that I didn't pick
The Clone at random to be interviewed. We've been corresponding in Email
for several months, discussing various things. He's a cool, knowledgable
person. I respect him and his many contributions to the Canadian scene and
look forward to reading future issues of K-1ine.
Alias: Lord Narayana, Bob Narayana, lordn, ln_, lo-rdn, Mark Finnigen, Dr. Egg,
Caro Kann, ck_, Seylon Freylith and my bot obskeur. I'd bet some of you
are surprised on the last half.. You shouldn't be, I told everyone who I
was. These have all been used at some point or another over the past
couple of years.
Group(s): I am a one man group, but yet I have had many nicks. I could make my
own group and noone would be any wiser.
Aged: 20somethin'. Fairing fairly ripe, but still too young.
Country: Earth. This world would be so much better if we were to abolish our
invisible boundaries between us and work together. But, if you must
know, Canada. Heard of it? I should hope so. Were the largest snow
exporter of the world.
Description: Alive and well on planet earth. I drink. I smoke. I drive. I do
drugs. I have a habit of pissing people off. Some people I can't
beat off with a stick. Everyone is different. Life is different. Be
different? Be yourself. Should being different be different enough?
That's the origionality of it all.
Interests: People. People are great. They're fun to watch. Even more fun to
stalk. They think you're really after them. Phone them up late at
night and tell them to stop stalking you. Leave a note on their
bedroom window. Write letters to yourself, and have them returned to
their address, with a note saying that it's been refused. Like you
really give a damn what they do every day. What.. are they crazy?
Parapsychology. It breaks down into three things. Near death
hypothesis, ESP, and poltergeist phenominon. Due to popular demand,
I think I will write some stuff for you, the reader at some point.
See the Voice Phonominon file in Blackzine 4, if you're interested
in some new stuff.
I play guitar. They're great to play with.
Telephones. As you can tell. I love to talk.
Social Engineering. As you can tell, since you're reading this, you
love to hear me talk as well. Some people can't stop hearing me talk.
That's a good or bad thing, depending on the person.
Chicks. I don't eat much meat, but chickens are great. So are the
ones which walk around in tight clothes... and weigh less than 120.
Chess. I love games. I love playing games.
Axis and Allies rule. I'm not a D&Der. Got out of that whole scene
years ago. It was fairly easy since I was never really into it.
Religion. I love God. I hope God feels the same. I love to hear about
other religions. I love to hear about other gods. I think that
there's a lot of young promising satanists listening to slayer and
thinking that I'm a nut, you kids are lost and not really into
anything. I think there's also too many people out there who argue
for the sake of arguing. Lastly, I think there's not enough people
who don't think.
Occult sciences. No, I don't play with chemicals anymore. It's scary
shit, and were all in deep, so let's get to a shallow end where we
can figure out what the fuck is going on. Maybe then, we can see what
the shit is all about.
Acid (that's lsd25, not the user). And lots of it. I like uppers in
general.
Lots of other shit people throw at me which i have to get interested
in. By fear, force, choice, or I couldn't duck fast enough, it's a
big part of what people like me do.
Get fucking involved. That's right.. I like sex. No.. lemme rephrase
that. Get involved.
Getting involved is one of the best things you'll find yourself
doing.
Music: Music. I hate people who hate music. That's right. I discriminate. I'm
not big on country either. I live in a cowtown. Not too many cowboys
these days. Think they all went to Cochrane or Medicine Hat. I like all
other sorts of music. Most stuff I am into, with the exception of a good
portion of Country. Fairly big on some Jazz. Names like Stan Getz & John
Zorn. Classic Rock. There's too much to list. A Classic response. But
it's rock solid. Generally stuff from 65 onwards. Trip Hop, Hard Trance
Goa and Gabber. Gabber? There's that talking thing again. Check out some
Baby Doc or Jon the Dentist. Hardcore rules. So does Squarepusher, but
he's something else.
Movies: Blair Witch Project, 1984, gotta be a Stanley Kubrick fan, Clerks,
Saving Private Ryan (the best war movie I have seen), the Usual
Suspects, and of course there's more..
Books: Cookoo's Egg, Audrey Rose, The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, the Seth Books,
Anything from U.S. Anderson, Edgar Cayce, not too much in the novel
realm.
Email: lordn@disinfo.net
IRC: Not much these days. Undernet and efnet servers. Your best chances are
probably on irc.2600.net #2600ca Need I tell you my nick?
URL(s): http://poz.8m.com
<B> - Introduce yourself to the readers of the Damage, INC. Newsletter...
<LN> - I suppose you could say that I have been around computers for some time.
PC's, however, I haven't been around all that long. I had an atarii 2600 at one
point, used a commie 64 and 128 until the mid 90's. But they weren't of much use
other than for games.. My folks bought me a 486dx2 66mHz back around the end of
95 and against their wishes for fear that they would have an enormous phone
bill, I started calling BBSes. <gasp> Holy shit.. I can see the leetists
applauding me already. I suppose that this would have been my first hands on
experience of "hacking", in the sense that there was no guidance, no internet,
no outside assistance in even setting up my modem or any terminal program. Also,
this was running at 14.4. The so called scene was brought out very fast,
compared to most people out there. I'll skip a boring month or two and get to
how I got in.
Shortly after this new venture of mine, several other bbses later and many
sleepless nights on the local chat bbses, someone had passed me a number to what
he told me was a "pirate bbs", which had all sorts of registered games. He also
told me that I was not to give the BBS number out to anyone, because it wasn't
for lamers like most other kids around - and - because it was illegal.
Since I wasn't born with a computer up my ass and had only experienced the local
PD (public domain) BBS scene for less than a few months, that number sat there
on my desk for quite some time before I built enough courage to call it.. Some
people say that I am paranoid, I guess it's possible. I suppose it was possible
that I was paranoid back then too. After all, why would someone give something
illegal like this out?? Was he a cop? Was he bullshitting? What the hell was
going on here and why would people support pirating??!? Also, why would he
choose me to call this BBS? I didn't have anything to offer.
Or so I thought at the time.
[For you kids who've never been on a BBS, there was the public, and the more
private "scene." Not everyone could get into the private scene. Figured I'd get
a question at some point on this..]
At any rate, when I did get voted into the bbs (which wasn't hard because just
about anyone who applied was allowed on), the first thing I did was download the
BBS list. There were a couple I had applied to, which was my introduction to the
scene. For anyone local to me who remembers a BBS from ages ago, this was Much
to Much James, more commonly known as MTMJ. At 10+ years, it was also one of the
longest surviving BBSes in Calgary, if I recall correctly. It had both an active
file base, as well as an active user and message base. Two other BBS names come
to mind, out of all the rest. Club Penumbra, and the Ides of March (IOM). There
were others which came and died.. This was mostly the case.
Club Penumbra, I don't recall much about, except that in messages elsewhere
people were discussing how difficult it was to get on there, which confused the
hell outta me. Ides of March (IOM) was the first serious and real warez bbs,
and probably the last serious effort I have ever seen for quite some time. It
eventually reduced itself to a 6 node ringdown, but it had intense files and
messages.. Several gigs of space, and a pile of CD's online, which a few years
ago, was pretty amazing. People would call long distance to upload 30 megs of
warez at 14400. Must be worth something, eh? What made the board, however, was
not the equipment, phone lines, or files, but that the users were all active in
whatever hobby they were into.
Some new ideas came from it. It had a sister board and it's own message network.
One of the interesting products of it was another private board run on OBV/2 for
it's HP section. What makes this interesting, was that IOM was run on PCBoard, a
totally different software. So you had two different softwares working in
conjunction with each other. When you wanted to move from the files section,
you'd go into the doorway to OBV/2 for the HP section.
A lot of people I meet on the internet through IRC or other means, possibly
either you, the reader, or even other readers are completely unfamiliar with
BBSes of any sort. I shall elaborate as to why the entire thing was so cool, and
things moved a lot faster. This was our internet. It had it's own rules, users,
all separate from each other, and best of all there was it's own security, which
most of the time was nil. If you wanted to hack a BBS, there were no exploits,
or codes, and generally, virtually nobody you could ask for help. Eliteness ran
in it's own forms, some considered it to be how many ANSI's or ASCII's you have
done, or how many artpacks you had released, or what groups you were in. Each
BBS was separate from each other, there were no channel ops and no rules other
than the ones the Sysop listed for you, which most poeple ignored anyways.
At any rate, the scene was very much different than the way it is now. You
needed more skill then, than you do now. Skill in the sense that people had to
be familiar with phones, computers, carding and a variety of other things in
order to prove their worth. You see, if you would just start hacking off you own
phone line, then you would get caught and probably never have anything to do
with computers in general again. If you had applied to a BBS, and used your real
phone number for it to verify you because you didn't know how to hack it, then
your info would probably be passed out if you pissed off the wrong people. You
could still get default accounts when you wardialed, including switches. So
things were very much different in the sense that people generally had skills in
all directions, not just one.
So the whole hp bit was still fairly new to me, as well as my own dos box. I
leeched all the hacking files and all the rest, and periodically went over
them..I had the games, access and files for free, and played with people's
phones and phone lines. This was the easiest thing for me, because I could read
files and take something apart. Hacking wasn't my thing in general because I
didn't know my own computer very well. Although eventually I would pull out a
DOS 6.2 book and read it, the extent of my hacking career at the time was
nothing more than scanning phone numbers like mad, and occasionally playing
around on a dialup or voice system of some sort, as well as a couple of other
things I had listed in Blackzine.
There were a couple of times I had tried to organize things amongst the locals.
My first effort was to get everyone using Toneloc and get "Scan '96" going. The
purpose for this was to break the entire city up into sections, and we were all
going to scan the city within a couple of months. Of course, nothing became of
this. A lot of people are all talk. When it came down to actually scanning, what
surprised me was that most people used the reason of that they were afraid of
being busted to avoid the task! All for calling phone numbers! In my entire
life, I have never had a problem with anyone or from anyone, from scanning.
It was around this time that I created the first issue of Blackzine. It wasn't
much more than a list to go into the Toneloc blacklisted numbers section so that
you wouldn't end up calling avoidable numbers and get into trouble. It didn't
start out as Blackzine, but rather as the Blacklist List. I revised the first
issue and cleaned it up a lot for the second issue, organizing it into sections
for easier use. The biggest flaw with the first file was that it was too big for
some people's buffers in Toneloc, so it couldn't be used. The second allowed
people to cut prefixes out and stick them in the Toneloc blacklisted numbers
section in the configuration. Then for the third, I had compiled some
information for people so you would have an idea of what the hell was going on
half the time. This included some defaults, info's on numbers, tekneeqs etc.. so
that at least before you got busted you would mabye know what it was you were
dicking around with.
Ironically, with regards to being busted, the Blackzine (or Blacklist) idea came
from some security guy who answered the phone when I was scanning late at night,
and said but one word.. I had dialed some number with Toneloc, and the voice
which picked up and answered merely said, "Security". If anything else, I
figured I should stop scanning and see what was really out there, and how I
could cover my ass. Essentially, the word security would start a security mag.
The white pages (phone book is a phreaks best friend) provided me with all the
numbers in the origional blackzine. I threw in the Blue pages, all the
government and RCMP numbers I could find, as well as any emergency, military,
police and whatever else I could find that I figured would be undesirable to
call at odd hours of the day. I also threw in a bunch of sceners phone numbers..
It was amazing how people would be so secretive with their info, hack a call
back verifier so that the BBS doesn't have their phone number, and yet give it
out to some guy who wanted to throw it in a Toneloc blacklist so that they
wouldn't be called at odd hours of the day. Go figure.
And thus, today you have the first issue of Blackzine.
There is one individual with whom if he did not give me a bit of a purpose in
the telephony world, I would have probably not continued with anything. He was
some kid who phone me up out of the blue at about 10 or 11 one night and asked
if I was into phones.. Turned out he was some phreak from Toronto who had
someone pass out my info to him on IRC. I wouldn't go as far as saying that he
would have taught me everything I know, that came with experience. But he got me
into doing more doing, opposed to doing more talking. I may have mentioned a kid
by the name of Dismaster a few years back, in greets and stuff... Mabye a couple
of you people know him under the nick of Dismaster..
Mabye this is why I have always preached for people to try out what they read in
text files, instead of talking about the files they read. I hope I have tried to
put a demonstration of that in my zine and at least made it easy to follow so
others who find similar material could find Blackzine useful.
<B> - How and when was Phones of Zen started? What are the goals and purpose
of the group?
<LN> - Phones of Zen, I should have clairifed a long time ago, was never much of a
group. I had tried at some point and did have a members list, but that member
list has been taken off long ago. It died because of a lack of direction and
interest in it's supposed members as well as a lack of participation. Also, a
lack of leadership and purpose on my part. I believe one of the reasons for this
is because I wanted to do what a lot of other groups try to do: do everything.
When you have members who are supposed to be working on either a variety of
things, or on different things, then it loses the purpose of a group. It would
seem that an effective way to kill off contributing factors of a group is to not
have a set goal, purpose or direction.
Phones of Zen started from the ackronym POZ, which was used a long time ago in
the local scene when I used the tagline of "Power of Zed Prodoktions" on a
couple of projects. Nobody liked the "Power of Zed" name, so I came up with
something more suitable to my alias, "Phones of Zen". There were some other
names which had come to mind. PiSS, or "Phones is Sexy Shit" was another..
Phones of Zen seemed more acceptable. Here's another fine example of public
democracy.
The Phones of Zen site origionally had no other purpose than to get a permanent
spot where people could download blackzine from. I tried some things with it.
Adding a phone section, a links section, a bit of java for some news and codes,
as well as files became a bit much to update on a regular basis. Plus, it was
taking away from the general purpose of the site, which was to host my zine. I
suppose one other thing did go over fairly well on it, which was the personals
section. It was setup so that people could list their info and find other people
within their area. I figured something like that was needed because I got a
little tired of seeing various people looking around for people in their own
area.
I guess that sort of takes me to the present, where people ask me to do
Blackzine in html, because windows can't read or open bkz extensions. Or they
claim that the file is corrupted because that happens. Like, duh. Use fucking
notepad, or wordpad. Have people ever changed over a couple of years. I guess
that's what happens when you have a webpage. Gotta wonder what it's like for
the kids who get more hits that I do.
<B> - What's Blackzine about? Why did you decide to create a zine?
<LN> - Blackzine started out from around the time some people from the local
scene were willing to scan the entire city. The project (Scan '96) never took
off because people were too chicken shit, because they figured that they would
get arrested for wardialing. I guess the one event which motivated me into
producing such a list was my own wardialing experience.
I had been lying there in bed one night listening to my computer wardial. One
number I had called was answered by someone wiht an authoritative voice, which
said nothing but "Security" and some other intelligible rubbish.. Although the
only thing I caught from that was the word "security" it did make me realize
that I had no fucking clue of both what was out there and what I could possibly
call. When I flipped through the white pages I came accross the blue pages,
which was a government directory. It had the police and RCMP in neighbouring
towns, tax centers, mla's, etc.. stuff which generally shouldn't be phoned in
the first place.
The second issue had a bit more in terms of numbers and organization. The third
edition came out with an ascii from a local artist, Shamen, and all sorts of
other information in a hope to get people active. I also wanted to explain what
it was that people would find when they were scanning.
Due to incidences beyond my control, I found myself without a computer for
several months. In that time, I was provided with the opportunity to practice
some of the files I had previously read. I suppose that's what got me into basic
Telephony in the first place.
<B> - Which articles that were published in Blackzine stand out in your mind,
and why?
<LN> - I think the ackronyms file was the most tedious. I had to arrange and add
in a pile of ackronyms and provide a description.. No big deal, but it took a
while to do. That and the first issue of Blackzine. It's was boring as hell
entering in phone number after phone number.. Blackzine 7 has recently come out.
