937 lines
46 KiB
Plaintext
937 lines
46 KiB
Plaintext
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Computer underground Digest Sun Apr 19, 1992 Volume 4 : Issue 18
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Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET)
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Associate Editor: Etaion Shrdlu, Jr.
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Arcmeisters: Brendan Kehoe and Bob Kusumoto
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CONTENTS, #4.18 (Apr 19, 1992)
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File 1--The Good, the Bad, and Ugly Facts
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File 2--"Internet tapped for global virtual publishing enterprise"
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File 3--Medical Data Base (WSJ)
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File 4--re California drug forfeiture increases
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File 5--First Amendment semi-void in electronic frontier ??
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File 6--Summary of 2nd Conference on Computers, Freedom, Privacy
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File 7--SUMMARY AND UPDATE: alt.* Removal at UNL
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File 8--Those Evil Hackers (San Jose Busts AP Reprint)
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File 9--Nationwide Web of Criminal Hackers Charged (NEWSBYTES)
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File 10--"Hacker Ring Broken Up" (NYT)
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Issues of CuD can be found in the Usenet alt.society.cu-digest news
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group, on CompuServe in DL0 and DL4 of the IBMBBS SIG, DL1 of LAWSIG,
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and DL0 and DL12 of TELECOM, on Genie, on the PC-EXEC BBS at (414)
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789-4210, and by anonymous ftp from ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4),
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chsun1.spc.uchicago.edu, and ftp.ee.mu.oz.au. To use the U. of
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Chicago email server, send mail with the subject "help" (without the
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quotes) to archive-server@chsun1.spc.uchicago.edu.
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European distributor: ComNet in Luxembourg BBS (++352) 466893.
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COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST is an open forum dedicated to sharing
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information among computerists and to the presentation and debate of
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diverse views. CuD material may be reprinted as long as the source
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is cited. Some authors do copyright their material, and they should
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be contacted for reprint permission. It is assumed that non-personal
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mail to the moderators may be reprinted unless otherwise specified.
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Readers are encouraged to submit reasoned articles relating to
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computer culture and communication. Articles are preferred to short
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responses. Please avoid quoting previous posts unless absolutely
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necessary.
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DISCLAIMER: The views represented herein do not necessarily represent
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the views of the moderators. Digest contributors assume all
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responsibility for ensuring that articles submitted do not
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violate copyright protections.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Date: Fri, 17 Apr 92 15:07:13 EDT
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From: Jerry Leichter <leichter@LRW.COM>
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Subject: File 1--The Good, the Bad, and Ugly Facts
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CuD 4.11 contains a reprint of a DFP article by one
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"max%underg@uunet.uu.net". The article makes two broad sets of points:
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1. There is no real difference between the "good" hackers of yore
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and the "bad" hackers of today. His quotes from Levy's
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"Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution" demonstrate
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that these heroes were involved in such things as password
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cracking, phone phreaking, and so on.
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2. "Information" and "computers" should be free, hackers are just
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trying to learn, there is nothing wrong with learning.
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Point 2 I don't want to get into; it's old, tired, and if you don't
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recognize it for its moral bankruptcy by this time, nothing I can say
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will change your mind.
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Point 1 I agree with. I was there, and I saw it happen. In fact, I
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was involved in it. I broke into my share of systems, used resources
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without paying for them, caused accidental system crashes that
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disrupted people's work, and so on. (I never did get involved with
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phone phreaking. I was one of many who dug up the Bell System
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Technical Journal article that gave you all the information you needed
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to build a blue box, and I knew the technical details of several other
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tricks - but I thought that phreaking was theft even in the early
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'70's.)
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Max ends by saying:
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It is my contention that hackers did not change. Society
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changed, and it changed for the worse. The environment the early
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hackers were working in correctly viewed these activities as the
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desire to utilize technology in a personal way....
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In a way he is correct. (The rest of the paragraph continues with the
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usual pseudo-socialist twaddle about the evils of the profit motive,
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elitism, snobbery, and such, but we'll ignore that.)
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Moral decisions are not made in a vacuum. Nor, in a decent society,
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are laws chosen without a social and moral context.
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When the first "airplane hackers" began working on their devices, they
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were free to do essentially as they pleased. If they crashed and
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killed themselves well, that was too bad for them. If their planes
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worked - so much the better.
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After it became possible to build working airplanes, there followed a
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period in which anyone could build one and fly anywhere he liked. But
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in the long run that became untenable. An increasing number of planes
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became too much of a hazard, to each other and to uninvolved people on
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the ground. Further, people came to rely on air transport;
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interference with it came to be unacceptable. If you want to fly
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today, you must get a license. You must work within a whole set of
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regulations, regulations that may be inconvenient for *you*, but
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that's really too bad: You don't live alone, you live in a society
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that is entitled, in fact *required*, to protect its members.
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The same goes for many other technologies, ranging from automobiles to
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radio transmitters. Think about all the regulations governing your
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use of an automobile - not just the requirement that you be licensed,
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that you be insured (in most states), that you follow various rules of
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the road, but even that you have pollution control equipment that, for
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you personally, adds nothing but extra cost.
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Max seems to have no understanding of history, of how things change
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over time. He has no vision of the world that the early hackers were
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operating in. The computers they were hacking at were not being used
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for critical things. They were almost entirely at universities, being
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used for research. It's hard to imagine, with the reliable machines
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of today, but a system in those days that ran for 24 hours without a
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crash was doing very well. Yes, crashes caused by hackers were an
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inconvenience - but people expected crashes anyway, so they planned
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for them.
