textfiles/news/hackers

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** What the average High-School public thinks of hackers **
** Or: "My High School newspaper had an article about    **
** Hackers and here it is"                               **
**                                                       **
**                  By Argon PhoenixFire                 **
**                                                       **
**        Call the following Apple Corps boards:         **
**                                                       **
**          Outworld Cat-Fur [209] 532-6753              **
**       Metalland ][ AE/Fur [503] 253-5300 AE/Fur       **
**           Dragon's Weyr BBS [201] 992-0834            **
**   The Doctor's Office AE/BBS 10 meg [214] 296-3660    **
**           Kevin's Watch Cat-Fur [312] 897-4221        **
**  Restaurant At The End Of The Universe [609] 921-1994 **
**                                                       **
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  Thanks to the Master Rogue, sysop of REALM OF THE ROGUES BBS (415) 941-1990,
due to the fact I stole the messages from his board, as well as COMMANDER YAJ,
CRAZY KEV, and THE ANIMAL.
 
  Also thanks to BETA RAY BILL, who let me use his name in the article as long
as his name also got on the by-line.  Our real names have been deleted and
replaced with our handles.
 
  The reason for me to put this article into a textfile?  I don't know...maybe
you'll find it interesting.  It's a little thing I wrote for the school paper,
the WILDCAT, and gives a pretty objective view of us...  despite the fact that I 
had to slant it a little to get away from the administration...
 
But, on with the show....
 
 
Page 2                              FEATURE                  February 28,1985
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Good hackers...                                           ...don't get caught
 
                ENTERING THE REALM OF THE COMPUTER HACKERS
 
                  by Argon PhoenixFire and Beta Ray Bill
 
  The small clock-radio in the corner lights up the room with the time:  1:10
AM.  Through the door he stumbles, walking over to the impatient computer in the 
corner.  A switch is flipped, and the screen jumps to life with strange symbols. 
Fingers tap the plastic keys, typing out a long string of numbers and letters.
From the phone erupts a series of tones, and then a ringing sound can be heard.
A click halts the sound, and a high-pitched beep comes from the speaker.  From
his computer comes a slightly lower tone, and words begin appearing across the
screen, sent from another computer thousands of miles away.  That is the scene
that is replayed every night by the mysterious group known as hackers.  Who are
hackers?  Hackers are people who use their computers and a modem, which lets
them talk to other computers over normal phone lines.  Hackers are a very
exclusive group.  In fact, most hackers are males between the ages of 12 and 19. 
However, hackers are most well-known for their "illegal" dealings that they are
involved with.  Newsweek reporter Richard Sandza found that hackers don't like
nosy reporters, and he received conference calls and threats from many.  Last
week, a student at Homestead High School in the bay area was caught changing
grades at the school's computer for amounts of money.  Of course, most people in 
Tuolumne County thought the Hackers only existed in the big cities.  They were
wrong.  In fact, Sonora High School has had several hackers on campus in the
past and present years.  Does this mean that Sonora High students can look
forward to changing their grades with a friend's home computer?  "Right now,
It's not possible," said one local Hacker.  "The school doesn't have their
computer set up on an outside line.  In fact, we know the password to the
computer, but there's no way to call in." Most Hackers talk to each other on
computer "bulletin board systems" (BBS).  One of these systems is THE REALM OF
THE ROGUES in the San Francisco area.  Here's an example of what a Hacker would
see:
 
  You enter the door to the small room.  Inside, you hear the wind blow.  The
fog makes things hard to see, but you can make out what is on the shining sign
that floats above your head:
 
  Welcome to The Realm Of the Rogues.
 
  Enter your password or hit >RETURN<
 
  (Each hacker has his own password, so they can't call as each other and annoy
one another)
 
Consulting the scrolls of membership...
   User #18387:  BETA RAY BILL
    Logon time:  1:14:38 AM
 
  The following are messages from actual hackers on THE REALM.  Some have been
edited for language and space.
 
From COMMANDER YAJ on Feb 13,1:48 PM
 
  Someone in Cupertino has been arrested for trying to break into Stanford to
try and change high school grades for money.  Let's be careful out there.
 
From THE ANIMAL on Feb 14,8:10 AM
 
  The person who is being charged for attempting to break into the Stanford
computer to change grades is a good friend of mine.  He isn't the one who should 
be busted but someone else is!!  I hope that justice will prevail and the person 
responsible will learn a lesson!
 
From KRAZY KEV on Feb 16,8:36 PM
 
  ANIMAL...THE AMERICAN JUDICIAL SYSTEM IS CORRUPTED.  THERE IS NO WAY YOUR
FRIEND WILL BE LET OFF THE HOOK.  (I'M SORRY TO SAY) I HAVE NO FAITH IN OUR
SYSTEM AND NEVER WILL, UNTIL THE DEATH SENTENCE IS A LAW IN ALL STATES.  AS FOR
YOUR FRIEND, I HOPE HE'S O.K.
 
From THE ANIMAL on Feb 17,7:42 AM
 
  Well so far my friend went to a hearing and it turns out that all they are
going to do is expel him from school.  He hasn't gone to court yet but that
shouldn't be too bad.  Good hackers should never be busted!  That is why they
are called "Good" hackers, right?  Only the hackers that make little mistakes
are the ones who get caught.  If you make a mistake,you deserve to get caught
for your own good!
 
  << The rest of the article was but a plug for the next in the 2-part series on 
hackers, was written by Beta Ray, and really sucked, was all lies, and so I
won't show it to you.  Soon he'll have his //C and modem working, so no doubt
you'll see him leeching.
 
And so ends the article. Thanks again to THE REALM OF THE ROGUES.
 
[Argon PhoenixFire/Apple Corps]
 
Outworld Cat-Fur    (209) 532-6753
Yukon Country BBS   (718) 627-5874
THE TARDIS BBS      (609) 448-1361
REALM OF THE ROGUES (415) 941-1990