I think I have the largest compilation of manually scanned (skanned) phone
numbers in the WATS! section as well. I try and be origional with all the files
in there, so to an extent they all have their own little history.
<B> - What types of articles and information can we look forward to reading
in future issues of Blackzine?
<LN> - Just about anything at this point, except unix. Everyone does unix, or
something similar. I'd hope to provide more telephony related topics, mabye a
bit on x25. It started out as oldschool, and it'll probably continue on as
oldschool. I would expect that with everything would come logs, which is a big
difference from most zines out there. Over all, I think I've done an okay job
up to this point. Probably a lot of the same stuff you would come to expect. No,
Probably better.
In issue 4, I did something on recording voice phenominon. Oddly enough, I've
had a couple of people recently ask for more files like that. Read the issue to
see what it's about. However, I may include some of my own material in future
zines. Either that, or start up something a little separate from the zine and
throw it on the site as well.
Yet, although I want to deviate from the idea of the zine a bit, it still seems
that a lot of people out there have forgotten their roots, or where things
started out from. I was thinking of releasing a file at some point, and if I can
find a host for it, which would be about 50 megs of a hard drive. It would
provide enough information, which most of would be useless anyways, but it would
give a chance for people to see how things used to be, and what people had to
do for their hacks.
I've also considered making my own hackers style movie, except it would be more
realistic. No fancy colors, fonts, or clothes.. No chicks. Just something along
"a day in the life of a hacker", and carry a camera on certain events. Trashing,
do some activities, letting toneloc scan for a few hours. But like everything,
this will probably take a while. Hell, have shots of someone getting drunk or
having a smoke.
With regards to the files in blackzine, I have done my best to keep everything
fairly origional. Too many people have a beige box file. Everyone and their dog
does unix.. If I cover that shit, then I'm not different from anyone else. This
is why I include logs periodically, and probably why my issues take so long.
It's not necessairily a matter of that I have nothing to write, it's just that
these topics have to be found. Mabye I'm too hardcore on the oldschool.
I've also considered, due to the lack of stuff I have been producing lately,
just to stop the whole zine thing, and release articles as I do them for a
while. If by popular demand, this is what people want then I'll do that instead.
<B> - What types of things can be found on http://poz.8m.com?
<LN> - A section on the local Calgary 2600 meeting, all the Blackzine issues.
The personals section is a listing of people by province and country for anyone
who wants find others within the area. Its open to anyone and if you want on
there, all you have to do is provide me with what information you want to be
made available. Best of all, it's free. I'm probably going to have a news or
some sort of update section which I'll have to update periodically. Too many
people ask for it to be updated.
<B> - How do you think Phones of Zen is viewed by the majority of visitors to
your site?
Seems as though the only gripe from people is that it isn't updated all that
often. I've played around with several various ideas during it's existance. I
did a bit of Java for a K-Kodez section, which I didn't care to update on a
regular basis. There was a news section, and a pile of files a while back.
Thing is, is that anyone searching for these files would find them elsewhere.
It took away from the origionality of it all. It's a place to hold Blackzine.
It's also the official page for the Calgary 2600 meets.
In retrospect to all that, I couldn't really care what most people think of the
page. I'm not expecting people to stay there for long. I guess you could compare
my page to sex. You go there, get in, get what you want and get out. My site
doesn't sound too bad when you compare it to sex now, does it?
I recently redid it. Took a lot of crap off. Links were the first to go.
Everything else went next. I want to keep it a simple site. For blackzine, I
have a couple of other things on there. That's fine. But it's got enough as it
is.
<B> - What do you think of the current h/p scene, and in your opinion how has
it changed since you began? Also, what's the status of the local h/p scene in
your NPA?
<LN> - It's not the same as it used to be. Oh well. Times change, people change.
I change, you change, we all live for a high amount of change or else get stuck
in some small shallow shell and end up rotting in the middle of nowhere.
You gotta live with it and move with it or else the people you think are stupid
will soon leave you in the dust and think you're stupid. There's not all that
much in terms of active people out there within 403. Lots of old inactives.
But generally, for the security market and scene, there is quite a bit. SNI,
now securityfocus, is based out of Calgary, for instance. They would proably
be the most familiar to you all.
One might take it as though all the illegals are going legal, and working for
"the man", or, "the company" and I suppose it really is that way. I dunno. I
know some of them. It doesn't feel any different. What happens is that a lot
of people either smarten up or grow up, and figure they're better off making
money at doing what they do.
<B> - What has been your experience with telco employees as a whole?
<LN> - Generally I have found most of the 0 and 411 crew to not be too bright.
Aside from that, most of them are a very amiable people.. Tim from PNOC who was
up for racing down the high way and through half of downtown.. Only after
when we stopped next to the Telco building did he tell me he worked there. The
time I was trashing at a CO and a truck pulled in. I asked if I could take some
of the crap the had by their garbage, and he said it was okay. Mike at the Bell
800 directory knew me by name. Friendly guy.. Most of the others were complete
assholes, and I'd let them know.
Same thing even with a lot of the security to an extent, except if security does
care about something, they get mad. It's fun to race them, and just harrass them
in general if you get on their bad side right away. Nobody takes them seriously
except themselves. Some are stupid, some are lax. Just don't get caught by the
wrong security I guess and you're in the clear.
Seems like some Nortel people have issues though. I remember going to one
gathering about two years ago, and ended up listening to these people discuss
the new "call forwarding" feature and how impressed they were with it.. One of
them had the balls to tell everyone about the front part of the white pages. Now
all our secrets are out. Damn.
I think that it's rather shitty that so many kids out there are blinded by the
"down with the Telco" or "Kill all Telco employees" or something equivocally
stupid and ignorant. Wonder if it comes from a lot of the previous PLA shit
which came out ages ago. Sure sure.. the telco does provide jobs for lots of
people, but more than that, it's giving you a hobby. Something to do. If it
wasn't for the Telco, lots of you kids would have no fucking life at all.
You'd have no computer as well. So they do their part. They're people too.
Support fone fraud - give people a job. Do fone fraud - give yourself a life.
This life, may one day be your job. It's all about loving what you do.
<B> - Do you read any h/p related zines? If so, please list a few of the
ones that you read and respect.
<LN> - I have never been much of a zine reader.. I used to be at some point, and
then I figured that I didn't really need what a lot of them had to either share
or offer. Some of the many reasons for this was that the origionality of them
was lacking. You can only read so many different ways to build a beige box, or
reworded files which you've seen elsewhere. The Jolly Roger files are very
characteristic of this - something I find very sickening. Bastards who revamp or
use everyone elses files because they are too stupid to come up with their own
should be shot. A big problem with many people is that they don't know how to
write, or when they write, it's not entertaining whatsoever and they may as well
save webspace for wherever it is that they stick their crap and not release it.
Zines were something I would turn to only when I needed some information, was
really bored, had nothing better to do, or wanted to get out of my boring state
and do something. I suppose, mostly ou of boredom.. Things come out of that
boredom when you put to life some of the things you read about. It's kinda cool.
Some of you kids should try doing what you read and write about sometime. The
old phrack were good for this, as well as a fun read. Overall, the early Phrack,
Time For a Change (TFC), and some PLA issues come to mind. There's plenty of
zines out there. Seems like everyone has their own two cents to say. Some, had
their full dollar's worth. Recently though, some of the few things I have read
from front to end are your zine and The Clone's Nettwerked, so that's worth
something I would imagine. But overall, I turn to my own zine more often than
anyone else's. It is to some extent a pile of information which I have found
useful at some point or another. So if it's useful to the writer, I would hope
it's at least useful to other people out there as well.
<B> - Which h/p groups, if any, do you respect?
<LN> - Not too many out there that I can say positive things about. If there was
one group that I could give shout outs to, it would have to be hack canada.
Seems like their site is more telephone related, so it should probably be phreak
canada, but Cyborg/ASM has obivously put quite some time, effort and research
into what he does. It's probably the main site for files and information
regarding Telus bashing, but I'm sure it's got more of a purpose than that. Go
check it out sometime. I don't consider it much of a group, now that Molly's
left, or should I say that Cyb's left.. Seems more appropriate to consider it as
an organization, because the material put out and setup in it's nature are of a
much better quality than most groups out there. It's also a bit more oganized
it seems. Others which come to mind would be MMX's PLA in NY, but that's dead
now.. The old Zencor crew when it was around had a lot of good moments.
<B> - Which web sites do you usually frequent?
<LN> - There aren't that many. I'm not an avid HNN'er. I put a good portion of
them on my website in the links section. But they were taken down recently. At
some point, I'll organize my bookmarks and put them on POZ. You want to see what
I use? It'll all be in there.. just visit my website and remind me occaionally.
<B> - Do you want to share any memorable hacking/phreaking related experiences?
<LN> - I suppose that everything in itself is an experience. A hobby of mine for
the past few years has been trashing, which has brought me some of the funniest
experiences in the scene. It also supported me for a little while. Lots of
people have never gone, don't know about it, or just couldn't care about it.
Even if your trashing night sucks, which it probably will, you usually come
across something which makes it all worthwhile at least once in every ten or
twenty runs. I'll share with you some hauls I have had in previous years:
A Mitel 100 Superswitch, which was sold for about $250. Three people could
barely lift this SOB into my van.
70 Greyscale Monitors, 20 Keyboards, 20 Desktop 286's. Over a weekend I made
over $500, and I still have lots of shit left over.
A Hitachi Color 21" Sun monitor.. These things are expensive and very fucking
heavy.
3 Huge boxes of floppy disks, of all kinds. Weighs about 80 pounds.
DEC's default password list for some building.. about 500 pages of new accounts.
Default passwords were farmer, hello1 and password.
OF course, there other stuff you run into. Businesses have techie people who
pass messages to each other, and inevitably end up in the garbage. Sometimes
it's in bulk.. I've laughed at a lot of it. Stuff like the following should
indicate that you may be able to get a job at the place where these people work.
Meets are usually fun.. We used to have anywhere from 30-60 people who would
show at 2600 on a regular basis. (However, the local scene was still dead).
There are plenty of experiences and things which happen.
Of course there's the occasional conf or two, but only a couple actually were
worth the phone call. The "talk to a hacker and phreaker party lines", when they
were aired on the radio with Zencor were a blast. Of course, if none of it was
fun, why would anyone do it?
<B> - Have you ever been busted? Or, do you know anyone that's been busted?
If so, would you like to describe the event, the circumstances of the bust
and the conclusion?
I have no criminal record at this point. However, I have come very close on
several occasions, and on at least one occasion have had the luxury of the back
of a squad car for related.. It's not fun stuff. And yes, I've known several
people who have been arraigned and "busted".
It's funny how a lot of kids out there have no fear of being arrested, or
raided, or even having to deal with the possibility. Either that, or that's
their claim. All too often I see it being shrugged off by some fuckhead here
and there, thinking that the Young Offenders Act will protect them, or some
other law. Thing is, is that it's not such a joke anymore when you do get put in
that situation. The "no fear" attitude brings on a lot of the stupidity people
complain about in the scene. It's not necessairily the naivete which brings that
about, but bold stupidity and a lack of fear of being caught. Of course, anyone
who's smart will never get caught, and, were all smart and never slip up or
do anything stupid, right?
Such people are the kind of people who will get others caught, and take everyone
they can down with them. When you hit that golden age of 18, things change
pretty fast. The whole thing pretty much sucks. See how fast a fresh ass like
yours gets caught in prison. Mabye we should all move to Norway so that we can
do as we please.
<B> - Do you want to mention any boards that you call or people in the scene
that you know?
<LN> - I think there are various people whom I may as well give shout outs to..
Some made a difference in what I was doing and where I was headed. Some I was
active with, and others are just people who have been around, which well, had
it's moments I guess. Some are local, some aren't. If there were some people to
give shout outs to they would be Drule Tesseract, Pink Torpedo, Art3mis,
Kweiheri, Dismaster (blotch) and the Zencor clan.
As for people I know, I'm not big on the whole IRC crap, but there are some
people who have come a long way since I've known them. The Clone is one.. He
should be commended for what he has going for him now, compared to what he was
doing before. Ironically, I got an email at the time of this writing from him,
saying he can't believe how far he's come since the TW days.. I can't beleive it
either.. I think he's lying and full of shit. You'd better go to his webpage and
see for yourself. heh. Good too see some people get out of the lame phase other
people are eternally stuck in.
And general respects for other reasons should probably go out to Question,
Emerson, Phone Phantom and Phrog.
<B> - Are there any other interesting things or general comments that you have
and wish to share?
Sex, drugs, rock and roll?
Do drugs.
Who needs sex when you've got drugs? Rock and roll isn't the same shit as it
used to be. Now it's all this alternative crap which sells like a dime hooker
on the fifty dollar stroll. When you're on drugs, you can make music in your
head.
It's been said that the worlds best minds were on drugs when they came up with
their theories, ideas, concepts, or whatever it is that they did.. Einstein,
some people claim, did lots of acid. I suppose that's a good point. After an
intense night of tripping like that, when I haven't had a haircut in close to
a year, is what I look like too. Without the wrinkles.
So, the next time someone asks.. "are you on crack?" it might be an intelligent
response, to say, "why yes.. yes, in fact, I am" and perhaps offer it too them.
<B> - Thanks for agreeing to be interviewed Lord Narayana. As you know, I
respect Phones of Zen and am a faithful reader of Blackzine. Thanks again for
your contributions to the Damage, INC. Phreaky Field Phreaking List. Keep up
the good work man... and stay in touch.
Before I conclude this interview, I just want to say that Lord Naryana has
many good ideas, such as the Personals section on his web site... sections
in Blackzine, as well as ones that we've discussed in Email. He's doing an
admirable job of trying to keep people in the Canadian h/p scene connected,
and informed. He should be commended for that.
NEWS FROM THE TRENCHES - {NEWS}
The Damage, INC. Phreaky Field Phreaking List (Fall 1999 Edition) was released
on November 7th, 1999. Visit the web site to obtain a copy. If you'd like to
contribute numbers (ANIs, CNAs, Ringbacks, 1-800/877/888s for telcos, Fax-Backs,
test numbers, conference services, numbers taken directly from your local yellow
pages directory, or anything else of interest) then contact us by sending Email
to damage_inc@disinfo.net and we'll make sure your alias is listed.
Stay informed by joining the Damage, INC. mailing list. By joining the list
you're assured to receive the latest news, updates and release announcements
faster than anyone else. ;)
Black Hole Cafe at (773) 404-1352 is the new Damage, INC. U.S. HQ. Also,
zero network, founded by Jack Phlash and Marlon Brando, is the official network
of Damage, INC. If you run a h/p oriented board and would like to apply to
become a node, visit http://surf.to/damage_inc and download the latest
information pack.
Damage Incorporated is now one of Nettwerked's official affiliates. The Clone
recently notified me personally in Email. He complimented the group and also
recognized the fact that for the past 7 years we've been contributing to the
Canadian hacking/phreaking scene. We appreciate the recognition and gladly
accept the honour of being an Nettwerked affiliate. More than anything else,
it feels good to see other people/groups recognizing the work we're doing, and
witness the birth of cooperation amongst the Canadian groups in the scene. Not
only am I proud of what Damage, INC. has done thus far, but I'm very proud of
the other active, quality groups and people in Canada, and what they're doing
for the scene. I hope that we can continue to share knowledge and work towards
improving the spread of information... and look forward to working with groups
and people outside of Damage, INC. in the future.
Damage, INC. is still seeking pictures of payphones, especially ones that are
uncommon and unique. Since we can't go everywhere and take the payphone pics
ourselves, this project requires contributions from people in different areas.
We've been adding Bell Canada pictures to our collection on the site, but still
want payphone pics from the United States and other countries.
Fox (a U.S. television network) has a new game show called Greed. It promotes
greed, infighting amongst the players, bribery and the notion that the almighty
dollar is more important than anything else, including possibly the lives of the
show's contestants. Meaning, some people that get eliminated (or as they say,
terminated) might be a tad bitter and end up killing the person that challenged
them after the show is over. But perhaps that's exactly what Fox has in mind.
