And you're tuned to listener-sponsored, commercial-free community radio, WBAI in New York, 99.5 FM, 757.
Coming up at 8 p.m., Off the Hook, with Emmanuel Goldstein.
Stay tuned.
On Saturday, May 23rd, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., organizers of African Liberation Day 98 urge you to join us for the commemoration of the 35th anniversary of ALD
and to be part of an historic gathering of community activists, scholars, several United Nations diplomats,
and to hear a special statement from President Laurent Kabila of the People's Republic of the Congo on the issue of genocide and human rights.
At P.S. 92, Marion MacLeod Bethune School, located on 134th Street between Adam Clayton Powell and Frederick Douglass Boulevards.
Invite your family and friends to this historic event.
For more information, please call the Patrice Lumumba Coalition at 212-663-3805 or 212-330-8277.
Again, that's 212-663-3805 or 212-330-8277.
The Crystal Quilt invites you to a workshop exploring the passage to womanhood.
For women in their 20s, to create a sense of direction and peace in your life.
For older women, to gain clarity in your life by looking back and to support young women.
Women of all ages welcome.
The workshop takes place on May 30th from 2.30 to 5.30 p.m. at Empire State College, 225 Varick Street, near 7th Avenue South and Houston.
For more information, call 212-780-4770.
That's 212-780-4770.
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You are so special, girl.
I wanted you to be my...
Uh-huh, yeah.
Hey, yo, this is Javon Claiborne, a.k.a. Jive.
And when I'm not listening to Puff Daddy in the Family or the Wu-Tang Clan,
I'm getting the latest info on 99.5 WBAI.
Peace.
Uh-huh, yeah.
And this is Radio Station W, VAI in New York, where the time is 8 o'clock.
It's a Tuesday night, and that means, usually, it's time for Off the Hook.
BELL RINGS
The telephone keeps ringing
So I ripped it off the wall
I cut myself while shaving
Now I can't make a cough
It couldn't get much worse
But if they could, they would
Bumbiddley Bump
But I best expect the worst
I hope that's understood
Bumbiddley Bump!
What do you think?
If they think Buddhist is enough, I'll still need more
So I'll be glad
Oh, my gosh, my typewriter
We'll be right back.
This is another edition of Off the Hook.
We haven't been around for a few weeks because of the fundraiser, but we're back now and hopefully better.
Yes, all kinds of fun things to update people on, adventures that have been happening and good news, bad news, all kinds of news.
And, of course, your phone calls will be coming up in, I guess, on the half-hour mark.
First, of course, I'm sure everybody's heard by now of the FCC ruling that requires all radio stations to play commercials.
And, well, we at BAI, of course, are never one to flout the law.
We always believe in being completely 100% in tune with the times.
So, as far as that goes, we eagerly jump into this.
Now, we're not going to have, you know, the kinds of commercials that you might be used to,
but we're going to comply with the law and have these things that we call anti-mercials.
Yeah, that's right. That's where the opposing sponsor pays for you to say something about the other sponsor.
It's kind of complicated, but I think maybe the first anti-mercial that we have might make it all clear in keeping with the new guidelines.
The condolences of every person at Pepsi-Cola are with you.
I got fired by my boss, Pepsi.
We have to look great for Pepsi-Cola.
I nailed Jesus to the cross, Pepsi.
Well, you've got to pay the price.
Powdered mashed potatoes in the cupboard for three years.
Alcoholic husbands driving frantic wives to tears.
Old widows' house burned down at sea.
Genius of the soft drink world.
We need to get the goddamn company to pay the bills.
Tractors plowing down the hills.
Pepsi.
Kids are still drinking Pepsi at the general store while...
Gas-based and shoved puppy mills.
Pepsi.
Sheets with stinking urine.
I know what a hard feeling song.
Noddy shards of glass.
Come on, come on.
Pum.
Mudflats burned by hot exhaust.
Against your product.
Drunkards passing gas.
You don't see how much you're sick.
And dying of disease.
Pepsi.
The press I delivered to Pepsi was my power.
I can use it any way I want.
Leading helpless teens astray.
Pepsi.
It's a sword.
It cuts both ways.
I can't find the strength to say.
Pepsi.
Forget it.
Medicated ointment being.
Spread on painful rash.
Yes, we can.
Old outdated software getting.
Thrown into the trash.
Everything still tastes the same.
I think I can.
Pepsi.
Oh, you know, I think we could live with this.
But, yeah, that's just one of many anti-mercials coming your way here on WBAI and Off the Hook.
Wouldn't that be fun?
Oh, yes.
Well, it's been, what, a month now since we've been around?
And a lot has happened.
Including some news today that can only be considered typical.
There was a hearing out in California to appeal the ruling of Kevin Mitnick's judge that basically not only denied him bail, but denied him a bail hearing where they could deny him bail.
So, today, the Ninth Circuit Court decided to uphold that in a one-word statement.
Denied.
It's wonderful to live in a democracy, isn't it?
So, basically, Kevin Mitnick still is in prison.
And, unlike the World Trade Center bombers and just about everybody else that I can think of, he will not even have the chance to have a bail hearing.
Over three years and counting.
And it just gets more and more crazy.
You wonder how much people are going to take.
Just got some new bumper stickers, actually, in the mail.
First of all, the new issue of 2600 is out.
And for those of you who are subscribers, you'll be getting that issue along with a free Kevin bumper sticker, which is a black lettering on yellow.
You know what's interesting?
They're popping up everywhere.
I just took a trip out to Ohio to the Dayton Ham Fest.
And I'll be darned if not every rest stop along the way had at least one free Kevin sticker on it somewhere.
I mean, that's pretty cool when you think of it.
But there are other bumper stickers, too.
A lot of people are getting involved here.
There's bumper stickers, there's t-shirts.
We just got some in the mail today that are also free Kevin bumper stickers.
These ones are white lettering on black.
Totally different way of looking at it, but it basically says the same thing.
And these are starting to pop up everywhere, too.
If you want to get those bumper stickers, they give you a web address that you can check out.
www.mindspring.com
slash squiggly thing
jump zero
J-U-M-P zero
Once again, www.mindspring.com
slash squiggle
jump zero
And we know it's not called a squiggle, but we all know what a squiggle is, so we're just going to leave it at that.
