                              ==Phrack Classic==

                     Volume Three, Issue 32, File #10 of 12


                        KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL

                              K N I G H T L I N E

                              Issue 001 / Part I

                            17th of November, 1990

                              Written, compiled,

                           and edited by Doc Holiday

                        KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL

                                      ---

    Welcome to the 5th year of Phrack and the first edition of KnightLine!

                                      ---
SunDevil II: The witch-hunt continues..

I hate to start out on such a sour note, but:  Inside sources have reported an
enormous amount of Secret Service activity in major U.S.  cities.
Furthermore, sources claim that new investigations are underway for the
prosecution of all Legion Of Doom members.

The investigations have "turned up" new evidence that could bring about
the sequel to SunDevil.

This information comes from reliable sources and I suggest that all precautions
should be taken to protect yourselves from a raid.

Some good advice to follow:

A>   Refrain from using "codes", or other means to commit toll fraud.

B>   Further yourselves from those who are overwhelmed with desire to tell
     you their recent conquests of computer systems.

C>   Refrain from downloading or storing stolen Unix source code.

D>   Get rid of anything that might incriminate you or your peers.

E>   Stay cool, calm, and collected.


The Conflict has submitted a file to KL about what to do IF YOU ARE raided.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

                 Simple Guidelines To Follow If You Encounter
               Law Enforcement Agents In An Unfriendly Situation

     The current state of the Computer Underground is an extreme turmoil.
     The recent threat of another series of witchhunt raids has put many
     people into a state of paranoia, and rightfully so.  Noone needs to
     deal with all the bullshit associated with a bust.  I am offering a
     few guidelines to follow if you encounter a precarious situation
     instigated by a law enforcement agent; of course, it is up to you to
     decide what you want to do.  Of the people whom I have spoken with,
     these will be some of the best steps to follow if you receive an
     unexpected visit.

          Probably the first thing you would want to do if you receive an
     unfriendly visit from Joe Fed is to READ the damn warrant.  Find
     out why you have been chosen, and what they are looking for.  Also,
     remember that if they have only a search and seizure warrant, they
     are warranted only to confiscate items on your premises; however, if
     they are serving a subpoena, they may take what they need, on or off
     your premises.  So, in essence, the clean-house preventive measure
     may or may not be useful to you.

          An important thing to do when Agent Foley (or one of his lesser
     evil counterparts) comes knocking on your door is to cooperate fully.
     Drop a lot of "Yes sir"/"No sir" answers; respond politely.  You're
     in no position to be a smart ass, and being friendly surely can not
     hurt you.

          Another important thing to remember, although it is almost
     opposite of the aforementioned, has to do with what to say.  In
     essence, do not say a fucking thing if you are questioned!  Remember,
     anything you say or do can and WILL be used AGAINST you in a court of
     law.  Simply reply, "I can not answer any questions without counsel",
     or "I first must contact my attorney."  You need not answer a damn
     thing they ask of you without an attorney present, and it would most
     probably be very detrimental to do so.

          This hint parallels the previous one.  No matter what you do,
     do not reply to any question with "I don't know anything", or any
     simple derivation of that phrase.  If you do, and you are indicted,
     you will be reamed in court.  The presence of that statement could
     greatly damage your defense, unless you are conditionally mental or
     something.

          In essence, those are all you should need.  What I have outlined
     is very simple, but logical.  You need to keep a level head at least
     while they are on site with you; get pissed off/psycho later, after
     they leave.  If you are currently an active member of the Computer
     Underground, you may wish to lose anything that is important to you,
     at least temporarily.  Why?  Well, the analogy I was given follows
     that:  if you were suspected of racketeering, the feds could execute
     a search and seizure on your property.  If they can prove by 51% that
     ANY of the confiscated material COULD have been used in your suspected
     racketeering, it is forfeited (i.e. you lost it, for good).  The
     forfeiture stands whether or not you are indicted or convicted!  So,
     you would be entirely screwed.

     All of the aforementioned steps are important.  Those are all I really
     have to offer.  I suggest that you get clean before the sweep occurs,
     and that you stay clean until after the sweep clears.  Exercise
     extreme caution.  Keep your head high, and keep your back to the wall
     (otherwise, it would be quite possible to find a knife lodged in it).
     Stay safe, and good luck!

     The Conflict
      11-13-1990

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***UPDATE.11/16/90:  3 Hackers are DOOMED to prison

     Frank Darden (Leftist), Adam Grant (Urvile), and Robert Riggs (Prophet)
were sentenced Friday.  Robert, who was currently on probation before the
incident was sentenced to 21 months in a federal prison.  Frank and Adam were
received sentences of 14 months.  All three were ordered to pay $233,000 in
restitution.

     Kent Alexander, an assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case, was
not available for comment.

                                      ---
     This is not good for the Underground at all.  I'm sure the government will
use the outcome of this to their advantage in speeding up the momentum of
prosecuting hackers.  In their eyes, everyone is in LOD.

     Dale Boll, a special agent of the Secret Service in Washington, said
"Telephone companies are preparing for a retaliation from the hacking
underworld and are beefing up security at all ends of the wire."

     I can't verify or validate these rumors of retaliation.  But I can say if
you are going to do some sort of retaliation, I would think twice-- It could
make things worse.  This is not a "game" we are playing.  No, it's reality.
And I'm sured Frank, Adam, and Rob are feeling it right now.
                                      ---
A few words from Erik Bloodaxe on the sentences:

"I'm not surprised in the least at the sentencing.  However, I'm sure the three
of them are.  I wish I could ask them if all the singing was worth-while in the
long-run.  How can anyone hope to make a deal with federal officals, who with
in the past year, resorted to such lies and deceit.  Everyday I think all this
will be over and I can get on with my life and possibly use my own computer to
write a term paper without fear of it's confiscation due to who or what I know
or have seen or done in the past.  Perhaps this will end eventually, but until
then Mr.  Cook will play on the peoples inherient fear of technology and
exploit everyone in his past on his personal crusade for his own twisted view
of justus.  Are you or have you ever been a member of the Legion of Doom?  Tell
me, do you believe in reincarnation Senator McCarthy?"

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            "The weirdest part of my dream was... when I woke up."

                          And now.... .. ANNOUNCING:

                               The first annual,

                              X M A S C O N  '90

                              Where: Houston, TX
                         When: December 28th-30th 1990
               Who: All Hackers, Journalists, and Federal Agents

     Well, it's getting closer.. XmasCon is next month and we plan on having
the biggest gathering of Hackers & Feds since SummerCon '88!

     This event was going to be private until word got out.  A journalist
(unnamed) found out about the private event and decided to make it public news
in the magazine for which he writes.  Well, after seeing the words: "XMASCON"
in a magazine with less readers than Phrack, we decided to announce it
ourselves.  So, here it is-- Your OFFICIAL invitation to the gathering that
should replace the painful memories of SummerCon'90 (SCon'90? What do you mean?
there was a SummerCon this year? HA. It surprised me too).

                              Hotel Information:
                                 La Quinta Inn
                               6 North Belt East
                                (713) 447-6888
                  (Located next to Intercontinental Airport)

                       Fees: $44.00+TAX a night (single)
                          $56.00+TAX a night (double)

                         Government Discount (With ID)
                          $49.00+TAX a night (single)
                          $37.00+TAX a night (double)

                                1-800-531-5900


Call for reservations in advance.  Please tell the registar that you are with
XmasCon'90.  Everyone is welcome to attend, and I do mean EVERYONE.


Take care & see you at HoHoCon!

                   --DH

_______________________________________________________________________________

                           F R O M   T H E   W I R E


HEADLINE  Thirteen Arrested For Breaking Into University Computer
          Byline:   PAT MILTON
DATE      08/16/90
SOURCE    The Associated Press (ASP)
          Origin:   FARMINGDALE, N.Y.
          (Copyright 1990.  The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)


* FARMINGDALE, N.Y.  (AP) _ Thirteen computer hackers ranging in age from 14 to
32 were charged Thursday with breaking into the mainframe computer at a
university in Washington state and causing costly damage to the files.  One of
the suspects is a 14-year-old high school student from New York City who is
also a suspect in last November's break-in of an Air Force computer in the
Pentagon, according to Senior Investigator Donald Delaney of the New York State
Police.  The student, who used the name "Zod" when he signed onto the computer,
is charged with breaking into the computer at the City University of Bellevue
in Washington in May by figuring out the toll-free telephone number that gave
students and faculty legitimate  access to the system.

"Zod," who was not identified because he is a minor, maintained control over
the system by setting up his own program where others could illegally enter the
system by answering 11 questions he set up.

More than 40 hackers across the country are believed to have gained illegal
access to the system since May, Delaney said.  As a result of the break-in,
university files were altered and deleted, and consultants must be hired to
reprogram the system, Delaney said.  In addition to the arrests, search
warrants were executed at 17 locations on Thursday where officers confiscated
$50,000 worth of computers and related equipment.  Three more arrests were
expected.  Two of the 13 arrested were from Long Island and the rest were from
the New York boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx.
Farmingdale is on Long Island.  The 13 were charged with computer tampering,
computer trespass, unauthorized use of a computer and theft of services.  The
juveniles will be charged with juvenile delinquency.

The investigation began two months ago after a technician at the university
noticed "error message" flashing on the computer screen, indicating someone had
entered the system illegally.  The suspects were traced through subpoenaed
telephone records.  * Many hackers break into private computer systems for the
pure satisfaction of cracking the code, and also to obtain sometimes costly
computer programs, Delaney said.
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_______________________________________________________________________________


HEADLINE  US Sprint helps business customers battle PBX fraud
DATE      09/25/90
SOURCE    BUSINESS WIRE (BWR)


KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--US Sprint Wednesday announced its corporate
security department will help the company's business customers battle PBX
fraud.  After producing significant results in fighting code abuse US Sprint is
directing their efforts to help their business customers in identifying and
preventing computer hackers from infiltrating their business customer's owned
or leased telephone switching equipment.  ``Unauthorized use of our
long-distance service has been greatly reduced through increased detection,
prevention, investigation and prosecution efforts,'' said Bob Fox, US Sprint
vice president corporate security.

``Now rather than attacking a long-distance carrier's network in * an attempt
to steal authorization codes, computer hackers are attacking private companies'
and governmental agencies' Private Branch Exchanges (PBX's).  Computer
hackers break into private telephone switches in an attempt to reoriginate
long-distance calls, which are then billed to the businesses.  Fox says a
business may not discover its telephone system has been ``hacked'' until their
long-distance bill is received and then it may be too late.  Help is on the way
however.  US Sprint has started a customer support program to help the
company's business customers to combat the situation.  Del Wnorowski, US Sprint
senior vice president-general counsel said, ``The new program is customers
about the potential for telecommunications fraud committed through their owned
or leasesd switching equipment and to assist them in preventing this type of
illegal activity.'' US Sprint is a unit of United Telecommunications Inc., a
diversified telecommunications company headquartered in Kansas City.

CONTACT:
US Sprint, Kansas City.
Phil Hermanson, 816/276-6268
_______________________________________________________________________________


HEADLINE  Fax pirates find it easy to intercept documents
DATE      09/10/90
SOURCE    Toronto Star   (TOR)
          Edition:  METRO
          Section:  BUSINESS TODAY
          Page:     B4
          (Copyright The Toronto Star)


          ---      Fax pirates find it easy to intercept documents         ---

TOKYO (Special) - Considering that several years ago enthusiastic hackers began
breaking into computer systems worldwide to steal valuable information, it
could only have been a matter of time before the same problem surfaced for
facsimile machines.  Now, officials of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public
Corp.  report evidence that this has been happening, not only in their own
country but around the globe.  Apparently, anyone with just a little knowledge
of electronics can tap fax messages being sent from one of these relatively
unsophisticated machines to another, with the duplication printed out on the
pirate's facsimile machine.  Both the sender and the receiver of the faxed
document remain completely unaware that they have been bugged.  "I shudder to
think of some of the business documents which only recently moved over my
company's fax machines being examined by our competitors," one Tokyo executive
nervously admits when informed that there has been a proliferation of tapping.
"You don't think the tax people are doing it too?" he then asks in mock terror.

     It is certainly a frightening thought.  The technique involves making a
secret connection with the telephone line of the party whose fax messages are
to be intercepted.  That is all too easy to accomplish, according to officials
of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone.  Apart from a few special cases, very little
has been done to guard against outside tapping.  As a result, one of the most
vulnerable areas - and one most businessmen and women now should begin to feel
unsure of - is the privacy or security of the facsimile machine.  Technical
attention to this problem is in order.

     "The idea that somewhere out there is 'Conan the Hacker' who is reading my
fax correspondence as readily as I do sends chills up my spine," says one
American businesswoman here.  "There could be a lot of trouble for me and up to
now I didn't even realize it was possible." It is not only possible, but easy.
Ordinary components available at any electronics store can be used.  With these
in hand, tappers can rig up a connection that sets off a warning signal,
without the sender or receiver realizing it, whenever a fax message passes
along the telephone line.  Considering the growing volume of highly
confidential material being sent and received via fax equipment, the resulting
leaks can be considered highly dangerous to the security of corporate
information.