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Disks were small, expensive, and given to head crashes. Few people
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stored permanent data on them. There was little of interest to be
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found by browsing on most systems, and certainly nothing sensitive.
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Systems were stand-alone islands. There was no Internet; there were
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few dialins. Systems actually doing significant work, systems
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containing sensitive data - business and government systems - were
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locked in rooms with no external access. No one thought about hacking
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these because no one could get to them.
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Even in those times, what I and others did was at best ethically
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questionable. None of the people I hacked with ever doubted that;
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none of us doubted that if we got caught, we could get into trouble.
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As it happened, I was never caught - but several of my friends were.
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Their accounts were terminated, which could be a major inconvenience,
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as they had actual work to do on those systems. And in those days,
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running off to the local Sears and buying a PC was not an option.
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Let's not put halos on hackers past. The times were different; the
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systems were different. The social scale was different: The hackers
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Levy celebrates were operating within communities of at most a few
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tens of people, most of whom knew each other. Today's hacker works in
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an Internet community numbering in the tens of thousands. It's much
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easier to trust people you know or "might easily know". Besides,
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within those communities, even the people were different: Systems were
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not being used by non-technical people. Much of what we know now -
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about how to build secure systems, about the existence of deliberately
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destructive programmers - we didn't know then. The same actions we
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might have applauded in "the golden age" would draw only opprobrium
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today.
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This is not just a matter of *technological* change, nor is it a matter
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of society becoming less understanding: Even if the only thing that
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had happened between 1970 and today were that *the same* computers had
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been duplicated and had become widely used for important things, the
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argument would have remained the same.
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The following is broad generalization, but I don't think it's
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completely out of line. Today's college kids are caught in a time of
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diminished expectations. Whatever the actual *realities*, they must
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certainly look back at the romanticized '60's and '70's they hear
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about as a time of free sex without worry, wild parties with free
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consumption of drugs or alcohol, revolution and hope and grass in the
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air, and so on. They've been led to expect that they will start their
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lives at an economic level comparable to what their parents have
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today, but they also see that for many of them that will prove
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impossible to accomplish. The dissonance is painful; the feeling that
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somehow they've been cheated out of something they are due must be
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profound.
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Hacking, in the broad sense, has always provided an escape from the
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harsh realities of the outside world, escape to a world that seems
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manageable, a world in which the hacker could imagine himself superior
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to the "establishment" which everywhere else imposes controls on him.
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The '60's-style language, the pseudo-socialism, the utopian views of the
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world as an information-based commune within which greed and hate and
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the profit motive would all fade away, all this in the language of the
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cracker apologists is a clear echo of the rhetoric of the '60's.
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That's where those dreams spring from. America is no longer to be
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"greened"; it's to be "fibered" and "digitized". Timothy Leary no
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longer needs to preach dropping out through acid; he can now preach
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dropping out to virtual reality. There really isn't all that much of
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a difference.
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I'm sorry Max and his friends missed out on those wild and wooly
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times; they seem to come along every forty or fifty years or so, so
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perhaps their (our) children will see them again. I'm sorry that
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it must seem unfair and "elitist" to him that things we could get away
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with in those days bring severe punishment today. But history marches
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on; all of us, individually and collectively, must grow up.
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------------------------------
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Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 1:55:34 EDT
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From: <Michael.Rosen@LAMBADA.OIT.UNC.EDU>
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Subject: File 2--"Internet tapped for global virtual publishing enterprise"
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Computerworld, 3/23/92, p.?
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By Gary H. Anthes, CW Staff
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"At negligible cost, in the span of a few weeks, an entirely virtual
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global publishing network involving nearly 150 correspondents has been
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assembled," Anthony M. Rutkowski, editor in chief of the _Internet
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Society News_, wrote in the first issue of the magazine, which was
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recently published.
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The cover of the slick, 50-page publication asks, "Where in the world
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is the Internet?" The answer is nearly everywhere -- in 107 countries
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from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The 150 correspondents who make up the
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virtual publishing enterprise are similarly dispersed. "We have
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people in virtually every corner of the globe. We even have an
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Antarctica correspondent," Rutkowski said.
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The nonprofit Internet Society was formed last year to foster the
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evolution of the Internet, to educate users and to provide a forum for
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user collaboration. The quarterly news magazine offers information
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about Internet technology, growth of the Internet and related private
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networks and activities of the society and its members.
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A slippery concept
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Rutkowski, an Internet Society trustee and director of technology
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assessment at Sprint International in Reston, Va., said he started
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planning the magazine last August but ran into a conceptual challenge
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right away. "We wanted to provide a very timely snapshot of the
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Internet and the Internet community. But what is the Internet?
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That's what's difficult. It's so heterogeneous, almost amorphous."
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Rutkowski and two co-editors decided to define the Internet broadly
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and include representatives from many countries and interest groups.
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The correspondents come from telecommunications and publishing
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companies, academia and legal and public policy interests, he said.
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Topics include Internet activities by region, application and user
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groups, technology, Internet administration and operations, public
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policy and law.
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Concept development, coordination, information transfer and editing
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for the magazine were all done over the Internet. "Such a
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[publishing] network in many respects equals the complexity of those
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of Reuters or _Time_ magazine," Rutkowski said. "The ability to do
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this with relative ease across the entire globe is a profound
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statement."
