A Sprint Gestapo Strike Again!

by Larry P.

Yes, Sprint has nailed another one of us.

Hopefully, this article will help you know what to do if you happen to get nailed by the evil telcos and maybe even get a laugh or two when you hear how clumsy those types are.  Some information has been omitted to protect the identity of the busted one, since his case is still pending and this information could jeopardize his current status as a free man.  So, I'll call him "Mike" for simplicity's sake.  Here is his story...

One night, Mike decided to boot up his Sprint FON (a trademark of U.S. Sprint Corporation) hacker and dig up some codes.  After a while, he had several of them.  While he was hacking them out, he was being traced by U.S. Sprint, who, after getting poor Mike's phone number, notified state and local authorities who proceeded to get a search warrant.  The very next day they went to his house before he got home.  Ringing the doorbell, Mike's dad opened the door.  They asked his dad if Mike owned a computer and he said yes, a Commodore.  Mike got home at that point, and they showed him the search warrant and entered the house.

Once inside, these five men (one local Forgery Squad person, some Secret Service agents, a U.S. Sprint executive and his IBM specialist) went to Mike's room.  The Sprint guy took pictures.  The detective and the cops looked through drawers in a random fashion, missing over half of them.  They only cast a brief glance at the papers on top of the desk.  They never looked in the waste paper basket or behind or under or below or in things.  Only part of the desk.  In fact, Mike remarked to me that they looked bored and seemed to only want to get the job finished.  What a professional attitude for law enforcement agents.

The Sprint executive then said, "Load your hack program, kid!" to Mike.  Mike claimed not to know what disk it was on and said that he had to find it first.  So while he was pretending to find the right disk, he formatted the disks with the hacker programs.  Right under the noses of the dumb feds.  After formatting a disk, Mike said, "Oops, wrong disk" and proceeded to format another, until all disks with functional hack programs were deleted.  Mike then claimed to have found it and loaded a crash-prone, non-functional program and said, "See, I didn't hack your stupid system."  They had no evidence, since he had formatted the disks with the codes on them.  What clumsy cops.  They didn't find his notebook hidden in the basement.

The IBM specialist then proceeded to attempt to dismantle the Commodore.  I say "attempt" because he had trouble disconnecting the computer from the color TV, the disk drive, and modem.  The screws must have confused him.  He ended up ripping apart the connections, no doubt damaging pins and wires.  The Sprint executive then put the equipment into garbage-type bags and hauled it to their dark blue Cadillacs.  On the way, the executive dropped the disk drive onto the ground.  Mike told the Sprint fellow if he damaged it he would pay for it.  What was his reply?  "See ya in court, kid!"  Laughter followed.

They then took Mike to the police station and booked him under a lower class felony for illegal access to lines of a telephone service.  Mike hopes it will be downgraded to a misdemeanor, and it may be since they have such little evidence, except for his TV, his computer, and his game disks.  They took Mike home at that point.  The next day in school, Mike's popularity soared as people learned he was a felon.

Mike and I want to leave you with a bit of advice.  First of all, don't hack your codes at night.  That is when the fewest people use the network.  Instead, do it between 7 am and 10 pm.  Also, use multiple target "dummy" numbers.  Don't hack the codes sequentially.  Have them done randomly, but also have the program automatically reseed the random number generator occasionally since the pattern can be tracked.  If your pattern is tracked, the system might anticipate the next number you will try, and if it is a valid account, turn it off for the time you try it only.  They will also print out a card with your phone number.

In no way am I implying or suggesting that it is proper to commit any type of fraud.  If you decide, however, to commit fraud, heed my warnings.  Now Mikey has some things to say: "Don't mess with Sprint!"  Wise words indeed.

"To phreak and be safe, keep your disks and notebook out of your room and well hidden somewhere else.  They will only look in your room or near the computer."

They charged Mike with a felony.  A felony!  They don't charge rapists or muggers with felonies.  Why did they take his TV and telephone away?  What did they expect to find hidden in it?  Hitler's brain?  Why did they disconnect his phone for two days?  Doesn't it make you feel secure with such competent law enforcement officials handling things?

I will keep in touch with Mike and let everyone know if anything else turns up.