Now, if you're interested in the other ones, we're basically, we have a deal with those, which we'll be getting into more detail on as soon as, as soon as, as, as we have, I guess, an updated site.
Um, and those are, those are the, uh, free Kevin bumper stickers on yellow background, which are in conjunction with the Kevin Mitnick Defense Fund.
In other words, people, uh, people buy these things for a small price, which we won't say over the air, but will be on our website.
And the money goes to Kevin Mitnick's defense fund.
So, full details are in the next issue of 2600, and also will be on the 2600 website, www.2600.com, as well as the official Kevin Mitnick site of www.kevinmitnick.com, and look for that in the next day or so.
Yeah, so things are happening, people are really getting, uh, into this whole thing.
At the, uh, Dayton Ham Fest, we also had a bunch of, uh, of Mitnick stickers, and it's interesting, because Kevin Mitnick, uh, I don't know if I should say that.
I should say was a ham or is a ham. I don't know if you continue to be a ham if you're in prison.
I guess, I guess it's a, it's like being a hacker, you just never stop, and so he must still be a ham.
And the reaction of some of the people out there was just kind of, uh, kind of weird.
You know, I mean, the ham, ham radio community is a fascinating community, and, and one which I haven't spent nearly enough time in, because there's just so many nuances to it.
Um, some people there were very supportive of Kevin, but occasionally, you run into, like, one of these, you know,
crusty old guys with the baseball cap that said, uh, well, I'll tell you what, son, you're gonna have to fight that battle alone.
I guess he was mad about something Kevin must have done back when he was 17 or something, like, maybe stepped on his transmission a little bit.
I don't know. I don't know what kind of pranks, you know, ham radio operators pull on each other.
But they do have long memories, and that's something to keep in mind if you, uh, if you do annoy somebody in the ham radio community.
Uh, hackers have long memories, too, but, uh, oftentimes we change our minds quite a bit.
Now, some fascinating things were going on while we were off the air in the hacker community, and they go all the way up to today.
But let's, uh, let's start with something that happened a couple of weeks ago.
Actually, actually, last week I would say this happened, uh, it was a news story, a news story that somebody sent me back in, uh, the middle of the month,
having to do with computer hackers in this well-respected magazine known as The New Republic.
And this, uh, this article was entitled, Washington Scene, Hack Heaven.
I'm gonna read you a little bit of this.
And you tell me what you think.
Ian Restill, a 15-year-old computer hacker who looks like an even more adolescent version of Bill Gates,
is throwing a tantrum.
I want more money.
I want a Miata.
I want a trip to Disney World.
I want X-Men comic book number one.
I want a lifetime subscription to Playboy and throw in Penthouse.
Show me the money.
Show me the money.
Yeah.
Over and over again, the boy who is wearing a frayed Cal Ripken Jr. t-shirt is shouting his demands.
Across the table, executives from a California software firm called Juked Micronics are listening
and trying ever so delicately to oblige.
Excuse me, sir, one of the suits says, tentatively to the pimply teenager.
Excuse me.
Pardon me for interrupting you, sir.
We can arrange more money for you.
Then you can buy the comic book, and then when you're of more, say, appropriate age,
you can buy the car and pornographic magazines on your own.
It's pretty amazing that a 15-year-old could get a big-time software firm to grovel like that.
What's more amazing, though, is how Ian got Juked's attention by breaking into its databases.
In March, Restyl, whose nom de plume is Big Bad Bionic Boy, used a computer at his high school library to hack into Juked.
Once he got past the company's online security system, he posted every employee's salary on the company's website,
alongside more than a dozen pictures of naked women, each with the caption,
The Big Bad Bionic Boy has been here, baby.
After weeks of trying futilely to figure out how Ian cracked the security program, Juked's engineers gave up.
That's when the company came to Ian's Bethesda, Maryland home to hire him.
And Ian, clever boy that he is, had been expecting them.
The principal told us to hire a defense lawyer fast because Ian was in deep trouble, says his mother, Jamie, rest still.
Well, Ian laughed and told us to get an agent.
Our boy was definitely right.
Ian says he knew that Juked would determine it was cheaper to hire him and pay him to fix their database
than it would be to have engineers do it.
And he knew this because the same thing had happened to more than a dozen online friends.
Indeed, deals like Ian's are becoming common.
So common, in fact, that hacker agents now advertise their commissions on websites.
You didn't know this, did you?
Hacker agents are advertising their commissions on websites.
Computer Insider, a newsletter for hackers, a newsletter for hackers that none of us hackers have ever heard of before.
Computer Insider estimates that about 900 recreational hackers were hired in the last four years by companies they once targeted.
Ian's agent, whose business card is emblazoned with the slogan,
Super Agent to Super Nerds, claims to represent nearly 300 of them.
Ages 9 to 68.
A failed basketball agent, Joe Hyatt, got into the industry when one of his son's friends, 21-year-old Ty Harris,
broke into an internet security firm three years ago and came to him for advice.
The software maker paid Harris $1 million, a monster truck, and promised free agency,
meaning he can quit and work for a competitor at any time.
Of course, a cynic might say hacker schemes look an awful lot like protection rackets.
That's an awfully nice computer network you got there.
It would be a shame if somebody broke into it.
Law enforcement officials in particular complain that deals between companies and their online predators
have made prosecution of online security breaches impossible.
We are basically paralyzed right now, explains Jim Gort,
who directs the Center for Interstate Online Investigations, a joint police project of 18 states.
We can't arrest or prosecute most hackers because corporate victims are refusing to come forward.
This is a huge problem.
In March, Nevada law enforcement officials got so desperate, they ran the following radio advertisement.
Would you hire a shoplifter to watch the cash register?
Please don't deal with hackers.
The state took to the airwaves shortly after a hacker broke into a regional department store's computer system
and instructed it to credit his Visa card about $500 per day.
According to Nevada officials, the boy racked up more than $32,000 in credit before he was caught.
But the store wouldn't press charges.
It let him keep the money.
Then threw in a $1,500 shopping spree,
all in exchange for showing them how to improve their security.