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A subject-matter outline and a list of correspondents was turned into
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a "mail exploder," an electronic-mail list in which any person on the
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list can broadcast mail to the entire list by sending mail to one
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address. A second Internet address was established for receipt of
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articles by the three editors and a third was established as a
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repository of finished material.
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The mailboxes are on a computer at the Corporation for National
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Research Initiatives in Reston, Va.
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Articles were sent in by E-mail from around the world, and when all
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had been edited, Rutkowski pulled up the whole mass for final
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formatting via Microsoft Corp.'s Word for Windows. Then it was output
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on a laser printer and sent to a commercial printer.
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Circulation: 4 million
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Rutkowski said the magazine will be published quarterly and will soon
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be available electronically to any of the Internet's 4 million users.
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He said later this year the society will also publish a journal
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containing more analytical articles, "archival-quality" pieces about
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the Internet.
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Editors and correspondents of the _Internet Society News_ will have
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their work cut out for them as they try to keep up with Internet
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growth.
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An article in the magazine predicted there will be between 29 million
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and 45 million computers on local-area networks in the U.S. in 1995.
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
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Long reach
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The Internet extends
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to thousands of computers
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around the world
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Internet Society
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* 1000 individual members
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* 24 corporate members
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Internet
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* 770,000 computer hosts attached
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* 4 million-plus users
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* 7,000 operational networks,
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30,000 registered networks.
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* 107 countries served
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Source: The Internet Society CW Chart: Janell Genovese
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***
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[No e-mail addresses were mentioned in the letter; do you have any
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knowledge of the addresses of anyone involved in this publication?]
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------------------------------
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Date: 16 Apr 92 20:38:51 EDT
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From: Gordon Meyer <72307.1502@COMPUSERVE.COM>
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Subject: File 3--Medical Data Base (WSJ)
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IBM LINK TO PHYSICIAN COMPUTER NETWORK RAISES SOME QUESTIONS
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(paraphrased from th Wall Street Journal, 2/27/92)
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Unknown to the patients, every week or two a company dials into
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physicians' PCs and fishes out all their confidential files. With
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plans to reach 15,000 physicians within the next four years, the
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company, Physician Computer Network Inc., thinks its swelling database
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of patient records could become a commercial treasure. Fears about
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the sale of medical records are causing some physicians and
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pharmacists to resist the collectors' surveillance efforts. Others
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are pushing for legislation, noting that privacy law covers videotape
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rentals and cable-TV selections, but not most medical records.
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Physicians Computer Network has an impressive list of investors.
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Among them is IBM, which owns a 23% stake. Another holder, with 4.7%
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stake, is Macmillan Inc., part of the Maxwell electronic-information
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conglomerate.
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------------------------------
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Date: Sun, 19 Apr 92 18:42:40 PDT
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From: jwarren@AUTODESK.COM(Jim Warren)
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Subject: File 4--re California drug forfeiture increases
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>From autodesk!hibbert%xanadu.com Sun Apr 19 18:35:39 1992
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>To: cpsr-civilLiberties@Pa.dec.com, cpsr-activists@csli.stanford.edu
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>Subject: hearing on forfeiture laws in CA Senate Judiciary Committee
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The California Senate Judiciary Committee is holding hearings on
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Tuesday on proposed legislation to strengthen the state's drug asset
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forfeiture law. I hope the civil liberties connection in this issue
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is clear. The computer connection (why I think it's reasonable to
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talk about this on a CPSR list) is that similar laws have been used to
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justify the seizure of the assets of accused computer crackers. There
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is so little control of the use of these laws, and it's proven so hard
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to get property back in every particular case in which they were used,
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that I believe the laws should be fought every time they come up.
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According to yesterday's (Saturday, April 18) San Jose Mercury News,
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Senate Minority Leader Ken Maddy, (R) Fresno, introduced a bill that
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would repeal the 1994 expiration date of California's drug asset
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forfeiture law. State Attorney General Dan Lungren was quoted as
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urging the legislature to pass the bill.
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Forfeiture laws are an affront to our constitutional guarantees
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against being deprived of our property without due process of law.
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The forfeiture laws allow law enforcement agents to confiscate any
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property of an accused person and use it until and unless the accused
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can *prove* that it wasn't purchased with illegally obtained money.
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Does it make sense for CPSR to speak out against forfeiture laws in
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general? I think it's possible to take a position against this bill
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by saying that forfeiture laws are bad in general, without talking
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about drug laws or the drug war. Is that enough to allow us to take a
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position on this bill, considering the arguments that came up when we
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were talking about Les' proposed Employer code of ethics?
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------------------------------
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Date: Sun, 19 Apr 92 18:58:22 PDT
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From: jwarren@AUTODESK.COM(Jim Warren)
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Subject: File 5--First Amendment semi-void in electronic frontier ??
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IS POLITICAL SPEECH, PRESS & ASSEMBLY PERMITTED IN THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER?
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There is no purpose for which the freedoms of speech, press and
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assembly are more essential than for unfettered participation in the
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political process. Yet, such personal freedoms -- permitted in 18th
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Century voice, paper and face-to-face form -- may be severely
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suppressed in electronic form.
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Although *personal* computer-based speech, press and assembly
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by employees, students and others is generally permitted in
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companies, schools and organizations, within reasonable limits
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of time and place, some folks say they must be monitored, accounted
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for, evaluated and reported -- or suppressed and prohibited --
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when they contain *personal* political expression or advocate
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political support or opposition for candidates or ballot issues.