They can then appear on either Cops or America's Most Wanted... both of which
are on Fox. But regardless of that, the show is definitely geared towards a
target audience of zombies and greed mongers. Call their 1-900 number if you
want to get ripped off and put more money into the Fox coffers. I thought I'd
seen and heard it all, until I watched the first Greed show and heard "Tower of
Greed", "Greed Team" and witnessed the show's host (Chucky) trying to bribe the
greedy captain. It's not even funny. It's just another example of zombie
culture, and a "society" that's driven by greed.
The mass media is now starting to jump on the Waco coverup bandwagon. All of
a sudden, 6 years later, it's a story again. Well, it's too late. Damage, INC.
beat them to the punch... yet again. They fucked up in 1993 by not using their
vast resources to investigate what caused the fire and what really happened.
The media left the vicinity shortly after the compound was in ashes and soon
after dropped their coverage entirely. They simply took law enforcement
agencies and the government at their word, which is not investigative reporting.
It's ridiculous and incompetent. It is inexcusable. To CNN, Dateline NBC, etc.
'reporters': Try *investigating* and *reporting* for once instead of asking
extremely obvious questions 6 years later, and doubting that a coverup exists.
For once, I'd like to see the mass media investigate and report their findings
to the public before a coverup is so well known that it's common knowledge.
Anyway, thanks go to Blackie Lawless for his Waco article in the last issue.
Not only was it an informative reminder of what happened, but it was a wake-up
call. What amazes me isn't the despicable conduct of the baby killing FBI, but
the fact that most Americans don't seem to give a fuck about what happened. Nor
do they stop and think that it could happen to them and the people they know.
Never forget Waco. Never forget Ruby Ridge. Never forget the brutality, the
coverup and the carnage... lest we allow it to happen again. History has a way
of repeating itself. Just as, the corrupt government has a way of committing
the same hideous, atrocious acts over and over again. As always, we'll try to
keep you informed of any significant developments that occur.
AOL and Time Warner announced a merger, which will be the largest in history.
It's still subject to approval by the U.S. government, but they don't forsee
any problems. For more information on the merger, read the articles included
in the REPORTS FROM THE FRONT section in this issue.
L0pht Heavy Industries has merged with @Stake to form a new security company.
With The L0pht's 'heavy' involvement, it's almost sure to be a success. For
more information, see the REPORTS FROM THE FRONT articles, or visit their sites
at www.l0pht.com and www.atstake.com
OBJECTIVE OPINIONS - {OPINIONS}
Following the trends and going with the grain.
We live in a world in which markets are driven by the latest trends and fads.
Wherever there's money to be made, or people to be exploited, the fat cat
corporations will be there to get their piece of the action. They advertise
and spend millions of dollars building "an image" of their company and their
products in order to get potential consumers to buy what they're selling.
Basically, they don't look at people as being people. They're just another
commodity. They're just walking wallets. And above all else, whoever buys
their products and services are considered by them to be their followers.
Followers are the greatest friends that a corporation could ever hope to have.
It's sad but true. You may be wondering how this affects you and asking the
question, "So what?" To that, I can only say that it literally affects everyone
in one way or another... with the exception of survivalists and anyone else
that can live independently, completely outside of "society". But those without
any attachment or reliance on "society" are few and far between. Plus, since
this zine is distributed electronically, there's not much chance they'll be
reading this article anyway. Plus, since they are the few that it doesn't apply
to, it'd be pointless for them to read it. So instead, I'll concentrate my
efforts on reaching the people out there that it affects directly; the ones
that it could possibly help.
First, to make things absolutely clear, the title doesn't imply following the
trends in the stock market. Also, going with the grain has nothing to do
with your own personal tastes, as long as they are indeed your own. Meaning,
if you buy clothing solely because the name brand is trendy, or purchase
music CDs simply because you know they are popular, then that has nothing to
do with personal taste. It fits into the "going with the grain" category.
It isn't even debateable since the reason for buying isn't a question of taste
anymore, it's a matter of being influenced by advertisements, peers, or an
attempt to fit in and be popular amongst those around you in "society". At
that point, you haven't made a choice as an individual. You've simply reacted
to outside stimuli, consciously, subconsciously or in some cases, unconsciously.
Sure, sometimes people buy things on the spur of the moment. That's called
impulse buying. Other times people buy something and regret it almost
immediately. That's buyer's remorse. But that's not what I'm speaking about.
I'm referring to people that buy something *because* they've been influenced,
almost programmed, to buy it. They can't resist. They're almost like mice
that see a mousetrap that's baited with cheese, yet they walk into the trap
to their death anyway. They're predisposed to buying whatever the large
corporations out there are peddling. They watch a commercial a few times and
it affects them so greatly that they can't resist purchasing the product.
Then there are the people that always follow all of the trends and take going
with the grain to the next level. Not only do they buy all of the latest
CDs, go to all of the most popular movies, and buy the most expensive,
fashionable clothing they can find, but they apply going with the grain to
every aspect of their lives. Whatever their friends are doing, whatever the
celebrities and most popular people they know are doing, they try to emulate.
At that point, they're no longer a person. They're no longer an individual.
They're simply a follower. They're what I usually refer to as, a zombie.
Being a zombie means being a follower. It means giving up yourself and all
that you are for following whatever trends you can latch onto. Think of it
as an exchange. It's a very poor one at that, because you don't gain anything.
You only manage to lose whatever it is that made you unique. As soon as you
start following the trends you've lost. I'm sure you know of people that fit
this pattern and could've been the focus of this article. Sadly, there are
many followers around, and they exist in every part of the world. Geography
doesn't make any difference at all. Nor does age, race, status in "society"
or wealth. Literally anyone, anywhere, can be a follower. Following presents
an equal opportunity for all.
Going with the grain is more than just following the trends though. It means
thoughtlessly doing what is expected. It means reacting without thinking.
It means following what the majority does. And it means forsaking your own
beliefs and opinions in order to conform to the rest of the group. In essence,
it's a group mentality that you become a part of. You don't actually become
part of the group itself. Instead, you just falsely believe that you are.
You don't really gain acceptance either. You just lose your ability to make
decisions, give opinions and stand by your beliefs. After a while, it becomes
very easy for you to go with the grain, rather than against it. It's less of
a hassle that way and it avoids arguments. It's so much easier.
The biggest problem is that as more people go with the grain, there are less
individuals. There's less uniqueness. There are just indistinguishable clones
walking around that look and act the same. Followers affect everyone, not just
those in direct contact with them. And as I previously said, they're
everywhere. Eventually there's nobody left to carry on an intelligent
conversation or debate with. You see, followers can't successfully debate since
they're just zombies, always ready to quit and agree. They're willing to
relinquish their thoughts and opinions in order to avoid any arguments that
might ensue. At the same time, they're always willing to jump on a bandwagon
and take the side of another zombie that's spouting "society's" rhetoric and
lies. But again, they don't have their own beliefs. I suppose you could say
that's a disadvantage. I'd rather call it a weakness though. ;)
Have you ever watched ants or other insects closely and studied their behaviour?
As an experiment, try doing that sometime... then watch zombies and compare
them. If you can't see the similarities and make the comparison, you're blind.
You don't have to be an extremely observant person to notice that ants are
followers, just as zombies are. They're the same. They should be looked at
in the same light. In my opinion, not everyone that walks upright is a sentient
being. Not by my definition anyway. And my definition of sentience doesn't
vary greatly from a dictionary's definition of that term. That's another thing.
Zombies and followers don't have personal definitions for anything. They always
rely on using someone else's definition and will never stray from that. If
you ask them to define something, in their own words, most often they're
confused by that request and unable to fulfil it. Just as, if you ask them
questions that require opinionated answers or their own personal beliefs to
be involved, they're at a loss for words.. and thus exposed.
In conclusion, I hope that this article has at least given you some insight
into followers and their nature. Following and going with the grain applies
to literally everything imaginable. It's in all aspects of life. But that
doesn't mean an attempt can't be made on your part to avoid becoming a follower.
Indeed, you can, and should try to prevent that from happening. Make the choice
to be an individual, go your own way, and you'll never regret it.
Written by BLACKENED <20> Damage, INC. (C)opyright 1999
Culture-Jamming
a manifesto concerning those who wish to change society
by the Anchorite-- theanchorite@hotmail.com
We who proclaim ourselves culture-jammers, believe for various reasons that our
society has been overrun by infectious elements that endanger the very freedom
that should be most dear to mankind, the freedom of thought. Even in physical
slavery, man has always kept this freedom, and thereby fought to overcome his
enslavers. But the fetters that bind man today are not of the type that may be
seen, though they are no less strong than steel. These fetters include
"consumptive logic", protective rationalization and mindlessness.
We who proclaim ourselves culture-jammers - quietly, amongst ourselves, or
loudly, for all to hear - are Anarchists, Communists, Democrats and Republicans;
Atheists, Buddhists and Christians. Many culture-jammers would not so label
themselves, their "jamming" is done subtly, through the actions they carry out
every day of their lives. Others who label themselves culture-jammers are
merely hedonists, wishing for nothing more than to destroy the institutions they
feel have harmed them.
We true culture-jammers wish only to see men free of the self-imposed tyranny
that has befallen us all.
The fetters of man
There are countless tyrannies against the freedom of the mind. Of course, in
dictatorships and the communisms of Lenin and Stalin, these injustices are
evident. Therefore, I will deal with the subtleties found in the modern
democracy as well as the generalizations that proliferate in human nature.
I advocate that there is nothing inherently wrong with capitalism. Men with the
ability to make products or provide service that require a degree of
specialization or talent should benefit from their ability economically. Even
corporations have their place in such a complicated economy as we have today.
But in the use of a corporation as an entity behind which to hide from morality
while promoting mindless consumerism is a major cause of the problem in today's
society. The advertising department advertises, in research and development,
scientists 'evolve' a product and a CEO is just providing security for his
workers and financial gain for himself. In this manner, it is easy for each man
to absolve himself of guilt, if he even recognizes his guilt, which is unlikely.
"I merely do my job to the best of my ability," he says, and his conscious is
cleared thereby.
This clearing of the conscious is an example of protective rationalization. A
common example is the rather sophmoric, "everyone else is doing it, so why can't
I?" This small loop of logic is an ever-handy technique to absolve oneself of
any sin. With it, it is almost no trick at all "to turn vice into virtue and
slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder
into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into
patriotism, and sadism into justice" [Catch 22, Joseph Heller chap. 34].
Consumptive logic is also a major cause of these fetters. I would define
consumptive logic as the misconception that buying things will make one happy.
The easiest road to happiness has always been hedonism, which in this case is
the instant gratification provided by buying things. Those who have wished for
wealth have preyed upon those who wish for happiness, who are the general
population, by furthering the link between happiness with consumption. Through
links easily made with operant and classical conditioning, the ideas of
happiness and consumption have been almost irreconcilably interlaced within
these cultures.
I assert that another fetter is popular culture itself. In democracy, the will
of the masses generally has the most sway. This is especially so in the United
States of America and other countries that have never had an aristocracy. Since
the masses believe themselves to hold a firm grip on what is right or wrong,
society puts a pressure to conform to these standards on those who do not have
the same opinions. Each man wishing to "fit in" makes little concessions to
society, until he finally does fit in. Popular culture increases this effect:
it multiplies the amount of stimuli provided by and approved by the masses that
reaches each individual, thereby increasing societal pressure and further
alienating those who do not conform. This process takes place very largely in
childhood, at which time the delicate ego is most susceptible. (The American
Christmas tradition happens to be a lucky accident in this direction.)
Mindlessness is a consequence for many people who live in these societies. They
go about lives that are so busy that they have neither the time nor the energy
to see the big picture. Though they have the ability for rational thought, they
are besieged each day with so much external stimuli that they get lost in the
details. This mindlessness often results in people going through their day
merely by rote.
These conditions and others have impacted society so greatly as to change
multitudes of individuals into a mass that can not think for itself. This mass,
this culture is what is quite often termed the system.
The culture-jammer
Those who have been unable or unwilling to make the concessions necessary to
adapt to this culture often live as chameleons among the populace. These people
go about their lives with distaste, going wholly unnoticed. Others choose to
disregard people outside their cliques. Some live as criminals, though these
people do more damage than good and tend to strengthen the herd instinct among
those who already fear and loathe the outsider. Still others try to shake the
system. These are quite often hackers, phreakers and general disassemblers of
society.
These shakers of the system and these chameleons are the primary candidates for
becoming a true culture-jammer. What most people lack is a singularity of will.
They understand that there are vast problems in the richest nations of the world
in this age, and that these problems are not easily remedied. The necessary
singularity of will is organization, direct purposes and rallying points to
provide strength for the movement.
The will of the culture-jammers
To remedy such problems as today exist, it is necessary to realize that no one
person or group has every answer. No one individual holds a monopoly on truth.
We, who truly wish to see change for the better, know that there are lessons to
be learned from a deluge of sources. Knowledge is not power. But in this
knowledge, there is the key to a power far greater than can be espied anywhere
today. There are many paths to Wisdom, but the path walked by the masses today
leads in the opposite direction, to Slavery and Self-destruction.
There are two different methods of fixing this problem: the remove and replace
method and the destroy and rebuild method. Most culture-jammers assert that the
system is too corrupted to just replace certain elements, and I have seen no
evidence to argue otherwise.
We wish only to destroy the current system, which is based upon the rape of the
mind.
The methods of jamming a culture
As the system rapes individuals, many individuals choose to rape the system.
People such as the aforementioned hackers, phreakers and general disassemblers
do so. They take advantage of the little nuances of society. Unfortunately, with
such a strong system as this, this type of rebellion does little good unless
wisely targeted and is most often not attributed to the cause of culture-
jamming. Therefore, it should be a rule for all true culture-jammers to leave
some sort of notice of intention. Make the "squares" think, or at least take
notice.
The more daring or better-organized make use of an information campaign. Their
purpose is often to give the squares some stimuli that will make them think.
This is generally ineffective, as it is viewed as mere graffiti by most.
Instead, an information campaign can be used effectively to draw more
individuals already curious, but without knowledge of how to participate, into
the movement.
Direct assaults on the system are extremely dangerous, but can have great
results.
The squares train their children in the established way of thought from birth.
(Were you fed McDonald's as a baby?) The ingrained ideals are difficult to
remove. Sometimes they can be overcome by an individual by himself, more often
there needs to be some form of education. It must be accepted by those who wish
to help that many people adhere so strongly to their current beliefs that a
total destruction of the system would be needed to save them. Even then, this
change will be intensely painful. We all know who these people are, but there
is little that we can do for them but offer support when the day comes.
From my observations, the groups and individuals wishing to carry out such plans
need greater organization in order to break any ground in the direction of
destroying the system.
Conclusion
The purpose of this pamphlet is to try to initiate a singularity of will in the
culture-jamming groups as well as introduce culture-jamming to those not yet
familiar with the concept. I will write and have written others, dealing with
specifics. I encourage others to write and discuss these concepts as well. Let
me know.
By all means, spread this around as much as possible. If anyone has a copy of
Acrobat, change this into a print format and send that back to me for
distribution.
If you know any way of helping our cause get in touch with me, and if you are a
member of an existing group of jammers or a group with aims or views that are
similar get in touch with me.
The Anchorite
who is currently located at theanchorite@hotmail.com
REPORTS FROM THE FRONT - {REPORTS}
The Kevin Mitnick story is a long, well documented saga. In fact, you could
easily wallpaper a large room with article clippings regarding Mitnick... if
you so desired. Plus, it has so many twists and turns, so much intrigue, that
an imaginative Hollywood writer couldn't possibly dream up a comparable script.
