138 DEAR HACKER

138 DEAR HACKER

This Ahole took all my messages off my message machine, of which in my time there I had three. He probably listened to my phone calls. There were always clicks in my walls when using my latest phone/ message system. He changed my voice messages and took my messages off. He got into my TV and I cannot use my menu screen. He took the caption off and lowered my sound among other things. I don’t care how he does this. He stays up all night with no lights on and works on his computer. I moved—that was great! No. Somehow he’s here doing the same things. After two months, he is still a pain in my ass and causing me to be very sick.

Can I stop this, short of having his fingers cut off? How do I do this? Lily

We assume you’re asking us how to stop this and not how to have his fingers cut off. We strongly suspect you’re the victim of a rather large practical joke and/or an overactive imagination. We get many such letters and they all go along pretty much the same lines. Someone is terrified of a person who can do anything to their technology and who is unstoppable. It’s a great plot line for a movie but in real life it’s not so simple. But what is simple is getting someone to believe that such all- encompassing magic is possible. Once that’s achieved, you are completely under the person’s control because everything bad that happens will then be blamed on this person, thus making him more powerful with each technological misfortune. The symptoms you describe (apart from the feces and pipe tapping) are all quite common in everyday life. His being on a computer all night is almost certainly irrelevant to your problems. And it’s likely he will stop whatever provocations are aimed at you once you stop reacting as if he were evil incarnate. Such a percep- tion tends to inspire many such performances.

Dear 2600: Currently I have someone stalking my family from a location in Ohio.

Making a very long story short, he calls my house and my Caller ID shows a “token” telephone number. He can call back in a minute and

THE CHALLENGES OF LIFE AS A HACKER

the Caller ID will show a completely different number across the U.S. He has gone as far as to call the local police department and pose as

a member of my family claiming to have murdered the entire family. Needless to say the SWAT team showed up and the rest is history. My research shows that this perpetrator has done this before numerous times. The Ohio state police department is aware as is the local police department where I live. He has served time in prison for assault and drugs, so he is capable. I am trying to protect my family.

My question looks to you to figure out how to identify where he is calling from. Is there a way? I would so appreciate any help. Prior investigations have deadlocked at that point. Thank you!

ALI Let’s see if we have this straight. The police departments know who this guy is

and he has yet to be prosecuted? Why aren’t they tracing him themselves? They certainly have the ability. There are also all kinds of clues you can uncover if he is indeed stalking you, such as why you were selected, things he’s made refer- ence to, hints as to location, etc. But again, if you already know about his record (and presumably his name), then it should be easy for anyone with access to law enforcement to track him down. Without that access it becomes trickier but by no means impossible. Every case is different, which is why we can’t give you a surefire answer. But it sounds to us like you already have something to go on here.