444 DEAR HACKER

444 DEAR HACKER

The only real bummer in this is that I lost 350 bucks and that I can no longer phreak to bulletin boards. Plus I’ve gotta start trying to blue box

a 2600 over the payphone, which just isn’t as easy as it is at home. T.15

Quebec One wonders if there would be as much boxing if access to bulletin boards was

made affordable to everyone.

Dear 2600: The “Where Have All The Hackers Gone?” article in the Summer

1991 issue was relevant and personally powerful enough to bring me temporarily out of the “woodwork.” I admit I am guilty of the article’s charge of hackers “submitting to unacceptable terms and remaining underground like criminals.”

Contrary to some of the rumors I have heard over the years, I was never arrested, never had my house searched, nor had anything confiscated. To me, this seems like an absolute miracle due to the many security and law enforcement people who seemed intent on getting that “bas- tard, Lex Luthor.” And no, I have never betrayed the trust of those who were then colleagues to avoid trouble with the law.

Perhaps my belief in freedom of speech and its consequent visibil- ity, and not any alleged illegal acts perpetrated with a computer and modem, was what made me a target. 2600 has published my ar- ticles in many issues over the years. There were a number of other articles distributed electronically, which attempted to inform those who wanted to learn about the use and abuse of various technolo- gies. And of course, my affiliation with the Legion of Doom helped to enlarge the bulls eye.

I cannot say that my ego had nothing to do with writing “files,” as being recognized for accomplishments, however dubious as they may have been, had some gratification. The drive to “fix the system” by informing people of the insecurity of computer systems was more of a factor in writing files than my ego was however. In retrospect, I realize

A C U LT U R E O F R E B E L S

For two and a half years, I did not use a modem for any purpose, thus succumbing to the same fear that was mentioned in the article. Like Frank Darden, “I am a prisoner of my own hobby” with the obvious difference being that I am a free person. I will always live with the reality that my past transgressions may one day catch up with me. I never gained monetarily and I never acted with malice when I used my computer and modem. Yet I am still fearful. I suppose I am a victim of my own curiosity, the thrill of a challenge, and the enthusiasm of trying to inform others of what was out there. I was no “superhacker” nor “arch criminal.”

Today I use computers sparingly. Like most people, my computer use is limited to assisting me with tasks that are too tedious to do “manu- ally.” And for the record, any time I touch a computer, it is for strictly legal purposes only. It appears to me that as one gets older, one becomes more ethical. In my opinion, those who hold to the cliche “once a thief, always a thief ” are obviously misguided, narrow minded, and distrusting of humanity as a whole including themselves. People can and do change.

The Atlanta hackers — Frank, Rob, and Adam — have been sen- tenced to a life term of financial imprisonment. How can they pay the enormous fine levied against them plus their own legal fees, which I assume are astronomical, when most employers will not hire them in their field of expertise: computer science, due to their “background?” The punishment does not seem to fit the crime in this case.

It would be interesting to see a bulletin board that discussed hack- ing topics with some of the “old timers” who have gone underground along with the newly curious, while remaining within the boundaries of the law. But with the current state of eroded civil rights and “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality, only the bravest of people would agree to run it.

I am relieved to see some respectable businesspeople taking a stand for everyone’s rights, in the form of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Victims like Craig Neidorf graphically depict the unjust state of affairs and the need to protect the Constitution. Perhaps the activities of the EFF and the current awareness of civil rights abuses is the reason

I have finally acknowledged that I am indeed alive.