FREQUENCY: Inside the Hacker Mind May 2001 Freq9 1. Introduction: "Small Forms of Protest" 2. Injustice For All: by Dash Interrupt 3. Community vs. Individual Progress and Enlightenment (part 2): by Nanogeist 4. Love and Computing: by The Blue Giant 5. Forced to Retire: by Savoir-Faire 6. A Matter of Privacy: by Screamer Chaotix 7. Review of Var Tec Telecom: by Screamer Chaotix and Dash Interrupt 8. Closing Arguments 9. Crew 1. INTRODUCTION: "The First Steps" Welcome to issue 9 of Frequency. I was originally going to save my retrospective for issue 10, but I would rather use that issue to look into the future. Looking back through these first 9 issues, it's hard to believe how far we've come. Our first issue focused on hackers see the world from a different perspective, mainly the technological perspective. We showed how some people see the world in their everyday lives, and how others see much more. While some look at a computer and see a tool to get work done, others see an opportunity to create and explore a virtual universe of endless possibilities. A telephone, to an average person, is a device to get them through their busy day. To a hacker, it's a doorway. A doorway to a massive network of interconnecting lines. Lines that can take you anywhere, if of course, you know the path. Radio waves to the guy next door may be a way of listening to the newest corporate owned pop star music…but to a hacker their information filling the air, waiting to be plucked. Throughout the issues, we headed more in the direction of protesting and lashing out at the corporate world. A world that, quite honestly, has far too much control over the way we live. Because of this, both hackers and regular citizens alike are forced to pay outrageous prices for services that have existed for a hundred years. Scams against the phone company are felonies, but scams against the average consumer are "common business practices." While this is a very important topic, I'm going to try to direct future issues to the ways of the past. Perhaps create a delicate balance between showing people why hackers do what they do, and explaining how the "real world" works. I hope you see the similarities, and understand why we say the things we do. As hackers we try to find answers, logic, and when we do we figure out ways of exploiting it. Sure a few bad hackers spoil the fun for the rest of us by committing crimes, but overall we're good people trying to figure out how things work. Whether it's technology, politics, or both. To ask me where I thought Frequency would be at this time 9 months ago, I most likely would have been too scared to reply. I never intended for this ezine to die off, nor did I expect to lose interest in producing it, but I will admit that with any undertaking there are many uncertainties. Now, allow me to point out that Frequency has survived because of you, the readers. It's you who post our words on message boards, it's you who share our feelings with your friends, and most importantly it's you that write in to say what's on your mind, providing the community with information they will never get from a computer manual. For that I thank you. Finally, for those of you still keeping up with the "volume" listing that we abandoned early on, I'll consider Freq11 to be the start of volume 2 (although it wont be listed as such.) What I would like to do, is use every tenth issue as a way of looking forward, and the one before it as a way of looking back at the past year and seeing how far we've come. Hopefully this way we can get a better understanding of where the hacker culture is going in the 21st century. While the script kiddies want us to show off all our "l33t computer skillz" so they can learn how to hack, we thank you, the real hackers, for sticking by us and appreciating what it is we're trying to do. Many ezines give out info, and Switch Hook (Frequency's companion publication) is one of them. Frequency however, is about opinions, as is Hackermind. Everything is from the hacker point of view, regardless of what we talk about. Hackers like to play with phones, we do that on the show. Hackers like to talk about computers, we do that in here and on the show. And yes, hackers like to talk about serious issues as well, which we also discuss. Thanks for being there, we hope you enjoy what the future holds. Whatever you do, never lose that love for our high tech toys. With the knowledge you give yourself, you'll have the advantage. Knowledge is power and Frequency will be here for you to express the thoughts and feelings you have along the way. If every journey has a beginning, these first 9 issues were only our first steps…. -screamer 2. INJUSTICE FOR ALL: by Dash Interrupt Injustice For All (or just the ones that commit a crime with a computer) by Dash Interrupt Through my recent experience in Juvenile Detention and later a mental hospital, I realized just how unjust our system is. The reason I was arrested and later transported to a Juvenile Detention center was this: 8 months earlier me and my friend had made a cartoon which we posted on our website that depicted our former boss getting hurt, but had a general overall humor to it, seeing how our website was named "Bob and Chad Entertainment" and had other