404 DEAR HACKER

404 DEAR HACKER

Simple as that, opened cell door. But, of course, I have never done it. Attempting to escape is a serious charge.

Anyway, I got to thumbing through my newly received contraband, courtesy of the U.S. Postal Service, the Autumn 2009 issue of 2600 Magazine, and really wish I could take a picture of the payphones in here to submit to you. They are bolted to the wall. The receiver has no cord, but is sticking out of this oddly formed green box and all it has is

a touch tone keypad. That’s the best I can do because having a camera in here is another charge that carries a lengthy sentence.

My favorite part I love to read is your letters section. So I found it humorous to read a letter from Sc0ut. He asked a question, “When was the last time any of us sent or received a real letter?” I laughed because I can answer honestly and say nearly every day for over a year. If you want to write someone who truly values the timeless form of communication, write someone in prison.

After revealing obvious security flaws from within the system in this letter, I bring my next test. If this letter arrives, it proves yet another flaw. They didn’t read it. Or they didn’t care.

Nicko It seems like the facility you describe isn’t one of the high or even medium security

ones, so it’s not so surprising that there’s a very slight degree of trust there. We shouldn’t be surprised or outraged by this because it’s the ultra-security mentality that should be the exception to the rule, even among the incarcerated. We’re cer- tain you wouldn’t get very far if you opened your door, nor could any real contra- band come in through the mail undetected. Receiving our magazine should not be considered a security risk, even though it’s often categorized that way by various prison wardens who simply don’t get what we’re all about. Unfortunately, there are some who will even see this letter as a risk and thus deny the entire publication to an inmate. Knowledge and dialogue are not inherently a bad thing. Education is often considered a true threat, however, to those in charge. In the end, its absence invariably leads to a worse environment for all concerned.

We would have printed your address so you could get some letters, but we’re happy to see that your incarceration has come to an end.

BEHIND THE WALLS

Dear 2600: Greetings. I wrote with a question a couple of issues ago but never re-

ceived a response or an answer in vowels and consonants but, because of a very strange happening, I thought I would write about this strange happening and re-ask my original question.

I am a subscriber who is incarcerated and, due to this fact, I have limited abilities at finding things for myself. Because I want to start a business when I get out, I have been making plans and, of course, those plans include a company name. I want to secure my company “do- main name” now but cannot seem to find the way to register the name for the Internet. I have written to several places including Verizon and Internic but neither responded. Any help you could provide or that a reader could provide would be greatly appreciated. I have no computer access here.

Now the strange thing that happened: When my hacker quarterly Volume 26, Number 3 arrived, I headed straight to my bunk for hours of great mind stimulating reading. When I opened up the envelope, I noticed a white sheet of paper encircling my issue. Now, because I am incarcerated and have witnessed many things the system will deny ever happened, I became immediately suspicious. Removing the white paper revealed in large letters:

PUBLICATION(S) REVIEWED & APPROVED BY MSCP ET/MSCP All in uppercase letters (like I write in, sorry). Now, nobody here seems

to have ever heard of MSCP or ET/MSCP. But it becomes stranger. As I looked at my copy, I noticed two small

light blue plastic streamers sticking out and opening to the pages. They are clear plastic with mild stickiness. These are definitely made for marking pages. The pages, 15 and 19, contained the “Google Calling” and “Free Trials” articles.

Because of where I am, I want to say that the institution did this. But the name of the division that does that here is the Director’s