Little wonder, then, that 21 states are now considering versions of something called the Uniform Computer Security Act,
which would effectively criminalize immunity deals between hackers and companies
while imposing stiff penalties on the corporations who make such deals.
This is just like prostitution, says Julie Forthwork of the Anti-Hacker Computer Security Center,
which helped draft the legislation.
As a society, we don't want people making a career out of something that's simply immoral.
Not surprisingly, hackers hate the proposed legislation.
They see themselves as freelance security investigators,
and they even have their own group,
the National Assembly of Hackers.
And they lobby against the new law,
the National Assembly of Hackers.
You know, these people never contact me.
I don't know why I don't know any of this.
Really, hackers have to put in a lot of sunk costs
before they find the one that's broken and get paid,
says Frank Juliet, the group's president.
So it's definitely a large community service that we are doing.
Less predictable, however, is the opposition of companies that have been hacked.
It seems they don't like the proposed law either
because they're worried that we stuck with no legal way to patch holes in their security systems.
The Association of Internet-Based Businesses
has actually formed a task force with the National Assembly of Hackers
to lobby against the law.
It remains to be seen who will win,
but until new laws are passed,
hackers like Ian Restell will continue to enjoy a certain exalted status,
particularly among their peers.
At a conference sponsored by the National Assembly of Hackers last week,
teenage hackers and graying corporate executives flocked to Ian,
patting him on the back and giving him high fives.
We're so proud of him, said Ian's mother.
He's doing such good things, and he's so smart and kind.
At the formal dinner that followed,
the emcee explained that Ian had just signed a contract
for $81,000 in scholarship money and a collection of rare comic books.
The audience applauded wildly.
Then Ian stood on his chair and took a bow.
He announced that he had hacked into a new company
and frozen their bank account temporarily.
And now they're going to show me the money, he said,
swirling his hips and shaking his fists.
I want a Miata.
I want a trip to Disney World.
Dot, dot, dot.
Well, you know, I got this story in the mail a few weeks ago,
and I guess you could imagine what my reaction is.
First of all, why didn't I ever hear of any of these people?
You know, I never heard of any of the hackers involved,
never heard of any of the organizations.
And the story itself just seemed, well, ridiculous, absurd, preposterous, bad fiction.
And you know what?
That's exactly what it was.
Because probably a lot of people have heard what happened after the story.
More people have heard that than have heard the story itself.
I tried to get a copy of The New Republic last week.
I was unable to.
It was sold out everywhere.
If anyone has that copy, please let me know.
But what happened afterwards is even more amazing.
Listen to this.
This is from The Washington Post.
The New Republic has fired an associate editor, Stephen Glass,
for fabricating characters and situations in several of his articles.
Editor Charles Lane said that he dismissed Glass last Friday,
hours after confirming that he had invented both a teenage computer hacker
and the company whose security he supposedly penetrated.
Lane called the entire article a hoax.
Steve has admitted to making up certain parts of it, Lane said,
and I myself, based on an investigation of the facts,
have determined to a moral certainty that the entire article is made up.
I mean, come on.
The New Republic.
How about some fact-checking here?
You know, before you completely throw a cloud over an entire group of people,
maybe, just maybe, look into whether or not any of it is true,
whether or not the person writing this has some sort of an agenda.
And it's really, it's funny, but it's also very sad and very dangerous to be doing this kind of thing
because it leads to all kinds of conceptions about people that simply are not true.
This is not the first time this has happened.
I see these kinds of articles all the time.
And I think if you check with anybody in the hacker community,
you know, people who really exist,
they might be able to cast some light on it as to whether or not it's really true.
And just to show you what I'm talking about,
there's another article in another magazine that has not yet been exposed as a fake,
but which I say now is a fake because of the preposterous allegations that they make,
some of which affect people right here.
This comes from Signal Magazine.
Now, Signal Magazine is some sort of military magazine put out by the government.
Yeah, that's right, Signal Magazine.
I'm not quite sure how to get a copy of this one.
The only one we've been able to find is on the net.
And unfortunately, that's as far as we were able to get.
But this article allegedly was written,
or according to it, was written by its editor-in-chief,
Clarence A. Robinson, Jr.
And I'm not going to read the whole thing, only because it's rather long.
But let's see how much we can get through.
A radical digital life form functioning as a virtual machine
quietly protects information networks by watching for the earliest signs of an attack.
When an outsider attempts network penetration,
this information warfare battle management server
shifts instantly from passive background monitoring to heightened readiness.
If required, the digital mechanism provides an aggressive, offensive capability.
Again, we're starting off a bad Stephen King book or something here.
And who knows where that's going to wind up going.
Yeah, radical digital life form.
Bushwhackers along...
Whenever you see words like bushwhackers or information warfare or things like that,
you know, the alarms have to start going off.
It's some sort of an instinct that you need to develop in this world.
Bushwhackers along the information highway are quickly learning
that their attacks can provoke a devastating response.
This new digital life form, a non-linear algorithm hosted on a server,
functions like a biological organism with an attitude, a very hostile attitude.
While recently undergoing prototype testing,
the Blitzkrieg server, as it is called,
detected a high probability of attack on U.S. Internet sites from hackers in another country.
The server immediately took action to preempt and prepare for an anticipated assault before retaliating.
The Blitzkrieg server generates retaliatory options based on integral information warfare rules
of engagement from the company that perfected the technology.
Whatever that means.
The server's non-linear computing algorithm will...
They should write for Star Trek, these people.
The server's non-linear computing algorithm will self-organize and self-heal,
recognize an infiltration, isolate it, adapt to it,
and create a totally different networking route to overcome an invasion.
An inherent capability creates strong network survivability
while also holding numerous offensive options in reserve.
These options could eventually end in the destruction of an attacker's network resources.
We've read three paragraphs of this story,
and so far it hasn't said a damn thing as far as what they're talking about at all.
It's really pretty sad.
Let me skip ahead to something that I think is of interest,
of specific interest to a bunch of us.
The server's unique technology enabled it to indicate that there was inside help
for an attack on a San Francisco company.
Finally, the FBI determined that a disgruntled employee
attending the 2,600 hackers convention in Las Vegas, Nevada
sought assistance from hackers in Japan to attack the company.