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There are experienced net-users who are political candidates who say this.
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THE PROBLEM
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Most folks access the nets via company, school or institutional computer accounts. Many are permitted to use that access for
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personal email, personal messages broadcast to email-alias lists and personal participation in public and private teleconferences --
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provided they do so without adversely impacting their work or official basis for having their account.
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But:
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Federal and state regulations governing political campaign disclosures
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require that "contributions-in-kind" for or against candidates and
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ballot measures be accounted for and their value reported, just like
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cash donations. Contributions-in-kind include such things as postage,
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office space, printing, loans of furniture, office machines, etc.
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They also include use of telephones, faxes, computers, computer
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supplies, computer services, etc.
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Furthermore, donations by corporations are often restricted or
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prohibited. Most nonprofit organizations, including educational
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institutions, are entirely prohibited from making political donations
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-- or even lobbying for or against legislation (freedom is forfeited
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for tax perks).
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OVERT CORPORATE SUPPORT IS CLEARLY REGULATED
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If a corporation overtly underwrites political action by
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intentionally providing labor, staff, facilities, equipment or
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services to support or oppose a political campaign, then the
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fair-market value ot those services or facilities must clearly be
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reported as an in-kind contribution.
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(Such regulations appear to be much less enforced against unions and
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schools, and appear to be not-at-all enforced against churches or
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synagogues, regardless of how sectarian their political efforts may
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be.)
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THE 21st CENTURY QUESTION
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Is *personal* electronic political speech, press and assembly protected at
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work or school -- or is it a corporate or institutional political donation?
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PERSONAL POLITICAL SPEECH APPEARS PERMISSIBLE -- BY VOICE
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Within reasonable limits on time and place, citizens are not
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*legally* prohibited from discussing politics with their office
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associates, or in the company or school or church hallway, or in the
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cafeteria or employee lounge, or in telephone conversations with
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callers and professional associates with whom they have a personal
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relationship as well as business association. (Note: This concerns
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*legal* restrictions; *not* the issue of whether political discussions
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are *wise* in a business, school or church setting.)
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PERSONAL POLITICAL PRESS APPEARS PERMISSIBLE -- BY PAPER
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It is also common for employees, students and teachers to use
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*authorized* access to printers and copiers, to create and copy
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*personal* leaflets about political issues and activities that they
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hand to friends and post on company, school, church and synagogue
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bulletin boards. When they do so within the institutional limits
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placed on their general personal use of equipment and bulletin boards,
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the use has almost-certainly never been reported as an institutional
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contribution-in-kind.
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PERSONAL POLITICAL ASSEMBLY APPEARS PERMISSIBLE -- FACE-TO-FACE
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It is common for corporations, schools, unions, religious
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institutions, etc., to permit their their cafeterias, lounges, union
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halls, meeting rooms and parking lots to be used for candidate
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presentations, campaign debates and meet-the-candidate(s) receptions
|
||
-- as well as for both public and internal meetings to hear
|
||
presentations by incumbent elected represenatives and/or by leaders of
|
||
various community, legislative and regulatory groups.
|
||
|
||
Participants are rarely charged for such use (except by sites that
|
||
routinely derive revenue from renting meeting space), and the value
|
||
of the meeting facility is rarely reported as an in-kind contribution to
|
||
the speaker(s). In fact, it is considered to be "good institutional
|
||
citizenship" for organizations to provide their facilities for meetings
|
||
between citizens and their current and potential elected and appointed
|
||
representatives.
|
||
|
||
CAN CORPORATIONS AND SCHOOLS ABSOLUTELY PROHIBIT POLITICAL SPEECH?
|
||
Now, consider those workplaces and educational institutions that permit
|
||
*personal* conversation, usually within reasonable limits on time and place.
|
||
And recognize that such personal speech may be one-to-one or within formal
|
||
or informal personal groups, e.g. a lunch group in the cafeteria.
|
||
|
||
When such personal speech and personal assembly *is* permitted:
|
||
* Must those companies and institutions then prohibit all *personal*
|
||
employee or student conversation that has political content?
|
||
* Must they prohibit all *personal* advocacy of political positions?
|
||
* Must they prohibit all *personal* advocacy for or against candidates?
|
||
* And if they don't prohibit it, must they monitor it and report it?
|
||
****************************************************************************
|
||
* If corporations and schools can not or should not suppress all on-site *
|
||
* personal speech and association having political content -- but must *
|
||
* report all in-kind donations -- then how shall they evaluate the desks, *
|
||
* offices, hallways, cafeterias, lounges, phones, phone bills, computers, *
|
||
* and bulletin boards where personal political speech, personal political *
|
||
* "press"/notices and personal political assembly occurs? And, how shall *
|
||
* they monitor such speech. press and assembly, so as to identify which *
|
||
* campaign is receiving how much value in in-kind contributions? *
|
||
****************************************************************************
|
||
|
||
AND, WHY SHOULD *ELECTRONIC* SPEECH AND *ELECTRONIC* ASSEMBLY BE DIFFERENT?
|
||
When *personal* conversation and personal political expression is
|
||
permitted by voice or telephone in workplace, union hall or school,
|
||
why should personal political speech be prohibited when it by
|
||
electronic mail?
|
||
|
||
When *personal* notices and copying and personal political leaflets
|
||
are permitted if they are on paper and/or posted on wall-mounted
|
||
bulletin boards, why should such personal political press be
|
||
prohibited when it is by electronic origin and distribution?