     In Japan alone it is estimated that there are 3.7 million
machines in operation.  Given the nature of these tapping operations, it would
appear to be extremely difficult for companies to determine whether they are
suffering serious damage from this process.  In addition, it is clear that a
great many corporations have yet to realize the extent of the threat to their
privacy.  "If more business executives recognized what is going on," suggests
one Japanese security specialist, "they would move now to halt the opportunity
for leaks and thus protect their corporations from this type of violation." He
went on to note that third parties mentioned in fax messages also can be badly
hurt by these interceptions.  Fortunately, manufacturers are producing machines
capable of preventing hackers from tapping into the system.  In some cases,
newly developed fax machines use code systems to defend information
transmitted.  But these tap-proof facsimile machines are not yet in general
use.  Makers of the new "protected" facsimile machines predict that once the
business communities around the globe become aware of the threat they will
promptly place orders for replacements and junk their old equipment as a simple
matter of damage control.  The market could prove extremely large.  Those few
leak-proof fax machines now in operation depend upon scrambling messages, so
that even if a pirate taps into the telephone line leading to the unit, the
intercepted message is impossible to read.

     Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, for example, claims that it would require
a hacker using a large computer more than 200,000 years to crack the codes used
in its own pirate-proof fax.  This ultimately may prove to be something of an
exaggeration.  Although in Japan and many other countries this kind of tapping
clearly is illegal, it remains nearly impossible to track down electronic
eavesdroppers.  As far as is known, none of these snoopers have been identified
and dragged into court.  Security specialists in Japan claim that there may be
thousands of fax hackers who get their kicks out of intercepting and reading
other people's business mail, with few using the information for illegal
purposes or actively conveying it to third parties.
_______________________________________________________________________________


HEADLINE  Inmate behind scams
          Byline:   JOHN SEMIEN
DATE      09/11/90
SOURCE    THE BATON ROUGE SUNDAY ADVOCATE   (BATR)
          Section:  NEWS
          Page:     1-B
          (Copyright 1989 by Capitol City Press)


     There wasn't much inmate Lawrence "Danny" Faires couldn't buy, sell or
steal with a telephone call from his jail cell in Miami when his million-dollar
fraud ring ran afoul of the U.S.  Secret Service in 1989.  That was the year
Faires used a portable computer with an automatic dialing program to "hack out"
access codes to the long-distance lines of Telco Communications Inc., a Baton
Rouge-based phone company.  Telco officials were alarmed when they spotted
1,500 attempts at gaining unauthorized access to the company's long-distance
service in a single 12-hour period in January 1989.

     Convinced that an organized fraud scheme was at work, Telco called
Resident Agent Phil Robertson, who heads the service's Baton Rouge office.

"They told me they felt they were being attacked by hackers who had discovered
their long-distance access lines and who were hacking out personal
identification numbers belonging to their customers," Robertson said Monday.

"You are billed based on your pin (access) number.  The computer hacker had
located several of their 800 numbers and had entered digits hoping it would be
a valid pin number." Using computer records, Robertson said agents were able to
isolate 6,000 fraudulent Telco calls that were made during a three-week period
of January.  More than a third of those calls were traced to a cell block in
the Dade County Interim Detention Center that has been home for Faires for the
past four years.  Faires is awaiting trial in Miami on first-degree murder
charges.  "As it turned out, all of the inmates in this cell block are awaiting
trial," Robertson said.  "One of the inmates, Danny Faires, had a computer in
his cell attached to a modem, and he turned out to be the hacker."

"All he had to do was plug his modem in, let it make the calls and check his
printout for the numbers that came back good," the agent said.  In checking out
the other bogus Telco calls, agents uncovered a massive credit card scam.  A
federal grand jury in Milwaukee, Wis., linked both scams to Faires and alleged
associates of the inmate across the country in a Feb.  27 indictment of six
people on federal wire and access device fraud.  Fairies, an unindicted
co-conspirator in the case, last week said he has spent the past three years
applying his previous experience as a computer systems analyst and programmer
to a lap-top, portable computer provided by one of the prison guards.  He
describes the results as "doing business with America" at the expense of large
credit card and telecommunications companies.  Faires said he attacked Telco's
system by chance after receiving one of the company's access numbers in a group
of assorted access codes acquired by his associates.  "It was just their
misfortune that we became aware that they had a system there that was easily
accessible," Faires said in a telephone interview.

     "I was given their access number, along with Sprint and MCI, I guess
virtually every company in America we got." Faires said he used the stolen,
long distance phone time and other stolen credit card numbers to access
networks with credit information from major department stores and mail order
businesses.  "You come up to the door and the door is locked," he said.  "You
have to buy access.  Well, I bought access with credit cards from another
system.  I had access codes that we had hacked.  "I could pull your entire
credit profile up and just pick the credit card numbers that you still had some
credit in them and how many dollars you had left in your account and I would
spend that," Faires said.  "My justification was, I don't know the creditor and
he had no knowledge of it so he won't have to pay it." However, Faires said he
now thinks of the trouble the illegal use of the credit cards has caused his
victims in their efforts to straighten out damaged credit records.  "I remember
I took a course once that was called computer morality about the moral ethics
to which we're morally bound," he said.  "It's like a locksmith.  Even though
he can open a lock, he's morally bound not to if it's not his lock.  I violated
that."

     The vulnerability of credit card companies to hackers is the subject of an
unpublished book that Faires said he has written.  Faires said his book
includes tips on how businesses and others can safeguard access to their
credit, but added that there may be no way to be completely safe from
hackers.  "It's untitled as yet," he said about the book.  "We're leaving that
open.  I'm waiting to see if they electrocute me here, then I'm going to put
something about "I could buy it all but couldn't pay the electric bill.' "
[This guy is a real toon -DH]

     While Faires has not been formally charged in connection with the scheme,
last week he said he was sure charges will be forthcoming because "there is no
question about my involvement." The other six alleged conspirators are John
Carl Berger and George A.  Hart Jr.  of Milwaukee, Wis.; Charles Robert McFall
and Victor Reyes of San Antonio, Texas; Steven Michael Skender Jr.  of West
Allis, Wis.; and Angelo Bruno Bregantini of Marshville, N.C.  All six men are
charged with conspiracy to commit access device and wire fraud.  Berger,
Skender, Reyes and Bregantini also are charged separately with multiple counts
of wire fraud.

     The indictments are the first criminal charges generated by Operation
Mongoose, an ongoing Secret Service probe of credit card and long-distance
telephone access fraud.  The charges allege that Faires has had access to a
telephone since his arrest and imprisonment in Miami in 1986, an allegation
that has prompted a separate probe by Miami authorities.  That phone was used
to make frequent calls to a building on Brookfield Road in Brookfield, Wis.,
where another alleged unindicted co-conspirator, Fred Bregantini, operates
various businesses, according to the indictment.  The indictment said Faires
and Fred Bregantini were "at the hub" of the telephone and credit card scam.
The two men are accused of collecting credit card numbers and telephone access
codes from other defendants in the case and using the numbers to purchase
merchandise, services and "other things of value." Robertson said agents
believe the members of the ring copied many of these stolen numbers from credit
card receipts retrieved from the trash cans of various businesses.  He said the
practice, commonly called "dumpster diving," is a widely used method in credit
card fraud. [`dumpster  diving' eh? -DH]

     While some of the defendants helped make purchases on the stolen cards,
the indictment alleges that others provided addresses used for the shipment of
the stolen goods.  The goods included gold coins, plane tickets, computer
equipment, tools and stereo equipment.  Robertson said agents are still
tallying the cost of the scam to Telco and other companies but that the damage
has already climbed past $1 million.  Herbert Howard, president of Telco, on
Friday said the company lost from $35,000 to $40,000 in revenues from illegal
calls and in additional expenses for researching Faires' use of access codes.
"It was really a learning experience for us because this is the first time this
has happened," Howard said about his 2-year-old company.  "I think it's a fear
of all long-distance companies.  It's very fortunate that we caught it as
quickly as we did."
_______________________________________________________________________________

HEADLINE  No, I'm not paranoid, but who is No. 1?
          Byline:   DENISE CARUSO
          Column:   INSIDE SILICON VALLEY
DATE      08/21/90
SOURCE    SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER   (SFEX)
          Edition:  FIFTH
          Section:  BUSINESS
          Page:     D-16
          (Copyright 1989)


     THOUGH I didn't plan it that way, this week proved to be a perfect time to
start renting old episodes of "The Prisoner" - that very dark, very paranoid
British spy series from the early '60s which foresaw a bleak future in which
"een-formation" was of paramount importance, no matter whose "side" you were
on.  Every well-paid company representative from every telephone service
provider in North America earned his or her keep this week, fielding calls from
blood-thirsty members of the press corps who also wanted "een-formation" about
whether or not the huge long-distance snafu with AT&T was a "hack" (an illegal
break-in) or some form of computerized germ warfare.

     I'm happy that the answer was "no," but of course the event opens a rather
nasty can of worms:  has AT&T's problem tipped off the hacker community that
the phone network is vulnerable?  "That's a very good question," said one
network engineer I spoke with last week.  But, he assured me, his network was
totally secure and had all kinds of safeguards built in to prevent either
outside penetration or the introduction of a software virus to the system.  I
hope he's right, but I must admit, I've heard that song before.

     Here, for example, is an excerpt from an anonymous piece of electronic
mail I received last week, slightly edited to correct grammatical
imperfections:  "It may be of interest to you to know, if I wanted to have
"fun," "evil" deeds could be done by remote control, up to and including
shutting down every ESS (electronic switching station) office in North America.

     "Less evil and more fun might be to shut down the stock market for a day,
scramble all transactions, or even send it down in a tail spin!  Banks aren't
immune either.  This may sound very darkside, but people must have what is
needed to fight back if things go bad!" Not disturbing enough?  Try this one on
for size:  Back in July of '89, I wrote of a story in the premier issue of the
magazine Mondo 2000 that detailed how one might set about hacking automatic
teller machines (ATMs).  That story contained everything but the blueprints for
the device, which the magazine's editors didn't print because they thought it
would be irresponsible to do so.  But now, a student-owned Cornell University
publication called "Visions Magazine" - for which Carl Sagan is creative
adviser - has asked the article's author, Morgan Russell, for rights to reprint
the article in its entirety, including device blueprints.

     These kinds of stories are disturbing, yet somehow I've always expected
they would happen, a reaction that's similar to the way I feel when I watch
"The Prisoner." No.  6, as he's called, cries out at the beginning of every
episode, "I am not a number!  I am a free man!" His will to resist is
sufficient to fend off the authorities who believe their need for the
"een-formation" in No.  6's head gives them the right to try to control his
movements and thoughts, using - of course - only the most impressive
technology.

     Of course, the science-fiction fantasy of impressive technology in the
'60s, when "The Prisoner" was created, was as authoritarian and centralized as
the governments using it.  Not many faceless authorities back then were
predicting a near-future where all classes of people had access to, could
afford and knew how to use powerful technology.  (I'm sure it would have ruined
their supper if they had.) Neither did they envision today's growing class of
technological sophisticates - whether self-taught PC hackers or trained
computer scientists - who, by virtue of their knowledge, could cripple,
disable, or otherwise confound the system which spawned them.  Have any opinion
you'd like about the right or wrong of it.  Fact is, whether it's the phone
network or a bank teller machine, the more we rely on technology, the less we
can rely on technology.

     Though this fact can make life unpleasant for those of us who are
victimized by either the machines we trust or the people who know how to fidget
with them, there is something strangely comforting about knowing that, after
all, a computer is still only as trustworthy as the humans who run it.  Write

CONTACT:
Denise Caruso, Spectra, San Francisco Examiner
P.O  Box 7260
San Francisco, CA 94120.   (Denise

MCI Mail (Denise Caruso) - CompuServe (73037,52) - CONNECT (Caruso)
_______________________________________________________________________________

HEADLINE  US Sprint to Supply Soviet Venture With Switches
DATE      09/17/90
SOURCE    WALL STREET JOURNAL (WJ)


WASHINGTON -- US Sprint Communications Corp.  said it obtained U.S.  government
approval to supply a Soviet joint venture with packet switches that can greatly
improve telecommunications services between the Soviet Union and other
countries.  The imminent shipment of these switches was announced by William
Esrey, chairman and chief executive officer of United Telecommunications Inc.,
shortly after completing a visit to the Soviet Union with Commerce Secretary
Robert Mosbacher and the chief executives of other U.S.  companies.  United
Telecommunications is the parent of US Sprint.

