Can He Behave Himself Now? 
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   Saturday, January 22, 2000 at 14:34:05
   by John Vranesevich - Founder of AntiOnline 

   Famous, or rather, infamous hacker Kevin Mitnick was released from
   prison this week. However, the taste of freedom after incarceration is
   hardly a new one to his pallet. Mitnick had been arrested a total of 5
   separate times over the past 20 years, all on charges related to
   computers. The question that seems to come to mind now, is has he
   learned his lesson this time?

   Well, if the public statement that he released is any sign, I'd say
   no. The statement seems to blame just about everyone for his
   incarceration, everyone except himself that is. Mitnick claims in his
   statement that his lengthy 5 year incarceration can be blamed on
   everyone from the Los Angeles Times for publishing his name when he
   was a juvenile (oh yes, Mitnick's legal troubles started long before
   his 18th birthday) to New York Times Reporter John Markoff for his
   "libelous and defamatory reporting", and even U.S. Attorneys David
   Schindler and Christopher Painter for "obstruct[ing] my ability to
   defend myself at every turn".

   Mitnick was first arrested when he was 17 for stealing computer
   manuals. Arrests for other crimes came in 1983 and 1987. In 1988, when
   he was 25, the FBI arrested him for stealing software from Digital
   Equipment, a crime which he spent 8 months in prison for. I'm not
   exactly sure who he blames those arrests on.

   Mitnick started his statement by thanking "the millions of people who
   have visited the website kevinmitnick.com" during his incarceration. I
   find it almost ungrateful that he didn't take the time to thank the
   thousands of "script kiddies" who hacked websites like the United
   Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to show their support for him, and
   demand his immediate release. The fact that Mitnick's become such a
   role-model to the world's "script kiddies" can probably be attributed
   to his good friend, 2600 Magazine Editor Emmanuel Goldstein, who by
   the way, barely appeared to take a second out of his day to
   acknowledge Mitnick's release before finding something new to complain
   about. Namely, a federal injunction stopping 2600 from distributing
   software that would allow individuals to illegally pirate DVDs.

   Mitnick has also announced that he would like to attend college. His
   desired major? You guessed it, computer science. We've already seen
   the Kevin Mitnick Defense Fund and the Kevin Mitnick Freedom Fund. If
   someone starts up a Kevin Mitnick College Fund I'll be sick.
   Unfortunately for Mitnick, hackers seem to be of the cheap variety.
   While they're more than willing to hack webpages in his honor, they
   seem much less willing to open their wallets. His current "Freedom
   Fund" has a meager $3,024.76 in it. Barely enough to buy him a
   computer worthy of hacking with. That is, if he were even allowed to
   touch a computer. A condition of his probation states that Mitnick
   isn't allowed to operate a computer. A condition Mitnick seeks to
   dispute. Not very surprising.

   Mitnick's future is up in the air at this point, and there are a lot
   of questions that I will be interested in finding answers to. For
   example, who will hire him? Will he be sitting next to fellow
   former-hacker Kevin Poulsen on a ZDTV set, or maybe doing consulting
   work for @Stake next to "grey-hat hacker group" L0pht? Also, who will
   write the Authorized Kevin Mitnick Biography? Will it be Forbes
   Magazine Reporter Adam Penenberg who has apparently been attempting to
   cultivate hackers raging from Mitnick to HFG (Hacking For Girlies) by
   writing favorable commentaries? Or, will he surprise the world and
   finally make up with New York Times Reporter John Markoff? I guess
   only time will tell.