animated movies on it that were meant for entertainment purposes. Anyways, I've told my story so many times i'm beginning to get alittle annoyed when people tell me to explain it again so i'd like to talk about why i was treated so harshly for a crime i basically didn't commit. When i was being arrested, i tried to explain to the officer that arrested me that it was just supposed to be a joke, i can see how someone might think that it's a little too violent, but if you had any common sense at all you'd realize that it was just a joke put on a website with other jokes that wasn't supposed to be taken seriously. My response from the officer was basically "well some people don't see the humor in it". How does that translate into "well someone didn't like it so we have to arrest you and detain you now because you made something 8 months ago that could be considered a threat even though you never sent it to the person who we're charging you with threatening and that you haven't had any contact with in 3 months."? I felt so frustrated at the entire situation, here I was, scared out of my mind in a police station being fingerprinted then transported to a Juvenile Facility where i was strip searched and given a uniform and told to sit down, shut up, and don't make any trouble. I was surrounded by other juveniles, some charged with possession of a controlled substance, statutory rape, fleeing, and an 11 year old kid was in there for telling his teacher to "fuck off". When this little 11 year old came walking in on about the 3rd day i was there, he seemed scared out of his mind, but what made it worse was these other kids trying to "scare him straight" which i didn't really believe at all, i believe a couple kids wanted to feel powerful over someone else and they figured this 11 year old (who was like 3 feet tall) wouldn't give them any shit if they fucked with him alittle bit. Anyways, back to my point, i spent 4 days in there, mainly because i was arrested on Friday and there's no juvenile court on the weekends so i had to wait until monday to see the Judge. Monday, March 12th, 2001. A day i'll probably never forget, that's the day I figured out just how unfair the justice system really is. I was transported to the court room, along with some other juveniles, including my friend chad who was in there for the same thing, in hand cuffs and told to "face the wall" when we had to stop and to "not talk". As soon as i walked in and looked around i was very uncomfortable, here's the room where you get judged, here's the room where your future, at least for alittle while, gets handed to you. I wasn't worried though, i was told by the other juveniles that kids who were there for "terroristic threatening" which is what i was charged with, got to go home on probation and that's that. Well, me nor chad got so lucky. We were ordered to attend a "Youth Behavioral Health Center" to be evaluated, you know, because we might be homocidal murderers waiting for the chance to go and kill a whole bunch of people just because other kids have done it. I spent 6 days there, and i must say that although it was alot better then the Juvenile Facility, it wasn't home. I felt so utterly frustrated and saddened by everything that had happened to me that i just wanted to not believe that this had happened. After 6 days i got to go home, chad was released after 7 days. Around 2 weeks after I was released i had to go to court again. I was really nervous this time, I pleaded not guilty and the Judge, apparently not satisfied enough with the report from the Hospital i was in, ordered another full psychological evaluation for me that i have to go to on April 25th 2001, and i am now on "pre trial conditions" which basically prohibit me from doing drugs, talking to my friend chad, and i have an earlier curfew now. My trial is on June 14th and I really hope it goes well, although i'm almost sure it won't. As i was looking around the internet the other day I started to think about how my experience and the experiences of people who were charged with a computer crime and given obscene amounts of jail time and fines, when someone who murders someone else gets less. How does that even work? Who made that up? "This person murdered someone...ehh that happens all the time, give him a year or two" and on the flip side, when a computer related crime is committed "WHAT?! A COMPUTER RELATED CRIME?! YOU GET LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT THE POSSIBLITY OF PAROLE IN A FEDERAL POUND-ME-IN-THE-ASS PRISON!" Well maybe not in those exact words but basically the same. I think the severity of computer related crimes is due to the fact that alot of people in power to make those decisions know jack about computers and what's severe and what's not, defacing a webpage should not get you landed in jail, stealing someones software should not get you put in prison for 5 years. It just amazes me that these things happen, think about this, a guy breaks into a computer system and messes with a webpage, nothing more then basically digital graffiti right? Well let's say this person gets arrested for this and confesses to it, he's then senetenced to a $36,240 fine and 15 months in prison. That's right, Eric Burns who defaced the White