      The export license that US Sprint expects to obtain as early as this week
will be the first license for telecommunications equipment granted by the U.S.
under the new, relaxed regulations for shipping technology to the Soviet Union,
Esrey said.  * The Soviet venture, Telenet USSR, will be owned by a US Sprint
subsidiary, Sprint International, and the Soviet Ministry of Post and
Telecommunications and the Larvian Academy of Sciences, a Soviet research
group.  The Commerce Department doesn't discuss details of individual license
applications, but Mosbacher has publicly supported technology tie-ups between
the U.S.  companies represented in his traveling group and potential Soviet
partners.  US Sprint appears to be leading the race among American
telecommunications companies to establish solid ties in the Soviet Union.  An
earlier proposal by U S West Inc.  to lay down part of an international
fiber-optic line across the Soviet Union was rejected by U.S.  authorities
because of the advanced nature of the technology.

     US Sprint's packet switches, however, appear to be within the new
standards for permissible exports to the Soviet Union.  The switches are used
to route telephone calls and control traffic in voice, facsimile and
digitalized data transmission.  These eight-bit switches are one or two
generations behind the comparable systems in use in Western countries, but are
still good enough to sharply improve the ability of Sprint's Soviet customers
to communicate with other countries, Esrey's aides said.  The company declined
to discuss the value of its investment or to disclose how many switches will be
sold.  US Sprint said its venture will operate through new, dedicated satellite
lines that will augment the often-congested 32 international lines that
currently exist for Moscow-based businesses.  Esrey said he expects the venture
to be in operation before the end of this year.
_______________________________________________________________________________

HEADLINE  BT Tymnet Introduces Additional XLINK Services
DATE      09/09/90
SOURCE    DOW JONES NEWS WIRE

SAN JOSE, Calif.  -DJ- BT Tymnet Inc.  said XLINK Express, a family of new,
bundled, port-based, synchronous X.25 (XLINKs) services, is available.  The
XLINK service offers customers lower cost X.25 host access to its TYMNET
network, the company said in a news release.  XLINKs are leased-line private
access port services for X.25 interfaces at speeds up to 19.2 bits per second
and supporting up to 64 virtual circuits.

XLINK Express includes port access, leased line, modems, software, and free
data transmission.  Prior to XLINK Express, customers requiring a
9.6-bit-per-second leased line for standard X.25 host connectivity would
typically pay about $1,500 monthly for their leased line, modems and interface.
With XLINK, customers can now be charged a monthly rate of $900, the company
said.

BT Tymnet Inc.  is a unit of British Telecom plc.
_______________________________________________________________________________

HEADLINE  Hacker may be taunting the FBI; Whiz suspected of invading U.S. army
          computer
          Credit:   PENINSULA TIMES TRIBUNE
DATE      04/10/90
SOURCE    Montreal Gazette   (GAZ)
          Edition:  FINAL
          Section:  NEWS
          Page:     F16
          Origin:   PALO ALTO, Calif.
          (Copyright The Gazette)

          --- Hacker may be taunting the FBI; Whiz suspected of invading
                                   U.S. army computer                       ---

PALO ALTO, Calif.  - The computer prodigy wanted on suspicion of invading a
U.S.  army computer may be taunting FBI agents by defiantly talking to his
hacker buddies on electronic bulletin boards while he eludes a manhunt,
authorities said.  The mysterious Kevin Poulsen, a former Menlo Park, Calif.,
resident described by many as a computer genius, is outsmarting the FBI and
apparently has the savvy to make this game of hide-and-seek a long contest.

     No, investigators are not getting frustrated, FBI official Duke Diedrich
said.  "It's just a matter of time.  We've got our traps and hopefully one day
we'll be able to get the mouse." Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for
the former SRI International computer expert.  He has been at large since at
least Jan.  18, when federal officials revealed allegations of a sensational
computer conspiracy.  The FBI says Poulsen, 24, is the mastermind of a complex
computer and telephone-system invasion that included breaking into an
unclassified army computer network, snooping on the FBI and eavesdropping on
the calls of a former girlfriend.  FBI agents believe he may be in southern
California, but because he is apparently still hooked up to a national network
of hackers, he could be using his friends to hide just about anywhere, Diedrich
said.  Poulsen is adept at manufacturing false identification and knows how to
use the phone system to cover traces of his calls.

     Agents believe his hacker talk on electronic bulletin boards is perhaps "a
way of taunting law enforcement officials," Diedrich said.  Poulsen may be back
to his old tricks, but "he's not hiding with the usual bunch of hackers," said
John Maxfield, a computer security consultant and former FBI informant.

     Maxfield, known nationally as a "narc" among young hackers, said he had
underground sources who said Poulsen was rumored to be living alone in a
southern California apartment.  Poulsen's computer chatter could lead to his
downfall, Maxfield said.  Many hackers are electronic anarchists who would be
happy to turn in a high-ranking hacker, thereby pushing themselves up the
status ladder, he said.  But Poulsen probably has access to a steady flow of
cash, so he doesn't have to get a job that might lead to his arrest, Maxfield
said.

     With his expertise, Poulsen could easily crack the bank computers that
validate cash transactions and then credit his own accounts, Maxfield said.
The FBI isn't desperate, but agents have contacted America's Most Wanted, a
television show that asks viewers to help authorities find fugitives.

     Poulsen's mother, Bernadine, said her son called home just after police
announced there was a warrant for his arrest, but he had not called since.
During the brief call, "He just apologized for all the stress he was causing
us." The fugitive's motivation baffles Maxfield.

     The self-described "hacker tracker" has conducted investigations that have
led to dozens of arrests, but the Poulsen-contrived conspiracy as alleged by
the FBI is strange, he said.  Most teen-age hackers are thrill seekers, he
explained.  The more dangerous the scam, the bigger the high.  But Poulsen is
24.  "Why is he still doing it?" Maxfield asked.

     Poulsen, alias "Dark Dante" and "Master of Impact," was a member of an
elite hacker gang called Legion of Doom.  [Poulsen was never a member of the
group -DH]

The 25 or so mischievous members are now being arrested one by one, Maxfield
said.  They consider themselves misfits, but smart misfits who are superior to
the masses of average people who have so labelled them, he said.  [Baha,
Maxfield really cracks me up  -DH]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

     Kevin recently had a 15 minute television debut on NBC's "Unsolved
Mystries".  The program showed renactments of Kevin breaking into CO's and
walking around his apartment filled with computers and other 'listening'
devices (as the show called them).

     I personally got a kick out of the photographs he took of himself holding
switching equipment after a break-in at a CO.
_______________________________________________________________________________

HEADLINE  Amtrak Gets Aboard SDN
          Byline:   BETH SCHULTZ
DATE      10/25/90
SOURCE    COMMUNICATIONS WEEK
          Issue:    267
          Section:  PN
          Page:     58
          (Copyright 1989 CMP Publications, Inc.  All rights reserved.)

WASHINGTON - Amtrak, always looking for ways to reduce the amount of government
funding it takes to keep it on track, has switched its long distance traffic
onto a virtual private network-taking advantage of an AT&T promotion that saved
the railroad $250,000.  Though Amtrak realized the cost-savings potential of
AT&T's Software Defined Network (SDN) as early as May 1987, it took until last
spring for the company to move full-speed ahead with implementation of that
virtual private network service.  "We had led the horse to water, but we
couldn't make it drink," said Jim West, an AT&T national systems consultant.

     But in April of this year, AT&T removed the last obstacle in the
railroad's way, said Amtrak's chief network engineer Matt Brunk.  At that time,
AT&T began running a special promotion that waived the installation fee for
connecting sites to the SDN.  Until then, Amtrak, based here, could only afford
adding locations piecemeal.

     Plagued by network abuse, Amtrak began tracking the potential of SDN as a
means of solving that problem as soon as AT&T announced its SDN rates in
December 1986.  Describing the severity of its toll-fraud problem, Brunk told
of a seven-day stint in 1985 during which hackers tallied $185,000 in
unauthorized charges.  By the end of that year, toll fraud on Amtrak's network
reached in excess of $1 million.

     Before the days of the virtual private network, the only way to clean up
this abuse was through a toll-free "800" service configuration and PBX remote
access, which Amtrak implemented at the end of 1985.  "We changed the policy
and procedures for all users, limiting the capabilities of remotaccess," Brunk
said.

     But Amtrak needed to further patrol its network, and after studying AT&T's
SDN, as well as competitive offerings, the railroad ordered in May 1987 the
first portion of what would this year become a 300-site SDN.  The initial order
included AT&T Accunet T1.5 circuits for just two stations, one in Chicago and
one here.  Used to replace the 800 service, these 1.544-megabit-per-second
direct connections were used to "provide secure remote access to on-net numbers
for numerous users," Brunk said.

     Equally important, Amtrak also signed up for the Network Remote Access
Fraud Control feature, which gives it a single point of control over the
network.  "What Amtrak ordered then was not really a network, because it was
feature-specific," said AT&T national account manager Sharon Juergens.

     The company has not billed back or dropped any toll fraud since it began
using the SDN remote access feature, Brunk said.  "Anyone with PBX
remote-access capability and :heavy!  volume not using SDN as a vehicle is
doing their company a disservice."

     Originally a beta-test site for the SDN's security-report feature, Amtrak
has since come to rely heavily on that option, too.  With the exception of some
group codes, a warning is sent if spending on any user code exceeds $60 per
month.  "We begin investigating immediately," Brunk said.  "We are now
proactive, instead of reactive."

     Today, 40 Amtrak locations have switched-access connections to the SDN;
260 sites are linked through dedicated means, whether through voice-grade
analog circuits or high-speed T1s.  "The users' traffic is discounted, on a
single billing statement, and in effect, :the SDN!  links them to the company.
This is our corporate communications glue," Brunk said.  "But this is only the
beginning.  Not only have we provided a service, but also we have provided a
bright future.  We have set ourselves up for competitive gain." Spending
Stabilized And the company has stabilized telecommunications expenditures.  In
1985, Amtrak spent $26 million on telecom equipment and services.  Four years
later, Brunk estimated the railroad will spend just $1 million more.  He said
contributing factors to this will be the SDN, upgrading from outdated analog
PBXs to digital PBXs and replacing some PBX installations with local
Bell-provided centrex service.  Network savings resulting from reduced
call-setup time alone, Brunk added, will reach $74,000 this year.

     "In a nutshell, we have improved transmission quality, network management
and maintenance, and reduced costs," Brunk said.  "The users have gained a
single authorization code accessing multiple applications, improved quality and
support."

     Cost savings aside, Amtrak also took into consideration applications
available off the SDN.  "At the time, of what was available, we really liked
everything about SDN," Brunk said.

     The Amtrak network is supported by the dedicated access trunk testing
system.  This system lets Amtrak test access lines, thus aiding the company in
activating and deactivating authorization codes.  And Amtrak is testing the
AT&T Alliance dedicated teleconferencing service.

     With the teleconferencing service, Amtrak can reduce internal travel
expenditures:  Users can access the system remotely via an 800 number, or on
demand.  Amtrak operators can connect teleconferencing calls at any time.  "The
quality is fantastic, but the cost is even better because it's all connected to
the SDN," said Brunk.

_______________________________________________________________________________


                        KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL

                              K N I G H T L I N E

                            Issue 01/Part II of III

                            17th of November, 1990

                              Written, compiled,

                           and edited by Doc Holiday

                        KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL

                                      ---
                           F R O M   T H E   W I R E
_______________________________________________________________________________

HEADLINE  ADAPTING DIGITAL SWITCH -- Fujitsu To Expand In U.S.
          Byline:   ROBERT POE
DATE      11/15/90
SOURCE    COMMUNICATIONSWEEK   (CWK)
          Issue:    322
          Section:  PUBLIC NETWORKING
          Page:     33
          (Copyright 1990 CMP Publications, Inc.  All rights reserved.)

RALEIGH, N.C.-Fujitsu Ltd.  is boosting efforts to adapt its digital exchange
to the U.S.  network, in anticipation of the $40 billion public switch
changeout expected in the United States over the next 10 to 15 years.

Fujitsu plans to increase the number of U.S.  staff members in charge of
selling and engineering the Fetex-150 switch to 600 by 1994 from the current
100, officials at the Tokyo-based company said.

The increase will shift development of sophisticated switch features from Japan
to the United States, said one observer familiar with Fujitsu Network Switching
of America Inc., based here.

FILLING U.S. NEEDS

Most of the current staff there is working on testing the performance and
network conformance of software developed in Japan, the observer said.  With
the expansion, the subsidiary will be responsible for developing functions and
capabilities required by U.S.  customers.

The Fetex-150 is Fujitsu's export-model exchange switch, with more than 8.8
million lines installed or on order in 17 countries.  None have been sold in
the United States, but the recently announced plans confirm longstanding
speculation that the Japanese manufacturer is planning a major push into the
U.S.

When Fujitsu won a major switch tender in Singapore last autumn, competitors
complained it was selling the equipment at cost to win a prestigious contract
that would serve as a stepping-stone to the United States.

WOOING THE BELLS

Fujitsu said its switch has passed Phase 1 and Phase 2 evaluations by Bell
Communications Research Inc., Livingston, N.J., the research arm of the seven
U.S.  regional Bell companies.  Although the Bellcore certification is
considered essential to selling to the Bells-which account for about 75 percent
of U.S.  telephone lines-it may not be enough for the company to break into a
market dominated by AT&T and Nashville, Tenn.-based Northern Telecom Inc.