|
||
|
||
When *personal* meetings and personal political discussion in groups
|
||
is permitted if it is face-to-face in the cafeteria, lounge or parking
|
||
lot of school or workplace, why should personal assembly with others
|
||
be prohibited when it is by electronic newsgroups or teleconferences?
|
||
****************************************************************************
|
||
* TO THE EXTENT THAT employees and students, within their institutions, *
|
||
* are permitted freedom of personal political expression by voice and in *
|
||
* writing, and freedom of personal political association by face-to-face *
|
||
* meeting, why should personal political speech, press or assembly be *
|
||
* suppressed -- or monitored and reported -- merely when it is electronic? *
|
||
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 92 21:19:52 CST
|
||
From: jdavis@well.sf.ca.us
|
||
Subject: File 6--Summary of 2nd Conference on Computers, Freedom, Privacy
|
||
|
||
Source: CPSR/Berkeley Newsletter (Second Quarter, 1992)
|
||
|
||
THE 2ND CONFERENCE ON COMPUTERS, FREEDOM AND PRIVACY: A REPORT
|
||
|
||
By Steve Cisler
|
||
|
||
[Editors Note: The following are selected excerpts from an online
|
||
report. The complete report may be found on the Internet in
|
||
ftp.apple.com in the alug directory; or on the Well in the cfp
|
||
conference.]
|
||
|
||
The Second Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy, March 18-20,
|
||
1992. Washington,D.C.was sponsored by the Association for Computing
|
||
Machinery and thirteen co-sponsors including the American Library
|
||
Association and a wide variety of advocacy groups.
|
||
|
||
The diversity of the attendees, the scope of the topics covered, and
|
||
the dynamism of the organized and informal sessions brought a
|
||
perspective I had lost in endless conferences devoted only to library,
|
||
information, and network issues. I can now view the narrower topics of
|
||
concern to me as a librarian in new ways, and for that it was one of
|
||
the best conferences I have attended. There does exist a danger of
|
||
these issues being re-hashed each year with the usual suspects invited
|
||
each time to be panelists, so I urge you, the readers, to become
|
||
involved and bring your own experiences to the next conference in 1993
|
||
in the San Franciso Bay Area.
|
||
|
||
Keynote: Al Neuharth, The Freedom Forum and founder of USA Today,
|
||
speaking on "Freedom in cyberspace: new wine in old flasks." First
|
||
amendment freedoms are for everyone. Newspaper publishers should not
|
||
relegate anyone to 2d class citizens to the back of the bus. The
|
||
passion for privacy may make our democracy falter. Publishing of
|
||
disinformation is the biggest danger, not info-glut. Comments on
|
||
American Newspaper Publishers Assn to keep RBOCs out of information
|
||
business: Free press clause does not only apply to newspapers. Telcos
|
||
have first amendment rights too. "ANPA is spitting into the winds of
|
||
change", and some newspaper publishers are not happy with this stance,
|
||
so there is a lot of turmoil. People should get their news when, how
|
||
and where they want it: on screen or tossed on the front porch.
|
||
|
||
Who Logs On?: Al Koeppe of New Jersey Bell outlined the many new
|
||
services being rolled out in NJ at the same time they are maintaining
|
||
low basic rates. In 1992 there will be narrowband digital service for
|
||
low quality video conferencing. 1994 wideband digital service. video
|
||
on demand, entertainment libraries and distance learning applications.
|
||
He predicted a 99% penetration by 1999. with complete fiber by 2010.
|
||
This will be a public network not a private one. It will still be a
|
||
common carrier. This is a very aggressive and optimistic plan, an
|
||
important one for all of us to watch. Lucky said he had never seen a
|
||
study that shows video on demand services can be competitive with
|
||
video store prices. The big question remains: how does a business
|
||
based on low-bandwidth voice services charge for broadband services?
|
||
It remains a paradox. Discussion during Q&A: "A lot of the last hour
|
||
has been discussing how to make the services better for the elite, but
|
||
it does not seem very democratic. people don't even have touch tone,
|
||
let alone computers or ISDN." NREN was characterized as gigabits to
|
||
the elite to kilobits to the masses. "Don't expect anything for the
|
||
next three years on telecomm issues from Congress."
|
||
|
||
Computers in the Workplace: Elysium or Panopticon: Because computer
|
||
technology provides new opportunities for employee surveillance, what
|
||
rights to privacy does the employee have? Alan Westin, Columbia
|
||
University, outlined some interesting trends in the 90s where
|
||
employers have moved into a new intervention in the activities and
|
||
private lives of employees. There is a liability against bad hiring.
|
||
Forced adoption of drug testing (with public support). They want to
|
||
select employees on the basis of health costs and liability, so there
|
||
is a desire to control employees on and off the job.
|
||
|
||
Who Holds the Keys?: In a sense the cryptography session was one of
|
||
the most difficult to follow, yet the outlines of a very large
|
||
battlefield came into view by the end of the session. The two sides
|
||
are personal privacy and national security. Should the government be
|
||
allowed to restrict the use of cryptography? (Only weakened schemes
|
||
are allowed to be legally exported.) What legal protections should
|
||
exist for enciphered communications?
|
||
|
||
Public Policy for the 21st Century: "How will information
|
||
technologies alter work, wealth, value, political boundaries?... What
|
||
will the world be like in a decade or two?... What public policies now
|
||
exist that may pull the opposite direction from the economic momentum
|
||
and will lead to social tension and breakage if not addressed
|
||
properly?"