House webpage got that sentence handed down to him. I must say that now that I know about all these different cases involving computer crime, and the severity of the punishment you get for it, I am truly scared of our Justice System. Looking back on my experience in the Juvenile Detention Center and the Behavioral Hospital, just that small amount of time i had to do made me feel incredibly hopeless, imagine how it must feel for our fellow hackers and friends to suffer so much for something that's so insignificant and should be treated as such. In closing, I guess i just want to say that it's up to us to change these ridiculous punishments that the government has pushed on us, a government is nothing without the people, and the people, when united, are more powerful then the government. Peace. 3. COMMUNITY VS INDIVIDUAL PROGRESS AND ENLIGHTENMENT: by Nanogeist Hackers: Community vs. Individual Progress & Enlightenment Part II: What can be Done? by "nanoG롧†" It's easy to point out the problems, but far often, it's not as easy to propose solutions. I offer this as a possibility, but with an understanding that not everyone will agree there is a problem, much less that anything should be done about it: 1 --> Start spreading the accumulated knowledge in a "digestible" and useful fashion Rudimentary knowledge should be the first priority. From here, "newbies" can build upon the basics, instead of drowning in them. This information should not be in the form so commonly found, the "here's-what-you-type-to-do-this...", but instead in the form of "here's-why-this-does-this-when-you-type-this...". The former does little for those unfamiliar with the concept besides giving them a result and is no different than crappy hack scripts. The latter gives them a block to build upon. "If this causes this to happen, and this causes this to happen, then this should happen if I do both together". Even better, it may lead to: "If this causes this, and this causes this, what would happen if I did both together and added this...?" Before long, they may even come up with a different way to do it that some of the "elite" never noticed before. ...and the community's knowledge grows... 2 --> Teach the responsibilities that go with the knowledge To steal a line from a great many comic books: "With great power comes greater responsibility." Showing "newbies" the way does nothing for the community if it lives up to the media's stereotype. This should be coupled with the building blocks from Step 1 so that along with the How and the technical Why, the "newbie" learns the When and the philosophical Why. This is a priority of the same (if not greater) level as the knowledge itself. As corny as it may sound, the media expects the "cyber-terrorist", we need to show them the "cyber-superhero". ...and the respect for the community grows... [Most of all, we need to realize that every potential brother(or sister)-in-arms who is turned away is a potential tool for reinforcing the stereotype, and as such, a potential enemy to the community.] 3 --> Create a library Learn something new? Add it to the library so the rest of the community can benefit from your discovery. This could be an invaluable resource for hackers/crackers/phreakers of all levels of ability. It could be the Encyclopedia Britannica of the hack. ...and the community's knowledge grows even more... 4 --> Do away with elitist mentality This is one characteristic of the stereotype that holds more than a grain of truth and therefore, needs to be abolished. The hacker community doesn't need to be a fu˘king country club. You can be elite without being elitist. 4. LOVE AND COMPUTING: by The Blue Giant Love and Computing Computers. What person reading this can honestly say that they aren't fascinated, and maybe a little obsessed by them? I, for one, am not. Why? I don't know, it's something about the dirty beige color, the hum of an overworked CPU, the dial up of a modem. All combined to make this...this piece of ugly ass art. And I love it, the dirty and gummed up keyboard, the monitor that goes off every time it's touched, the 4 year old computer, its magical. It doesn't matter how old the thing is, how ugly or dirty it is, it's a computer, it's there to be explored, to be..discovered. For example, for work my moms boss gave her this old computer. It has no windows, is maybe 15 MHz and doesn't even need a mouse. In fact, this thing is just running DOS with an old IBM GUI over it, it has a word processor, and that's about it. I spent four hours with it last night. This started getting my feeling nostalgic, so I took out my old 486 from the closet, spent about an hour looking for a monitor and keyboard, and gave up entirely the hope of finding a mouse. I plugged it in, I booted it up..and there it was, the beautiful DOS prompt. I messed around there for awhile, then, since I have a distro of corel linux I decided I'd put it on the computer. I installed a CD ROM, I put in the disk..and it didn't read it. I put in a boot floppy, lilo...then the installation starting screen..then it froze. Again and again and again. But I didn't get up, I kept plugging away, it still doesn't work, and may never, but I'm having a hell of a lot of fun trying to make it. Another example of this