And if they did, they'd probably be told that it was too far fetched and so
unreal that the audience wouldn't find it believable. It is, without a doubt,
one of the wildest, longest lasting hacker stories ever. The difference is,
it's not fictional, it's true. Therefore, I decided to include a few recent
Mitnick articles for those that haven't been following the case... It looks
as though he'll finally be released in January. For more information on the
Kevin Mitnick case, visit http://www.kevinmitnick.com
I've also included several articles regarding Hotmail security breaches, even
though it has been well publicized by the mass media. And there are general
interest articles that show how hackers are portrayed by the media as well.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Hacker Kevin Mitnick Sent To Prison
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, who pleaded guilty
earlier this year to computer and wire fraud charges, was sentenced Monday
to 46 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $4,125 in restitution.
But Mitnick, 35, who has been in jail since February of 1995 for breaking
probation on an earlier conviction and fleeing authorities, will likely be
released from custody by early next year after receiving credit for time
served.
U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer sentenced Mitnick before a packed
courtroom that included his father Alan Mitnick and dozens of his
supporters, many of whom believe that the notorious hacker is being
punished by the government to set an example to other potential hackers.
Pfaelzer, who said that Mitnick would be ``impossible'' to monitor by
probation officials once he was released from custody, banned him from
using computers or the Internet for the next three years.
She called the $4,125 in restitution a ``token'' amount given the damage
she said he inflicted on companies whose computers he infiltrated such as
Motorola and Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq:SUNW - news) But said she was
imposing the fine because she wanted to set an amount that she could
require him to pay as a condition of his
release.
``I want to make a restitution order that is much, much larger,'' she said.
``But I can't be sure he can pay it, and any non-payment is going to be a
violation of the terms of his release.''
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mitnick Could Go Free in January
by Douglas Thomas
3:00 a.m. 10.Aug.99.PDT
LOS ANGELES -- US District Judge Marianne Pfaelzer on Monday sentenced convicted
cracker Kevin Mitnick to 46 months in prison and ordered that he pay restitution in the amount
of US$4,125 during his three-year period of supervised release.
The figure is substantially lower than the government's request of $1.5 million.
Mitnick, who turned 36 on Friday, will likely serve the remainder of his
sentence at Nellis Federal Prison Camp, just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. The
celebrity cracker pleaded guilty to seven counts of wire and computer fraud in
two separate federal indictments.
Monday's sentencing hearing marked the end of Mitnick's legal difficulties,
since California prosecutors have elected to drop the remaining charges pending
against him.
More than 50 spectators attended the two-hour hearing, including fellow hackers
and reporters. Even a crew member from the upcoming film about Mitnick and his
hacking exploits, Takedown, was there to show his support.
Most of the time was spent arguing over the amount of restitution.
Defense attorney Don Randolph argued that the process was "tainted." Citing
examples from the WELL and Colorado Super Net (CSN), he claimed the government
had participated in the "manipulation and inflation of loss figures," engaging
in "highly inappropriate" actions.
In one case, Randolph says prosecutors used an anonymous email to calculate the
loss. CSN estimated the damages associated with hacking at $207,000, but
provided no evidence to support the figure.
Moreover, the defense claimed that the government's solicitations for damage
estimates were akin to witness tampering. According to a prepared statement
released by Randolph's office, "A defense investigation recently unearthed
documentary evidence demonstrating that the government manipulated the 'loss'
amount for its own purposes, including detention without bail."
Randolph's request for a formal investigation was denied by Pfaelzer, who also
refused to impose sanctions against government attorneys.
Copyright 1994-99 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOS ANGELES -- Convicted hacker Kevin Mitnick sustained minor head and neck
injuries Wednesday morning in a multi-car accident while he was being
transferred to a facility that satisfied his dietary requirements.
Mitnick, being transferred in anticipation of a court ruling which would order
Mitnick moved to a facility that served kosher meals, was thrown against a metal
divider.
Mitnick and an unknown number of other inmates -- shackled in chains but with no
safety restraining devices -- were being transported from the San Bernardino
Jail to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center. The crash occurred on
Highway 60 between 8:30 and 9 a.m.
"I really slammed my head when I hit the metal divider," Mitnick said in a
telephone interview on Thursday.
X-rays proved negative, although Mitnick continues to complain of headaches,
nausea, and shoulder and neck pain.
Insult soon added to his injuries: After spending several hours waiting to be
admitted to the MDC, Mitnick was transferred back to the San Bernardino
facility, which does not serve kosher food.
Mitnick wound up spending most of Wednesday night waiting on the floor of a
holding cell to be readmitted. He was finally booked into the facility at
3:30 a.m. Thursday.
Mitnick said he has yet to be seen by a San Bernardino facility nurse, and has
had no access to any painkiller, including Tylenol. "I don't think they have
any idea what happened," Mitnick said, referring to the lack of medical
attention.
Although unwilling to comment on legal action regarding the accident, Mitnick's
attorneys did say that they immediately sent a letter to the U.S. Marshals
Service requesting that Mitnick be moved to a federal facility. They say a
federal facility could provide him access to kosher food and to medical
treatments in keeping with federal guidelines.
U.S. Marshals were unavailable for comment.
"This has definitely been one of the worst days in custody," Mitnick said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Life Not Kosher for Mitnick
by Douglas Thomas
12:15 p.m. 18.Aug.99.PDT
Jailed computer hacker Kevin Mitnick wants out of his current facility because
it doesn't serve kosher food.
Mitnick wouldn't eat for the first two days of his stay at the San Bernardino
County Detention Center after being transferred there from the Los Angeles
Metropolitan Detention Center.
He only recently began eating the jail's vegetarian meals, which it offers as
a substitute. But those meals don't meet rabbinical standards.
Mitnick insists that maintaining a kosher diet is extremely important to him.
"This is a violation of my constitutional rights," Mitnick said. "I'm being
forced into a situation where I have to violate my religious beliefs or starve."
Complicating the move, Mitnick said, is that his MDC-stored money won't be
available for several weeks, making it impossible for him to buy commissary
food. In addition, he said, prices are triple what they were at the old
facility.
Mitnick's rabbi, Aaron Kriegal, and the rabbi for the San Bernardino County
Detention Center, Hillel Cohn, confirmed that the SBCDC does not serve kosher
meals to Jewish inmates.
"Does it make life more difficult? Yes," Cohn said. "But being in prison is
difficult. It wasn't meant to be a country club. There are some sacrifices
inmates have to make."
Cohn said returning Mitnick to Los Angeles would "make life easier" for Mitnick,
but did not believe that the move was likely.
"This is not the first request we've had to have an inmate transferred for
this reason," Cohn said.
At sentencing, Mitnick's attorney failed to persuade US District Judge Marianne
Pfaelzer that Mitnick serve his time at the MDC to ensure his access to kosher
meals.
Currently, Mitnick shares one large cell with approximately 60 other inmates,
each of whom is issued a small mattress, sheet, and blanket. The cell contains
one toilet and one shower, each in open view of the cell.
Mitnick calls the conditions "dehumanizing."
Mitnick is expected to spend four to six weeks at the San Bernardino facility
while awaiting final designation, most likely to Nellis Prison Camp just outside
of Las Vegas.
Mitnick's attorneys have filed a motion with the court requesting that he be
transferred back to the MDC until the Bureau of Prisons decides where he will
serve the remainder of his 46-month prison sentence.
Because of previous time served, Mitnick is expected to be released in
January 2000.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hacker attack freezes free e-mail accounts.
By John Schwartz
WASHINGTON POST
Millions of users of Microsoft Corp.'s free Hotmail e-mail service send out
messages every day that bear the service's ubiquitous tag: "Get your private,
free e-mail at http://www.hotmail.com."
On Monday, it wasn't exactly as described.
Microsoft had to shut down the Hotmail service for several hours Monday to fix
a major computer security hole: Malicious hackers created World Wide Web sites
that allowed anyone unfettered access to any Hotmail account. Visitors to the
sites could assume the identity of any Hotmail user merely by knowing the
user's sign-on, ganing power to read private e-mail and send out mail under
the user's name. Password protection went out the window.
"It's a huge thing," said Alberto Gaitan, an Arlington, Va., computer programmer
who heard of the security flaw early Monday morning and discovered to his horror
that the sites actually worked. "I went to my account and accessed it through
this Web page without having to enter a password. So I knew that it was true.
I went through and deleted all my mail."
It remained unclear Monday night who had launched the attack or how many e-mail
accounts were illicitly accessed. At least one of the Web sites offerring the
access was located in Sweden.
Hotmail, a company Microsoft acquired in 1997, was an early entrant into free
e-mail services. Users don't need to buy or download special software, because
mail is handled completely through Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator or
Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Hotmail is free because the company charges
advertisers whose messages are shown to the enormous pool of customers.
Microsoft claims there are 40 million users, including 2.5 million in Canada,
but in fact the number of actual users is far lower, as many people have
multiple accounts, picking them up and discarding them on the fly.
The problem was reported Monday by a Swedish publication, Expressen. Microsoft
shut down access to Hotmail accounts several hours after being notified of
the problem early Monday morning, turning off the service for several hours
while it fixed the problem, said company spokeswoman Kimberly Bouic.
The hackers did not actually break into Microsoft's mail computers and change
features there, Bouic said; instead, they took advantage of an existing flaw
in the software running the mail service -- "a formerly unknown issue that the
hacker exploited."
That allowed a half-dozen lines of computer programming code to lay open every
user account on Hotmail.
"It's pretty cute," said Peter Neumann, a computer security expert with the
research firm SRI International. But Neumann argued that Hotmail's woes simply
show deep security problems that exist throughout the Internet.
"This is just one more instance of the fact that the fundamental infrastructure
is full of holes.... Things aren't designed to be secure, so how can you expect
them to be secure?"
Microsoft, Neumann said, is not necessarily less security-conscious than other
companies, but the software behemoth's position in the market means that the
company provides more targets for hacking, and any bugs get more attention than
those that lesser companies might. "There are a lot of fleas on the 500-pound
gorilla," Neumann said.
Anti-Microsoft sentiment also had a role to play in the new attack, speculated
Mark Rasch, a former federal prosecutor now with Global Integrity Corp., a
computer security company. "Microsoft is inherently a target, because it's
Microsoft," Rasch said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hotmail Accounts Exposed to All
by Declan McCullagh and by James Glave
8:05 a.m. 30.Aug.99.PDT
No sooner was one catastrophic security flaw closed Monday -- one that exposed
millions of Hotmail accounts to prying eyes -- when another one appeared.
The net result: Hotmail account holders were in danger of having their email
messages read -- as well as being impersonated in email -- until midday Monday.
The first breach was closed Monday at around 9 a.m. PDT, when Hotmail restored
access to legitimate subscribers.
The second breach -- a variation of the first -- may have been the result of
one Hotmail machine that evidently was not fixed when the others were.
The significance of these security holes is that private Hotmail accounts
became available to anyone with a Web browser. Most security vulnerabilities on
the Internet require in-depth knowledge of Unix or Windows NT language,
technical knowledge that the average Web user does not possess.
The bug appears to have affected every customer of what Microsoft says is "the
world's largest provider of free Web-based email."
Between 8:30 and 9 a.m. PDT, Microsoft pulled the plug on large portions of
the entire Hotmail site, rendering it unreachable for millions of subscribers.
During that period, the only access to Hotmail accounts could be made through
illicit means -- by those who had access to a simple code that was spread wildly
on the Net over the weekend.
That was about 12 hours after the company was notified of the security hole. But
users already logged in to their accounts -- or someone else's -- could continue
to send, receive, and delete email.
Around 9:30, sections of Hotmail began to slowly come back online. By that time,
people without Hotmail accounts could connect to the site's homepage. Users with
accounts configured to remember their password, however, received this unhelpful
message: "ERROR: Cannot open UserData file."
As of 10:15 a.m., Microsoft engineers, led by Mike Nichols in Redmond,
Washington, had managed to fix that problem, too, and users could log in
normally again. Yet there still was no reference to the problem anywhere on
either the Hotmail or MSN sites.
A unnamed Microsoft spokeswoman could not offer any explanation for the problem.
She said that the company took down the Hotmail servers as soon as the company
was notified of the problem by the European press Monday morning.
She said Monday morning that the company had resolved the issue so that future
attacks of this type would not be possible. That has not proven to be the case.
The exploit worked this way: Any Web page that contained a short, simple code --
visible on most browsers as a type-in form -- was able connect to a Hotmail
server simply by typing in a user name without requiring a password.
By early Monday, copies of that HTML code were posted on hacking-related Web
sites.
The Hotmail exploit apparently took advantage of a bug in the start script that
processed a login session between a Web browser and a server.
One site where the problem surfaced was at 2038.com, which Network Solutions
shows registered to Moving Pictures, a group based in Sweden. Erik Barkel, the
contact associated with that domain, could not be reached for comment.
As of about 8:30 a.m. that site redirected to a Web page promoting a marketing
company.
The managers of that company said they had nothing to do with the redirect.
"It's just a point[er] put there by a person who's trying make a joke," said
Anders Herlin, business development manager at Abel and Baker. "We haven't had
the slightest idea why."
"All I know is we do not want to be associated with it," said Herlin. "We are a
fairly new company. Maybe someone wanted to cause us harm."
But the code quickly spread to dozens, if not hundreds of sites.
A Swedish newspaper, Expressen, reported the bug in its Monday editions. The bug
let anyone log into a Hotmail account without typing a password.
"We know nothing about [the individual who tipped us]. It was anonymous," said
Christian Carrwik, one of two Expressen reporters who broke the news. "It has
been circulating for a couple of days."
Expressen said Microsoft was alerted very early Sunday morning.
This is only the most recent Microsoft security gaffe.
Redmond admitted earlier this month that its MSN Messenger instant messaging
client can accidentally disclose Hotmail account passwords. Even if the
password is supposedly deleted from a computer, someone else could still
view it if they knew the proper keystrokes.
Last week, Wired News reported a bug in tens of millions of Microsoft Windows
computers that lets an attacker take control of a PC by sending an email
message.
Lindsey Arent contributed to this report.
Copyright 1994-99 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hotmail Fallout: A Mere Trickle
by Craig Bicknell
3:00 a.m. 31.Aug.99.PDT
The blas<61> outnumbered the rudely shocked Tuesday morning, a day after the
email accounts of some 50 million Hotmail subscribers were laid bare to the
world.
The dwindling few who believed Net-based email was a secure proposition are
doubtless feeling exposed after some crackers exploited a huge hole in the
free service -- even after Microsoft finally plugged it later on Monday.
What will the fallout be on the Microsoft end? Likely not much, said business
analysts, lawyers, and even some Hotmail users.
Analysts quickly dismissed the security gaffe as little more than a public
relations headache for Microsoft.
While the company may be a big player in online services, its towering market
cap is built on the solid-gold foundation of software sales, not free email.
"Microsoft is into so many things," said Frederick Dickson, an analyst at
brokerage firm Branch Cabell. "This is one very small aspect of their overall
business."
After the news broke Monday, Microsoft's stock dipped just 1 percent,
considerably less than most of its tech-stock kin on a down day for the Nasdaq.
In the long term, it's harder to quantify the costs to lost privacy and trust
among Microsoft customers, analysts said.
"Online services is an area where they want to go head to head with AOL," said
Steve Shepich, an analyst with Olde Discount Brokers. "Email is a major part of
what they have to offer, and new users might be hesitant to [switch over] if the
email is not secure."
Still, skittish users are just as likely to get burned at any other Web email
service, experts said.
"They're inherently insecure," says Peter Neumann, a researcher at SRI
International who keynoted last week's Usenix security conference. "To single
this one out and say that it's unsafe is unfair to everything else that's
unsafe."
Indeed, some current Hotmail users, while irked by the breach, seem to believe
they're better off sticking with Microsoft's service than heading elsewhere.
"I'll continue to use it, because I imagine they'll fix this problem straight
away," said Chas Warren, a 38-year old former webmaster. "If one [service] can
be hacked, so can the others."
