235 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
235 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
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[ ]
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[THE SHADOWY WORLD OF COMPUTER HACKERS]
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[ An Article on us 'Naughty Boys' ]
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[ Typed by: Shadow's Pawn ]
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[ Original article in U.S. News and ]
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[ World Report June 3, 1985 ]
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[ ]
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[ Converted to 80 Columns by ]
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[ The Slipped Disk ]
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[ ]
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[ The Fifth Precinct ]
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[ [502] 245-8270 ]
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[_____________________________________]
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Flash!: The FBI and private firms are cracking down on teenagers who use
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terminals to swap tips on how to break the law.
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The following article recently published in U.S. News and World Report (June
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3, 1985) reveals the shocking truth about the underworld of the Computer Hacker,
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or does it? This is basically educating thier reader on the crimes that are
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committed each and every day on bulletin board system around the United States.
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Read and enjoy...
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Shadow's Pawn/Control
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Want to learn the intricacies of picking locks? The recipe for nitro-
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glycerin? Or methods of making free long-distance phone calls? How about
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someone else's credit-card number for a shopping spree? Curious how to kill
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with your bare hands?
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Until a few weeks ago, all this was available to users of COSMOS, a comput-
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erized "bulletin board" run by a 16-year-old high-school student known as Time
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Lord to his fellow 'hackers,' or computer tinkerers. His board collapsed in
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late April after police and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
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the Secret Service came to his West Bloomfield, Mich., home. Dad took away the
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computer.
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Time Lord escaped arrest, but six high-school students in Waukesha, Wis.,
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weren't so lucky. On April 25, they were arrested in a seperate case for
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allegedly using stolen credit-card numbers to obtain thousands of dollars'
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worth of computer equipment. The numbers, said the Milwaukee Journal, were
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disseminated over a computer bulletin board called the World of Cryton.
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These incidents shed light on a shadowy subculture in which hackers- nearly
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all teenage boys- swap information and joust over who knows the most, and whose
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exploits are the most daring. To read their exchanges on computer monitors is
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to enter a world of bright young zealots whose talents at manipulating complex
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computers are often accompanied by a blithe disregard for authority. Some are
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barely in their teens and already are lawbreakers. Almost all come from
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affluent famlies.
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Messages that cross back and forth bring to mind a fraternity food fight, a
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detailed phone-system manual, a sex novel and a bomb factory rolled into one.
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many seem sophmoric --strewn with profanities questioning the masculinity of
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other system users.
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"The bulletin boards,"says FBI agent John Anthony in Detroit,"give this aura
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of Robin Hood, and young kids-particularly bright young kids- get involved in
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this as a challenge to the Establishment."
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MOST LEGITAMITE. Bulletin boards are do-it-yourself electronic-message
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systems. Anyone with a personal computer and a modem-a device that lets
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computers communicate over phone lines- can participate. Special software is
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needed to operate a board.
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More than 1,000 (GET REAL!) such bulletin boards exist now. The great bulk of
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them are totally legitimate. They offer to people with common in- terests an
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electronic meeting place to exchange messages about using their computers and
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software. Some boards are dedicated to a special interest, such as humor, law,
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education or health. Others allow users to order goods and are, in effect,
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electronic shopping services.
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"The subject matter ranges from software swapping to games to information
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about specific programs to finding the woman of your life," says James Cambron
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of Kansas City, who runs a bulletin board that distributes facts about other
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boards.
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But a minority of boards cater to interests distinctly outside the main-
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stream. On the political left, a Long Island board, called the Revolution,
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carries messages assailing President Reagan's Central America policy and calling
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for a campaign against the opening of a nearby nuclear power plant. When the
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user signs off, the system says, "Dosvedonia comrade"-an approximation of
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'goodbye' in Russian.
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On the right is a network of boards that attack blacks and Communists.Elec-
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tronic files called "Know Your Enemies" claim to provide details about Jewish
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organizations and 'race traitors". Their operators, according to the Anti-
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defamation League of N'nai B'rith, are right wing extremists who "seek to spr-
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ead their hate propaganda among young people, surely the most vulnerable to its
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influence."
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The segment run and used by young hackers, however, attracts the most at-
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tention from law-enforcement agencies and companies whose computers store vast
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amounts of information. John Maxfield, a Detroit consultant who monitors such
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boards for business clients, says they are strewn with material that is "either
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borderline illegal or outright illegal or encourages illegal activities."
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"PHREAKING." Telephone companies are especially upset about bulletin boards
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that contain sections devoted to "phreaking" - making toll calls free of charge.
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Phreaking includes such techniques as breaking into corporate switchboards
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through phone lines to make conference calls and using ill-gotten identifacation
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numbers for Sprint, MCI and other toll services.
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Explains maxfield: "If you're into calling bulletin boards, a big problem is
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phone-bill shock at the end of the month. So a lot of boards, while not
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catering necessarily to illegal activities, generate a lot of fraudulent calls."
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Many hacker-phreakers see nothing wrong with phone scams. " I only abuse
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people who charge too much for thier long-distance calls," says one called the
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Comedian, a 17-year-old from Bethesda, Md "I've heard some pretty bad things
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about the phone company."
