Date: Tue, Mar 24, '92 22:15:34 PST
From: John F. McMullen <
[email protected]>
Subject: File 9--CFP-2 Features Role-Playing FBI Scenario (NEWSBYTES REPRINT)
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1992 MAR 25(NB) -- As part of the
"Birds-of-a-Feather" (BOF) sessions featured at the 2nd Conference on
Computers, Freedom & Privacy (CFP-2), FBI agent J. Michael Gibbons,
acting as a live gamemaster, orchestrated the play-acting of an
investigation by federal agents into allegations of computer intrusion
and crimienal activity. The scenario, set up by Gibbons to show the
difficulties faced by investigators in balancing the conducting of an
investigation with a protection of the rights of the individual under
investigation, was acted out with non-law enforcement officials cast
in the role of investigators; New York State Police Senior
Investigator Donald Delaney as "Doctor Doom", the suspected ringleader
of the computer criminals; Newsbytes New York Bureau Chief John
McMullen as a magistrate responsible for considering the
investigators' request for a search warrant; and author Bruce Sterling
as a neighbor and possible cohort of Doctor Doom.
Gibbons, in His role of Gamemaster, regularly intercepted the action
to involve the audience in a discussion of what the appropriate next
step in the scenario would be -- "Do you visit the suspect or get a
search warrant or visit his school or employer to obtain more
information?; Do you take books in the search and seizure?, printers?,
monitors?, etc." During the discussion with the audience, points of
law were clarified by Mike Godwin, Electronic Frontier Foundation
in-house counsel, and Alameda County Assistant District Attorney
Donald Ingraham.
The role-playing session immediately followed a BOF panel, "Hackers:
Why Don't They Understand" which attempted to present a hacker view of
on-line ethics. The panel, moderated by McMullen, was composed of
Steve Levy, MacWorld columnist and author of "Hackers"; Dorothy
Denning, Chair of Computer Science at Georgetown University; Glenn
Tenney, California Congressional Candidate and chair of the annual
"Hacker's Conference"; Craig Neidorf, defendant in a controversial
case involving the electronic publishing of a stolen document;
"Dispater", the publisher of the electronic publication "Phrack";
Emmanuel Goldstein, editor and publisher of "2600: The Hacker
Quarterly", and hacker "Phiber Optik".
During the panel discussion, Levy, Denning and Tenney discussed the
roots of the activities that we now refer to as hacking, Goldstein and
Dispater described what they understood as hacking and asked for an
end to what they see as overreaction by the law enforcement community,
Neidorf discussed the case which, although dropped by the government,
has left him over $50,000 in debt; and Phiber Optik described the
details of two searches and seizures of his computer equipment and his
1991 arrest by Delaney.
In Neidorf's talk, he called attention to the methods used in valuing
the stolen document that he published as $78,000. He said that it came
out after the trial that the $78,000 included the full value of the
laser printer on which it was printed, the cost of the word processing
system used in its production and the cost of the workstation on which
it was entered. Neidorf's claims were substantiated by EFF counsel
Godwin, whose filing of a motion in the Steve Jackson cases caused the
release of papers including the one referred to by Neidorf. Godwin
also pointed out that it was the disclosure by interested party John
Nagle that the document, valued at $78,000, was obtainable in a book
priced at under $20.00 that led to the dropping of the charges by the
US Attorney's office.
SRI security consultant Donn Parker, one of the many in the audience
to participate, admonished Phiber and other hackers to use their
demonstrated talents constructively and to complete an education that
will prepare them for employment in the computer industry. Another
audience member, Charles Conn, described his feeling of exhilaration
when, as a 12-year old, he "hacked" into a computer at a local
Kentucky Fried Chicken. Conn said "It was wonderful. It was like a
drug. I just wanted to explore more and more."
Parker later told Newsbytes that he thought that it was a mistake to
put hackers such as Phiber Optic and those like Craig Neidorf who
glorify hackers on a panel. Parker said "Putting them on a panel
glorifies them to other hackers and makes the problem worse."
The Birds-of-a-Feather sessions were designed to provide an
opportunity for discussions of topics that were not a part of the
formal CFP-2 program.
(Barbara E. McMullen/Press Contact: Dianne Martin, The George
Washington University, 202-994-8238/19920325)
Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253