Those two manufacturers have more than 90 percent of the U.S.  market.  A share
like that, coupled with Bell company inertia in changing to new suppliers,
leaves foreign public switch manufacturers largely out in the cold, analysts
said.

The U.S.  subsidiaries of Siemens AG, L.M.  Ericsson Telephone Co., NEC Corp.
and GEC Plessey Telecommunications Ltd.  have found the U.S.  market tough to
crack, though each has had limited success and is further along than Fujitsu.

`INHERENT CONSERVATISM'

"There's an inherent conservatism on the part of their {U.S.} customer base,"
said Robert Rosenberg, director of analytical services at The Eastern
Management Group, Parsippany, N.J.  "These are huge companies with billions of
dollars invested in their current equipment.

"Even if Fujitsu comes up with a switch that has all the bells and whistles
that an engineer could ever want, if all the support systems have to be rebuilt
in order to fit that switch into the network, his manager won't let him install
it," Rosenberg said.



_______________________________________________________________________________


Telephone Services:  A Growing Form Of "Foreign Aid"

Keith Bradsher, {The New York Times}, Sunday, October 21, 1990
                (Business section, page 5)

 Americans who make international telephone calls are paying extra to
subsidize foreign countries' postal rates, local phone service, even
schools and armies.

 These subsidies are included in quarterly payments that American
telephone companies must make to their counterparts overseas, most of
these are state-owned monopolies.  The net payments, totaling $2.4
billion last year, form one of the fastest-growing pieces of the
American trade deficit, and prompted the Federal communications
Commission this summer to begin an effort that could push down the
price that consumers pay for an international phone call by up to 50
percent within three years.

 The imbalance is a largely unforeseen side effect of the growth of
competition in the American long-distance industry during the 1980's.
The competition drove down outbound rates from the United States,
while overseas monopolies kept their rates high.

 The result is that business and families spread among countries try
to make sure that calls originate in the United States.  Outbound
calls from the United States now outnumber inbound calls by 1.7-to-1,
in minutes -- meaning American phone companies have to pay fees for
the surplus calls.  The F.C.C. is concerned that foreign companies are
demanding much more money than is justified, given the steeply falling
costs of providing service, and proposes to limit unilaterally the
payments American carriers make.

 Central and South American countries filed formal protests against
the F.C.C.'s plan on October 12.  Although developed countries like
Britain and Japan account for more than half of United States
international telephone traffic, some of the largest imbalances in
traffic are with developing countries, which spend the foreign
exchange on everything from school systems to weapons.  The deficit
with Columbia, for example, soared to $71 million last year.

 International charges are based on formulas assigning per-minute
costs of receiving and overseas call and routing it within the home
country.  But while actual costs have dropped in recent years, the
formulas have been very slow to adjust, if they are adjusted at all.
For example, while few international calls require operators, the
formulas are still based on such expenses.

 Furthermore, the investment required for each telephone line in an
undersea cable or aboard a satellite has plummeted with technological
advances.  A trans-Pacific cable with 600,000 lines, announced last
Wednesday and scheduled to go into service in 1996, could cost less
than $1,000 per line.

 Yet the phone company formulas keep charges high.  Germany's Deutsche
Bundespost, for example, currently collects 87 cents a minute from
American carriers, which actually lose money on some of the off-peak
rates they offer American consumers.

MORE CALLS FROM THE U.S. ARE GENERATING A GROWING TRADE DEFICIT

U.S. telephone companies charge less for      1980   0.3   (billions of
overseas calls than foreign companies         1981   0.5    U.S. dollars)
charge for calls the United States.  So       1982   0.7
more international calls originate in the     1983   1.0
United States.  But the U.S. companies pay    1984   1.2
high fees to their foreign counterparts for   1985   1.1
handling those extra calls, and the deficit   1986   1.4
has ballooned in the last decade.             1987   1.7
                                              1988   2.0
                                              1989   2.4 (estimate)
(Source: F.C.C.)

THE LONG DISTANCE USAGE IMBALANCE

Outgoing and incoming U.S. telephone traffic, in 1988, the latest year
for which figures are available, in percent.

Whom are we calling?              Who's calling us?
Total outgoing traffic:           Total incoming traffic:
5,325 million minutes             3,155 million minutes

  Other:      47.9%                  Other:      32.9%
  Canada:     20.2%                  Canada:     35.2%
  Britain:     9.1%                  Britain:    12.6%
  Mexico:      8.8%                  Mexico:      6.2%
  W. Germany:  6.9%                  W. Germany:  5.4%
  Japan:       4.4%                  Japan:       4.3%
  France:      2.7%                  France:      3.4%

(Source:  International Institute of Communications)

COMPARING COSTS:  Price range of five-minute international calls between
the U.S. and other nations.  Figures do not include volume discounts.

Country            From U.S.*          To U.S.

Britain            $2.95 to $5.20      $4.63 to $6.58
Canada (NYC to     $0.90 to $2.25      $1.35 to $2.26
  Montreal)
France             $3.10 to $5.95      $4.72 to $7.73
Japan              $4.00 to $8.01      $4.67 to $8.34
Mexico (NYC to     $4.50 to $7.41      $4.24 to $6.36
  Mexico City)
West Germany       $3.10 to $6.13      $10.22

* For lowest rates, callers pay a monthly $3 fee.
(Source: A.T.&T.)

WHERE THE DEFICIT FALLS: Leading nations with which the United States
has a trade deficit in telephone services, in 1989, in millions of
dollars.

Mexico:               $534
W. Germany:            167
Philippines:           115
South Korea:           112
Japan:                  79
Dominican Republic:     75
Columbia:               71
Italy:                  70       (Source: F.C.C.)
Israel:                 57
Britain:                46

THE RUSH TOWARD LOWER COSTS: The cost per telephone line for laying
each of the eight telephone cables that now span the Atlantic Ocean,
from the one in 1956, which held 48 lines, to the planned 1992 cable
which is expected to carry 80,000 lines.  In current dollars.

1956       $557,000
1959        436,000
1963        289,000
1965        365,000
1970         49,000
1976         25,000
1983         23,000               (Source, F.C.C.)
1988          9,000
1992          5,400  (estimate)



_______________________________________________________________________________

A few notes from Jim Warren in regards to the CFP conference:


Greetings,
  Some key issues are now settled, with some minor remain for resolution.

CONFERENCE DATES, LOCATION & MAXIMUM SIZE

We have finally completed site selection and contracted for the Conference
facility.  Please mark your calendars and spread the word:

               First Conference on Computers, Freedom & Privacy
                       March 25-28,1991, Monday-Thursday
                     SFO Marriott, Burlingame, California
              (just south of San Francisco International Airport;
       on the San Francisco Peninsula, about 20 minutes from "The City")
                            maximum attendance: 600

PLEASE NOTE NAME CHANGE

We have found *ample* issues for a very robust Conference, limited only to
computer-related issues of responsible freedom and privacy.  After questions
regarding satellite surveillance, genetic engineering, photo traffic radar,
wireless phone bugs, etc., we decided to modify the Conference title for
greater accuracy.  We have changed it from "Technology, Freedom & Privacy" to
"Computers, Freedom & Privacy."

ONE MORE NIT TO PICK

Until recently, our draft title has included, "First International Conference".

We most definitely are planning for international participation, especially
expecting presentations from EEC and Canadian privacy and access agencies.
These will soon have significant impacts on trans-border dataflow and inter-
national business communications.

However, we were just told that some agencies require multi-month clearance
procedures for staff attending any event with "International" in its title.

**Your input on this and the minor issue of whether to include "International"
in our Conference title would be appreciated.**

ATTRIBUTION (BLAME)

We are building the first bridge connecting the major, highly diverse villages
of our new electronic frontier.  Such construction involves some degree of
exploration and learning.

These title-changes are a result of that learning process.  Please attribute
all responsibility for the fluctuating Conference title to me, personally.  I
am the one who proposed the first title; I am the one who has changed it to
enhance accuracy and avoid conflict.

Of course, the title will be settled and finalized (with your kind assistance)
before the Conference is formally announced and publicity statements issued --
soon!

Thanking you for your interest and continued assistance, I remain, Sincerely,

                                                 --Jim Warren, CFP Conf Chair
                                                        jwarren@well.ca.sf.us

_______________________________________________________________________________

[Reprented from TELECOM digest. --DH]


                 FROM: Patrick Townson <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu>
                    SUBJECT: Illinois Bell Shows Real CLASS

     For several months now, Illinois Bell has been hawking CLASS.  Brochures
in the mail with our bills and newspaper advertisements have told us about the
wonderful new services soon to be offered.

It was just a question, they said, of waiting until your central office had
been converted.  The new features being offered are:

 *66  Auto Call Back:  Call back the last number which called you. No
                       need to know the number.

 *69  Repeat Dial:     If the number you dialed was busy, punching
                       this will keep trying the number for up to
                       30 minutes, and advise you when it can connect.

 *60  Call Screening   Enter:
                       # plus number to be screened out plus #
                       * plus number to be re-admitted  plus *
                       # plus 01 plus # to add the number of the
                         last call you received, whether or not
                         you know the number.
                       1 To play a list of the numbers being screened.
                       0 For a helpful recording of options, etc.

Distinctive Ringing    Up to ten numbers can be programmed in. When a
                       call is received from one of these numbers, your
                       phone will give a special ring to advise you.

Multi-Ring Service     Two additional numbers can be associated with
                       your number. When someone dials one of these
                       two numbers, your phone will give a special ring.

With both Distinctive Ringing and Multi-Ring Service, if you have Call Waiting,
the Call Waiting tones will be different from the norm also, so that you can
tell what is happening.  With Multi-Ring Service, you can have it programmed so
the supplementary numbers associated with your main number are forwarded when
it is forwarded, or do not observe forwarding, and 'ring through' despite what
the main number is doing.

Alternate Answer       Can be programmed so that after 3-7 rings,
                       the unanswered call will be automatically sent
                       to another line *WITHIN YOUR CENTRAL OFFICE*.

                       If the number assigned as an alternate is
                       itself busy or forwarded OUTSIDE YOUR OFFICE
                       then Alternate Answer will not forward the
                       call and continue to ring unanswered.

Transfer on Busy/      This is just another name for 'hunt'. The
        No Answer      difference is that hunt is free; Transfer on
                       Busy/NA  costs a couple bucks per month. Like
                       Alternate Answer, it must forward only to a
                       number on the same switch. Unlike hunt, it
                       will work on NA as well. Unlike Alternate
                       Answer, it works on busy as well.

Caller*ID will be available 'eventually' they say.

Now my story begins:

     From early this summer to the present, I've waited patiently for CLASS to
be available in Chicago-Rogers Park.  Finally a date was announced:  October 15
the above features would be available.  In mid-September, I spoke with a rep in
the Irving-Kildare Business Office.  She assured me *all* the above features
would be available on October 15.  My bill is cut on the 13th of each month,
and knowing the nightmare of reading a bill which has had changes made in
mid-month (page after page of pro-rata entries for credits on the old service,
item by item; pro-rata entries for the new service going in, etc) it made sense
to implement changes on the billing date, to keep the statement simple.

     She couldn't write the order for the service to start October 13, since
CLASS was not officially available until the fifteenth.  Well, okay, so its
either wait until November 13 or go ahead and start in mid-month, worrying
about reading the bill once it actually arrives.

     I've been ambivilent about CLASS since it is not compatible with my
present service 'Starline', but after much thought -- and since all
installation and order-writing on Custom Calling features is free now through
December 31!  -- I decided to try out the new stuff.

     She took the order Wednesday afternoon and quoted 'sometime Thursday' for
the work to be done.  In fact it was done -- or mostly done -- by mid-afternoon
Thursday.  But I should have known better.  I should have remembered my
experience with Starline three years ago, when it took a technician in the
central office *one week* to get it all in and working correctly.  Still, I
took IBT's word for it.

     I got home about 5:30 PM Thursday.  *You know* I sat down right away at
the phone to begin testing the new features!  :) The lines were to be equipped
as follows:

Line 1:  Call Waiting                Line 2:  Call Forwarding
         Three Way Calling                    Speed Dial 8
         Call Forwarding                      Busy Repeat Dialing *69
         Speed Dial 8
         Auto Call Back  *66         (second line used mostly by modem;
         Busy Repeat Dialing *69      so Call Waiting undesirable)
         Call Screening *60
         Alternate Answer  (supposed to be programmed to Voice Mail;
                            another CO; another area code U708e;
                            even another telco UCentele).

     Busy Repeat Dialing did not work on the second line (not installed) and
Alternate Answer worked (but not as I understood it would) on the first line.
Plus, I had forgotten how to add 'last call received' to the screening feature.