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Reflecting the youth of most users, a hacker known as Access Finder recently
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said on a board in Colorado called the Operating Room that he had been inactive
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for a while because "my computer had a major [expletive] when my mother spilled
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water from the plants all over it." He then asked other users to supply him with
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"codes for anything, " including businesses,government agencies, phone firms and
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banks.
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Typical of the subterranean boards is one in Boulder, Colo., called Off The
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Wall. Operated by Psycho, the board requires the last four digits of a users
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phone number and a seven character password for access. To make certain that
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they are not infiltrated by police or security agents, most system operators
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subject new users to "character checks" before granting passwords or access to
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some of the systems' more dubious sections. Some operators demand references
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from other hackers and automatically look askance at anyone older then 20.
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"The bulletin boards out there have far better security than most corporate
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mainframes. and that's pretty frightening and astounding,"says former hacker
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Ian Murphy, now a security consultant.
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LAYERS OF ACCESS. Users with "Level I" security clearence on Off The Wall can
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read and leave messages on subboards dedicated to specific computer brands,
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product reviews and general announcements. The next level permits access to
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messages dealing with such topics as software trading and X-rated and
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destructive materials. The highest level brings one to messages providing
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passwords and access codes for commercial computers and details on ways to make
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illegal long-distance phone calls.
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Among some tidbits found recently on Off The Wall--
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o Excerpts from sexually explicit material published in Penthouse magazine.
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o Account numbers and passwords of Dow Jones News/Retrieval and CompuServe
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commercial data bases.
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o Personal identifacation numbers for various Sprint and MCI long-distance
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accounts.
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o Purported recipies for a biotoxin of wheat, a "cheap,very explosive,water-
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sensitive device" made with potassium and emptied cold capsules.
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Before its abrupt end, COSMOS, in addition to its message boards, carried long
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atricles on such subjects as making drugs, the basics of hand-to-hand combat,
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the ins and outs of the big TRW computers that house credit data on 120 million
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Americans, how to build devices for making toll free calls and ways to convince
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an operator that you work for the phone company. "It's amazing how many people
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know so much about our operators and how to use our system,"says Neal Norman, a
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district manager of corporate security for American Tele- phone & Telegraph.
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COSMOS also contained a subsection for "trashing"--searching a company's
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garbage for discarded credit-card carbons or computer printouts carrying
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valuable access codes. One trasher's advice: "Look everywhere and anywhere.
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People are dumb these days you can get good trash anywhere."
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PIRATES ONLY. Boards like POBBS-- Pirates Only Bulletin Board System-- in
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suburban New York are drawing notice from software firms trying to stamp out
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piracy of thier copyrighted products. Operated by Exorcist, a 19 year-old
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college student, POBBS exists mainly to allow users of International Business
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Machines personal computers to swap commercial software over the phonelines .
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Dozens of copyrighted programs,including Lotus 1-2-3 and Wordstar, are ava-
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ilable free through POBBS.
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Fun and games for curious teenagers? That's the attitude they often convey .
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"It's enjoyable taking risks,and it gives you a feeling of power because it puts
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you above most of the population," explains Demon of the Boston area.
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Victims of these teenagers are not amused. So seriously do long-distance
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companies view the problem that they formed the Communications Fraud Control
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Association to exchange information about illegal bulletin boards and lobby for
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stronger legislation. "One person with one code is not enough to give us much
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of a problem," says Van Willson, a security official for GTE Sprint. "The
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problem is that the little fellows start posting them on the boards."
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PRECAUTIONS. All of the major toll carriers, as well as TRW claim to moni-
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tor the boards closely. AT&T regularly briefs operators about fraud scams. TRW
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offers seminars on security for clients , who use it's service to check thier
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customers credit ratings. A key point: TRW people never call clients asking
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them to "confirm" thier subscriber numbers.
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Police also are looking at bulletin boards more carefully. But prosecution is
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sometimes difficult.Thomas Tcimpidis , a 34-year-old TV engineer in Calif-
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ornia, was arrested on state charges after someone posted a telephone credit
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-card number on his board. Tcimpidis argued that he was unaware that the stolen
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number was there. Charges against him were dropped last February. California's
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Legislature is being asked to outlaw the unauthorized placement of personal
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information on bulletin boards. State Senator John Doolittle intro- duced this
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proposal not long after New- sweek reporter Richard Sandza told of harassment by
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vengeful hackers angry about the article he had written on underground boards.
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One of them broke into a TRW computer, obtained Sandza's credit-card and Social
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Security numbers and published them on bulletin boards around the country.
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A RIGHT? Many law enforcers feel powerless against the boards. Using stolen
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code or card numbers is clearly illegal. Is posting those numbers on a computer
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bulletin board a crime as well ? Answers are murky. Some lawyers argue that
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this activity is a First Amendment right,no matter how unsavory.
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County officials in Phoenix interpret Arizona's computer-crime aw broad- ly.
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Reasoning that illegal toll calls are routed through a phone company's
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computerized switchboard, authorities recently arrested two system operators
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whose boards listed long-distance access codes belonging to others and char- ged
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them with facilitating computer fraud.
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So hackers are starting to feel the heat. Some say they are cutting back on
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thier activities. "A lot of people are very paranoid," says Shadow, an 18-year
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-old in New Jersey.
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Like Shadow, other young computer wizards now must weigh the thrills of using
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high-tech skills to challenge "the system" against the possibility of a criminal
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record.
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