Now, if this is true, it shows how good the feds are
because we don't have any hackers conventions in Las Vegas.
They're probably thinking of DEFCON, which has got nothing to do with 2,600,
and not a whole lot to do with hacking either, some may say,
but certainly does not have much to do with threatening companies
and doing nasty things like that.
So that's something of concern to a lot of people right there.
Now, the one statement, though, that really is troubling and annoying.
The Blitzkrieg server determined a high probability that a hacker attack
would be targeted at specific U.S. corporations
and California state government installations.
The server predicted that the network attack would be from Japanese nationals
with the help of U.S. collaborators affiliated with the 2,600 International Hacker Group.
Now, what in the world does that mean?
What in the world are these people saying?
People affiliated with the 2,600?
First of all, it's not an international hacker group.
It's a magazine, you know?
It's a magazine that spreads information around.
And who are these people that are supposedly affiliated with us
in some sort of international capacity?
They're going and getting these Japanese cyber people involved in something.
I want specifics, you know?
This is something that I personally am involved in,
so I think I should know if some of my cohorts are planning to take down,
you know, a big mega corporation.
Like, God forbid, Pepsi or something.
That'd be horrible.
But let's back this up with some facts.
It wouldn't hurt to do that.
So Signal Magazine, whoever you are,
whoever these people are,
let's get to the heart of the matter
and find out just what it is you're talking about
and try not to confuse people with nonsense.
All right.
Now we have stuff today that took place on the grounds of Capitol Hill.
I don't know if this is on C-SPAN
or if it's just showing up in various news forums.
I heard it on CBS radio this afternoon.
And apparently there's some sort of a computer security hearing going on.
This isn't the first time this has happened.
It happens all the time, actually.
But the headline's coming out of this one.
Hackers can shut down the entire Internet in 30 minutes.
Now, this is amazing.
This is really incredible
because the people that are down there testifying
happen to be members of The Loft,
which is a hacker group in Boston.
Now, I know these people,
and without even talking to them,
because they're in Washington, D.C.
and they're not reachable right now,
I know they would never say something as inflammatory
as hackers can take down the Internet in 30 minutes.
I mean, that's just crazy.
But that is how it is being reported.
Now, hopefully in a week or so,
we'll know exactly what it was they did say
and how it's being totally stretched out of proportion.
But I see a disturbing trend here
with these newspaper articles,
with the way the papers are reporting things,
and certainly with the things happening with Kevin Mitnick.
And basically, you attach hacker to anything,
and now you attach 2,600 to anything,
it means something bad.
It means something evil, a threat of some sort,
something that must be stopped,
regardless of whether or not the facts get in the way.
So, what I guess the best thing to do
is just keep your eyes and ears open.
You know, when you hear these stories,
start asking some questions.
And that's what a lot of people in Dayton did
when we were explaining to them.
We were there for three days.
Three days, I think eight hours per day,
outside in this huge parking lot,
and we were talking to many people
about the Kevin Mitnick case.
And apart from the people that already knew about him,
and I'd still say even the people that knew about him,
the vast majority were in favor
of his immediately getting out of prison.
But those people who did not know about him
were pretty shocked to hear the facts
and to understand what it was that was going on.
And it's something that the vast majority of people
still aren't aware of.
That's what we have to do is help get the word out
by getting the word out, I guess,
with stickers, with t-shirts,
with whatever it is you need to do
to get people to say,
who's Kevin and why is he in prison?
And encourage people to visit websites
and learn from that
and just get the word out.
Get the word out in your schools.
Get the word out in your workplaces.
Although, you should know
that doing this carries a risk.
That's right.
Getting the word out on anything
can be a very risky thing.
Here's an example of how that is possible.
These are some people
that tried to start a 2600 meeting.
And, you know, when you read all this stuff
about how 2600 is targeting the world
and about to destroy everything for everybody,
I guess you could understand
the reaction these people got.
But, if maybe you pay attention to the facts
and talk to some of the actual people
that really exist,
you could see how unfair this might be.
All right.
Here's a letter that we got
just a couple of days ago.
Two weeks ago,
some of my friends and I decided
we were going to start
a 2600 meeting in our town.
There's a meeting in Omaha,
but we have no way of getting there.
Many people in our own town
seem to be interested.
That town being Kearney, Nebraska.
So, we printed out flyers
that said nothing more than the following.
2600 meeting.
Where?
Hilltop Mall, Kearney, Nebraska.
Center by Munchville.
When?
Last Friday of every month,
5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Who?
Everybody that has an interest in technology.
On Monday morning,
two friends and I went to the front of the school
and posted one of these flyers
on a big bulletin board.
A big bulletin board.
Can you imagine the nerve of somebody doing that,
walking up to a bulletin board
and putting a flyer on it?
Boy.
Kind of the TV programs
that they've been watching.
Keep in mind that there were flyers
all over this thing for different events.
Anything from car washes
to who's graduating.
I mean, you could put anything
on this bulletin board you wanted to.
So, we proceeded to post
one flyer there.
As we turned down the hall
to go post another flyer
on another bulletin board,
a teacher from behind
put his hands on my shoulder
and a friend's shoulder
and very calmly turned us around
and walked us right down
to the bulletin board
to take the flyer down.
Then,
he escorted us
to the principal's office.
He questioned us for about...
You ready?
He questioned us for about
one hour and thirty minutes.
A lot of things had to sink in.
Now, at the Hilltop Mall
or the Hilltop Shopping Center
or now, what is this,
the last Friday of the month
or the first Friday?
He was really confused.
He must have been.
Hour and thirty minutes of questioning.
And as he was doing this,
the teacher that brought us down there,
who must have heard of you
because he brought in
a piece of paper
and the principal then typed in
http colon slash slash
www.2600.com
in his browser.
He browsed for about 15 minutes,
went all through the hacked sites,
including the East Timor ones,
which, I don't know if you've been
following the news recently,
but, you know,
years after the Indonesian sites
got hacked,
it's finally starting to explode
over there.
Boy.
Anyway,
his eyes seemed to grow bigger and bigger
with every site he saw.
And in the end,
we had our school internet access
taken away for the rest
of our high school careers.