     It is 5:45 ...  business office open another fifteen minutes ...  good!  I
call 1-800-244-4444 which is IBT's idea of a new way to handle calls to the
business office.  Everyone in the state of Illinois calls it, and the calls go
wherever someone is free.  Before, we could call the business office in our
neighborhood direct ...  no longer.

     I call; I go on hold; I wait on hold five minutes.  Finally a rep comes on
the line, a young fellow who probably Meant Well ...

     After getting the preliminary information to look up my account, we begin
our conversation:

Me:  You see from the order the new features put on today?
Him: Yes, which ones are you asking about?
Me:  A couple questions. Explain how to add the last call received to
     your call screening.
Him: Call screening? Well, that's not available in your area yet. You
     see, it will be a few months before we offer it.
Me:  Wait a minute!  It was quoted to me two days ago, and it is on
     the order you are reading now is it not?
     UI read him the order number to confirm we had the same one.e

Him: Yes, it is on here, but it won't work. No matter what was written
     up. Really, I have to apologize for whoever would have taken your
     order and written it there.

Me:  Hold on, hold on!  It *is* installed, and it *is* working! I want
     to know how to work it.

Him: No it is not installed. The only features we can offer you at
     at this time are Busy Redial and Auto Callback. Would you like me
     to put in an order for those?

Me:  Let's talk to the supervisor instead.

Him: (in a huff) Gladly sir.

Supervisor comes on line and repeats what was said by the rep: Call
Screening is not available at this time in Chicago-Rogers Park.

At this point I am furious ...

Me:  Let me speak to the rep who took this order (I quoted her by
     name.)

Supervisor: I never heard of her. She might be in some other office.

Me: (suspicious) Say, is this Irving-Kildare?

Supervisor: No! Of course not! I am in Springfield, IL.

Me: Suppose you give me the name of the manager at Irving-Kildare
then, and I will call there tomorrow. (By now it was 6 PM; the
supervisor was getting figity and nervous wanting to go home.)

Supervisor: Here! Call this number tomorrow and ask for the manager of
            that office, 1-800-244-4444.

Me:  Baloney! Give me the manager's direct number!

Supervisor: Well okay, 312-xxx-xxxx, and ask for Ms. XXXX.

Me: (suspicious again) She is the manager there?

Supervisor: Yes, she will get you straightened out. Goodbye!

     Comes Friday morning, I am on the phone a few minutes before 9 AM, at the
suggested direct number.  Ms.  XXXX reviewed the entire order and got the Busy
Repeat Dial feature added to line two ...  but she insisted the original rep
was 'wrong for telling you call screening was available ..' and the obligatory
apology for 'one of my people who mislead you'.  I patiently explained to her
also that in fact call screening was installed and was working.

Manager:  Oh really? Are you sure?

Me:  I am positive. Would you do me a favor? Call the foreman and have
     him call me back.

Manager: Well, someone will call you later.

     Later that day, a rep called to say that yes indeed, I was correct.  It
seems they had not been told call screening was now available in my office.  I
told her that was odd, considering the rep who first took the order knew all
about it.

     I asked when the Alternate Answer 'would be fixed' (bear in mind I thought
it would work outside the CO, which it would not, which is why it kept ringing
through to me instead of forwarding.)

She thought maybe the foreman could figure that out.

     Maybe an hour later, a techician did call me to say he was rather
surprised that call screening was working on my line.  He gave a complete and
concise explanation of how Alternate Answer and Transfer on Busy/No Answer was
to work.  He offered to have it removed from my line since it would be of no
value to me as configured.

     One question he could not answer:  How do you add the last call received
to call screening?  He could find the answer nowhere, but said he would see to
it I got 'the instruction booklet' in the mail soon, so maybe I could figure it
out myself.

     I got busy with other things, and put the question aside ...  until early
Saturday morning when I got one of my periodic crank calls from the same number
which has plagued me for a couple months now with ring, then hangup calls on an
irregular basis.

     For the fun of it, I punched *69, and told the sassy little girl who
answered the phone to quit fooling around.  She was, to say the least,
surprised and startled by my call back.  I don't think I will hear from her
again.  :)

     But I decided to ask again how to add such a number to call screening,
so I called Repair Service.

     The Repair Service clerk pulled me up on the tube *including the work
order from two days earlier* and like everyone else said:

Repair:  You don't have Call Screening on your line. That is not
         available yet in your area. We are adding new offices daily,
         blah, blah.

     I *couldn't believe* what I was hearing ...  I told her I did, and she
insisted I did not ...  despite the order, despite what the computer said.
Finally it was on to her supervisor, but as it turned out, her supervisor was
the foreman on duty for the weekend.  Like the others, he began with apologies
for how I 'had been misinformed' ...  no call screening was available.

Me:  Tell ya what. You say no, and I say yes. You're on the test
     board, no?  I'll hang up. You go on my line, dial *60, listen to
     the recording you hear, then call me back. I will wait here. Take
     your time. When you call back, you can apologize.

Foreman: Well, I'm not on the test board, I'm in my office on my own
     phone.

Me:  So go to the test board, or pick me up in there wherever it is
     handy and use my line. Make a few calls. Add some numbers to the
     call screening; then call me back with egg on your face, okay?

Foreman: Are you saying call screening is on your line and you have
     used it?

Me:  I have used it.  Today. A few minutes ago I played with it.

Foreman: I'll call you back.

(Fifteen minutes later) ...


Foreman:  Mr. Townson!  Umm ... I have been with this company for 23
     years.  I'll get to the point: I have egg on my face. Not mine
     really, but the company has the egg on the face. You are correct;
     your line has call screening.

Me:  23 years you say?  Are you a member of the Pioneers?

Foreman: (surprised)  Why, uh, yes I am.

Me:  Fine organization isn't it ...

Foreman:  Yes, it certainly is.  You know of them?

Me:  I've heard a few things.

Foreman:  Look, let me tell you something. I did not know -- nor *did
anyone in this office know* that call screening was now available. We
were told it was coming, that's all.

Me:  You mean no one knew it was already in place?

Foreman:  No, apparently not ... I think you are the only customer in
the Rogers Park office who has it at this time.  Because the
assumption was it was not yet installed, the reps were told not to
take orders for it ... I do not know how your order slipped through.

Me:  Will you be telling others?

Foreman: I have already made some calls, and yes, others will be told
about this on Monday.

Me:  Well, you know the *81 feature to turn call screening on and off
is still not working.

Foreman:  I'm not surprised. After all, none of it is supposed to be
working right now.  You seem to know something about this business,
Mr. Townson.

Me: I guess I've picked up a few things along the way.

     We then chatted about the Transfer on Busy/No Answer feature.  I asked
why, if my cell phone on 312-415-xxxx had the ability to transfer calls out of
the CO and be programmed/turned on and off from the phone itself, my wire line
could not.  312-415 is out of Chicago-Congress ...  he thought it might have to
do with that office having some different generics than Rogers Park ...  but he
could not give a satisfactory answer.


Patrick Townson



_______________________________________________________________________________


The following article appeared in the U-M Computing Center News
(October 25, 1990, V 5, No 18, Pg 10)

[This article was also reprinted in TELECOM digest -DH]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NSFNET DEMONSTRATES INTERCONTINENTAL ISO TRANSMISSION

[Editor's note: The following article is reprinted, with modifications,
 from the September 1990 issue of the Link Letter (Vol 3, No 4),
published by the Merit/NSFNET backbone project]

At the end of September, partners in the National Science Foundation Network
(NSFNET) announced a succesful demonstration of intercontinental data
transmission using the International Standards Organization Conectionless
Network Protocol (ISO CLNP).  The international exchange of ISO CLNP packets
was demonstrated betweeen end systems at the NSFNET Network Operations Center
in Ann Arbor and in Bonn, West Germany, using the NSFNET backbone
infrastructure and the European Academic Supercomputer Initiative (EASInet)
backbone.

The prototype OSI implementation is intended to provide wide area connectivity
between OSI networks, including networks using the DECNet Phase V protocols.

The new software was integrated into the NSFNET's "packet switching" (data
transmission) nodes by David Katz and Susan Hares of the Merit Computer
Network, with support from IBM's software developement departments in Milford,
CT and Yorktown Heights, NY.

NSFNET is the first federally supported computer network to acheive
international ISO CLNP transmission on an operating network, according to
Merit's Hans-Werner Braun, Principle Investigator for the NSFNET Project.

The Prototype ISO implementation is being designed to coexist with NSFNET's
operational Internet Protocol (IP) network, and is a significant step towards
offering ISO services on the NSFNET backbone.  Eric Aupperle, President of
Merit and acting director of ITD Network Systems, says that "the demonstration
shows that we're capable of transporting ISO traffic.  Now we're working to
deploy this experimental service as fast as possible."

An implementation of CLNP was first demonstrated by Merit/NSFNET staff at the
InterOp '89 conference.  That implementation of CLNP was originally developed
as part of the ARGO project at the University of Wisconsin, Madision, with the
support of the IBM Corporation.

by Ken Horning
DTD Network Systems.
_______________________________________________________________________________


{Middlesex News}, Framingham, Mass., 11/2/90

Prodigy Pulls Plug on Electronic Mail Service For Some

By Adam Gaffin

NEWS STAFF WRITER

Users of a national computer network vow to continue a protest against
censorship and a new charge for electronic mail even though the company kicked
them off-line this week.

Brian Ek, spokesman for the network, Prodigy, said the "handful" of users had
begun harassing other users and advertisers on the service and that some had
even created programs "to flood members' 'mailboxes' with (thousands of)
repeated and increasingly strident harangues," he said.

But leaders of the protest say they sent only polite letters -- approved by the
company's legal department -- using techniques taught by the company itself.
Up to nine of them had their accounts pulled hips week.

Protests began in September when the company said it would cut unlimited
electronic mail from its monthly fee -- which includes such services as on-line
airline reservations, weather and games -- and would charge 25 cents for every
message above a monthly quota of 30.  Ek says the design of the Prodigy network
makes "e-mail" very expensive and that few users send more than 30 messages a
month.

But Penny Hay, the only organizer of the "Cooperative Defense Committee" whose
account was not shut this week, said she and others are upset with Prodigy's
"bait and switch" tactics:  The company continues to promote "free" electronic
mail as a major feature.  She said Prodigy itself had spurred use of e-mail by
encouraging subscribers to set up private e-mail ``lists'' rather than use
public forums and that the charges will especially hurt families, because the
quota is per household, not person.

Ek said relatively few members protested the rate chqange.  Gary Arlen, who
publishes a newsletter about on-line services, called the controversy "a
tempest in a teapot."

Hay, however, said the group now has the backing of nearly 19,000 Prodigy users
-- the ones advertisers would want to see on-line because they are the most
active ones on the system and so more likely to see their ads.

The group is also upset with the way the company screens messages meant for
public conferences.  Other services allow users to see "postings"
immediately.

"They are infamous for this unpredicible and unfathomable censorship," Hay
said.

"We feel what we are doing is not censoring because what we are essentially
doing is electronic publishing," Ek said, comparing the public messages to
letters to the editor of a family newspaper.

Neil Harris, marketing director at the competing GEnie service, said many
people would feel intimidated knowing that what they write is being screened.
He said GEnie only rarely has to deleted messages.  And he said GEnie has
picked up several thousand new customers from among disgruntled Prodigy users.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Conversations with Fred," {Middlesex News}, Framingham, 11/6/90.

The story is bizarre but true, swears Herb Rothman.  Seems Prodigy, the network
run as a joint venture by Sears and IBM, wouldn't let somebody post a message
in a coin-collecting forum that he was looking for a particular Roosevelt dime
for his collection.  Upset, the man called "member services." The
representative told him the message violated a Prodigy rule against mentioning
another user in a public message.  "What user?" the man asked.  "Roosevelt
Dime," the rep replied.  "That's not a person!" the man said.  "Yes he is,
he's a halfback for the Chicago Bears," the rep shot back.

Rothman is one of those alleged compu-terrorists Prodigy claims is harassing
other users and companies that advertise on the service by sending out
thousands upon thousands of increasingly hostile messages in protest of a
Prodigy plan to begin charging users who send more than 30 e-mail messages a
month.  Rothman and the others say they sent very polite messages to people
(Penny Hay of Los Angeles says her messages were even approved by the Prodigy
legal department) telling them about the new fees and urging them to protest.

What's really happening is that Prodigy is proving its complete arrogance and
total lack of understanding of the dynamics of on-line communication.  They
just don't get it.  People are NOT going to spend nearly $130 a year just to
see the weather in Oregon or order trips to Hawaii.

Even the computerphobes Prodigy wants to attract quickly learn the real value
of the service is in finding new friends and holding intelligent "discussions"
with others across the country.

But Prodigy blithely goes on censoring everything meant for public consumption,
unlike other nationwide services (or even bulletin-board systems run out of
some teenager's bedroom).  Rothman's story is not the only one about capricious
or just plain stupid censoring.  Dog fanciers can't use the word ``bitch'' when
talking about their pets, yet the service recently ran an advice column all
about oral sex.  One user who complained when a message commenting on the use
of the term "queen bitch" on "L.A.  Law" was not allowed on was told that
"queen b***h" would be acceptable, because adults would know what it meant
but the kiddies would be saved.

