68 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
68 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
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CRAIG NEIDORF DEFENSE FUND
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Most of you know about the PHRACK trial and Craig Neidorf, the
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publisher of PHRACK. Craig put his neck on the line to provide
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timely, interesting, and helpful information to the phreak/hacker
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community. The government decided to put a stop to that flow of
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information so last summer they arrested Craig for publishing a
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PHRACK article on Bell South's Emergency 911 system, an article
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which contained a document which was illegally downloaded from Bell
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South's computer system.
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The government's case fell apart after it was revealed that the
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document, originally valued at $79,449 by Bell South, was
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obtainable by dialing an 800 number and paying $13. This, and the
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fact that Neidorf was not the one who accessed Bell South's
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computer, caused the government to drop the charges and set Craig
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Neidorf free.
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Good news, right? Well it is and it isn't. While the government
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lost its case, Craig Neidorf will no longer be publishing PHRACK,
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so the government still wins. The fact is that although Craig won
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in court, he must still pay his own attorney's fees. His original
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bill reached over $200,000! The law firm that he had retained found
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ways to reduce $100,000 off of that amount, but Craig and his
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family have still paid $35,000 to one firm, $8,000 to another, and
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have roughly $65,000 left to pay off. THIS IS AFTER "WINNING" IN
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COURT!
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No, he cannot sue the government for this money. He has to pay it
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himself. A lot of people seem to think that the Electronic Frontier
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Foundation (EFF) is going to help him with his legal bills. No way.
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The EFF does not want to be perceived as a "hacker defense fund" so
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they are trying to distance themselves from the case. Their only
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help in the matter was to pay for court motions filed by the EFF's
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law firm on Neidorf's behalf concerning the First Ammendment. THE
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EFF HAS NO PLANS AT THIS TIME TO HELP PAY NEIDORF'S ATTORNEY FEES.
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What this means is that Craig Neidorf, after being harrassed and
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arrested by the government for PUBLISHING A MAGAZINE, will shut his
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magazine down and pay approximately $100,000 in attorney fees EVEN
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THOUGH HE WON HIS COURT BATTLE.
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If you're as outraged by this as I am, I want you to know that you
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can do something about it. You can show Neidorf how much you valued
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PHRACK and how outraged you are about what happened to him by
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sending money to the Neidorf Defense Fund. Every cent that you send
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will be used to defray his attorney fees. The address is:
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NEIDORF DEFENSE FUND
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Attn: Sheldon Zenner
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Katten, Muchin & Zavis
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525 West Monroe Street #1600
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Chicago, Illinois 60606-3693
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Checks *MUST* be payable to "Katten, Muchin & Zavis" and have
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"Neidorf Defense Fund" written in the memo field.
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You can help even more by downloading this message and uploading it
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to as many other BBSes as you possibly can. It's available on
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&TOTSE, 415/935-5845, as NEIDORFD.ZIP. Also, if you're a caller on
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&TOTSE and you send Neidorf a check for $25 or more, send me a
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photocopy of the cancelled check and I'll give you 250 file
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transfer credits. &TOTSE's mailing address is: Jeff Hunter, & the
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Temple of the Screaming Electron, P.O. Box 5378, Walnut Creek, CA,
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94596.
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