We also could not take
any computer-applied classes,
including computer graphics,
not to mention two weeks
of detention
for abusing school property.
The principal,
who you're more than welcome
to refer to as Dill Weed,
then told us
that any postings
of any other flyers
from then on
would result in expulsion,
as well as bringing
2,600 and other
hacker-related magazines
to school.
The question is,
can they do this?
Well, the answer is,
they did it.
And the answer is that
we get things like this
so often,
it's not even funny.
I mean,
schools are very much
like prisons in many ways.
In fact,
for a lot of people,
it kind of prepares them
for lives in prison
just because of the attitude
that they give you.
The result for not being able
to post flyers in the school,
as a result of this,
we had a local printing service
mass print these flyers
and hand them out
to everybody across the street
on all sides of the school.
Needless to say,
the next day,
the principal said
this was, quote,
not appropriate, unquote.
Who cares?
What I would get a kick out of
would be seeing the Dill Weeds
show up at one of the meetings.
Next form of action,
20 picketers
walked outside the school
just a couple of inches
beyond school property
carrying huge
freak heaven signs
as well as
2600,
Bernie S,
and fiber optic signs.
Just another act
of inappropriateness.
Suggestions would be
greatly appreciated.
Well,
those are good
moves in themselves
right there.
I don't think I could have
done better myself,
but, uh,
you have to,
you have to find
where their reach ends
and go right up
to that reach.
As you said,
within two inches
of school property
because what they're doing
clearly is not fair.
It's, uh,
it's, it's,
it's an impingement
on, on,
on your rights
and
something that I think
is, is
dangerous to,
uh,
to do.
It happens so often
where people are just
trying to express
themselves in some way,
do something that's
slightly controversial,
but certainly within the,
uh,
the boundaries of,
of what this nation
stands for.
All too often,
though,
they don't respond
in any way
as you did.
They don't, uh,
they don't challenge it.
So even though
they're threatening you
with all kinds of things,
expulsion,
castration,
who knows?
Who knows what
they'll threaten you with?
the thing is
to keep challenging it,
to keep spreading the word,
and
we're certainly here
to help you do that.
And
don't say what school
this is,
but I imagine
if you know
where the Hilltop Mall
in Kearney, Nebraska is,
you can figure out
what school it was
that this happened in.
And, uh,
good luck with those meetings,
good luck getting through
the next couple of years
of school.
Okay,
here are some more letters,
then we'll take some phone calls,
2-1-2-2-7-9-3-4-100.
Um,
if you're off the hook,
any chance that you
or a third party
has actual transcripts
of the past radio broadcasts?
I just find it much easier
to read ASCII texts
and to go through
the RealPlayer 5.0 routine
each time.
Well, you know,
let's make this clear here.
We do a radio show here.
All right,
it's, it's, it's,
you know,
a totally volunteer effort.
We don't have a huge
staff of people.
So,
typing up the transcripts
to every radio show
in addition to actually
doing the radio show
and then transcribing
them onto real audio
so they're available
on the internet,
that'd be a bit much.
I mean,
you're welcome to do this
if you want to do this.
Go right ahead.
I don't think you realize
how much work that involves.
Sitting down,
I mean, you know,
people who sit in the courtroom
typing down
what everybody says.
I, I could never figure out
how they did that.
But if there's any
retired court transcribers
out there
that want to transcribe our show,
hey, feel free.
And we'll, uh,
we'll put it up
on the web
or whatever.
Okay, here's something
that, uh,
someone else
at a different school
sent us.
Apparently, uh,
a lot of schools
block the 2600
internet site.
Um, and there's a,
there's an organization
known as FIRN,
F-I-R-N.
Has anybody heard of FIRN?
Okay, well,
apparently they do this
for various schools.
And,
somebody at the school
wrote to them
to ask why they were
getting the message.
And the message
basically says,
this site is being
blocked by FIRN.
For more information,
please contact the
FIRN help desk
at 850-487-8851
in Tallahassee
or
800-749-3476
outside Tallahassee.
Now,
when asked why 2600
was being blocked,
the response was,
a system administrator
at FIRN has reviewed
www.2600.com.
This site includes
all kinds of references
to inappropriate material,
just one of which
is Maryland'sroom.com,
which is a visual depiction
of sexually explicit materials,
which I suppose
was one of the hacked sites
that somebody linked to
at some point.
It's not exactly on our site,
but it's,
there's a link to it there
because something,
I guess the CIA
or something got hacked
and, uh,
the person who did that
put that as a link.
So,
we got blamed for it,
once again.
Anyway,
I cannot supply you
with a list of sites
which are being blocked
by the filter.
This list is constantly
being changed
due to the nature
of sites that are being created
which need to be filtered.
Well,
I'm sure we'll be on there
for a good long time to come
and, uh,
I'm sure
people will figure out
ways of getting around
little things like that.
So,
we're being blocked,
we're being slandered,
we're being attacked
all over the place.
But you know
who's breaking
into computer systems?
The U.S. Navy.
That's right,
the U.S. Navy
has been caught
attempting to break
into secure areas
of a worldwide website
sponsored by a U.K.
marine mammal
preservation charity
according to officials
at the organization.
This comes from InfoWorld,
the Whale and Dolphin
Conservation Society,
known as WDCS,
which operates
an online shopping site
aimed at generating money
for the welfare
of the animals
at www.wdcs-shop.com
said it was alerted
to the attempted
break-in last week
by its site-hosting company
Merchant Technology Limited.
We were working
late one night
and a command line
request came in
wanting to access
unauthorized areas
of the site,
said Andy Fisher,
marketing manager
for Merchant.
We were amazed
to find out
it was the Pentagon.
Merchant built
and manages
the secure
electronic commerce site
for the Conservation Society
and routinely
keeps an eye
on who visits.
If users attempt
to gain access
to unauthorized areas,
the company is alerted
to the source
of the incoming request.
At 9.45 p.m.
Greenwich Mean Time
on April 28th,
Fisher said
workers at Merchant
were shocked
to see an incoming
attempt to breach
security by a user
identified as
donhqns1.hq.navy.mil.
Merchant got in touch
with WDCS immediately
only to find out
that the charity
had been contacted
by the Navy
a few weeks earlier.
