396 DEAR HACKER

396 DEAR HACKER

Dear 2600: First, I need to thank you. I have thoroughly enjoyed your magazine for

a few years now. I’ve learned a ton and it’s been very useful in convey- ing the mentality that so many of us share to the outside world. Many times, I’ve answered questions by simply presenting your magazine to the curiosity seekers.

Second, I was 17 when the FBI first raided my home. I was 19 the second time around. I was 21 when I was sentenced in 2005 to 17.5 years in federal prison. And because of my charges and what I had ad- mitted to doing and what I was told to expect, that sentence was quite

a shock. No, not pedophilia or even sex-related. Not drug-related. A minor role in a credit card fraud scheme. The judge apparently was none too happy with me, giving me the statutory maximum.

I would love to write an article for you describing what exactly it’s like to go from bad to worse to worst. A report from the front lines, if you will. My hope is that in the “unlikely” event that any 2600 readers are ever charged by the feds, they won’t receive five to six times the sentence they expect, as did I. I would most like to spread the word about how dirty feds can, and will, play. And a few points to watch out for.

Let me know if you might like me to write you a little article. And thanks again guys.

Jason C. By all means, write the article. Your story serves as a reminder to those who may

not yet know it that the prosecution will do anything — including lying to you —to secure a conviction. Putting people away is their business. While there are many overly expensive, incompetent, and dishonest lawyers out there, you are still far better off getting one rather than trying to work things out with the authorities on your own. We’ve heard so many horror stories of people getting screwed at sen- tencing and with today’s prosecutorial climate, it’s bound to get even worse. And, needless to say, this sort of thing does nothing for rehabilitation.

BEHIND THE WALLS

Dear 2600:

I am a 16-year-old male, currently incarcerated in an all-male juve- nile treatment facility. As you can imagine, being here is quite boring and I still have four to six months ahead of me. Most of the people here are the “cool” kids. You know, the ones that listen to rap music and smoke weed. The ones who think we’re “losers” because we sit in front of our monitors whenever possible. Well, turns out quite a few of them respect me. I was quite surprised to see that a few people picked up my issue (22:1) and read it. When I got 22:2, people were fighting over who got to read it first after me. Pretty crazy, right? A few people actually approached me and asked if I’d teach them about computers and stuff. So I started with basic hardware, basic TCP/IP stuff, etc. The thing about it is I’m just so shocked that the people we’d expect to not accept us actually do. Hopefully, this trend keeps up and we start becoming more generally accepted. Just thought it would be nice to share my experiences.

Undefined32 It’s not really a trend, just that part of humanity that allows us to accept people for

who they are and for what we can learn from them. It probably wasn’t the lesson you were sent there to learn but it’s a good thing nonetheless.

Dear 2600: I’m currently at a halfway house in Oklahoma. I figured out a trick

with the phones here and now everyone calls long distance for free. But what I’d like to know is what kind of system are these phones based on that would allow us all to make free calls? Here’s what we do: we pick up the handset and dial 18, count to three slowly or wait for a tiny click from inside the phone (I have to count because I’m hard of hearing), then press 00 and quickly press one or two numbers eight times. (I like pressing 7 and 8 back and forth... makes a cute jingle.) An operator will say “thank you” and if you did it right it will say