398 DEAR HACKER

398 DEAR HACKER

“thank you” again and give you a dial tone. You can then call wherever except for international for some reason. I can call Canada, though. Sometimes it makes a loud whistling feedback noise and sometimes it gives you a dial tone but the keys don’t work. Could you clarify what’s occurring for this to happen?

I love your mag and still get it even though I’m incarcerated.

Noah

It’s hard to say exactly what’s happening, but there’s surely some sort of a drop down to a dial tone at some point, which might be the tiny click you hear. Or it could be the dial tone you get after the “thank you” that is bypassing the normal restriction. Then again, dialing 18 could be connecting you to a distant line some- where. The important thing is that you’re continuing to use your mind and figure things out while incarcerated which is always a good thing to do. These days, get- ting around dialing restrictions is less about the cost and more about just bypass- ing whatever controls are being placed on you. In a world where you can have unlimited long distance for next to nothing, these kinds of controls shouldn’t even

be around much longer. At least not for reasons of cost.

Dear 2600: Please stop all subscriptions addressed to the facility listed above. This

is a state hospital for civilly committed sexually psychopathic person- alities and sexually dangerous persons. It is inappropriate for them to receive this subscription. Your publication jeopardizes the security of our facility and places a risk to patients, staff, and the public.

Office of Special Investigations

We’ve been accused of a lot of things, but jeopardizing the security of a civilly committed sexually psychopathic personality is a first. We’re also not sure how such a person reading our magazine puts the public at risk but we’ll defer to your judgment on that. However, as the person(s) who subscribed to us at this institu- tion paid us for it, we must notify them and issue refunds for the unreceived issues. Hopefully, that won’t cause more grief.

BEHIND THE WALLS

Dear 2600:

I am a new subscriber to your magnificent magazine, enjoying the extended access to new technologies through you and Maximum PC, and a resident of Pennsylvania’s D.O.C. I’m writing in response to soursoles’ letter concerning AIM relay for prisoners.

The rumor of Internet access in prisons, Pennsylvania’s at least, is just that. A rumor. Unless an educational course requires it, inmates aren’t permitted to see a computer, let alone touch one. What little access I have had has shown a basic network with no Internet access. Security is surprisingly lax, but I attribute this to the basic inmate population being your usual Layer 8 idiots. Should I come across something with potential, I’ll be sure to share.

The phone system itself was upgraded to an automated system some time back. Since the upgrade, all phone numbers are pre-approved before calls are permitted. Even then calls are limited to one or two

a day, depending on your custody level. Calling cards are an option. This is just a credit to your account with the phone company, not an actual card. Unfortunately, the cheapest card for us is the equivalent of

a minimum-wage employee on the street paying $375 for a 40-minute card. That is a whole other can of worms though.

I appreciate your efforts in trying to aid family/friends of the incar- cerated. It almost reminds me of what it’s like to be amongst people again.

Thank you, 2600, for your notice of the need for change. Most people would sooner forget about us and our friends and families than help speak out about injustices we endure.

SN In recent months there has finally been attention given to the horribly unfair telephone