The Navy was interested
in obtaining a report
the group is working on
that details the efforts
of Russian animal experts
to train dolphins
in the Black Sea
for military tasks,
such as findings
and attaching probes
to submarines,
Fisher said.
Yeah.
A WDCS representative
said that there is
nothing secret
about the Russian government's
activities in this area,
but that the document
does contain information
about the export
of the trained dolphins
to foreign countries.
The group declined
to give the Navy
a copy of the report
only because it was
not complete at the time.
Once it is made final,
the report will be published
and the Navy
can then examine it,
the representative said.
I guess they just got
a little too anxious there.
The WDCS said
that it is confused
about why the Navy
would attempt
to break into its website.
I think whoever it was
within the U.S. Navy facility
would have better things
to do rather than
try and hack
into our computers.
Said Chris Stroud,
the organization's
director of campaigns,
in a statement,
if they were seeking
reports on the Black Sea,
we shall be freely
publishing these
in the near future anyway.
halfway through the article
started calling it
the WCDS.
It's actually the WDCS.
I get confused
with these things too sometimes.
The WDCS previously
has commented unfavorably
on Navy activities
such as its low-frequency
sonar trials
off Hawaii
and on ship collisions
with endangered whales.
Merchant said
it is 100% sure
the hacking attempt
originated from the Navy,
the WDCS has notified
the U.S. Embassy
in London
and the relevant
U.K. authorities,
the organization said.
We hope that the U.S. authorities
have some rational explanation
for this incident.
According to a Navy official
who declined to be named,
the Navy has not yet received
a formal complaint
on the issue.
Until the Navy receives
a formal complaint
with details,
there's not much we can do
to proceed further.
Fascinating.
Anyway,
the website
www.wdcs.org
I'm sure we'll have
more information on that.
So yeah,
it's been a fun couple of weeks.
All kinds of weird stuff
is going on out there.
Some of which we understand,
some of which we just
don't understand.
But regardless,
it's now time
for us to
go to the phones.
212-279-3400
and see
who or what
is out there.
Good evening.
You're on Off the Hook.
Hello.
How are you doing?
This is George
in Pallone, New York.
I have a question
about
telephones.
Okay, go ahead.
On the caller ID,
I thought I heard
something a few months ago
about
some system
that picks up
caller ID
even when people
are trying to block it.
The people that are sending it
are trying to block it.
Yeah, well, it's possible
that somebody could,
and this is all
switch-dependent.
Let's say
that you make a phone call
and you wish
to block caller ID.
What you do is
you either
have your phone set up
so it permanently
blocks caller ID
whenever you make
a phone call
or you preface it
with star-6-7
and that blocks
the caller ID
from reaching
the person you're calling.
Now, what happens
when you do that,
your number is sent out
to your local switch
with the star-6-7
flag set
and, again,
your number is sent
to the receiving switch
the same way.
When the receiving switch
sees star-6-7 flag set,
it says
this person doesn't want
their number sent
to the subscriber
so, therefore,
I'm just going to send him
the word blocked ID.
Now, what happens
is when that switch,
that terminating switch
is owned by somebody
who doesn't care
or who doesn't know
how to set it up properly,
that number can just
get sent along anyway
and that's what happened
a while ago
with Omnipoint,
which is a PCS company,
GSM company,
that provides
wireless communication.
It doesn't work anymore.
Apparently,
they either figured it out
themselves,
how to stop it
or, you know,
the bad publicity
got to be too much
for them.
So, there's nothing
that, there's no system
that you can get a hold
of that would get
those numbers
even when people
are trying to block them.
Well, there's ways
of doing it
that involve, you know,
a fair degree
of trickery.
For instance,
you could give somebody
an 800 number to call
and that uses a technology
known as A&I,
not caller ID.
You can't block that.
You cannot block that.
About the only way
left to block that
is to go through
an operator,
but that's becoming
increasingly difficult.
Operators are refusing
to put through
800 numbers
and the technology,
if it's not here already,
it's just around the corner
to transfer A&I information
even if you do go
through an operator.
So, there are ways
of getting your number
that, you know,
a lot of people
aren't aware of.
Okay.
All right?
Thanks.
Is there a specific thing
you're trying to do?
Yeah, well,
I've got somebody
that's harassing me
and I'm trying to find
out who they are.
Do you have caller ID?
Not yet.
Okay.
A lot of people...
Well, when you do
star 69,
that's the same
as getting a caller ID,
right?
It says you can't
obtain the number.
If the number is blocked,
then you'll get
that recording.
So, probably caller ID
wouldn't help you
in that case.
They have that
star 57 nonsense,
which is simply
a way the phone company
makes money
off harassing calls.
Right.
What you should do...
Is this a repeating incident?
Yes.
How often does it happen?
Oh, sometimes it goes on
three or four times a day
for a week
and then it'll stop
for a while.
Okay.
And does the person
stay on?
Usually they listen
and then eventually hang up.
Okay.
What you need to do
is log the exact time
that those calls come in.
Right, I do.
And what state are you in?
New York.
Okay, you call
the Bell Atlantic
Annoyance Call Bureau.
Their number should be
in the front of your phone book.
Right.
And explain to them
exactly what's going on.
If they tell you
to use star 57,
just tell them
it doesn't work
because it doesn't work.
It does not work.
Except for them.
It works very well for them
but it does not work for us.
I've got to get past the people
that tell me to use that.
I've got to get to somebody else.
Right.
Say that you've already
been through this,
that you've talked
to somebody else,
to call these people
and that you need to speak
to whoever it is
that can put a trap
and trace on your line.
Right.
That's the only way.
You probably won't find out
who it is that's doing it
but they will find out
that you're upset by this
and that they have to stop
and if they don't
they'll get in a lot of trouble.
Right.
Very good.
All right?
Thank you.
Good luck.
Thanks.
That happens so often.
More often than you would ever know.
And while we're on the subject
of GSM, PCS services,
I just didn't want to forget this
because this was an opportunity
to test out various services
when I went over to Ohio.
Brought both the Sprint PCS phone
and the Omnipoint GSM phone over there
to see what happened
when we left the New York area.
First of all,
Sprint PCS has been going through
some really, really bad times.