Nevertheless, Warren said he was shocked by the extent of the breach and expects
it will be a while before he uses Hotmail to send anything confidential.
Ditto, said Lydia Sharp, a 25-year-old Web industry professional in Atlanta.
"I'd still use it for real trivial stuff. I wouldn't use for it invoices or
anything."
Other free email providers acknowledged that security is a big issue but weren't
too keen to talk about how they'd prevent similar breaches.
"Obviously, this is something important to any Net-based email service," said a
Yahoo spokesman, referring to Yahoo Mail. "We don't discuss security measures
because they're security measures. To our knowledge, we've never had a problem
like this before."
Those who did use Hotmail for sensitive stuff and got burned will have an
awfully hard time seeking legal redress from Microsoft. In its terms of service
agreement for Hotmail, Microsoft clearly states it's not liable for unauthorized
access to users' data.
While that doesn't offer carte blanche protection against litigation, it raises
the bar to nosebleed height, lawyers said.
In the end, the biggest impact of the incident may be to alert the slumbering
masses that Net privacy is a big-time issue.
"This is a wake-up call for the industry," Marc Rotenberg, executive director
of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
"A privacy meltdown with Hotmail is a reminder that privacy issues are only
going to get more serious," Rotenberg said. "A lot of people are trying to
decide if privacy is going to get more important online -- I think 50 million
users of Hotmail are going to have a pretty strong opinion about that today."
Yup.
"I feel like I've been bent over the table by hackers, had my pants lowered to
my ankles, and Vaseline smeared all over my [expletive] while the great staff
of Hotmail tied my hands together with a sturdy piece of rope," wrote a Hotmail
user who was afraid messages with his credit card number had been exposed.
Copyright 1994-99 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hotmail Hackers: 'We Did It'
by James Glave
4:00 p.m. 30.Aug.99.PDT
A previously unknown group known as Hackers Unite has claimed responsibility for
publicizing Hotmail's security breach, which Microsoft vehemently denied was the
result of a backdoor oversight.
The group of eight hackers said Monday through a spokesman that they announced
the hole to the Swedish media to draw attention to what they say is Microsoft's
spotty security reputation.
The stunt exposed every Hotmail email account, estimated to number as many as
50 million, to anyone with access to a Web browser.
"We did not do this hack to destroy, we want to show the world how bad the
security on Microsoft really is, and that company nearly have monopoly on [all]
the computer software," a 21-year-old Swedish member of the group said Monday.
Gothenburg resident Lasse Ljung, who goes by the nickname of DarkWing on
Internet relay chat, said he was speaking on behalf of Hackers Unite. IRC is a
real-time chat network commonly used by hackers and crackers to communicate and
plan their activities.
Ljung said that Hackers Unite is composed of one Swedish citizen and seven
Americans. The group declined to communicate directly with Wired News, which
could not positively confirm their identities.
The handful of lines of simple HTML code that constitute the exploit took
advantage of a Hotmail login script called "start" that is not currently used
on the Hotmail welcome page, and the password "eh."
After examining that code early Monday, outside security experts suggested that
the problem might have been a backdoor inadvertently left open on Hotmail
servers by Microsoft engineers.
Microsoft vehemently denied the backdoor suggestions, and instead described the
problem as "an unknown security issue."
"There is nothing to these allegations [of a backdoor in Hotmail," said MSN
marketing director Rob Bennett. "It is not true. Microsoft values the security
and privacy of our users above all."
However, Jon Thompson, administrator of one of the sites that hosted the Hotmail
exploit, told MSNBC.com that his associates had known about the vulnerability --
and had access to Hotmail accounts -- for about eight weeks.
Thompson told MSNBC.com, an MSNBC partner, the culprit was MSN's new Passport
service, which allows users to log in once and click between MSN Web sites.
He said Hotmail had been vulnerable since MSN launched Passport in beta form.
Deanna Sanford, lead project manager for MSN, told MSNBC.com the flaw was not
related to Passport but added she did not know how long the vulnerability had
existed.
Bennett said the company began scrambling to fix the problem at 2 a.m. PDT and
had the initial fix up at 10 a.m. A subsequent variant of the problem was fixed
around noon.
The second problem was a result of the company "getting the fix propagated to
all the Hotmail servers," he said.
"We are manually going from machine to machine to make sure all the fixes are
there."
Bennett said the start script in question is used in some other areas of the
site other than logging in users. He said they had plugged the problem with
the script.
What is known, however, is that the Hotmail problem is likely the most
widespread security incident in the history of the Web. The private email
accounts of some 50 million people were open to browsing by anyone.
The incident did not faze Wall Street. In late afternoon trading, Microsoft
stock was at US$92.25, down one point.
Copyright 1994-99 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did MS Dig Its Hotmail Hole?
by James Glave
12:05 p.m. 30.Aug.99.PDT
The Hotmail security hole may have been an intentional backdoor that Microsoft
built into its system for maintenance purposes, security experts said.
Monday's exploit, which opened Hotmail accounts to any casual user, apparently
took advantage of a hidden login script. The script may have been either old
code left on the server by mistake, or long-forgotten script used for production
purposes.
"From an outsider's perspective this appears to be some type of backdoor," said
Kit Knox, a systems administrator who maintains the Rootshell archive of
security exploits.
"It looks like something that was used for testing or service that probably
got out," he said. "I can't verify what goes on because they have disabled
everything on the site."
The hidden script sent the password "eh" to a Hotmail login script called
"start." That script differs from "dologin," the normal program running on
the welcome page that logs Hotmail users into the site.
"It is possible that non-production code was left on their servers by mistake,"
said Knox.
One network security specialist said that backdoors are all too common in Web
sites because the site owners do not think anyone will find them.
"There is the belief that security can be achieved through obscurity," said
Peter Shipley, chief security architect with KPMG.
A lot of companies I have dealt with -- while doing security audits -- I have
seen backdoors, and they said, 'No one will find that.'"
"But someone will find it by accident, or someone will know about it, or a
disgruntled employee will leave the company with the knowledge of how to do it,"
Shipley said.
A Microsoft spokeswoman could not offer any explanation for the problem. She
said that the company took down the Hotmail servers as soon as the company was
notified of the problem by the European press Monday morning.
She said the company has resolved the issue so that future attacks of this type
would not be possible.
Although she said Microsoft received the message Monday morning, she was not
certain when it had been sent. The company is composing a letter to users that
it will post on the Hotmail site Monday afternoon.
She did not know how long Hotmail users had been vulnerable.
The identity of the individual or group who discovered the backdoor remains
unknown. At least one member is likely to be Swedish because the Swedish
press was the first to be alerted to the problem.
In an Internet relay chat interview, a Swedish lighting technician who lives in
the city of Gothenburg and identified himself as DarkWing claimed that a similar
backdoor was discovered in Hotmail six months ago. He said Hotmail closed that
hole, which was never made public, in a site redesign about six months ago.
Copyright 1994-99 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft moving beyond the PC
Computer Goliath has a new consumer strategy -- it wants everything
By Michael Martinez
ASSOCIATED PRESS
REDMOND, Wash. -- Microsoft chairman Bill Gates wants to send you an e-mail to
let you know when your laundry's done.
Or, for that matter, when your stock is sold, your cat needs to see the vet
again or your dishwasher needs repairs.
And he wants to send you that e-mail wherever you happen to be at the time, on
whatever device is handy, whether that's your personal computer, hand-held
organizer, cell phone or, less likely, your toaster oven.
This interconnected world is at the heart of a new strategy at Microsoft Corp.
-- one that doesn't rely on the PC software that made Microsoft the most
valuable company on the planet.
"I wouldn't say that the PC is dead," said Craig Mundie, Microsoft's senior
vice-president in charge of consumer strategy. "People have been saying that
for years. But I think it's safe to say that people are going to start looking
for new ways to access and keep their data in addition to, or in ways that
complement, the PC."
Microsoft's new strategy, called "PCplus" by company insiders, is just making
its public debut, but actually it's more than a year in the making. It has
three main areas: giving everyday devices computing power, providing the
software to allow those devices to communicate, and investing heavily to help
build wireless and high-speed Internet access throughout the world to link it
all together.
Microsoft envisions a home where everyday appliances and electronics are
"smart." Microsoft executives talk about VCRs that can be programmed via
e-mail, clothes washers that send an instant message to the home computer when
the load is done and refrigerators that will send an e-mail when there's no
more milk.
To do that, Microsoft had to do two things: give electronics and appliances
"brains," and give them the means to talk to each other.
The first part will be accomplished by a new version of its Windows CE operating
system. Microsoft has nearly rewritten the entire program, making it less
memory intensive and relying more on basic functions.
Windows CE is already used in cable set-top boxes and will be the vehicle for
other devices and services. Already, Microsoft has TV set-top boxes and
prototypes of new "Pocket PC" handhelds and "Web companion" Internet-only
terminals.
Getting these devices connected to each other, and to the Internet, will be
done through the Microsoft Network, which has been a commercial flop.
Last October, veteran Microsoft executive Brad Chase took over MSN and shook
things up. The Sidewalk.com city guides were sold off, other information sites
were shut down, and Chase started focusing on Internet services such as e-mail,
shopping, password storage and instant messaging.
The newest version of MSN for cellular phones, for example, links those phones
to MSN's Hotmail, allowing a user to have a single e-mail address for his or
her PC, Web companion, cell phone and WebTV box.
No other company has offered such an easy solution for ubiquitous computing
over such a range of devices, Chase said, and that's where Microsoft's strength
will become apparent. MSN and the Internet will be the common language used by
any device to talk with any other device.
Microsoft has also taken a heavy financial interest in the "pipes" of the
Internet, investing more than $8 billion US to ensure it will have a channel
to deliver enhanced products in the future. The biggest such investment was
a $5 billion stake in AT&T, in return for a guarantee that Windows CE would be
used in 10 million AT&T set-top boxes.
Microsoft's Recent Deals
Dec. 8, 1999 -- Microsoft and Ericsson announce a partnership to develop
software for wireless Internet access. They will build software to take
advantage of Microsoft's server software and Ericsson's wireless systems.
Nov. 15, 1999 -- Microsoft makes an undisclosed investment in Korea Telecom
Freetel. The telecom company will bring Microsoft's MSN wireless Internet
services to its 4.2 million customers.
Nov. 12, 1999 -- Microsoft makes another undisclosed investment in Tawain
broadband Internet service provider GigaMedia. The two will create and market
a co-branded broadband Web site and e-commerce site.
Nov. 5, 1999 -- Microsoft invest $200 million in wireless high-speed Internet
provider Teligent Inc., based in Vienna, VA., to build local wireless networks.
Oct. 26, 1999 -- NTT Mobile Communications Network, Japan's largest mobile
communications operator, enters into a joint venture with Microsoft. The new
company, called Mobimagic Company Ltd., will develop and market new Internet
services for NTT's mobile computing customers.
Sept. 8, 1999 -- Microsoft invests $175 million in a joint venture between
Softbank Corp. and Global Crossing Inc. The new company, Asia Global Crossing,
will increase broadband connections in Asia.
Sept. 7, 1999 -- United Global Communications gives Microsoft a minority stake
in the company for $219 million. United is the largest global broadband
communications provider, with 20 offices worldwide.
Aug. 16, 1999 -- Microsoft invests $126 million in Globo Cabo S.A., the leading
cable TV operator in Brazil, with 4.5 million homes connected. The companies
will focus on bringing interactive TV and high-speed Internet connections to
Globo Cabo's customers.
July 21, 1999 -- Microsoft announces it had acquired U.K.-based SNTC, developer
of communication software for the wireless market. The purchase price was not
disclosed.
July 12, 1999 -- Rogers Communications Inc., Canada's largest cable TV company,
gets a $400 million US investment from Microsoft. Rogers agrees to license
Microsoft software for up to one million TV set-top boxes across Canada.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMDEX Coverage
HP + Swatch= Web Watch
15 November 1999
Your wristwatch will soon do a lot more than tell time. Hewlett-Packard and
Swatch Group recently forged a revolutionary technology partnership to build
the world's first wristwatch that delivers on the promise of the Internet.
"Swatch will now be more than just a fashion statement, more than just a
reliable timepiece. You'll be able to access e-services through it," said HP
Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina. Fiorina announced the partnership during
her speech at COMDEX '99 on November 15.
[Why didn't they just put the technology into sneakers instead?]
The watch will incorporate technology developed at HP Laboratories that supports
the company's vision of a world where people simply plug into a rich array of
Internet-based information and services -- from a whole new breed of devices and
appliances, including watches. "The watch is an ideal way to stay connected to
the Net because everyone has one and wears it willingly," said Mark Smith, who
leads the technology project at HP Labs and will be working with Swatch to
design the Web-surfing watch. "You put it on in the morning and go about your
business with no concerns."
[No concerns? I have more than a few.]
The watch is the first of the next-generation "context-aware" Web devices being
developed at HP Labs. Although initially the appliances will require a password
or PIN, eventually they will use biometrics (fingerprint, iris, face or voice
recognition) to identify the user. They'll use GPS or other positioning
technology to determine location. And they'll contain sensors that will provide
information (temperature, light, sound, motion) --about the environment.
Users control how much information they share about themselves.
[How generous of HP and Swatch to allow the *users* to have control.]
One context-aware device in the works at Labs is BadgePAD, a smart badge that
might be used in a work setting. In a hospital, for instance, doctors could
pick up a BadgePAD when they arrive at work. The badge would know what's going
on around the physician because Web servers would be embedded throughout the
facility. Everyone else -- nurses, orderlies, technicians, administrators and
even patients -- would also wear the badges.
In that setting, the hospital records system would recognize a doctor when she
entered the patient's room and relevant charts would automatically pop up on
the computer screen. If someone approached the screen who wasn't authorized to
see the patient information, it would go blank. The BadgePAD would know when
the doctor put it down and, if someone else picked it up, it would have a whole
different set of e-services personalized for that person.
Because these devices are so smart and personalized, they're easy to use.
"No pointing, clicking, dragging, dropping, connecting or configuring," said
Smith. "It just works."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GM, Ford link up with AOL, Yahoo!
DETROIT -- The world's two largest automakers announced new alliances with
Internet companies Sunday, the latest in a string of deals between the online
world and major corporations.
General Motors Corp. said it plans to use America Online's redesigned Auto
Channel to let AOL's 20 million members shop for GM cars and trucks. Sales
would be completed at a GM dealership.
Ford Motor Co. announced it has partnered with Yahoo! to provide online services
for its vehicle owners. Jack Nasser, Ford president and CEO, said the deal is
a sign of the company's new Internet focus, a change he said would affect every
part of its business.
"The world is moving online and we want to ensure that we meet consumers there,
meeting their needs in the virtual world as well as the physical world," Nasser
said.
The Ford and GM deals follow a series of similar agreements involving large
retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kmart Corp., and Internet players
such as Yahoo! and America Online.
For the online companies, such deals give them a new outlet to advertise their
name and expose themselves to a new customer base. The traditional merchants,
meantime, gain well-known technology partners that can help them build their
own Internet businesses.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hacker Posts Credit Card Info
Wired News Report
10:45 a.m. 10.Jan.2000 PST
The FBI is hunting for a self-described cracker said to have posted 300,000
stolen credit card numbers in a blackmail attempt gone bad.
The hacker, believed to be located in eastern Europe, claims to have stolen
300,000 customer credit card numbers from the CD Universe store, The New York
Times reported Monday. After the store refused to pay him US$100,000, he
published the data on a Web site.
The unidentified hacker, going by the alias Maxim, sent email messages to
the Times saying that he used credit card numbers to obtain money for himself.
He sent actual numbers to the paper as well, to prove the validity of his claim.
The hacker distributed up to 25,000 of the stolen numbers during the last
two weeks, according to the reports. The site was shut down Sunday morning.
When the site was operational, visitors could click on a link to obtain a credit
card number and the associated name and address of its holder.
CD Universe and its parent company, eUniverse, are aiding the FBI's
investigation.