So when the supposed technology illiterates Prodigy thinks make up its user
base managed to get around this through the creation of private mail "lists"
(and, in fact, many did so at the urging of Prodigy itself!), Prodigy started
complaining of "e-mail hogs," quietly announced plans to levy charges for more
than a minute number of e-mail messages each month and finally, simply canceled
the accounts of those who protested the loudest!

And now we are watching history in the making, with the nation's first
nationwide protest movement organized almost entirely by electronic mail (now
don't tell Prodigy this, but all those people they kicked off quickly got back
onto the system -- Prodogy allows up to six users per household account, and
friends simply loaned their empty slots to the protest leaders).

It's truly amazing how little faith Prodigy has in the ability of users to
behave themselves.  Other systems have "sysops" to keep things in line, but
rarely do they have to pull messages.  Plus, Prodigy is just being plain dumb.
Rothman now has a mailing list of about 1,500.  That means every time he sends
out one of his newsletters on collectibles, he sends 1,500 e-mail messages,
which, yes, costs more for Prodigy to send over long-distance lines and store
in its central computers.  But if they realized their users are generally
mature, rather than treating them as 4-year-olds, Rothman could post just one
message in a public area, that everybody could see.

Is this any way to run an on-line system?  Does Prodigy really want to drive
away the people most inclined to use the service -- and see all those ads that
pop up at the bottom of the screen?  Prodigy may soon have to do some
accounting to the folks at IBM and Sears, who by most accounts have already
poured at least $750 million into "this thing."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -
With your computer and modem, you can reach Fred the Middlesex News
Computer anytime, day or night, at (508) 872-8461. Set your parameters
to 8-1-N and up to 2400 baud.

_______________________________________________________________________________


HEADLINE  Cops Say Hacker, 17, `Stole' Phone Service
          Byline:   By Joshua Quittner
DATE      10/31/90
SOURCE    Newsday (NDAY)
          Edition:  NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
          Section:  NEWS
          Page:     02
          (Copyright Newsday Inc., 1990)

State Police arrested a 17-year-old computer hacker at his terminal yesterday
afternoon, and charged the Bethpage High School student with using his computer
to run up more than $1 million worth of long-distance telephone calls on credit
card numbers he deciphered.

State Police Senior Investigator Donald Delaney, who supervised the
investigation and arrest of John Farrell, of 83 S.  Third St., said that the
case was among the first to rely on new technology developed by
telecommunications engineers to track long-distance telephone-service abusers.

Investigators believe that as early as December, 1989, Farrell was using his
computer and a homemade electronic device, known as a black box, to
sequentially dial telephone numbers, which double as credit card numbers.  By
automatically calling the numbers in sequence, Farrell hoped to trigger a
signal indicating a valid credit card number.

However, AT&T, which recently developed software to detect such sequential
dialing, alerted Delaney's office in September of Farrell's alleged attempts.
In July, investigators surreptitiously placed a "pen register" - a device that
records all numbers dialed from a particular phone line - on Farrell's
telephone, Delaney said.

State Police and U.S.  Secret Service agents - the federal agency has been
taking an active part in computer crimes and investigates credit card fraud -
staked out Farrell's house yesterday afternoon.  Shortly after 3 p.m., when the
youth arrived home from school, technicians monitoring his telephone line
signaled the police that he had already turned on his computer and was using an
illegal credit card number to access an electronic bulletin board in Illinois,
police said.  Officers, armed with a search warrant, then entered the house and
arrested Farrell.

Delaney said Farrell found over 100 long-distance credit card numbers, from
four long-distance carriers, and posted them on rogue electronic bulletins
boards in Virginia, Chicago, Denmark and France.  Although he allegedly made
most of the illegal calls, other hackers also used the numbers.  The majority
of the calls - more than $600,000 worth - were billed to four corporate card
numbers, said Delaney, who added that the phone company is responsible for such
losses.  Farrell was arrested and charged with six felonies, including grand
larceny, computer trespass and criminal possession of stolen property.  The
charges carry a maximum penalty of four years in prison.  He was released into
the custody of his parents last night.  Neither Farrell nor his parents could
be reached for comment yesterday.  Farrell was associated with a group of
hackers who called themselves Paradox, Delaney said.

_______________________________________________________________________________


HEADLINE  Menacing calls started out as prank, says participant
          Byline:   Katharine Webster and Graciella Sevilla
          Credit:   Staff Writer
          Notes:    Editions vary : Head varies
DATE      10/28/90
SOURCE    The San Diego Union and Tribune (SDU)
          Pub:      UNION
          Edition:  1,2,3,4,5,6
          Section:  LOCAL
          Page:     B-1
          (Copyright 1990)

A three-year campaign of telephoned threats and ethnic slurs directed against
the Jewish owner of a National City pawn shop started out as a "stupid prank"
that grew to include more than 100 people, according to one of the young men
who participated in the harassment.  "Little did I know when I started this
three years ago, that it would escalate into my brother calling (David Vogel)
10 times a day," said Gary Richard Danko, 21, of Chula Vista, who cooperated
with the FBI investigation that resulted in the indictment Wednesday of his
older brother and two other men on civil rights charges.

Michael Dennis Danko, 23, and Brett Alan Pankauski, 22, both of Chula Vista,
and Jeffrey Alan Myrick, 21, of Paradise Hills in San Diego, pleaded not guilty
in U.S.  District Court yesterday to a six-count indictment charging them with
wire fraud and felony conspiracy to violate the civil rights of David Vogel, a
66-year-old Jewish immigrant who escaped the Holocaust.

Pankauski was released on $10,000 bail and admonished to avoid all contact with
Vogel.  But Danko and Myrick were held without bail pending an Oct.  4
detention hearing after federal prosecutor Michael McAuliffe convinced
Magistrate Irma Gonzalez that they posed substantial flight risks.

On Wednesday, Gary Danko and a friend, Robert John Byrd, 21, also of Chula
Vista, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of conspiring to violate Vogel's
civil rights, according to a spokesman for the U.S.  attorney's office.  The
two friends, who met while working at a 7-Eleven, were released and agreed to
testify at the trial of the remaining three defendants.

Though the arrests climaxed a five-month investigation involving the FBI, U.S.
attorney's office and the Department of Justice, Gary Danko said yesterday that
the menacing phone calls to numbers picked "at random" from the telephone book
began years ago.

The group of friends, most of whom have known each other since elementary
school, all used to make crank phone calls, Danko said, even to each other.
They also experimented with breaking codes for answering machines and changing
the outgoing message to something profane.

While he said he stopped making the calls to Vogel a couple of years ago, his
brother and others "took it out to a degree to torment the guy."

"I feel bad that it turned out this way," Danko said.  "I wish there was some
way I could make it up to David (Vogel)."

"I know how he feels," Danko added.  "Ever since I've had my own phone line
I've had harassing phone calls between 2 and 6 in the morning to the point
where I've changed my phone number three times." Danko denied that he, his
brother, or any of the other defendants in the case were racists or that they
had targeted Vogel for any particular reason.  He said that the defendants made
crank calls to many people, and that the anti-Jewish nature of the calls to
Vogel was probably based on a "lucky guess" that he was Jewish.

According to the indictment, Michael Danko, Myrick, and Pankauski made phone
calls in which they referred to Nazi concentration camps and Hitler, while
threatening to harm Vogel and his pawn-shop business.

Vogel said he began receiving the phone calls -- which included racial slurs
and taunts about his wife -- in 1987.  Sometimes he received up to 12 calls a
day, creating a "personal hell." Earlier this year, he finally hired a private
investigator, who then turned the case over to the FBI.

"It caused suffering for us like the concentration camps did for my family,"
Vogel said.  "It was horrible."

Another relative of Gary and Michael Danko, who asked not to be identified,
said he thought the calls to Vogel continued only "because they got a reaction
out of him -- he screamed and yelled at them." But he said Vogel was probably
not the only Jew targeted in the phone calls.

The relative agreed with FBI agents, who described these incidents as isolated
and not connected with organized racist groups such as the Skinheads.

Instead, he said, the brothers thought they were doing "something funny." He
said he thought they still didn't realize they were doing something wrong, even
though he had "yelled and screamed at them" to stop.

Gary Danko is a computer "hacker" who works at a computer store, he said.
Michael Danko was unemployed.

FBI agents began investigating the calls in May, when they placed a tape
recorder on Vogel's phone.  It only took a few moments before the first hate
call came in.

Agents traced the calls to a number of phone booths and then began putting
together the wire-fraud case.

In addition to the civil rights violations, the indictment alleges that the
three defendants conspired to obtain unauthorized AT&T long-distance access
codes to make long-distance phone calls without paying for them.

If convicted of the civil rights and wire-fraud charges, the defendants could
face up to 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.  In addition, they face
various additional charges of illegally obtaining and using the restricted
long-distance access codes.

Yesterday, Vogel angrily rejected the notion that these callers were less than
serious in their intentions.

"They're full of baloney.  They don't know what they are talking about," he
said.

_______________________________________________________________________________

HEADLINE  SHORT-CIRCUITING DATA CRIMINALS
          STEPS CAN BE TAKEN TO DETECT AND PREVENT COMPUTER SECURITY BREACHES,
          BUT BUSINESSES HESITATE TO PROSECUTE
          Byline:   Mary J. Pitzer Daily News Staff Writer
          Notes:    MONDAY BUSINESS: COVER STORY THE PRICE OF COMPUTER
          CRIME. Second of two parts
DATE      10/22/90
SOURCE    LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS   (LAD)
          Edition:  Valley
          Section:  BUSINESS
          Page:     B1
          (Copyright 1990)

Along with other telecommunications companies, Pacific Bell is a favorite
target for computer crime.

"We're a victim," said Darrell Santos, senior investigator at Pacific Bell.
"We have people hacking us and trying to get into our billables.  It seems like
a whole lot of people are trying to get into the telecommunications network."

But the company is fighting back.  About seven employees in its investigative
unit work with different law enforcement agencies to track down criminals, many
of whom use the phone lines to commit computer crimes.

In cooperation with authorities Pacific Bell investigators collect evidence,
trace calls, interview suspects and testify in court.  They even do their own
hacking to figure out what some of their chief adversaries are up to.

"We take a (telephone) prefix and hack the daylights out of it.  We hack our
own numbers," Santos said.  "Hey, if we can do it, think of what those brain
childs are doing."

Few companies are nearly so aggressive.  For the most part computer crime is a
growing business that remains relatively unchecked.  State and federal laws
against computer crime are in place, but few cases are prosecuted.  Most
incidents go unreported, consultants say.

"We advise our clients not to talk about losses and security because just
talking about them in public is a breach," said Donn Parker, a senior managment
consultant at SRI International in Palo Alto.  "Mostly companies handle
incidents privately or swallow the loss."

Most problematic is that few companies have tight enough security to protect
themselves.

"On a scale of one to 10, the majority of companies are at about a two," said
Jim Harrigan, senior security consultant at LeeMah Datacom Security Corp.,
which sells computer security products.

Current laws are strong enough to convict computer criminals, security experts
say.  But they have been little used and sentences are rarely stiff, especially
because so many violators are juveniles.

Fewer than 250 computer crime cases have been prosecuted nationally, according
to Kenneth Rosenblatt, head of the Santa Clara County district attorney's high
technology unit.  Rosenblatt co-authored California's recent computer crime
law, which creates new penalties such as confiscation of computer equipment.

Under a strengthened federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Cornell University
graduate student Robert T.  Morris Jr.  was convicted of unleashing a computer
virus in Internet, a large computer network tying universities and government
facilities.  Though the virus was not intended to destroy programs, it infected
thousands of computers and cost between $100,000 and $10 million to combat,
according to author and hacking expert Cliff Stoll.

Morris was sentenced to three years probation and a $10,000 fine.

A major problem in policing computer crime is that investigators are
understaffed and undertrained, Rosenblatt said.  While Los Angeles and other
police departments have computer crime units, most are not geared for it, he
said.  And violent crimes take precedence.

Rosenblatt would like to see greater regional cooperation and coordination
among local law enforcement agencies.

Because investigators are understaffed, they must depend on their victims to
gather enough evidence to convict the culprits.  And that can be fraught with
difficulties, Kenneth Weaver, criminal investigator in the San Diego district
attorney's office, said at a recent security conference in Newport Beach.

In one case a company's computer system crashed and its programs were erased 30
days after an employee left the firm.  With six months of backup tapes, the
company was able to document what had happened.  The District Attorney's office
asked to estimate how much money had been lost.

The total came to $3,850, well below the $5,000 in damages needed for a felony
case, Weaver said.  And then the information was delayed 14 months.  It needed
to be reported in 12 months for the D.A.  to go forward with the case.

"We were prevented from prosecuting," Weaver said.  In California, 71 percent
of the cases result in convictions once arrests are made, according to the
National Center for Computer Crime Data.