obsession. A few weeks ago I went out for a day with my parents. It was incredibly boring and unexciting, but in the end we went to Borders where they promised to by me any two books I wanted. What did I get? Some good sci-fi, a thriller perhaps? Nope, I got 'code' by Charles Petzold(an excellent book by the way) and 'learn to program with visual basic'. I can't even begin to explain how happy I was about this, it was so great. I didn't go to school Monday, and I skipped track practice all that week just so that I could spend some more time with these books and my computer. Sick isn't it? I can't really explain why I'm so fascinated by computers and other forms of technology. I can't even begin to explain the kind of high I get from figuring out something new, it's just a feeling. A feeling that with these computers, with these phones I can do anything...I can be anyone. It's not the stereotypical geek kid getting away from the rejection and becoming someone large and powerful, I have friends, I'm polular...but a lot of the time I would rather be at my computer.And still...still I can't explain it. It's just some feeling, some drive inside of me, I HAVE to be on a computer, with some form of technology or I go through withdrawal almost. If I go more than a few weeks without computers, phones, anything, I start to think about it all the time..about what I'm going to explore when next I'm on. While on vacation in Israel with relatives I started to feel this way, I borrowed a cousins cell phone, played around for half an hour, gave it back, and was fine for the rest of the trip. And yet for that half hour, I had such fun...such passion....and still I don't know why or how. It bores the average person to sit more than a few hours just typing, browsing...and yet for me, for the people reading this..those are some of the best hours of the week. In this article I tried to explain, to describe my passion for computers and computing, for technology, for machines. I believe I failed miserably. It reads more like a nostalgic idiot describing his fun wit these things only skin deep. But therein lies the problem. It's unexplainable. I can't explain this feeling any better than most people can explain love. It's just there, something I have, know, and have no idea how anyone can NOT understand it. Shakespeare I am not, there are no Romeo and Juliet's of the computer world, and so I try and explain it through experience I've had with these things. But still, I have failed this task miserably. Think, for a moment, of the excitement you get when doing your favorite thing in the world, this is how I feel, how a surprisingly large number of people feel. It's indescribable, its unreachable, it's a feeling that will most likely remain that way, but here I tried to explain it, to get across my passion...and maybe in that failure I have managed to send a cross a small measure of the intensity I hoped this article would have when I began it. usuallybluegiant@yahoo.com 5. FORCED TO RETIRE: by Savoir-Faire Forced to Retire by : savoir-faire This article is about something which I have never read about before but have witnessed my-self. This incident happened in my school. I do not live in the states or even in a big country but in the small european country of Ireland. Yet even in this small country there is still a lot of bullying. One of my friends (which you may or maynot have guessed was a hacker) started getting bullied by 3 fellow class mates. He was unjustly and unfairly picked on just because he was very good at computers but also because he looked like a so-called "geek". He was bullied for months on end until finally he told the principal what was going on. When the principal confronted the boys they told him that all they were doing was giving out to him because he was a hacker. There had been a virus put on our school LAN a few weeks before and they told the principal that they saw my friend do it (Not that they would be able to tell if someone was infecting a system with a virus). He was expelled from school. He felt that everyone had turned against him and was very hurt, emotionaly by the bullying. Which caused him to stop hacking/exploring the world of cyberspace, call it what you will but the fact of the matter is that he was bullied because he was the minority. He was bullied so much that he felt he had to stop what was his favourite hobby in the world, his thirst for knowledge was destroyed. This may come as a shock to you but this entire story is un-true, but you must ask your-self how it made you feel. I'm sure you felt bad and sorry for "my friend". There is a knew force which we now have to stand up to. Not just the big corporations but single people like you and I that will ridicule and try to destroy us just because they don't understand us. Once again we have got another enemy just because we are the minority. 