"He definitely has CD Universe data," eUniverse chairman Brad Greenspan told
the Times. "Whether he hacked the site or got the data in some other way, I'm
not sure exactly."
The hacker said he cracked into a database at CD Universe's Web site by way of
a software flaw, according to the report. He sent a fax last month to the
company asking for $100,000 in return for the destruction of the data. After the
company refused, he posted the numbers on Christmas Day to a Web site called
The Maxus Credit Card Pipeline.
CD Universe said it was alerting customers and working with the credit card
companies to help those with stolen card numbers.
Copyright (C) 1994-2000 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPINION: AOL, meet Time Warner -- R.I.P. the Dot-com Era
January 12, 2000
Web posted at: 8:46 a.m. EST
by Sean M. Dugan
(IDG) -- Do you remember that semi-recent James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies?
The one with the Rupert Murdoch-like media mogul bent on ruling the world? Well,
I fully expect the next 007 villain to be a thinly veiled version of AOL's head
honcho, Steve Case. By this point, you've heard the news of American Online's
mega-merger with media powerhouse Time Warner. In what amounts to the biggest
merger in history -- at least for the moment -- AOL has bought Time Warner for
$190 billion in stock. This is the part of this deal that you should pay
attention to. All the talk of a "merger" really obscures the key fact that AOL
did the real buying. AOL stockholders will have 55 percent of the new AOL Time
company and Steve Case will ascend the throne to become chairman of the
behemoth. AOL swallowed Time Warner.
The world has truly changed. Do the math, and you'll find the new AOL Time
Warner easily jumps into the Fortune 100 list. And given AOL's recent rate of
revenue growth, expect it to climb that ladder rapidly. Welcome to the end of
the Dot-com Era.
It all started when a scrappy little start-up named Netscape debuted on the
market in 1995 to a then-stunning single-day gain. The Internet Dot-com Era of
over-valued tech stocks had begun. Like a license to print funny money, the
mind-bogglingly high valuations of tech companies eventually gave them the
ability to buy old-school companies in stock-trade deals. Now we've reached a
turning point as the new dot-com companies consume the old, creating a new
definition of a company for the 21st century. Essentially, we've seen the
creation of a new-old media company, one that has institutional maturity and
at the same time has staggering growth potential.
So what does it all mean, besides boggling the minds of those of us who remember
when you couldn't send AOL e-mail over the Internet but only to other members?
Well, you can bet there'll be a flurry of mergers in the post AOL-Time world, as
media and ISP rivals scramble to fortify themselves against this new behemoth.
AOL-Time presents an imposing presence, covering access to content effectively.
The media landscape has certainly tilted in the way that San Francisco tilted
in 1906. You can bet that Time Warner properties such as, well, Time,
Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, etc., will become tightly integrated
with AOL's media properties. Also expect to see lots of Warner Brothers movies
and the WB's TV shows where the characters prominently use and just love their
AOL ("Dawson and Buffy, you've got mail...").
Time Warner squandered the brand of dozens of media properties with the
ill-conceived Pathfinder site, which finally had the plug pulled this year. It
ranks as one of the greatest Internet fumbles. Now we see a company that
specializes in leveraging content on the Web, purchasing the content-creation
machine of one of the world's largest media organizations. Perhaps the message
here is that if your company flubs its Internet play and can't figure it out,
expect to get bought up by the company that does it right.
It looks like AOL is well on its way to ruling the world. That's a message that
should both shake and stir the Internet strategist of any company.
(C) 2000 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AOL could change stance on cable access, FCC official says
January 13, 2000
Web posted at: 8:49 a.m. EST (1349
by Jennifer Jones
(IDG) -- In light of its merger with Time Warner, America Online may have a
change of heart on its stance that government action is needed to open up the
broadband cable industry, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chief
Technology Officer Stagg Newman said Tuesday in an interview.
But a representative of the AOL-backed openNet Coalition, which has been
pressing for government intervention to open cable systems, said that AOL
remains dedicated to the coalition's cause.
Until it joined with Time Warner on Monday, AOL lobbied hard to have government
regulators involved in the unfolding broadband cable access industry. Now the
company is on the same page with the FCC, which has wanted, at least until now,
to stay out of that emerging market, the FCC's Newman said.
"In the past, AOL has advocated [the] FCC becoming much more proactive in the
broadband market," Newman said in an interview.
In fact, FCC just last fall in a comprehensive report on broadband issues put
AOL in the camp of companies clamoring for "mandated open access."
That is, AOL and others wanted the FCC through regulatory action to pry open the
broadband cable market, dominated by AT&T with an exclusive contract with ISP
Excite@Home. Though the FCC has not intervened, AT&T officials said in early
December that the company would not renew the exclusive Excite@Home deal, which
expires next year.
AOL and other ISPs such as MindSpring Enterprises worried that, without
government intervention, cable franchise owners would control Internet content
and navigational services, according to the FCC report.
However, AOL and Time Warner executives on Monday praised the promise of free-
market forces in the broadband access issue.
"In listening to the press conference, what they have said on open access over
cable is what the Commission has wanted all along," the FCC's Newman said.
Newman referenced a mid-December speech in which FCC Chairman William Kennard
said, "Unless a compelling case can be made for government action - a failure of
the marketplace to maximize consumer welfare - then we should give the
marketplace a chance to work."
Along with overtly targeting AT&T's exclusivity deals, AOL has been generally
unprepared for the advent of broadband, Newman said. "All of their content was
focused on the narrow band world. And more than a delivery architecture, they
needed to develop broadband content. Monday's announcement does wonders for
that," Newman said.
AOL worked largely through lobbying groups such as the openNET Coalition to push
for more government measures to open up the cable market.
openNET co-director Greg Simon said in a statement that even after the merger,
AOL is still pushing for open access.
"[The] announcement by AOL and Time Warner is a wake-up call to the cable
industry. The No. 2 cable company has joined AOL, a leading advocate for open
access and a continued member of the openNET Coalition, to support consumer
choice of Internet Service Providers over cable broadband networks," Simon said
in the statement.
Simon said that that openNet will lobby federal regulators to get open access
commitments from AT&T and cable company Media One in its ongoing merger review.
The organization will do the same in the AOL Time Warner merger, Simon
indicated.
"We will continue to urge the federal government to make open access the rule
for the entire cable industry," Simon said
(C) 2000 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AOL's Not Well with Time Warner Friday, January 14, 2000
Welcome to the Internet as World Wide Mall
by Neva Chonin, Special to SF Gate
For those who have been in an extended beauty sleep over the past week, here's
an update. America Online has acquired Time Warner, the world's largest media
and entertainment company, for somewhere between $166-$190 billion in stock.
Not surprisingly, it's the biggest corporate merger ever.
Hey netizens, have we got a deal for you! (Time Warner's Gerald Levin, left,
models an AOL sweat band for Mr. AOL himself, Steve Case, at a January 12
meeting in Dulles, Va.)
Following the announcement on Monday, stocks for both companies soared (and
in AOL's case, plummeted again) while most media analysts applauded the deal
as a bold move into high-tech synergy. But those who view the Internet as
something more than a fiscal frontier shuddered, because the formation of the
media powerhouse called AOL Time Warner brings us one step closer to the day
when the World Wide Web becomes the World Wide Mall.
The reasons behind the merger are more mundane than world domination. Time
Warner desperately needed a new Internet outlet to replace its creaky
Pathfinder portal. AOL needed access to a cable network to meet the coming
switch to broadband connectivity. But look at the numbers: Time Warner's
cable network already boasts 13 million subscribers. AOL adds more than 20
million to that number. That's a lot of Netizens to be living under one
umbrella. And that umbrella includes, to name a few, news sources such as CNN
and Time magazine, entertainment titans People magazine and Entertainment
Weekly, WinAmp, CompuServe and, most sadly, Netscape, the search engine that
once embodied the Internet's feisty entrepreneurial spirit.
It also includes Time Warner's substantial music catalogue. As company
chairman Gerald Levin noted on Monday, the deal with America Online offers a
"worldwide opportunity" to promote music from Warner Bros. and its sister
labels, Elektra and Atlantic. Much of that opportunity will come from having
an enormous number of potential AOL buyers for its wares. Within five years,
as the dominoes fall and other music empires follow suit, MP3 technology will
move from being a threat to corporate profit to being its handiest tool. As
entertainment attorney Peter Dekom told "Wired" news: "The music model
predicated on album sales is going to vaporize. This merger is all about Warner
Bros. throwing up its hands and recognizing that it has to change the way it
sells music."
More convenience mergers between old and new media giants are on the way,
and the prospects look both grim and familiar: A future in which the Internet
is dominated by a few multimedia Goliaths spoon-feeding homogenized content to
subscribers who have forgotten that they have options. This, in the medium that
everyone had hoped would displace such conglomerates and give every surfer the
power to be his or her own publisher and information source.
Not everyone thinks the outcome will be this dark. Adam Schoenfeld, senior
analyst for the Internet research company Jupiter Inc., says that fears
of homogenization and monopoly reflect "a paternalistic attitude toward
consumers that's almost repugnant. Consumers pay more to subscribe to AOL
because AOL is easy. Every AOL subscriber has access to the full wide
Internet and all the competition."
Yes, but will they use it? Not likely, especially in the U.S., where most
citizens truly believe that there are only two political parties, and that
two parties comprises a democratic system. The fact is that for the weary
working masses it's easier to stick with what's familiar. What's familiar is
the primetime fluff brought into their homes on three or four major networks.
And once AOL Time Warner gets rolling, they will be the Internet's major
network -- available on a hundred channels. The more consumers grow accustomed
to this behemoth's easy access and bloated content, the less they'll venture
outside its borders. The less they venture out, the more alien the outer Net
seems.
All of this leads to one big question: Does this merger signify an end -- or
the beginning of an end -- to the dream of the Internet as an unlimited,
innately democratic space, giving everyone equal access to all voices and views?
Time Warner's communications director, Scott Miller, assured the press that it
doesn't: "The Internet is the first limitless medium, and by its very nature,
no single company or group can hope to control it."
Still, that's what they said about the Left Coast 150 years ago, and here we
are. Paul Krugman for The New York Times points out that the AOL/Time Warner
deal "is based on the belief that a big piece of the electronic prairie can
indeed be fenced off, that a big company can create a zone of influence within
which people watch or listen to its content, coming over its wires, and pay for
the privilege.''
On a related note, the same day America Online bought Time Warner it also
entered into a "three-year alliance" with PBS. AOL subscribers will now have
direct access to PBS' educational and interactive online programming without
having to leave AOL's home turf. AOL, for its part, will receive on-air
branding on programs broadcast by PBS' 346 member stations. Steve Case and
William Shakespeare, hand in hand.
Is it any wonder that Jon Katz, media critic for Rolling Stone and columnist
for Slashdot.org, is hoping the Justice Department will lower the anti-trust
boom on AOL Time Warner? "There's never been a company this size that does so
many different things,'' he points out. "This company is bigger than some
countries. We're not talking about a merger here, we're talking about the
construction of a nation.
"The idea behind a free press is that there be choice and many points of
view. That's also the cornerstone of anti-trust law. There's no way you can
look at what's good for media and the consumer and conclude this deal is a
good thing. If you believe in the notion of free and independent media, this
is a nightmare.''
Katz isn't the only one worrying. Consumer groups have armed the battlements.
Free-speech advocates and media watchdogs are denouncing the deal to anyone who
will listen. Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont released a statement warning
that while AOL's acquisition of Time Warner "may make strategic sense" for the
companies involved, "at some point, all of this concentration and convergence
has implications for consumers, because it will minimize competition and choice,
giving us fewer voices and fewer pipelines in the marketplace."
There's a slim chance that the Justice Department will step in and nix the deal.
There's an even slimmer chance that AOL, even with one of the biggest cable
networks in the world at its fingertips, will continue its pre-Time Warner fight
for open access that would force cable operators to open their systems to other
Internet providers. It would be the right thing to do, and a gesture toward the
perservation of online diversity and fair play. It would be the sort of thing
one might expect from a corporation starstruck reporters are calling an
"Internet pioneer."
But don't hold your breath. The purpose of a pioneer -- if that word can be
applied to AOL -- is to colonize an environment, not leave it free.
----------------------------------------
Neva Chonin writes about music and
culture and technology and stuff for
the "San Francisco Chronicle," "Rolling
Stone" and other publications.
(C) 2000 SF Gate
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft, AOL on Collision Course
By Ted Bridis
Associated Press Writer
Friday, Jan. 14, 2000; 11:09 a.m. EST
WASHINGTON -- Did Bill Gates underestimate Steve Case?
Weeks after the last time America Online Inc. surprised the technology industry
by purchasing Internet pioneer Netscape, Gates confided he wasn't worried the
$10 billion deal among his biggest rivals might pose serious risks for
Microsoft's future.
"AOL," Gates said, according to handwritten notes from Microsoft's own files,
"doesn't have it in their genes to attack us."
Now, a year later, America Online's appetite has grown, fueled by the market's
unfathomable surges in technology stocks, toward its $145 billion merger with
Time Warner Inc. Case, one of the world's few executives to already beat Gates
head-to-head, will become the new billionaire chairman of the combined company.
The stunning deal gives Case's AOL Time Warner Inc. the ideal weapon to
challenge Microsoft where it considers itself most vulnerable: a vast network
of high-speed Internet lines that can deliver to consumers a promising new
generation of software and information that don't require Windows, Microsoft's
lucrative flagship operating system that runs most of the world's computers.
This fledgling category of software - which already includes word processors,
games and digital calendars - isn't installed on a PC using Windows like today's
programs.
Instead, these programs are delivered and run across high-speed Internet
connections, appropriate for almost any device that can connect to the Web. The
ultimate promise for many is to remove the industry's intense reliance on
Windows, which has earned billions for Gates & Co.
Until his recent shopping spree, Case struggled with no "fat pipes" to deliver
to his 20 million AOL subscribers this new generation of bandwidth-hungry
software. By comparison, Microsoft's own online service, MSN, has about 2.5
million subscribers. Case, who once wrote e-mail comparing Microsoft to Hitler,
is increasingly ready to attack.
Microsoft last year invested $5 billion in AT&T, which alone has more than
1 million high-speed Internet customers.
"The really important thing about the Time Warner-AOL deal is, it gives AOL the
cable outlet," said David Smith, an Internet analyst at the Gartner Group. "It
means you have both sides that are armed."
The breadth of the AOL Time Warner combination "will be forcing Microsoft out as
they grow," said Rob Enderle, a technology analyst for the Giga Information
Group. "Tomorrow, they could do a fairly good job of removing Microsoft as a
vendor in the space."
Microsoft, under close scrutiny in Washington as part of the government's
ongoing antitrust lawsuit, can't react as aggressively or swiftly as it might
prefer, but it isn't sitting still.
In a shot across the bow, Gates announced Thursday that Microsoft will refocus
its efforts on what he said were the "next generation of Internet services"
being developed during the next two or three years.
He compared the revelation to Microsoft's dramatic shift in strategy in 1995,
when the company suddenly embraced the Internet. "We see ourselves today at that
same type of inflection point," he said.
"You haven't seen anything yet," Gates predicted as he announced his new role
as chief software architect. "The nature of software will be changing. Software
will be delivered in many cases as a service across the Internet instead of a
software product."
[Gates, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Get it straight.]
For more than two decades, the technology industry has thrived on the theory
that the power of computers increases exponentially over short periods.
"We're going to bet on the equivalent law for broadband," promised Yusuf Mehdi,
director of marketing for MSN.
"We're going to suck up the cycles that you can get on a fast connection into
really interesting things - video and audio and interactive television."
Like Case, who surrendered his title as chief executive officer in his new
company to be chairman, Gates also elevated his longtime friend, Steve Ballmer,
to become CEO at Microsoft but also remains chairman. Tit for tat.