|
||
|
||
Mitchell Kapor: He sees digital media as the printing press of the
|
||
21st century. The WELL and others make us realize we are not
|
||
prisoners of geography, so our religious, hobby, or academic interests
|
||
can be shared by the enabling technologies of computers. "Individuals
|
||
flourish from mass society with this technology" Openness, freedom,
|
||
inclusiveness will help us make a society that will please our
|
||
children and grandchildren.
|
||
|
||
Simon Davies, Privacy International: "There is possibly a good future,
|
||
but it's in the hands of greedy men. I see a world with 15 billion
|
||
beings scrambling for life, with new frontiers stopping good things.
|
||
14 billion [will be] very pissed off, and our wonderful informational
|
||
community (the other billion) becomes the beast... If we recognize the
|
||
apocalypse now we can work with the forces."
|
||
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 92 16:31:12 CST
|
||
From: mike.riddle@inns.omahug.org@ivgate.omahug.org
|
||
Subject: File 7--SUMMARY AND UPDATE: alt.* Removal at UNL
|
||
|
||
As of April 17, 1992, when I write this summary and update, the noise
|
||
on the nets has abated somewhat. But those readers of the CuD who
|
||
have access to Usenet news have almost certainly seen and remember the
|
||
brouhaha over the deletion of the alt.* hierarchy at the University of
|
||
Nebraska. The following is the story, as I understand it, pieced
|
||
together from several sources and personal inquiries. It is only as
|
||
accurate as the information I was able to obtain, and if anyone has
|
||
corrections or additions, please submit them to the CuD.
|
||
|
||
The furor started on March 2nd, 1992, when the alt.* hierarchy was
|
||
eliminated by the UNL Computing Resource Center (CRC). The
|
||
termination was so abrupt that some downstream sites did not know in
|
||
advance, and had to immediately scramble for alternate feeds. The
|
||
decision was supposedly resource-based, and supported by a February
|
||
27th recommendation by the UNL Academic Senate Computational Services
|
||
and Facilities Committee. Almost immediately, however, it became
|
||
obvious that content-control had played a major part. Leo Chouinard,
|
||
the "Academic Senate representative on the Computational Committee"
|
||
[sic], reportedly said the committee discussed several considerations
|
||
before making a decision about the alt groups, including possible
|
||
violations of state pornography laws and concerns about computer
|
||
resources being used for non-educational purposes.
|
||
|
||
The memorandum announcing the termination read as follows:
|
||
|
||
CRC Policy on Providing Information Resources
|
||
2/27/92
|
||
|
||
The Computing Resource Center provides information resources to
|
||
the UNL community in support of the University's mission of
|
||
research, instruction, and service. These resources commonly take
|
||
the form of databases, archives, and bulletin boards. The
|
||
Computing Resource Center makes available those information
|
||
resources that are requested by faculty at UNL and approved by
|
||
the Computing Resource Center in consultation the Academic Senate
|
||
Computational Committee as useful in supporting the University's
|
||
mission.
|
||
|
||
If a user desires information resources not provided by the
|
||
Computing Resource Center, they are free to acquire that
|
||
information elsewhere, subject only to the requirements of the
|
||
information provider, relevant federal and state laws, and
|
||
applicable University policies.
|
||
|
||
Adopted UNL Academic Senate, 2/27/92
|
||
|
||
The UNL Academic Senate Computational Services and Facilities
|
||
Committee is chaired by Professor (of English) Les Whipp. He told me
|
||
that, in hindsight, he felt his committee did not have all the facts
|
||
before them when they concurred in the CRC recommendation that the
|
||
following Usenet newsfeeds (and only these newsgroups) be made
|
||
available: bionet, bit, biz, ci, comp, general, gnu, misc, news, rec,
|
||
sci, soc, talk, unix-pc, unl, and vmsnet. In particular, he was not
|
||
aware of the connotations of censorship that could (and did) become
|
||
attached to the wholesale removal of the alt.* hierarchy, and as of
|
||
the date I talked with him, felt that someone at the CRC had a hidden
|
||
agenda to remove certain "objectionable" groups. Professor Whipp did
|
||
not claim to be expert on the management of hardware resources, and
|
||
sounded disturbed that a decision officially based on "limited
|
||
resources" was so open to question on its basis. (The debate about
|
||
the percentage, cost, etc., of carrying the alt.* groups went on at
|
||
length in comp.org.eff.talk and other newsgroups. It is not my
|
||
purpose to reiterate that discussion).
|
||
|
||
Mr. Kent Landfield (kent@imd.sterling.com), a UNL alumnus, systems
|
||
manager at a major software contractor, and moderator of
|
||
comp.sources.misc, posted a thoughtful "Open Letter to UNL CRC"
|
||
regarding the alt.* group removal. As a result of my own feelings,
|
||
and encouraged by Mr. Landfield's letter, I contacted several
|
||
individuals at UNL. Acting at approximately the same time, a number
|
||
of UNL students formed the "Nebraska Students for Electronic Freedom
|
||
(NUSEF)." The thrust of our comments was if resources were at issue,
|
||
tell us what was needed and we would lobby to get them. If content
|
||
was actually at issue, admit it openly, apply generally accepted
|
||
educational/library standards, and bring back at least those alt.*
|
||
groups with recognized value.