But when prosecutors do make a case, there can be more trouble.  Some prominent
people in the computer industry have complained that a 2-year investigation by
the U.S.  Secret Service infringed on civil rights.

The investigation, code-named Operation Sun Devil, was started to snare members
of the Legion of Doom, an elite hacker group.  The Secret Service suspected
that they had broken into BellSouth Corp.'s telephone network and planted
destructive programs that could have knocked out emergency and customer phone
service across several states.  Last spring, hacker dens in 13 cities were
raided.  Two suspects have been charged with computer crimes, and more arrests
are expected.

But a group called EFF, formed in July by Lotus Development Corp.  founder
Mitchell D.  Kapor and Apple Computer Inc.  co-founder Stephen Wozniak, has
objected to the crackdown as overzealous.

"The excesses of Operation Sun Devil are only the beginning of what threatens
to become a long, difficult, and philosophically obscure struggle between
institutional control and individual liberty," Kapor wrote in a paper with
computer expert and Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow.

So far, the foundation has granted $275,000 to Computer Professionals for
Social Responsibility to expand its ongoing work on civil liberties protections
for computer users.

The foundation also is offering legal assistance to computer users who may have
had their rights infringed.  For example, it provided legal support to Craig
Neidorf, publisher of an online hacking "magazine." Neidorf had been charged
with felony wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property for
publishing BellSouth network information.

Neidorf said he was not aware the information was stolen.  EFF claimed that
Neidorf's right to free speech had been violated.  The government dropped its
case after EFF representatives found that the apparently stolen information was
publicly available.

Companies that want to prosecute computer crime face other dilemmas.

"The decision to bring in public authorities is not always the best," said
Susan Nycum, an attorney at Baker & McKenzie in Palo Alto.

In a criminal case, the company loses control over what information is made
public in the trial.  But companies can pursue civil remedies that enable them
to keep a lower profile.  Suing for theft of trade secret, for example, would
be one avenue, Weaver said.

Many companies are reluctant to beef up security even if they know the risks
from computer crime.  First, they worry that making access to computers more
difficult would lower productivity.  There also is concern that their technical
people, who are in high demand, might leave for other jobs if security becomes
too cumbersome.

Expense is another factor.  Serious security measures at a large installation
can cost an average of $100,000, though a smaller company can be helped for
about $10,000, said Trevor Gee, partner at consulting company Deloitte and
Touche.

"They hear all the rumors, but unless you illustrate very specific savings,
they are reluctant," Gee said.

Proving cost savings is difficult unless the company already has been hit by
computer crime.  But those victims, some of whom have suffered losses in the
millions, are usually security experts' best customers, consultants say.

Much of the vulnerability to computer crime comes simply from lax security.
Access is not restricted.  Doors are not locked.  Passwords are easily guessed,
seldom changed and shared with several workers.  And even these basic security
measures are easy to put off.

"You hear a lot of, `We haven't gotten around to changing the password because.
.  .," Roy Alzua, telecommunications security program manager at Rockwell
International, told the security conference.

So what should companies do to plug the gaping security holes in their
organizations?

Consultants say that top management first has to make a commitment that
everyone in the operation takes seriously.

"I've seen companies waste several hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars
because management was not behind the program," Deloitte & Touche's Gee said.
"As a result, MIS (management information systems) professionals have a tough
time" pressing for more security.

Once top executives are convinced that there is a need for tighter security,
they must establish policies and procedures, consultants say.  Gee suggests
that in addition to training programs, reminders should be posted.  Such issues
as whether employees are allowed to use computers for personal projects should
be tackled.

Management also should decide what systems and information need to be secured.

"They need to zero in on the information they are really concerned about," said
Gregory Therkalsen, national director of information security services for
consultants Ernst & Young.  "About 95 percent of the information in the average
company nobody cares about."

Before tackling complicated security systems, companies should pay attention to
the basics.

"Lock a door.  It's as easy as that," Alzua said.

Companies should make sure that the passwords that come with their computers
are changed.  And then employees should not use common words or names that are
easy to guess.  Using a combination of numbers and letters, although difficult
to remember, is more secure.

Another basic measure is to have a system that automatically checks the
authorization of someone who dials into the company's computers from the
outside.

Then, companies should develop an electronic audit trail so that they know who
is using the system and when.  And companies should always take the time to
make backups of their computer files and store them in a place safe from fire
and flood.

A wide variety of software is available to help companies protect themselves.
Some automatically encode information entered into the system.  Others detect
viruses.

For a more sophisticated approach, LeeMah Datacom has a system that blocks a
computer tone from the telephone line until the correct access code is entered.
The company has held contests challenging hackers to break into its system.  No
one has, the company said.

SRI is developing a system that would monitor computer activity around the
clock with the supervision of a security guard.  SRI is implementing the system
for the FBI and plans to make it a commercial product.

No company would want to have a perfectly secure system, consultants say.  That
would mean shutting out most employees and staying off networks that can make
operations more efficient.

While still balancing the need for openess, however, there is much that can be
done to prevent computer crime.  And although there is no perfect solution,
companies don't need to stand by waiting to become the next victim.

_______________________________________________________________________________


HEADLINE  BELL CANADA'S NEW LOOK TELEPHONE NUMBERS PUZZLE SOME CUSTOMERS
DATE      09/26/90
SOURCE    CANADA NEWS-WIRE   (CNW)
          Contact:  For further information, contact: Irene Colella (416)
          581-4266; Geoff Matthews, Bell Canada (416) 581-4205. CO: Bell Canada
          SS: IN: TLS
          Origin:   TORONTO
          Language: ENGLISH; E
          Day of Week: Wed
          Time:        09:56 (Eastern Time)
          (Copyright Canada News-Wire)
RE        CN
          ---    BELL CANADA'S NEW LOOK TELEPHONE NUMBERS PUZZLE SOME
                                    CUSTOMERS                            ---

TORONTO - Bell Canada's new look telephone numbers in Southern Ontario are
causing puzzlement among some customers in the 416 area code.

In late 1988 Bell found itself running short of telephone numbers in the Golden
Horseshoe because of rapid business and residential growth as well as the
increasing popularity of cellular telephones, fax machines and new services
like Ident-A-Call.

To accommodate continuing growth, the company had to come up with a means of
creating new number combinations.  The solution was found by assigning local
exchanges made up of combinations which had previously been reserved as area
codes elsewhere in North America.

Until March of this year the three numbers (known as a central office code)
which begin a telephone number never had a zero or a one as the second digit.
Anything from two through nine could appear in that position, but combinations
with zero or one were used only as area codes.  But with more than four million
telephone numbers in use throughout the Golden Horseshoe Bell was simply
running out of the traditional central office code combinations.  By creating
new central office codes such as 502, 513, 602 and 612, the company has access
to up to one million new telephone numbers.

Some customers, however, have found the new numbers a little confusing.  When
the new numbers were introduced last March, Bell mounted an extensive
advertising campaign telling customers throughout the 416 area code to dial 1
plus 416 or 0 plus 416 for all long distance calls within the area code in
order to ensure calls to these numbers could be completed.

Bell spokesman Geoff Matthews says that while the ad campaign was extremely
effective in changing dialing habits, a number of customers are scratching
their heads when they first see the new telephone numbers.

``In some cases we are finding that business customers have not programmed
their telephone equipment to permit dialing the new numbers,'' Matthews said,
``but some people think it is simply a mistake when they see a telephone number
beginning with 612 for example.  Most are satisfied once they have received an
explanation.''

Creating the million new telephone numbers should see Bell Canada through
several years, Matthews said, after which a new area code will be introduced.

The 416 area code is the first in Canada to reach capacity.  A number of U.S.
cities have faced a similar situation, Matthews said, and have introduced
similar number plans.

Bell Canada, the largest Canadian telecommunications operating company, markets
a full range of state-of-the-art products and services more than seven million
business and residence customers in Ontario, Quebec and part of the Northwest
Territories.

Bell Canada is a member of Telecom Canada -- an association of Canada's major
telecommunications companies.


For further information, contact:  Irene Colella (416) 581-4266; Geoff
Matthews, Bell Canada (416) 581-4205.

_______________________________________________________________________________


HEADLINE  Keeping The PBX Secure
          Byline:   Bruce Caldwell
DATE      10/15/90
          Issue:    291
          Section:  TRENDS
          Page:     25
          (Copyright 1990 CMP Publications, Inc.  All rights reserved.)

Preventing toll fraud through the corporate PBX can be as simple, albeit
inconvenient, as expanding access codes from four digits to 14.  "When we had
nine-digit codes, we got hurt bad," says Bob Fox of US Sprint Communications
Co., referring to the phone company's credit card numbers.  "But when we moved
to 14-digit codes and vigorous prosecution, our abuse dropped off the table."

At most companies, the authorization code for remote access, used by employees
to place calls through the corporate PBX while away from the office, is only
four digits.  Many companies are "hung up on the four-digit authorization
code," says Fox, mainly because it's easier for the executives to remember.
But all it takes a hacker to crack open a four-digit code is about 20 minutes.

To help their customers cope with PBX abuse, MCI Communications Corp.  has
prepared a tip sheet describing preventative measures (see accompanying chart).
PBX fraud may display itself in a particular pattern:  The initial stage will
show a dramatic increase in 950-outbound and 800-outbound services, which allow
a surreptitious user to "cover his tracks" by jumping from one carrier to
another-a technique known as "looping." In time, knowledge of the unsecured
system may become widespread, resulting in heavy use of services connected with
normal telecommunications traffic.

Customers are advised to audit systems for unusual usage and to change codes on
a regular basis.  Steady tones used as prompts to input access codes should be
avoided, because that is what hacker-programmed computers look for.  Instead,
MCI advises use of a voice recording or no prompt at all, and recommends
automatic termination of a call or routing it to a switchboard operator
whenever an invalid code is entered.

An obvious source of help is often overlooked.  Explains Jim Snyder, an
attorney in MCI's office of corporate systems integrity, "The first thing we
tell customers is to contact their PBX vendor to find out what kind of
safeguards can be built into the PBX."

_______________________________________________________________________________


HEADLINE  WATCH YOUR PBX
          Column:   Database
DATE      04/02/90
SOURCE    COMMUNICATIONSWEEK   (CWK)
          Issue:    294
          Section:  PRN
          Page:     24
          (Copyright 1990 CMP Publications, Inc.  All rights reserved.)

Many managers of voice systems would be "horrified" if they realized the low
levels of security found in their PBXs, according to Gail Thackeray, an
assistant attorney general for the state of Arizona.  Thackeray made her
comments to a group of financial users at a computer virus clinic held by the
Data Processing Management Association's Financial Industries chapter.
Thackeray, who investigates computer crimes, said that PBXs often are used by
network criminals to make free long distance phone calls at the expense of the
companies that own the PBXs.  "PBX owners are often unaware that if $500,000
worth of fraud comes from your PBX, the local carrier is not going to absorb
that loss," she said.

The PBX also is often the first source of break-in by computer hackers, who use
the free phone service to get into a user's data system, she said.  "PBXs are
the prime method for international toll fraud and hackers attacking and hiding
behind your corporate identity," Thackeray said.

Richard Lefkon, Citicorp's network planner and president of DPMA's financial
industries chapter, said users are more likely to take steps toward protecting
a PBX than a network of microcomputers.  "A PBX is expensive, so if you add 15
to 20 percent to protect it, it's a justifiable expenditure," Lefkon said.  "If
you have a PC which costs a couple of thousand dollars, unless you think you're
special, you are going to think twice before investing several hundred dollars
per PC to protect them."

_______________________________________________________________________________


                        KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL

                              K N I G H T L I N E

                           Issue 03/Part III of III

                            17th of November, 1990

                              Written, compiled,

                           and edited by Doc Holiday

                        KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL

                                      ---

     What is this?  Information Society's new album is called "HACK"?  Just
what do these guys know about hacking?  How did they come up with the album
title?  Why are they taking such an interest in the Computer Underground?

     Knightline got the chance to ask Kurt Valaquen of InSoc about the new
album and his involvement with the CU.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

RINGing New York .. .