[Gates' move doesn't hold water with me. And hopefully he isn't fooling anyone
else. Tit for tat? Nah. As chief software architect for Micro$oft, he'll be
as useless as tits on a bull though.]
And for anyone wondering about the future of Windows, Gates dubbed the new
software, "Next Generation Windows Services."
It's shaping up to be quite a battle.
[At least Gates and Micro$oft can't monopolize the entire industry, swallowing
up every smaller company, and in essence, preventing anyone from ever battling
them in the software/Internet markets.]
EDITOR'S NOTE - Ted Bridis covers technology for The Associated Press in
Washington.
(C) Copyright 2000 The Associated Press
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AOL-TIME WARNER MERGER
JANUARY 24, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 3
Happily Ever After?
The "most transformational event" turns Wall Street on its ear, two giants into
one and the future into an alluring promise
BY DANIEL OKRENT
How big was it? In Northern Virginia on Friday night, Jimmy Lynn, an AOL
marketing executive, got an inkling that something was happening. "I usually go
to the Redskins games with a guy from the mergers and acquisitions group," Lynn
explained. When the friend canceled--for the Redskins' first playoff game in
seven years--Lynn knew it was not just something, but really something. In
downtown Manhattan early Monday, the 7:30 a.m. daily research call emanating
from the fifth-floor conference room of Merrill Lynch headquarters was handled
by analysts Henry Blodget and Jessica Reif Cohen. Traders who had nearly run off
the road when they had heard the news on their car radios crammed the room;
1,000 more around the world were connected by telephone. Like everyone else on
Wall Street, Blodget and Reif Cohen had been taken totally by surprise. They
used words like brilliant and huge--but they were at a loss to explain to their
colleagues what it actually meant.
It was on Tuesday afternoon, the day after the deal was announced, that the
influential Silicon Valley venture capitalist Roger McNamee summed up the object
of all this attention: "Let's be clear," he said. "This is the single most
transformational event I've seen in my career."
Just what exactly was transformed? America Online, the newbie-friendly smiley
face of the Web that just three years ago was an operational mess, had
engineered the largest merger in American corporate history. Time Warner, the
immense media conglomerate that had sprung from the loins of the magazine you
are now reading--having failed to beat the Internet upstarts with its own
efforts--had decided to surrender to them for the best price it could get, about
$162 billion in AOL stock. The companies valued the combination at $350 billion.
For Time Warner chief executive Gerald Levin and AOL boss Steve Case, the common
experience of groping through a rapidly mutating economy made this deal in some
ways inevitable. In AOL, Case had built a brand, a customer base and (by
Internet standards) healthy profits. But he faced a future that may see Internet
access become a commodity, and he lacked access to the leading source of
broadband--the fat, fast pipes of cable television that could carry vast amounts
of Internet content. And Case didn't have much in the way of content either.
Time Warner's cable-television system, the country's second largest, owned
plumbing aplenty to distribute AOL's services. The company also had the
proprietary content--magazines, books, movies, music, programming--to send down
the pipes.
Yet Levin's company had remained inextricably mired in its own past, a dinosaur
lurching its way through a world that would soon belong to swifter creatures,
almost pathetically unable--like all the major media companies--to make the
Great Leap Forward into the new Internet economy. The company's stock price had
plateaued in a year in which Net stocks soared, and there was little excitement
about the plans being developed in its recently hatched digital division,
despite projected outlays this year of $500 million. "We had a big uphill job as
a corporation" to catch up with the established Internet players, notes Time
Warner vice chairman Ted Turner. Levin was even contemplating "an internal
takeover" of CNN to make it the company's digital division, separate from the
rest of the Turner networks.
When Time Inc. announced its betrothal to Warner Communications in 1989, the men
in the front of the room were an odd match of Hollywood glitz and suburban
Connecticut golf club. In 1995, when Levin and Turner proclaimed their deal, it
was Earth meets Mars. But last week the two dealmakers actually seemed to speak
the same language and perceive the same future.
Both Case and Levin were faced with what corporate strategists call a "make or
buy" dilemma. Case must have contemplated that at some point Wall Street would
come to its senses and that AOL's helium-supported Internet valuation would be
punctured and deflate. Better spend those Net-flated dollars now--buy. Levin,
with his stock price sputtering, didn't have the currency to pay the price of
admission on the Internet. The company, in fact, could neither "make" nor "buy,"
which left it with but one option--sell.
Case and Levin began their mating dance at a meeting of the Global Business
Dialogue in Paris last September. Two weeks later they continued their global
flirtation at a lavish FORTUNE magazine event (FORTUNE is also owned by Time
Warner) in Shanghai--one of those blurred events, part journalism, part meet-
greet-and-deal, that make press critics howl. But the active courtship didn't
begin until early October, when Case called Levin, proposed merger outright
and--significantly--said he wanted Levin to be CEO of the combined company.
The gritty details of negotiating corporate marriage, in particular who gets the
top jobs, began in mid-November, when AOL vice chairman Ken Novack, a Boston
lawyer who is Case's closest professional confidant, traveled to New York City
with senior vice president Miles Gilburne to meet with Richard Bressler, the
former Time Warner CFO who had recently been placed in charge of the
corporation's digital efforts. How do you puzzle out a high-tech-meets-media
merger? On large sheets of paper. The three men scrawled out a crude vision of
a combined company and posted the pages all over the muted gray walls of
Bressler's imposing Rockefeller Center office. Gilburne took the rolled-up
sheets back to AOL's Dulles, Va., headquarters, where senior executives examined
them the way archaeologists examine the runic traces of an early civilization.
COPYRIGHT (C) 2000 TIME INC.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AOL/TW deal may change how companies design Web sites
January 13, 2000
Web posted at: 9:09 a.m. EST (1409 GMT)
by Linda Rosencrance
(IDG) -- This week's stunning announcement that America Online Inc. will merge
with Time Warner Inc. may change the way companies develop their Web pages by
speeding up the development of high-speed Internet access, Web developers and
analysts say.
If the all-stock deal is successful, the companies, valued at $350 billion with
combined yearly revenue of $30 billion, see themselves as positioned to speed
development of the Internet and interactive content, according to a joint
statement. And that could spark changes in the way companies design and build
Web sites aimed at consumers.
"When it comes to designing Web site content, the increasing use of broadband
devices to access the Internet [will mean companies] will have to produce more
rich media like we see on television," said Dan MacKeigan, a senior Internet
analyst at Arlington, Va.-based Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. "It's a sign
of things to come. It's a challenge to develop broadband content."
Tom Lix, president and CEO of Newmarket Network, a Boston-based Web development
firm that has done work for National Public Radio and others, agreed.
"Hopefully, this will speed up the introduction of broadband into people's
homes, and it will bring a lot of what the Internet has to offer to regular
audiences," Lix said. "Web developers [will] have to develop more and better
features for higher and higher speeds. If companies are smart, they are
already moving in that direction. If not, now they have to move in that
direction."
Some retailers have been eager to add better graphics, streaming video, 3-D
interactivity and other data-intensive options that would give shoppers a better
sense of products for sale. However, such features could add lengthy page
download delays for consumers on dial-up modems, and the expense of developing
features has to be justified by a critical mass of users with high-speed access.
The head of J.Crew.com in Lynchburg, Va., said his company has already been
thinking about providing Web site content for broadband.
"We have several capabilities on hand that we could roll out with broadband
which would enhance our customers' user experience and optimize sales
productivity," said Scott Gilbertson, president of e-commerce at J.Crew.com.
"However, we do not want to dilute the experience of the majority of customers
without access. The potential merger with AOL as a delivery mechanism brings a
significant presence of broadband to the average customer, and we will be right
there to roll with it. We have the flexibility to offer one site for broadband
and one for PC modems."
David Fry, director of Fry Multimedia in Ann Arbor, Mich., whose company designs
Web sites for firms such as Eddie Bauer Inc., Godiva Chocolatier Inc. and
1-800-Flowers Inc., agreed that the merger will have tremendous implications for
marketers and merchants currently developing traditional Web sites, if and when
it leads to more widely available broadband access.
But Glen Lipka, a founding partner of Kokopelli New Media in New York, said he
doesn't think Web site developers have to rush to change the way they do things.
"It will take years for broadband to propagate," he predicted.
(C) 2000 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Top Executives from Forrester Research, Cambridge
Technology Partners, and Compaq Establish @Stake;
Specialized Internet Security Services Firm
The L0pht, renowned 'hacker think-tank,' to join @Stake
Receives $10 million in Initial Backing from Battery
Ventures
Cambridge, Mass., January 6, 2000 - A group of top Internet executives announced
today the establishment of @Stake Inc., a specialized professional services firm
that will provide a full range of security solutions for the e-commerce
operations of global clients. @Stake represents the industry's only independent
security services provider.
@Stake also announced that renowned hacker think-tank the L0pht has merged with
the newly formed company. This strategic move reflects the firm's commitment to
build a world-class team of professionals offering non-traditional, e-commerce-
age security solutions for clients.
In addition, the company disclosed that it has received over $10 million in
initial funding from Battery Ventures, a leading high tech venture capital firm
whose other investments include Akamai Technologies, InfoSeek, and Qtera. @Stake
is the first company spawned from Battery's newly created in-house incubator
program.
"@Stake's independence and dedicated focus on Internet security differentiate
their approach from other providers," according to Tom Crotty, general partner
at Battery Ventures. "They have assembled a diverse team of extreme talent from
premier organizations including Forrester Research, the L0pht, Cambridge
Technology Partners, and Compaq Computer."
The company will offer a full range of security services enabling e-commerce for
Global 2000 clients. @Stake will focus on planning next-generation security
platforms that achieve long-term e-commerce objectives as well as securing
clients' immediate Internet needs. Key to the company's strategic approach is
building comprehensive security architectures to minimize the impact of viruses,
malicious attacks and other threats while maximizing opportunity and
competitiveness for firms engaged in the Internet economy. The company's
professional services span infrastructure security, including VPNs and
firewalls; content security, such as anti-virus and e-mail scanning; application
security, including fine-grained application access control; and operations
security, such as intrusion detection and scanning systems.
@Stake's management team includes:
* Dr. Daniel Geer, Chief Technology Officer, formerly
vice president and senior strategist at CertCo and
director of engineering at Open Market. His tenure
as manager of systems development at MIT's Project
Athena led to the creation of, amongst other
innovations, the X Window System and Kerberos.
* Ted Julian, VP of Marketing and Business
Development, formerly lead security analyst at
Forrester Research and known for the far-reaching
impact of his reports, "Security Suites: Dead on
Arrival" and "Turning Security on Its Head."
* Mudge, VP of Research and Development, served as
CEO/Chief Scientist of hacker think-tank, the L0pht.
Having appeared before the Committee on Governmental
Affairs of the US Senate to discuss vulnerabilities
facing technological resources, Mudge led the L0pht,
a group of 'grey-hat hackers' known for unorthodox,
extreme technical sophistication.
* Dr. Phil Tams, VP of Consulting and Operations,
formerly a senior manager at Cambridge Technology
Partners and responsible for restructuring IT
systems and businesses to compete effectively in the
Internet economy.
* John J. Rando, Chairman of the Board, was previously
senior vice president and group general manager at
Compaq. He is widely known for his work developing
software product services, pioneering new delivery
methodologies, and lifecycle service solutions in
networking and systems integration.
"@Stake helps clients address the most critical issue facing their e-commerce
initiatives: maintaining the highest levels of security while maximizing
openness," said Ted Julian, Founder and VP of Marketing and Business
Development. "Our strategic approach is based on the premise that true security
lies in enabling the entire enterprise, rather than locking down the system with
unnecessary complexity and control."
"By enabling Internet objectives, our security services unleash enormous
benefits for organizations building their e-commerce operations," continued
Julian.
According to IDC Research, the demand for network security consulting and
management services will reach over $1.6 billion in 2002. In addition, in its
November 29 brief, "exSourced Security Arrives," Forrester Research "recommends
the majority of businesses meet their security needs with exSourcers <20> third-
party security service providers that connect external constituents with
internal processes."
"The opportunity to join the first and only independent 'pure play' in the field
of Internet security consulting is perfect for the L0pht," according to Mudge,
now @Stake's VP of R&D. "@Stake's vendor neutrality, combined with open lines of
communication to the full spectrum of people dealing with online security,
allows us to remain true to our roots - security research and execution which
shatters industry myths and builds a totally new standard."
@Stake executives will be participating in the major security trade show,
RSA 2000, scheduled for January 16-20 in San Jose.
With headquarters in Cambridge, Mass, @Stake is a specialized professional
services firm providing security solutions for the e-commerce operations of
global clients. More information can be found at www.atstake.com
@Stake, Inc. -- Securing the Internet Economysm.
Copyright L0pht Heavy Industries. All Rights Reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday January 6 2:18 AM ET
Hackers Become Security Consultants
By TED BRIDIS Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Who ya gonna call? Hackers?
Some of the Internet's most adept online snoops are hoping big business
soon will be chanting that ``Ghosbusters''-like refrain: These hackers
are forming a new company to advise the world's largest banks and hospitals
how to keep their data safe from cyber-intruders.
Members of the Boston-based L0pht Heavy Industries, who once boasted to
the Senate that any one of them could cripple the Internet in the United
States within 30 minutes, today were announcing the creation of their
consulting company, AtStake. They say they have more than $10 million in
funding from venture capitalists.
The new vice president of research and development - widely considered
among the world's leading hackers - will continue to use only his online
handle, ``Mudge,'' to identify himself.
``The U.S. Senate referred to me as Mudge. Mom and Dad refer to me as
Mudge,'' he told The Associated Press. ``I figure, why break the streak?''
L0pht (pronounced ``loft''), whose eight members sold software to crack
the passwords of Microsoft Windows NT computers and to detect other
hackers secretly monitoring a network, will disband as an organization.
All its members - with such colorful monikers as ``Space Rogue,''
``Dildog,'' ``Weld Pond'' and ``Brian Oblivion'' - will join the new
company, based in Cambridge, Mass.
Wearing business suits, the group described as a ``hacker think tank''
testified about lax computer security before the Senate Governmental
Affairs Committee in May 1998. They said any of them could easily bring
down the Internet in North America, although other experts dismissed the
claims as exaggerated.
Committee Chairman Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., allowed L0pht's members to use
only their online handles ``due to the sensitivity of their work,''
although they are widely interviewed by national media. ABC's Sam Donaldson
talked with ``Space Rogue'' in October.
``They're very, very good - first rate,'' said Bruce Schneier, an expert
on data-scrambling and chief technology officer for Counterpane Internet
Security Inc.
Russ Cooper, who publishes the NTBugtraq newsletter exposing security
risks in Microsoft's products, called the group ``eight brilliant geniuses.''
The new company includes mainstream industry executives, including new
Chairman John Rando, a former senior vice president at Compaq Computer
Corp (NYSE:CPQ - news)., and another well-known security expert, Daniel
Geer.
But most remarkable was the presence of those who embrace their roots as
``gray-hat hackers,'' insisting they never used their unusual computer
skills to break into systems illegally but acknowledging they study the
techniques and even provide some tools for those who do.
``We wear (that label) with pride,'' said ``Mudge,'' whose long hair
flows past his shoulders. ``We will look at any angle that we can. We're
not over there breaking into systems. We'll let our record speak for
itself.''
The new executives suggested they weren't concerned that the nation's
largest banks, brokerages and health-care companies might be reluctant to
hire hackers to secure their own sensitive information. ``Mudge'' called
it ``not a hurdle as much as a springboard,'' saying prominent companies
and government agencies had informally sought L0pht's advice in the past.
Copyright (C) 1996-2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prankster turns Queen's Park into South Park.
TORONTO -- A persistent hacker got into an Ontario government ministry Web site
and littered it with South Park characters and graffiti.
Ministry of Northern Development and Mines officials were busy Monday looking
into the breach but said that sensitive data did not appear to have been
destroyed.