6. A MATTER OF PRIVACY: by Screamer Chaotix In the digital world, few would argue that privacy is a sure thing. Whether you're on a cellular telephone, sending an email, or just storing files online, one of the most aggravating things is having someone else hearing or seeing your private info. What I would like to ask in this article though, is how much privacy do people have a right to expect? When you change your clothes you probably pull down the shades and lock your door. With these reasonable precautions you expect to have privacy. But now let us suppose you forget to pull down your blinds, are you still entitled to your privacy? Of course a decent person walking down the street would never sit and stare up at someone's window, but who's to blame for the lack of privacy? The person who's looking, or the person who neglected to protect themselves? Some may argue both are to blame, and this is usually so for several reasons. First off, the person changing their clothes was foolish in not closing their blinds and therefore shouldn't be surprised that someone looked in. After all, looking into a window is not a crime if done from a public place, such as the street. In contrast, some say the person looking in should have more respect and look away. Just because someone forgets to shut a blind does not mean you have the right to stare at them, it's simply unethical. There is some merit to this notion, mainly in the form of decency and morals. With this example in mind, let us examine how this relates to the digital world. To begin, I will give you my opinion of the above situation so you are aware of where I stand. Keep in mind, even if you disagree the rest of this article is not moot. In a situation such as the one mentioned above, it is this writer's opinion that certain steps must be taken by individuals to ensure their own privacy. Expecting people to close their eyes, or make other exceptions for you is a ridiculous notion. I remind you that a person walking down the street completely naked has no privacy, nor should they expect any. The same can be said in your own home. If your windows are open, you're inviting the world to watch. Now, to examine the other side of this argument. What if a person does close their windows, does lock their door, and does take every possible step to ensure their privacy but someone uses a telephoto lens to zoom in and take a few pictures of them? In this situation, the extra step was taken by the person with the camera. The person changing their clothes took every precaution they could think of, and should not be to blame. Let's now compare and contrast this scenario with the digital world. It's important to remember that the above example is not all-encompassing. First, I will examine a particular case I'm aware of where a friend of mine had horrible security on his ISP account. After telling him time and time again to not use the "Forgot Your Password?" feature I decided to see if he took my advice. Sadly, as was said in earlier issues, he did not. I was able to gain access, and should I have had the interest, could have read all his email. Being the good friend I am, I informed him of his security flaw and instructed him on how to fix it. For those of you that remember, he called me names for a good three days and accused me of an invasion of privacy (remember, just because someone says you can try to hack their account doesn't mean they really want you to!) To this day he has not fixed it, and anyone that has his dog's name can gain access and pretty much play hell with his life. With such horrible security, wasn't he basically leaving his window's open? Or did he take all the steps he could to protect himself, shoddy as they were? Did I use a telephoto lens by entering his dogs name, or was I simply looking through his open window? This is a choice I leave to you, but allow me to point out a few facts. 1. I warned him time and time again about this security problem. 2. He did nothing about it. 3. When told to correct the problem he became furious because he would have to take two minutes to fix his security, which he never did anyway. While I may have had to do a small amount of work to get in, was it really any different than turning my head and looking up? Or even using binoculars through an open window? I could go into how cell phones can be cloned and/or scanned, but most of you already know all about that. I could also talk about storing files online, and how this can lead to problems, but I'll refrain. Instead I ask that you think about how much privacy you should really expect in our digital world, as well as how much you are entitled to. Is it fair to think that people won't get into your account or listen to your phone call simply because it's illegal? I don't think so, and if you do I beg you to reconsider. When you make a phone call using a radio frequency, people will hear. If a site is accessible by way of the internet, people will see. For these reasons, don't expect to have any privacy online. At the very least, do your part to keep yourself safe by using the best security possible. And remember, just because you leave your car door open doesn't give me the right to steal it…but it does give me the right to call you a moron. -screamer 7. REVIEW OF VAR TEC TELECOM: by Screamer Chaotix and Dash Interrupt We're always happy to welcome a new addition to the competing world of long distance, and it would appear the newest competitor is Var Tec Telecom. Created by Joe and Connie Mitchell, along with their friend Ray Atkinson, in 1989 the company is based in Lancaster, Texas. In 1990 they introduced their 10-811 