|
||
|
||
As a result of the lobbying efforts, including telephone call from
|
||
Mike Godwin at the Cambridge office of the Electronic Frontier
|
||
Foundation, the involvement of librarians both knowledgeable
|
||
regarding computer services and resource allocation and selection
|
||
criteria, and the general education several of the faculty
|
||
participants received during the discussions, the UNL Academic
|
||
Senate Executive Committee, meeting on April 6th, voted to request
|
||
restoration of the majority of the alt.* groups. Their minutes
|
||
reflect:
|
||
|
||
7.0 ALT Network Disconnect
|
||
Wise and McShane indicated they had been contacted
|
||
regarding CRC discontinuing the ALT network because of
|
||
the potential for transmitting erotic pictures via the
|
||
network. Users have indicated these pictures can be
|
||
blocked under copyright law restrictions and the general
|
||
network be continued.
|
||
The committee requested the ALT network be added back
|
||
with the designated restrictions.
|
||
|
||
When I discussed the committee recommendation with one of its members,
|
||
I came away with the feeling that the digitized pictures would be
|
||
removed due to copyright concerns, and that the rest of the group
|
||
would be evaluated using American Library Association criteria (as
|
||
often advocated and explained by Carl Kadie, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu).
|
||
|
||
I also came away with the feeling that similar decisions will, in the
|
||
future, be conducted substantially more in the open. To use a trite
|
||
saying, "time will tell."
|
||
|
||
In Nebraska we are still waiting and watching for the return of the
|
||
alt.* groups, will work to obtain legislative support if additional
|
||
resources are in fact needed, and will continue to support resource
|
||
allocation decisions based on academic criteria, as opposed to
|
||
censorship.
|
||
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Date: 18 Apr 92 19:34:30 EDT
|
||
From: Net Wrider <nwrider@uanonymous.uunet.uu.net>
|
||
Subject: File 8--Those Evil Hackers (San Jose Busts AP Reprint)
|
||
|
||
Just FYI, here's more hyperbole from the Associated Press, this time
|
||
courtesy of the local cops in San Diego and the ignorance of the
|
||
San Diego Times-Union:
|
||
=====================================================================
|
||
R,A,7 - AM-COMPUTERHACKERS, 04-17 0481 -
|
||
AM-Computer Hackers,0448
|
||
|
||
Police Uncover Nationwide Fraud Ring Of Computer Hackers
|
||
|
||
SAN DIEGO (AP) _ Authorities say they've cracked a nationwide
|
||
electronic network of young computer hackers who were able to make
|
||
fraudulent credit card purchases and break into confidential credit
|
||
rating files.
|
||
|
||
"These kids can get any information they want on you _ period," San
|
||
Diego police Detective Dennis Sadler said. "We didn't believe it until
|
||
it was demonstrated to us."
|
||
|
||
The investigation has led to two arrests in Ohio and seizures of
|
||
computers and related material in New York City, the Philadelphia area
|
||
and Seattle, Sadler said. But those cases are just an offshoot of the
|
||
main investigation, he said.
|
||
|
||
He refused to discuss details, saying an investigation is continuing
|
||
and scores of arrests are pending nationwide.
|
||
|
||
Members of the informal underground network know how to break computer
|
||
security codes, make charges on other people's cards and create credit
|
||
card accounts, said Sadler.
|
||
|
||
"There's one kid who bragged about using the same credit card number
|
||
for eight months," he said.
|
||
|
||
As many as 1,000 hackers nationwide have shared such information for
|
||
at least four years. Sadler estimated that illegal credit card charges
|
||
could total millions of dollars.
|
||
|
||
Fraudulent credit card charges typically are made by computer
|
||
criminals who illegally gather detailed information from computerized
|
||
accounts on file at credit reporting agencies, banks and other
|
||
businesses.
|
||
|
||
The hackers also have learned how to break personal security codes for
|
||
automatic teller machines, Sadler said, and can obtain telephone
|
||
access codes to make long-distance calls without paying.
|
||
|
||
A crucial break in the case occurred in late March when an
|
||
out-of-state hacker was picked up in San Diego and agreed to cooperate
|
||
with local police and the FBI, Sadler told The San Diego Union-Tribune
|
||
in a story published Friday.
|
||
|
||
At least part of the investigation is focusing on information that
|
||
hackers obtained illegally from computers at Equifax Credit
|
||
Information Services, an Atlanta-based credit reporting agency that
|
||
provides information to lenders.
|
||
|
||
"We're still in the process of investigating, and we're working very
|
||
closely with San Diego police," company spokeswoman Tina Black said.
|
||
|
||
Equifax, one of the nation's three largest credit bureaus, has a
|
||
database of about 170 million credit files.
|
||
|
||
The company suffered no financial losses itself and is notifying the
|
||
few consumers whose accounts were compromised, Black said.
|
||
|
||
MasterCard International reported $381 million in losses from credit
|
||
card fraud worldwide in 1991, said Warner Brown, MasterCard's director
|
||
of security and fraud control.
|
||
|
||
Visa International's losses amounted to $259 million in 1989, about
|
||
one-tenth of 1 percent of Visa's worldwide sales volumes, spokesman
|
||
Gregory Holmes said.
|
||
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 92 15:17:00 PDT
|
||
From: John F. McMullen (mcmullen@well.sf.ca.us)
|
||
Subject: File 9--Nationwide Web of Criminal Hackers Charged (NEWSBYTES)
|
||
|
||
Nationwide Web Of Computer Criminal Hackers Charged 4/20/92
|
||
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 APR 20 (NB) -- .According to a San
|
||
Diego Union-Tribune report, San Diego police have uncovered "an
|
||
electronic web of young computer hackers who use high-tech methods to
|
||
make fraudulent credit card charges and carry out other activities."