KV: Hello
Me: Kurt?
KV: Yes, Doc ?
Me: Yea, you ready for the interview?
KV: Sure, shoot.
Me: Okay, this is DH with Phrack Classic--
TC: This is the Conflict
PH: And this is Pain Hertz
KV: I uh, hope you ask me what my hacker handle is..
Me: Ok, what's your handle?
KV: Because I believe that I have one of the coolest hacker's handles that I've
    ever heard.
TC: uhh
Me: What is it?
KV: TRAPPED VECTOR.
Me: "Trapped Vector" ?
KV: yep
Me: How did you come up with that?
KV: What? You don't recognize it ?
Me: haha
KV: What.. . and you guys call yourselves hackers?
Me: ah
KV: My god. . you guys must be so young that you've never had to deal with
    assembly language.
Me: Who would want to-- It was a sarcastic question..
Me: Now, Kurt..
KV: Trapped Vector is a term from deep deep down in the functioning's of a CPU.
Me: Right.
Me: Uh, uh What kind of involvement, if any, have you had in the
    telecommunications field?
KV: In telecommunications what?
Me: In the telecommunications field.
KV: Uhh.. I majored in computer science at the University of Minnesota.. . Just
    long enough to get interested and not long enough to get a degree.
Me: ah. So you didn't graduate?
KV: No. After my 5th year I finally gave up and went to Vienna.
Me: Uhh. Let's get into the new album .. uh now, what was the inspiration for
    involving the "hacking" theme in your new album?
KV: Umm, well, it's not like we were inspired to do it -- and we sat around all
    day and said "Hey, let's like put this hacker's moltese into it." -- it's
    more like we just left all that stuff out on our first album because we
    were trying to .. uh.. to not make any waves, since it was our first album.
    And now were cocky and think we can do whatever we want.  So we just did
    whatever we wanted. And whenever we do whatever we want, some of that
    stuff inevitably creeps in because .. were into it.
Me: uhh.. have you been following all of the recent hacking busts that have
    plagued the country this year .. ?
KV: Hacking "buzz" that has plaged.. .
Me: BUSTS.. yea hacking busts..
KV: Oh, I haven't been following it, but I've been hearing a little bit about
    it from my friends..
Me: Yea, because your album comming out titled "HACK" really does tie in
    with this time period of hackers getting alot of press..
KV: Yea
Me: And I just thought that could have been one of the inspirations.. .
KV: Well, actually, believe it or not, we don't really know what it means to
    title an album "HACK".  We have a list of about nine different
    interpretations that we thought we could leave open and anyone else could
    decide which is the real one and strangley (Gruhm) the computer hacker
    concept is pretty far down on our list.  The first one we always think of
    is uh.. the hack versus .. uh.. respected professional-- meaning-- like,
    you know, their just hack, he's just a hack writer.. .
Me: Right.
KV: Their just hack musicians-- because uh, I guess we wanted to be
    self-deprecating in a sarcastic and easily marketable way.
Me: Yea..
Me: What about your personal involvement in the Computer Underground? Is there
    one? With hackers?
KV: Well, umm.. if I were not being a "pop tart" (which is our personal lingo
    for rock star) I would probably be trying to make my money off of
    programming.
Me: Aaah!
KV: Ummm, however.. that's not the case.. I am trying to be a "pop tart" so my
    involvement is more limited that I would like it to be.  I mean I do all my
    work on IBM.. When I'm composing..
Me: Hm, Kurt, what are your thoughts and attitudes toward hackers and hacking?
KV: Umm,  this is my thoughts and attitudes towards it:  I am somebody who --
    always. . always -- like when I had that telephone job, I just was, I
    hardly did any work.  I just spent the whole time trying to come up with
    tricky things to do you know.  Like I'd screw up other people's phone calls
    and stuff and so like I'm way into it.  And I understand why people want to
    do it.  BUT, I always kinda, knew that I just .. . shouldn't.  Just because
    it's stupid.. It was childish.  And, I just wish that hackers could come up
    with something better to do than get things without paying for them.
PH: Like something more productive?
KV: Yea, like .. uh.. umm, crash some sort of umm, killing organization's
    computer system.
Me: Have you always had these thoughts or..just because of your popularity?
KV: Umm, I've had this attitude as I got older, because .. um, I'm just
    becomming really bored with people devoting all this intelligence and
    motivation into like avoiding paying their phone bill.
TC: Well, actually, that's getting away from the hacker as such. Because alot
    of hackers are really into systems more than their into .. you know, toll
    fraud.
KV: Well I sure hope so..
TC: Yea, I mean..
KV: My Idea of great hacking is gathering information that other people are
    wronmgfully trying to withhold.
TC: Right.
KV: But, most hacking to me seems to be petty ways of getting things without
    paying for them.. and that is just silly.
Me: That is the "90's hackers" Kurt.
PH: Yea, it's moving that way alot..
Me: It's in that direction.
Me: Tell us about the telephone job you mentioned?
KV: Well, I worked at a market research place.  You all know what that is-- you
    call up and say, "Hello, my name is Kurt and Im calling for marketing
    incentives incorporated, and we are conducting a survey in your area
    tonight... about toothpaste!"
PH: Hah
TC: ahha
Me: Bahaha
KV: "And I would like to know if I could ask you a few questions?" .. "What! I
    don't wanna buy no toothpaste!" .. "No we were just going to ask a few
    questions.." -- Ewwwwph..
KV: Like... you would try to come up with ways to not make the phone calls
    because it was so painful to do.
TC: heh
KV: The best thing was when I umm. . this was a time when I didn't know much
    about telephones.. or how they really worked.. umm. . but I managed to run
    a little thing-- wires with alligator clips --uhh, from the phone that I
    was at to the central switcher.  And uhh, whenever I like got up to goto
    the bathroom, or something, I'd go in there, and by connecting and shorting
    the two wires out I'd break up someone's phone call.
PH: ha
KV: You know, but after a while, I thought to myself, WHY? I wish I could have
    pulled something more creative like umm.. . installing a uhh.. a pitch
    transposer on the outgoing signals, so that the people on the other end of
    the phone would hear, "AND NOW, I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU: HOW DO YOU FEEL
    ABOUT COLEGATE?"
Me: Bahaha
TC: ahha
PH: heh!
KV: That would have been funny-- aha.
KV: But, I never did that..
Me: Hmm, Do you know any other bands that are involved or interested in the
    computer underground?
KV: No, I don't know that there are any-- most uh musicians are either
    anti-tech or if they are into tech they arnt into it enough-- or they arn't
    into it for it's own sake.  Like, like hackers.
Me: Did you guys have any problems with the title of your new album?
KV: Like what do you mean?
Me: Well, do you find that most of your fans think you guys are into the
    "hacking scene" because of the title?
KV: They can think of it anyway they want-- it a bunch of different meanings.
KV: Like uh, one member of the band thinks of it refering to him being a cook
    and he likes to cut up meat.
Me: Hah
TC: heh
TC: What about like on the 12" with the "BlueBox 2600" mix and the
    "Phone Phreakers" mix?
KV: What about it?
TC: Yea.. uh
KV: And the Virtual Reality mix?
TC: Yea, has that uh.. have you heard anything about that?
KV: Umm, no people in large just don't notice.  I mean when your a hacker, I
    mean you kind of forget how little people know.  But it's unbelieveable how
    much people don't know.  And I'm sure one person in a thousand thinks that
    those are anything other than, "Oh another wacky mix name!"
Me: Baha
KV: Most mix names are just inside jokes-- so most people don't bother trying
    to understand them.
TC: Right.
KV: Umm, basically the only thing that has happened is that people have umm..
    really responded to the concept of uhh.. us trying to tie into computer
    hacking-- way more than we were really trying to.  We just wanted it to be
    a reference.  And the people around us are kinda pushing us into it being a
    theme.  Were not really prepared for that.  Because, while were into it, of
    the three of us, Im the only one who can hold down a conversation about
    tech.  And even I have to move over and admit that I am not ane expert
    hacker.  I just dont know enough.  Like.. Uh.. I know what an FAT is, but
    I wouldn't know how to rewrite it.
TC: Well, that's another thing.  Do you make a distinction between hacker as
    someone who breaks into computers or a hacker who is an intense system
    programmer?
KV: Do I make that distinction?
TC: Yea.
KV: Umm.. No.. Im not involved enough in the hacker world to make that
    distinction.
Me: Do you have anything you want to say to the computer underground?
KV: Umm.. .yes let me think. . "Roller-skating is not a crime".
TC: Hah
PH: ah!
KV: You know that I live on skates don't you?
PH: Well on the album cover your wearing skates.. next to that car ... with
    your..
KV: My teledestruction gear!
KV: And, I have to add a grain of salt to the phrase "Hackers of the world
    unite" thats on our album cover..
PH: Right.
KV: We didn't actually intend it to be a huge banner.. it was suppose to be a
    tiny little comment on the side.. and our label misunderstood our
    intentions for that.  We didn't think it was quite good enough to have it
    be a huge .. in such huge print.
Me: Hmm
KV: Not a grain of salt.. A tounge and a cheek.
TC: hehe
<SILENCE>
Me: Well, I guess thats about it.. Do you have anything you wanna sum up with?
KV: Umm..
<SILENCE>
Me: Uh, Kurt, do you have an Email address somewhere?
KV: AH, well, Im embarrassed to say it but only on Prodigy.
TC: HAH
Me: Bahah!
PH: Heh
Me: Okay.. Well, if that's it..
KV: Wait.  I do know something I can sum up with..
KV: Please.. In the case of our album try to overcome your instinct of hacker
    tendancies and buy an original disk rather than just waiting for a copy..
KV: Ok?
Me: Hah
KV: We need the money.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[The following is a press release for InSoc's new LP. --DH]

                                 INFORMATION
                                   SOCIETY


"Hackers have no regard for conventional wisdom.  We have no regard for
musical conventions..."

                                --  Paul Robb


"Hack has multiple meanings, some of them self-deprecating.  You can't
take any of this too seriously or you've missed the point.  It's about
a playful use of technology, about breaking codes.  It's a post-modern
aesthetic that comes through in our music..."

                                --  James Cassidy


"After having devised, erased and blotted out many other names, we
finally decided to call our album _Hack_  --  a name that, in our
opinion, is lofty, sonorous and significant.  It explains that we had
been only ordinary hacks before we had been raised to our present status
as first of all hacks in the world..."

                                --  Kurt Valaquen


There you have it...as complete a definition of the vision of _Hack_ as
you're likely to get short of actually listening to Information
Society's superb new album of the same name.  And if, after reading the
trio's treatises on the term, you suddenly have a clear understanding of
what the meaning behind _Hack_ really is, then something's gone wrong.
_Hack_ is more than the definition.  It's a way of life.  With its own
soundtrack.

"We're musical hackers of the first order," continues InSoc's Paul Robb.
"What we do is similiar to computer hackers breaking into sophisticated
systems to wreak havoc."

"Our music is really different from other progressive styles," adds
James Cassidy.  "It's funnier and scarier...a mix of pure pop and sub-
versive stuff underneath the surface."

TOMMY BOY MUSIC, INC.    1747 1ST AV. NY, NY 10128       (212) 722-2211

_______________________________________________________________________________

                              N E W S * B O L T S

                                    {A - G}
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A>      Four direct telephone circuits linking Seoul to Moscow were set to open
at midnight last night.  South Korea's Communication Ministry said telephone
calls between South Korea and the Soviet Union have jumped from four calls in
all of 1987 to some 5,000 a month this year.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
B>      In the latest issue of IEEE Spectrum (November, 1990), on pages
117-119, there's an interesting article entitled "The Great Blue Box Phone
Frauds", subtitled "Until the phone company separated signaling information
from the voice signal, long-distance calls could be made without charge by
anyone who could whistle at 2600 hertz."

It even has the illustration from the June 1972 "Ramparts" magazine, showing
how to constuct a "black box" to prevent the calling party from being billed
for the call.

There's also a list of about five or six other references at the end
of the article which sound interesting.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C>      Registering for AT&T Mail on-line:  make a modem call to 1 800 624 5123
(2400, 1200, or 300 baud, 8 bit, no parity); give one (or more) <CR>'s; and at
the login prompt, type REGISTER followed by another <CR>.  The system will walk
you through its on-line registration procedure.  Have a creditcard number or
EFT number handy.  You can back out at any time with a ^C (<cntrl>-C) and a
QUIT.

A couple further AT&T Mail features:

"Mail Talk" permits retrieval of messages w/o a terminal from any DTMF phone --
text messages get "spoken" by a synthesized voice; and there are "Autoanswer"
and "Autoresponse" options permitting fairly flexible automatic response to
either all or selected incoming messages.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
D>      Detroit, Michigan time 313-472-1212.  May soon be replaced with
a 900 number that charges.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
E>      In Australia, the hacker known as Phoenix was charged with Defrauding
the Commonwealth, Conspiracy to Commit Treason, and Conspiracy to Commit
Murder.  The United States has sent representatives from the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) and the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) overseas to
help investigate the situation and aid in prosecution of Phoenix.  In the
meantime, the "eccentric" Phoenix is maintaining ties to hacker friends in the
USA by use of the Internet.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
F>      Bellcore reports that we have only 9 unused area codes.  The current
system of generating the codes was supposed to last 100-200 years.  Not to
worry, a representative at the Bell organization says a new plan is already in
the works.  The new system consists of replacing the 2nd digit (either 0 or 1)
with a number between 2 and 9.  Bellcore says the new plan should last 200 more
years. Hm.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
G>      A new BBS has been set up for a communication flow between hackers,
fed, and journalists.  713.242.6853  Instant validation for all.  The BBS is
called FACE to FACE.
_______________________________________________________________________________

*** END OF PHRACK CLASSIC 32; Email: pc@well.ca.sf.us
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