carrier access code, but it wasn't until recently that the word about them got spread around. Now changed to 10-10-811, you can dial through the Var Tec network for five cents a minute, with a minimum 50 cent call required. International calls are also incredibly cheap, with a call to Japan costing only 15 cents per minute, but this does not include the Universal Service Fund. Independent, as well as lesser known phone companies can help keep competition going by providing better services for lower rates. Sadly in the case of Var Tec, only the lower rates apply. In every call that I made through their network I had either static or echo, something that simply cannot be tolerated in a world of electronic switching systems and digital technologies. Operators are surprisingly friendly however, something any phone phreak will tell you is very important to an enjoyable calling experience. As of this writing I have had nothing but pleasant experiences dealing with the company, and until they give me reason to think otherwise, I'll say they're one of the best when it comes to customer relations and service. As far as social engineering goes, I admit I haven't had much time to try very many things with them. While this is only a guess, and a deeper examination will be provided in the future, I would imagine they're like most other smaller phone companies. That is, they're willing to provide you with services that the baby Bells wouldn't think of. Dialing 800#'s perhaps? Give it a shot and let us know what you get. If anyone really wants to do us a favor, they could try to get information from a Var Tec operator and write up an article for Switch Hook. In the end Var Tec seems to provide cheap service and good customer relations, but suffer when it comes to call quality. Still, if you're willing to sacrifice clarity for lesser money go right ahead and try it, who knows you might actually get a clear connection. ======Do you have something you want to review? A computer? A phone company? Anything at all? Send your complete review to screamer@hackermind.net and we'll put it in the next issue ========= 8. CLOSING ARGUMENTS I suppose closing arguments was created as a section to rethink whatever I had on my mind when the issue was started. It gives me a way of leaving the reader with one last thought before signing off, and this month will be no exception. Only this month I'm not going to talk politics, or injustice, or even computers. This month I'm devoting my closing arguments to the ezine you're now reading. A great many revelations have come to me in the editing of this issue, some more disturbing than others. I've managed to remember what it is about technology that I love so much, and why I'm a hacker in the first place. But I've also realized that the hacker world is not a friendly one. This is perhaps an article all it's own, but I don't really want to express it right now. All I want to say is that people shouldn't flip out over little things, whether it's someone entering their system without permission or someone saying something that has no hostile intentions, but sounds bad nonetheless. As the editor in chief of this ezine it's my job to make sure everything's in order, readable (more or less), and out on time. On top of this I have my weekly show, which is now live. With all these things, it's been extremely difficult to find the joy that I used to have in playing with computers, phones, and other gadgets. As I stated before, a few small experiences changed that this month, and once again the focus of what I love is perfectly clear. Adding insult to injury, Hackermind's audience will continue to grow in coming months. Whether I'm prepared for this or not is still not known. Making a show like this is hard enough, but focusing on the people that like listening to it is what keeps me going. For that reason, I'd like to thank everyone who tunes in on Thursday nights to listen to the show, as well as everyone who downloads the episodes. We can't make the show perfect for everyone, nor can we guarantee everyone will like every episode, but we're doing our best. If you have a suggestion, let us know, and we'll do our best to see that it's recognized. I hope you've enjoyed this newest issue of Frequency, and I look forward to the next ten and beyond. 9. CREW Screamer Chaotix - Editor in Chief Dash Interrupt - Webmasta The Blue Giant - Writer DamienAK - Writer Shout Outs- DamienAK - Hope you're ok. Var Tec Ops - Sorry, you don't get the Asshole Op of the Year award, maybe next time. Kathleen Sullivan - Thanks for speaking the truth. Shapeshifter - Congrats, now let's see if they arrest you for having a pager too. Radio Shack - For taking Nahog's info, and giving ME the :cuecat. SNET - I really hate you guys, but thanks for dialing the 800#'s. Girl Who Answered the Payphone at School - Nuff said. Mad Shouts: AT&T - Next time tell me the call would cost 3.50 cents on top of the 50 cents per minute charge. Radio Shack - For wanting information in the first place! Tune into Hackermind every Thursday at 10PM Eastern/9pm Central by opening location 166.90.148.114:9474 with WinAmp or Real Player. Send articles to: articles@hackermind.net Articles for Freq10 due by June 8, 2001! WWW.HACKERMIND.NET