Gianfranco Merlino, a data services official, said the hacker broke in Thursday
night and added pictures of a laughing Terrance and Philip -- two South Park
characters known for their fondness of flatulence and Kraft Dinner.
The next morning a department official changed the accounts and passwords and
removed the images.
But the hacker persisted and was back in Saturday, when government officials
finally decided to disconnect the site from the Internet.
CANADIAN PRESS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THOUGHTS, POEMS AND CREATIVE WRITING - {WRITING}
The Followers.
"I can never die."
You're not going to like this, but I'm going to write it anyway. You're
not going to laugh, but I'm going to laugh anyway. So sit down, shut up and
read this intriguing little rant. It doesn't matter what you think of it.
I want to die an ironic death. I want to shout "I can never die" the moment
before I expire, right in the face of death. Then I want to come back and haunt
people. I want to leave a lasting legacy so that people aren't allowed to ever
forget me. It won't be easy but it has to be done. You won't forget me because
I won't let myself be forgotten. My words will permeate your mind and infect
your thoughts until you've been corrupted. Once you're thoroughly brainwashed
and under my control, like a fucking puppet, I'll invade your dreams and exploit
your mind. There's nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. You can't escape. I'll
rip right through your soul like a damage jackal from hell. Why can't you
understand that you're my prey and just accept it? Mind games are my domain.
Submission and defeat are yours. Victory is mine. You are pathetic and
helpless. Society is fucking you like a slave already. It's raping you
hardcore. Learn to accept your fate. Know your role and play it well.
Pulling your strings gives me an adrenaline rush. The taste of power is
addictive. Your blood is my fuel. Stealing your soul is my fire. Using your
words and your mind against you gives me power. My strength is from within.
Your weakness is derived from years of being conditioned and controlled.
Dance puppet, dance.
You're worthless. You're nothing. You can't think for yourself. You can't
live your own life. You are connected to society in a way that doesn't allow
you to be an individual. You aren't afforded that luxury. Your thoughts are
not your own. You aren't yourself. You aren't you. You are owned by society.
Society owns you. You're a slave that enjoys being enslaved. Admit to what
you are. Don't try to hide it. Don't try to hide behind ignorance.
Kill each other. Destroy yourselves. You are all fools. This world is
infested with zombies and united by idiocy. It should be cleansed. From
death comes life. Give and take. Then take some more. Take all that you
can get away with. Let your greed drive you. Let your mind starve. Let
it stagnate and rot. Don't think. Don't learn the hard way. Let corruption
be your guide. Become what you hate. Learn to mimic zombies that are
financially successful. Base your life on lies. Scoff at the truth. Try
to impress everyone that you can. Copy others. Give up your ideals and
compromise your soul. Fill your veins with indifference and your brain with
the thoughts of others. Brag about everything that you have. Don't count on
anyone and don't count anyone as your friend. Fear your enemies. Believe
propaganda. Believe everything.
Fear the truth. Live by the lies you're told. Be a follower. Follow the
leader. Always take the easy road. Always go with the odds. Don't take
chances. Don't stray from your routine. Don't think differently. Let
someone else think for you. Let Big Brother make decisions for everyone.
Don't be a fool and oppose them. It's foolish to fight back. Give in to the
temptation to go with the grain. Going against it is more difficult and only
causes problems. It's your duty to follow. Perform your duty. Execute your
primary function to follow. Why resist when you were born to serve society?
Let your inner soul fade. Let your personality dissolve. Become a clone.
Become a perfect citizen of the New World Order. Let them brand you like
cattle. Let them track you like a wolf after prey. Let them hunt and kill
you like sheep being slaughtered. Expose your neck to predators like
Big Brother around you. Then expose your mind to them so that it can be
brainwashed and exploited. It's your way and it's easier. It's the right way.
Relinquish your rights and give up your identity. Give yourself away. Give
away everything. Own nothing. Become bought. Become owned. And be grateful
for it. Love your oppressors. Admire them for their strength and control.
Always show them that you are weak. Always obey them and be faithful to your
duties. Be the follower that you are and live the zombie lifestyle. Never try
to oppose them or you will be destroyed. You shall be decimated if you tempt
fate. Chain yourself to society and proudly display your chains. Don't ever
be modest and try not to be humble. But always be meek and mild. Avoid any
controversy at all costs. Reject uniqueness and individuality. Respect the
establishment, mainstream society and follow the norm. Your role is to conform
to it. Believe everything you're told. Question nothing. Live for acceptance.
Always follow. Live solely to follow.
Nothing is gonna change. Why not? Things won't change because you don't want
them to change. You're a follower. Followers can't enact change. Followers
don't desire any change. All followers would rather just allow things to
stagnate. They're more comfortable when things stay the same. Even if they
disagree with something, they'd rather be silent than speak out against it.
They'd rather just follow along and take it. That's who you are. Admit it to
yourself. You can change it though. But alas, you don't want to. You want to
remain a follower, don't you?
Obey and follow the rules of others. They set the rules and it's your job to
follow them. Followers don't make the rules, they live by them. That is your
future. That's your destiny. Take it. Take your fate in stride. Take
everything. Cheat yourself. Live to accept. Live to conform. Never speak
out. Never change. Never question. I pity you and your pathetic existence.
You let yourself be fooled. You let the Thought Police dictate what you think
and how you live. If you recognize any of the above as being a fitting
description for your life, then you are one of the followers. If what you read
doesn't apply to you, and angered you, then you are aren't a zombie.
Written by THC Phreak <20> Damage, INC. (C)opyright 1999.
FREEDOM OF THOUGHT
Oil painting by Jaisini
The color of this painting is an
agent of transformation that
makes the prison world illusive.
In the painting "Freedom of thought" Jaisini has built a form of time and
space that transforms the world of prison into a dream or a thought if a
philosopher, the artist himself, laying on a plank bed of the illusory prison
cell.
Freedom of Thought is populated with images of wicked criminals and guards.
However, the convicts do not carry ugly or realistic character references but
are portrayed with humor and irony. Two crooks are playing cards. One has an
Arabic-looking face with a purple nose. His partner's face, in some parts, is
a brick packing and his eye is shielded with bars. A brick background is also
found at the middle part of the painting that supports the miniature brick
structure of the con's face. A rat and an angry dog fight for a rotten fish.
At the upper right corner the weightless hazy scene of rape blends with a
flow of the composition where all personages conjoin in the obscure carnival
of confinement. Jaisini portrays himself as its participant. His position is,
nevertheless. the most calm. He is in a condition of concentrated thinking or
in a deep sleep. The jail, as a dream or a thought, becomes unreal and does
not exist. The question arises of what reality that is in the artist's
thought or dream, or the surrounding whirlpool world of the prison? Is this a
work of art, according to Scheider, considered as a kind of "dream turned
inside out"? The painting seems to be illusory owing to its amazing color and
its references to the old-fashioned lockup system. The state of the artist's
dream or thinking could be unreal as well. Then what is the reality in
"Freedom of Thought"? Maybe it is the "I," the creative self, which is pure
consciousness, the witness of these three states, the motive power to
survive, to create, to think. Jaisini's internal psychic flexibility permits
him identification with and portrayals of a wide range of characters and
themes.
A female guard is peeking at a well-built imprisoned man.
The artist shows that the quest for happiness was endless and vain for him
until he stopped searching outside for something that he was not able to find
in the world of senses and turned inward.
"Freedom of Thought" is a work that, in a way, illustrates the turning point
of the human life when one often gets back his ability to see the stars from
the gates of hell, as Dante writes.
"My guide and I came on that hidden tunnel to make our way back into the
shining world;
and with no time for rest, we climbed - he first, that I - until I saw,
through a round aperture, those things of beauty Heaven holds. It was from
there, at last, that we emerged to see again the stars."
Freedom of Thought (Oil painting) by Paul Jaisini, New York 1999
Text Copyright;Yustas Kotz-Gottlieb
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Send private comments to Yustas61@aol.com
#$
%^&
#,, >..
&*$))#@)
Alone in the dark .,;
here I lay in darkness
here I lay in the corner of my room
the corner beside the window
I'm alone, I'm frightened, I'm crying
the tears of unhappiness trickle down my cheek almost like the rain drops
that trickle down the same window I can barely see out of on a rainy day in
June
this room... this room I call obscurity has taken over me
driven me to the path of insanity and wishes not to let me go
what is there to do? count the time I've been away from it all
the mind lost to simple isolation
someday there I will escape from here
someday I will be out there somewhere looking out a window
thinking about how much I want to be somewhere else
escape once again
but for now I'll continue to count the days of darkness,
hope for happiness, and live with the melancholy
- written by: The Clone
- August 9, 1999
- nettwerk.hypermart.net
My Great Awakening.
Until I read your zine, to borrow lyrics from Silverchair, I never knew we
were living in a world that can be so cruel. I never knew we were living in
a world with a mind that could be so small.
I believed the lies and was wrong for doing so. Blame it on naivete. Blame
it on my own need to believe and unawareness of the world around me. Blame
it on whatever you like. The truth is, I just didn't know the truth about
what is going on. Having read your zine, I'm beginning to learn the hard
facts about the world that I live in. Needless to say, it was difficult to
accept some of the things that you've written about. At first, I didn't want
to believe that the world could be that way. I thought about it for a long
time before I finally realized that things aren't the way I had always
perceived them to be. It wasn't an overnight realization for me. I had to
admit to myself that I was blind. That wasn't an easy thing to do either.
I had to admit that I'd been deceived, mislead and lied to by people that I
trusted without question. For a while, my faith in humanity was shattered.
The knowledge that society was the way you describe it to be, devastated me.
My whole perspective has changed towards the establishment and civilization
as I knew it. Everything has changed. No longer will I just believe what
I'm told and hesitate to ask questions. No longer am I a brainwashed drone,
or "zombie" as you call them. I don't want to be a sheep. And I'm going to
make sure I don't take that route.
I want to personally thank Damage, INC. for enlightening me. I admire you
guys for what you've written and what you're doing. Some of your zine's
articles are amazing. They've really helped me understand what's happening.
They've really put things into perspective and shown me that things aren't
always the way they seem on the surface. They have forced me to learn that
misinformation exists and it's being spread by people that we're supposed to
trust. I have awakened from my long sleep and begun my transformation into a
thinker, due to reading your words and seriously thinking about them. If it
means anything to you, you've made a big impression on this reader. I'll never
go back to the herd of mindless sheep from whence I came. I won't let society
influence everything that I do, or make me what they want me to be. I won't be
controlled. I won't be censored and I'll continue to read your excellent zine.
Copyright 1999 Snake Eyes. All rights reserved.
Still Damage, INC.
We'll give you fuel. We'll give you fire. We'll give ya Damage, INC. desire.
Fuck "society", its lies and corruption.
We'll still be around to root out the greedy, corrupt liars.
We're still in this only for the knowledge and education.
Still not taking bribes. Still not for hire.
And it should be damn straight we won't quit until we've won.
I'm still writing rhymes and still writing about the group.
Still promoting free thought.
And I'm still here to warn people so they don't get duped.
We're still thinking, honing our skills and mastering our game.
Still own Bell.
And we're still doing what we want without any shame.
We still enjoy doing this without any profit.
Still have the same goals.
And we're still doing it with the same Damage, INC. style and wit.
We're still hardcore, against the grain.
Still have that same, unmistakable biting sarcasm.
We still have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
We're still putting out information that makes you think twice.
It'll spin your head around so fast it'll damn near break your neck.
Still taking risks and still not ever afraid to roll the dice.
We're still shocking the system.
Against the establishment.
Still denouncing and condemning them.
We're still here, poised to attack.
It doesn't matter if we go away for awhile.
We'll always return, back in black.
We're still kickin' ass and fucking with minds.
And you know it.
Still exposing the truth and dispelling all of the lies.
We're still using technology to get out our message.
Big Brother can't stop us.
Still mocking the naive that live in their gilded cage.
Still fighting for our beliefs and making our opinions known.
Still not living in fear.
In these things we know we're not alone.
We're still keepin' it real in 2000, right on track.
That can't be denied.
And the defiant zombies that try can feel our hell on their backs.
We're still speaking out and don't care if for that we're hated.
Still out to inform.
And above all else, still Damage Incorporated.
Still.
Written by THC Phreak <20> Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
CLOSING COMMENTS - {CLOSING}
"All hell can't stop us now." - Rage Against The Machine
This concludes another issue of the Damage, INC. Newsletter. However, there
aren't any real conclusions that I can draw at the end of this particular issue,
since it's such an eclectic mix of articles from different people. Still, it's
good to receive article submissions from our readers and witness the growing
interest surrounding this humble zine. It may not be the official magazine of
the Millennium, but obviously you're still reading it. And because of that
we'll keep on keeping you honest. As always, contributions from our readers are
always appreciated and most welcome.
Aside from that, there are a few words of advice that I'd like to impart upon
our readership. Don't just read, think. Although Phractal's advice to newbies
should be well taken, it lacks that critical word that means so much and should
never be forgotten from the process. Thinking is the key. It's the cornerstone
of it all, not just in "hacking" and "phreaking". It applies to everything.
And it's so important, that if I neglected to mention it every once in a while
it may end up being ignored. Therefore, I feel that it's almost my duty to
reiterate the importance of thinking from time to time in order to strengthen
the value and necessity of it. Don't just hack away, guess away, try defaults,
copy what you've read in text files, use existing exploits, or follow any set
of instructions. Think. Never be afraid to think and experiment. That's what
leads to discoveries. That's what leads to knowledge. Ultimately, that is how
you will gain experience. It's the path to no longer being classified as a
newbie or neophyte. Thinking is also what allows you to explore. Executing
a utility/program/tool/script doesn't. It is the only thing that will ensure
the flow of new ideas and an influx of intelligent, thinking people in the scene
from the younger generation. Thinkers help the scene. Thinkers create.
Afterall, that's what is needed most. Neglecting to think first before acting
has also been the downfall of many people in the scene over the years.
We've already written much about followers in the past and how they contribute
nothing. That's obvious though. Just as, it's easy to spot people that never
lead and always follow. To use a cliche, they're a dime a dozen. They are
what you should strive to avoid becoming. Think for yourself. Don't just
follow the leader, regardless of who they may be. Why should someone else
dictate what you think and how you think? Why should someone else govern your
life? Why should they control, while you conform? Why should they lead and
reap the rewards, while you just follow in their footsteps? Think about it.
Freedom of thought is an individual's greatest asset. Individuality is their
most valuable possession. Don't waste either by becoming a follower. Think
instead of following. As always, the choice is yours my friend. But if you
choose unwisely to ignore these simple words, it's at your own peril.
Note: We began writing this issue at the end of August 1999 and didn't finish
it until January 2000, so that's the reason there are articles, news and reports
which may seem a little dated to some people. Also, the 2nd anniversary of
the Damage, INC. Newsletter was in September 1999. We had planned to release
this issue then, but were unable to do so due to circumstances that I won't
bother explaining here.
Addendum: After a long hiatus -- too long -- we're back in black and ready to
fucking attack. Seriously though, we might've been out of the scene for a
while but we're definitely gonna be around well into this new Millennium, doing
what we do, only the way we can. Point blank. You can fucking count on that.
All hell can't stop us now... And if you don't believe it, just sit back and
watch us take things to the next level and beyond. It's what Damage, INC. is
and always has been about.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Quotes:
Blackie Lawless - "I think our readers should raise a glass and smoke a bowl
in celebration of the 2nd anniversary issue of our zine..."
Shatazar - "Keep 'em honest."
THC Phreak - "The Damage, INC. Newsletter is unabashedly, unashamedly itself!"
BLACKENED - "It's still a lean, mean, spittin' nails, fightin' zine. We're
still around in 2000, kickin' ass and stirrin' up the Canadian scene. I'll
have my *own* kingdom and my *own* queen." (That last line is a somewhat
famous quote, taken from the classic movie, Conan the Destroyer)
- EOF