Letters: LETTERS FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD

Dear 2600: I am currently involved with the Crystal Palace BBS, formerly OSUNY (hopefully you have heard of it).  The system is down now for some software modifications, and many people have tried to persuade me into changing the purpose of the board, which is telecommunications and other related fields.  The crackdown on this type of BBS is starting to become overwhelming.  This is what my inquiry is about.  After reading my first copy of your newsletter, I was elated with the quality and content of information it had!  Referring to the front page article (July 1984, page 1-37), "Look Out, He's Got a Computer!"  I agree that the anti-computer hysteria has gone and is going to go too far!  I am interested to know what exactly is an illegal BBS message and what is not.  Do I have to monitor the system 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week?  Am I responsible for every message posted on the board?  I know that these are questions that everyone wants answers to and can't find.  As I see it the BBS is just another form of newsletter, so why are they picking on us?!  I do, however, realize that some messages are quite illegal like: credit card #'s and the like, but the information on how to get those #'s is not illegal (right?).  Any information on this subject would be greatly appreciated.       Crystal Palace What is a BBS?  You know the answer, we do, and a good many of our readers also do.  The problem is that the people who go around passing laws and raiding homes don't have the slightest idea what a BBS really is.  All they care about is the fact that a computer is involved somewhere along the line.  And computers, they say, can do anything in the world.  But what's so ironic in the case of a BBS is the fact that the computer is just storing messages!!  The exact same effect could be accomplished on a physical bulletin board, inside an auditorium, or in everyday conversation.  But you don't see these things being outlawed because people would never stand for that kind of repression (we hope).  Computers are easy targets because the average person doesn't understand them at all.  By making people think that it's actually illegal to write something down and pass it along to others, the authorities are taking one great big step towards total control. We agree that a BBS is really another form of newsletter.  We don't agree that messages containing credit card #'s are illegal in any sense.  (They are boring, though, and practically useless to anyone except fraud investigators.)  It's the actual use of these numbers that constitutes fraud, not the simple act of passing them around.  If a cop on the street overheard you giving numbers to a friend, could he arrest you?  Let's hope it hasn't reached this stage. We're currently working on getting some more legal information concerning this subject so that we can address your questions better.  In the meantime, though, we hope your board and the many others like it around the world won't be intimidated by these scare tactics.  You can talk about whatever the hell you want.  But it's still illegal to commit the crimes you're talking about. If enough of you guys stood up for your rights out in the open, this wouldn't be such a problem.  You might actually wind up saving an important part of democracy for a few more years. By the way, readers, if you're running a BBS that talks about these things or know of one that does, send in the name and phone number for our Hot 100 list which will be published soon.  Make sure the BBS you're sending wants to be publicized and try to include a reason or two why your BBS is better than most.  Check the front page for our addresses.

Dear 2600: Received your August issue, and enjoyed it.  A number of comments... 1.)  Does anyone know what happened to TAP? 2.)  There is a newsletter called the COMSEC Letter, available for free from Ross Engineering Assoc., 7906 Hope Valley Court, Adamstown, MD 21710.  Lots of good information, but they want a letter requesting the newsletter on letterhead and identifying your interest in communications security (one can't be too careful these days!).  It's always interesting to know what's happening on the other side... 3.)  What works against an ESS switch?  Black Boxes are O.K., but more modern equipment seems to be coming in rapidly, blowing our older techniques off the air!       The Animal For info on TAP, consult our September issue, page 1-52.  We hate repeating ourselves all the time. Thanks for the sample copy of COMSEC Letter.  It looks interesting and we're looking into reprinting some of the good stuff.  Readers: feel free to send us anything that looks like it might be interesting to us.  It usually is. ESS switches and Black Boxes are dealt with extensively on page 1-43 of our August issue, as you probably know.  The only thing we can suggest to counter an ESS is ingenuity.  There's always a way to get around anything.

Dear 2600: I really enjoy your publication!  It seems you guys are not a bunch of wimps who are so damn paranoid that the feds are going to catch you.  Anyway, what types of back issues do you have?  I received my first issue, which is Volume 1, Number 9.  What are the context of the back issues?  I'm looking for one having to do with loops, sprinting, hacking out sprint! mci's, or anything similar.  Also, any arpanet/archnet stuff?       kd We'll be publishing a guide to our back issues that should be out right in time for the Christmas rush.  Just about all of the topics you mentioned have already been covered and they all will be covered in the future.  We accept articles and information from anyone. You're quite correct in saying that we're not paranoid.  We have nothing to be paranoid about because we're not doing anything wrong.

Dear 2600: Though it may seem like only yesterday that computer crime first caught the nation's fancy, it has been on the mind of state legislators for quite some time.  With the recent passage of computer crime laws in Maryland, Iowa, Connecticut, and Hawaii, the number of states lacking computer crime laws has fallen to seventeen.  The laws of the other 33 have been collected, in a new reference work published by the National Center for Computer Crime Data, and called The Computer Crime Law Reporter.  In the course of compiling the texts of all the state computer crime laws on the books, editor Jay BloomBecker found that a number of states had bills on the books for years without anyone noticing them. The book, 200 pages plus two updates, is available for $45 from the National Center for Computer Crime Data, 4053 J.F.K. Library, California State University at Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032. In addition, the National Center will begin publishing a newsletter devoted to morals and ethics in computing.  Its name is Conscience in Computing. There are schools teaching computer ethics, no matter how many are not.  There are professionals questioning their roles as computer scientists and asking about the social impact of their work.  There are computer bulletin boards which support ethics discussion groups. Conscience in Computing will be a monthly newsletter, subscriptions costing $18 annually.  Work exchanges allow readers to become subscribers by convincing others to subscribe, reporting news of conscience in computing, or working out an individual contract with the National Center.  Interested people can write to the above address.       The National Center for Computer Crime Data The National Center for Computer Crime Data is a non-profit research organization at California State University at Los Angeles.