All the latest cracker related news fit to print. (And some not so fit.) There is more news about what we do than I have room to mention. Suffice it to say, Cracking is becoming one of the hot topics of the internet and security in general. First the big hype-scare was Phone Phreaks, then virus authors, and sprinkled in was the always present threat of system hackers. But a new era erupted with the popularity of shareware because of the mass influx of internet users. The age of the cracker dawned around 1990 and has steadly picked up speed ever since. We live in an age of 'intellectual property' and light speed communication. The fields of this new major underground movement are fertial. Due in large part to the nurishment of ignorance and programing in a can. Learn C++ in 21 days! Visual Basic for Idiots. Why pass laws against what crackers do? Because that is their only defense now. Idiot programers need to be taken care of like the idiots they are. Only an idiot let's his government pass laws the restrict the creation of programs. What is a key-gen after all if not a program? What we do now will reach farther and deeper that we may ever know. Read and be afraid... afraid for you RIGHTS! -Fun stuff about our number one enemy.- One of the largest trade groups in the software industry is using one of the most reviled practices on the Internet to further its goals: spam. The Software Publishers Association confirmed that it sent email detailing the organization's Internet Anti-Piracy Campaign to a targeted audience of more than 300,000 FTP system administrators. The mass correspondence was designed to enlighten them about software piracy, the group said. The email, sent by Sandra Sellers, vice president of intellectual property for the SPA, irritated many of its recipients. Many readers found one passage especially annoying: "Pirate activity violates the integrity of the Internet, utilizes valuable bandwidth, and crashes servers--often to the detriment of your users and your system." Spam has many of the exact same detrimental effects. "In her very own spam, she stated that software piracy represents a drain on Internet bandwidth. And what does she expect that 300,000 spam email advertisements do? Glide silently on little mice feet?" wrote one angry reader. Hahahahah! I love angry readers. =) -More news about the ones we love to hate. SPA(m)- The Software Publishers Association slammed two alleged online software pirates with a lawsuit, but not before the accused Net sites' hosts shut them down. After a seven-month investigation, the SPA filed suit with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania yesterday claiming that the unnamed individuals offered surfers illegal copies of software, 4,500 unauthorized serial numbers for installing stolen software, and tools designed to sidestep technical copyright protection devices. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Adobe Systems, Autodesk, Claris, Corel, Intuit, Macromedia, and Visio. In all, the SPA represents 1,200 companies, including the largest software maker in the world, Microsoft. "This lawsuit is the first of its kind alleging this type of infringement, a type of piracy which has become far too common on the Internet. In fact, a recent search for illegal software on the Internet revealed nearly 17,000 different sites offering infringing material," said Peter Beruk, SPA director of North America antipiracy, in a statement regarding the lawsuit. As of now, the sites "www.velocity.net/~overlord" and "www.chisel.toolcity.net/~overlord" have been blocked by their Internet service providers, who also revealed the site operators' identities upon being subpoenaed by the SPA. The SPA has come under fire in the past for using tough legal tactics to get ISPs to shut down alleged pirate sites. More than 40 providers and online activists groups sent a letter to the SPA in December, in opposition to several lawsuits the organization filed against providers for not shutting down the online software shacks in question. The SPA did drop a number of suits, but only after the ISPs removed the sites. The SPA firmly believes that ISPs must help fight the distribution of pirated material. The group opposes legislation in Congress now that would take access providers off the hook for their customers' activities. Telephone companies and ISPs, on the other hand, are pushing for its passage. -International laws being passed:- WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaty Implementation Act Strange name! But besure to keep any eye on where this law may strike. World Intellectual Property Organization ratifies international treaties to protect copyrights in cyberspace. The United States signed the treaties at the World Intellectual Property Organization's diplomatic conference in Geneva, Switzerland, last December. One controversial provision would make it a crime to import, manufacture, or distribute technology, which could include PCs, that could be used to "circumvent" copyright protection devices. Now what Computer technology could be used to get around copyright protections? Surely nothing Phrozen Crew does could be called this? ;) We only distribute program and registry patches, serial numbers, and Key file/serial generators to the world! Catch us if ya can. -USA laws of interest to Crackers.- New Electronic thieft act soon to be seen by Clinton gives online crackers of software, music, video, or literature up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for a felony offense, which is defined as "willfully" making or possessing ten or more illegal copies with a retail value of $2,500 or more. Status Passed by Congress, awaiting action by President Clinton. That doesn't sound too bad does it? Well it's deceiving. Read the full writing of the law starting at Item 12. at this url: ftp://ftp.loc.gov/pub/thomas/c105/h2281.ih.txt for the whole story. Should make any US crackers nervious. News bytes from HotWire.com. Comments by Killer+Bee, Phrozen Crew Cracker.