|
||
|
||
The Friday, April 17th story by Bruce V. Bigelow and Dwight C.
|
||
Daniels. quotes San Diego police detective Dennis Sadler as saying
|
||
that this informal underground network has been trading information
|
||
"to further their political careers." He said that the hackers know
|
||
how to break how to break computer security codes, create credit card
|
||
accounts, and make fraudulent credit card purchases. Sadler estimated
|
||
that as many as 1,000 hard-core hackers across the United States have
|
||
shared this data although he said that it's unclear how many have
|
||
actually used the information to commit crimes.
|
||
|
||
Sadler added that he estimated that illegal charges to credit cards
|
||
could total millions of dollars.
|
||
|
||
While the police department did not release details to support the
|
||
allegations, saying that the investigation is continuing, Sadler did
|
||
say that cooperation from an "out-of-state hacker", picked up in San
|
||
Diego, provided important information to the police and the FBI.
|
||
Although police would not release the identity of this individual or
|
||
his present where abouts, information gather by Newsbytes from sources
|
||
within the hacker community identifies the so-called hacker as
|
||
"Multiplexer", a resident of Long Island, NY, who, according to
|
||
sources, arrived in San Diego on a airline flight with passage
|
||
obtained by means of a fraudulent credit card purchase. The San Diego
|
||
police, apparently aware of his arrival, allegedly met him at the
|
||
airport and took him into custody. The same sources say that,
|
||
following his cooperation, Multiplexer was allowed to return to his
|
||
Long Island home.
|
||
|
||
The Union-Tribune article linked the San Diego investigation to recent
|
||
federal search and seizures in the New York, Philadelphia and Seattle
|
||
areas. Subjects of those searches have denied to Newsbytes any
|
||
knowledge of Multiplexer, illegal credit card usage or other illegal
|
||
activities alleged in the Union-Tribune story. Additionally, law
|
||
enforcement officials familiar with on-going investigations have been
|
||
unwilling to comment, citing possible future involvement with the San
|
||
Diego case.
|
||
|
||
The article also compared the present investigation to Operation Sun
|
||
Devil, a federal investigation into similar activities that resulted
|
||
in a massive search and seizure operation in May 1990. Although
|
||
individuals have been sentenced in Arizona and California on Sun Devil
|
||
related charges, civil liberties groups, such as the Computer
|
||
Professionals for Social Responsibility, have been critical about the
|
||
low number of criminal convictions resulting from such a large
|
||
operation.
|
||
|
||
(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen//19920420)
|
||
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 92 0:35:50 CDT
|
||
From: Net Wrider <nwrider@uanonymous.uunet.uu.net>
|
||
Subject: File 10--"Hacker Ring Broken Up" (NYT)
|
||
|
||
"A Nationwide Computer-Fraud Ring Run by Young Hackers Is Broken Up"
|
||
|
||
SAN DIEGO, April 18 (AP) -- The authorities say they have cracked a
|
||
nationwide network of young computer hackers who were able to break
|
||
into the electronic files of at least one credit-rating company and
|
||
make fraudulent credit-card purchases that may have run into the
|
||
millions of dollars.
|
||
|
||
For the last four years or more, as many as 1,000 members of the
|
||
informal underground network have shared information about how to
|
||
break computer security codes, make charges on other people's credit
|
||
cards and create credit card accounts, said Dennis Sadler, a detective
|
||
with the San Diego police, whose officers stumbled upon the network
|
||
last month while investigating a local case of credit-card fraud.
|
||
|
||
The hackers also learned how to break personal security codes for
|
||
automated bank teller machines, Mr. Sadler said, and obtained
|
||
telephone access codes to make long distance calls without paying.
|
||
|
||
"These kids can get any information they want on you -- period," Mr.
|
||
Sadler told the San Diego Union-Tribune, which first reported on the
|
||
ring of hackers in an article on Friday. "We didn't believe it until
|
||
it was demonstrated to us."
|
||
|
||
The investigation has led to two arrests in Ohio and to the seizure of
|
||
computers and related material in New York City, the Philadelphia area
|
||
and Seattle, Mr. Sadler said. But he described those cases as merely
|
||
off-shoots of the main investigation, which he refused to discuss in
|
||
detail, saying that the inquiry was continuing and that scores of
|
||
arrests were pending around the country.
|
||
|
||
Computer criminals typically make fraudulent credit-card purchases by
|
||
gathering detailed information from the electronic files of credit
|
||
reporting agencies, banks and other businesses. MasterCard
|
||
International reported $381 million in losses from credit-card fraud
|
||
around the world last year, and Visa International says its fraud
|
||
losses amounted to $259 million in 1989, about 0.1 percent of its
|
||
worldwide sales.
|
||
|
||
At least part of the investigation here is focusing on information
|
||
that the hackers obtained illegally from computers at Equifax Credit
|
||
Information Services, an Atlanta-based credit-reporting agency.
|
||
|
||
Tina Black, a spokeswoman for the company, said, "We're still in the
|
||
process of investigating, and we're working very closely with San
|
||
Diego police."
|
||
|
||
Equifax, one of the nation's three largest credit bureaus, has a data
|
||
base of about 170 million credit files, but Ms. Black said fewer than
|
||
25 files had been compromised.
|
||
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
End of Computer Underground Digest #4.18
|
||
************************************
|
||
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