I mean, I don't know
what exactly the problem is
but I talked to somebody over there
a couple of days ago
and they said
ever since April
their message alert service
has not been working.
That is,
if you're getting voicemail
your phone is supposed to beep
and tell you you have mail.
Well, it's been beeping
even if you don't have mail.
So people are constantly calling voicemail
to see what the mail is
and there's no mail.
Then they hang up
and it beeps again.
And this keeps going on
and on and on
and I guess it's great for Sprint
because everyone's using
their phones now
to call people
they don't need to call
but it's a real pain too.
And so I called them
and they said,
yeah, this is a problem
in the entire northeast United States.
Everybody's having trouble
with their voicemail.
It's amazing
because it worked fine
when I first got my phone
a few months ago
and it also worked fine
when I tried to make phone calls
or get phone calls.
Now it seems virtually
nothing is working properly.
So that was a bit
of an annoyance right there.
Now as far as traveling
across the country
Sprint PCS
pretty much fades out
once you get to Pennsylvania
and you don't pick it up again
until you get to Pittsburgh.
And that's a Sprint service
you get in Pittsburgh
and that fades out
pretty quickly too.
Nothing in Ohio
until you get to Dayton.
In Dayton, Ohio
there is some other company
I don't even know
who they are
but the little Rome light
starts flashing on the phone
and you can make phone calls
through Sprint
using some other companies
so you get to pay
more money to them
for the right to Rome.
So GSM was slightly different.
Omnipoint again faded out
probably midway into Pennsylvania
and then
then
as you approach
western Pennsylvania
and go into eastern Ohio
you get this company
it just shows up on the phone.
Instead of saying Omnipoint
it just says
310 space 3-1.
That's the entire name
of the company right there.
And
I had no idea who they were.
I do know 310
is the United States
country code
for GSM
and 3-1 apparently
is the number
of the company
but
other than that
it was very difficult
to find out
any more information
and
they had good signal coverage
I'll say that.
You were able to
get them pretty much
straight from
western Pennsylvania
all the way
almost into Dayton
and
it was
fairly good service
I don't know
what kind of prices
those
those companies have
but
we'll certainly learn
when we get the bill.
Okay
212-279-3400
good evening
you're on Off the Hook.
Hello?
Yeah speak up.
Hi
were you kidding
about the FCC
requiring all radio stations
to
have commercials?
Let me ask you a question
what do you think?
I'm really afraid
the answer is
no
and that they are
but
I really want you to say
that
you're just making that up
I think
we need to take a good look at this
and see what kind of a world
we're living in
did you hear the fear
in his voice?
The fear in this caller's voice
that something like this
could happen
that the FCC could mandate
that commercials are now mandatory
you know
think about it
they've surprised me
so many times
and each time they do
I
I can't believe it
but it becomes
less of a surprise
well yeah
yeah
and something like this
I mean
I'm ready for it
you know
you're ready for this
you're ready for BAI
being forced to play commercials
by the FCC
well I'm not ready for it
because if that happened
I would have a hard time
listening to the radio
but
well maybe there's something
you should do
maybe there's something
you should do about it
you know
if something like that
were to happen
or has already happened
or whatever
maybe there's something
you as a listener
should be expected to do
to you know
counteract that
well
what would you suggest?
well you see
maybe the FCC
has mandated
that I can't suggest anything
and maybe that's up to the listener
maybe the listener
is the one
that always has to have
the final say
well yes
that's all hypothetical
all theoretical conversation here
right?
right
all rights reserved
right
okay
so the thing is
we live in a society
where crazy things happen
where all kinds of laws
are being passed
where
I was in Dayton
right
I was in the cool part of Dayton
which is known as
what is it
the Oregon District
and we saw this building
that apparently
was a radio station building
and it had
the call letters
of the radio station
and I saw
you know
I saw
the radio station call letters
I said
hey look
it's a radio station building
and then as more of the building
became visible
I saw a second
set of call letters
and a third
and a fourth
seven radio stations
in one building
in Dayton, Ohio
how many radio stations
do you think they have
in Dayton, Ohio
to start with?
right
they're all owned
by the same people
San Diego
11 out of 12
are owned by the same people
it's scary
what's happening out there
and that's why
you have to take an interest
it's
that's something
I am mandating right now
that listeners
take an interest
in the kinds of things
that are going on out there
involving broadcasting
communication
things like that
because
there are increasingly
fewer voices
and those voices
are being controlled
by the same people
you have
markets where
radio stations
are owned by the same people
TV stations
newspapers
cable companies
cable networks
you know
where is this leading?
and they're really
coming down now
on the micro-broadcasters
yeah
the micro-broadcasting
the people
put out
20-watt transmitters
they're a real threat
to these
50,000 watt radio stations
that own entire cities
that makes you wonder
where these people
are really coming from
micro-broadcasting
is an essential part
and it's a natural progression
of the kind of
squeezing of alternative voices
that you're seeing out there
right
see that's exactly why
I can believe
that they would pass
legislation like that
because
there's a lot of
corporate influence
as you know
on legislators
and what would that do
that would put the squeeze
on the non-commercial
radio stations
which are
you know
we know
what kind of stations
are non-commercial
at this point
right
well that's definitely true
I see certain parallels
between what you're saying
and what we were saying
about hackers before
where a certain
a certain preconceived notion
is drawn up
as to how dangerous
these people are
whether they're micro-broadcasters
people with alternative ideas
or hackers
and that's why
when something outrageous happens
it's not that much
of a surprise
it's a natural progression
of things
and that's why
we have to start
thinking about it
before it actually happens
because usually
when it happens
it's too late
right
and it starts
with exactly
what you were talking
about before
it starts with
developing
a paranoia
of
you know
those 2600 people
you know
as if it's like
some organization
where you're
carrying around a card
and you know
having these meetings
to plot
to take down
the internet
in a half hour
right
I mean if I didn't
if I didn't know
these people
and if I wasn't
a part of these people
I would be scared
I would say
boy you know
you've got to do
something about
these terrorist types
and I'm surprised
they're not painting
the micro-broadcasters
as being real
you know
subversive
comedies
they are
they're saying
all kinds of things
about them too
scary
it's not a pretty picture
so you have to
take everything you read
with a grain of salt
yeah
alright
alright
thanks for calling
I hope you're able
to settle your nerves
a little bit
yes
alright
bye bye
212-279-3400
good evening
you're on the air
alright that's nice
but you know
I don't want to hear
myself
I don't want to hear
myself distorted
I want to hear you
good evening
Emmanuel
yes
that's what I want to hear
my name is Roger
sorry
this is Roger
Roger
do I know you Roger
no
okay well
I'm happy to meet you Roger
comment if you will
on this rumor
that I've heard
going about
something about
bionic implants
in bovines
in the state of Nebraska
I've been reading
the weekly sun
and I've heard
something about
wait wait wait
just a minute here
first of all
you know the kinds of things
that happen in Nebraska
all kinds of nasty things
going on out there
I try to stay away
from the bovine community
myself only because
it's
I don't know
I just don't think
it's very healthy
the weekly sun
true
this is what you read
daily
uh huh
well weekly
alright well listen
I suggest
listen to Pacifica News
okay
it happens every day
on this station
and while we have
a strong tie in
with the weekly sun
we tend to weed out
some of the stories
that you know
maybe have a little
bit of factual
hostility
yeah
that's the best way
I can put it
thanks for calling
good evening
you're on the air
you were on the air
okay good evening
you're on the air
speak up please
you have one second
too late
see the thing is
when you hit the button
it takes a second
for it to go away
if I had heard his voice
I would have stopped
alright
good evening
you're on the air
hi Emmanuel
I guess you're
on the cellular
hello
you guessed
I am on the cellular
I'm doing a radio show
how could I be on the cellular
no no
well I'm on the cellular
okay
do not ever
confuse you and me
again
is that clear
okay
alright
oh
I just wanted to mention
some things
before I talk about
some other things
why don't you talk about
some other things first
and then maybe you can
mention those first things
you were mentioning
the fact that you went
on the radio
across the country
did I mention that
did that slip out
yeah I guess I did
yeah
but I wanted to ask you
things about that
before I do
I wanted to ask you
one thing
I'm going to tell you
one thing
can we just get to
the meat of the matter
without you prefacing it
with what you're going
to be doing
alright
when I went to a
cold cut
the cold cut
used to charge
you went to a cold cut
that's a bit of a change
in your lifestyle
isn't it
it used to charge you
a quarter to call
an 800 number
it does not anymore
but guess what
when you call
the 800 number
guess what
you get an electrical shock
yeah
in five minutes
it asks you
for a quarter
so it's like
a sleazy thing
like you get put
on hold
for something
like you call
an 800
like put something
that you know
and then when you
get the person
then you're talking
to them
then they ask you
for a quarter
just like these
you know
they also charge you
they charge the
terminating number
30 cents
just to make the
phone call
which is
another insane
I don't understand
that
but just like
when you want
to go to an
ATM
I was up
upstate
this weekend
I was in a mall
I needed to get
money to buy
some clothes
I was looking
about time
yeah right
I was looking
and I was like
looking for
some you know
I wanted to get
some cash
and the ATM
said charge
150
I'm not paying
150
I mean I know
it's 150
but it's just
the point of it
and the other
thing is that
I was working
all around
all these
ATMs
charge 150
and then I
asked someone
you know
in the mall
do you know
an ATM that
doesn't charge you
and then they
pointed me to
one that
did not charge
me
well now
the way
they're working
things now
with ATMs
it's really
ridiculous
you have to
go to your
bank's ATM
and hope that
you don't have
a bank that
charges fees
in the first
place
but there is
I found this
out this weekend
there is a
growing movement
in this country
to sort of
spit in the face
of that
and one of the
ways of doing
that is to
physically shut
down the ATMs
that do this
now this doesn't
work on a lot
of ATMs
almost none
in New York
City as far
as I know
because it
involves one
of the ATMs
that actually
suck in your
card
not the
swiping
kind
they get
very very
confused
when you
hold the
card
and don't
allow it
to be
sucked in
they get
extremely
confused
and they
shut down
and there
are people
in the
Midwest
and I
saw this
myself
I saw it
myself
from a distance
I didn't
take part
in it
I saw it
from a distance
that people
were holding
their cards
halfway in
and the machine
would just go
dark and turn
off
in your own
bank
I mean
not in your
bank
I mean
if your
bank is
like somewhere
in New York
City but
you're traveling
like upstate
or out of the
state or
something like
that
what if
you know
see what I
don't understand
is if you go
to a teller
and you wait
in line
and you
take up
their time
and you
talk about
the weather
you talk
about sports
you know
you flirt
or whatever
it is
you do
that doesn't
cost anything
that doesn't
it takes up
a lot of
time
takes up
you know
human resources
but you
don't get
charged
anything
you go
to a
computer
and you
take
microseconds
and you
know
use
some CPU
time
and greatly
save
everybody
time and
money
and you
get charged
$1.50
or whatever
it is
they decide
but they're
paying for
the phone
call
that's
probably
why
they're
paying
for the
phone
call
what
phone
call
the phone
call
from their
bank
to your
bank
it's at least
line
it's like saying
you're paying
for email
it's there
all the time
they're constantly
communicating with each
other
if your bank
is North Fork Bank
and you bank
at Ohio Bank
Ohio Bank
has your bank
to ask if you
have money
and they have
to sort of
communicate
they sort of
communicate
but they're not
making long distance
phone calls
with people
sitting in a
in a boiler room
someplace
saying hey
does this person
have enough money
should we give them
the 20 bucks
or not
it's all computerized
it takes half a second
I'm sorry
but we're out of time
it's 8.57
and you're going to
have to be the last word
and that disturbs me
as much as it disturbs you
but that's the way
it has to be
we'll be back again
next week
updating everybody
and all the things
that we started
to update people on
this week
and until then
have yourselves
a good week
this is WBAI
New York
Emmanuel Goldstein
for Off the Hook
I'll see you next time
the telephone
keeps ringing
so I ripped it off
the wall
I cut myself
while shaving
now I can't make a cough
they couldn't get
much worse
but if they could
they would
Bumbinley Bum
but the best
expect the worst
I hope that's understood
Bumbinley Bum
I love you
Thank you.