Date: Sun, 3 May 92 23:45 CDT
From:
[email protected]
Subject: File 3--The Forgotten Victims of the "Bill Cook" Raids
A little over two years ago, there was much in Texas that caught the
interest of law enforcement personnel concentrating on computer crime.
Two investigations in other parts of the country focused attention on
individuals in the Austin and Dallas areas, the most well-known of
whom is Steve Jackson, the owner of an Austin-based game publishing
company.
In July of 1989, Secret Service agents were examining electronic mail
records of a privately-owned computer system in Illinois owned by Rich
Andrews. Those records, which contained the computer equivalent of a
list of all mail sent through a particular post office, showed that a
copy of a newsletter called "Phrack" had been sent to Loyd
Blankenship, the managing editor at Steve Jackson Games, Loyd
Blankenship, in late February of 1989. It had also been sent to
thousands of others, but none of them were working on a book that, the
Secret Service agents felt, romanticized computer crime.
The editor of the Phrack newsletter, a pre-law student at the
University of Missouri/Columbia by the name of Craig Neidorf, made the
activities of the telephone underground the focus of his publication.
He gave space to individuals fascinated with the telephones in their
lives, and with the technology that connected them. As phone company
technology grew to depend upon computers, so did those who read the
Bell Labs technical journals as if they were the sports page. The
pages of Phrack came to include technical discussions of computer
security issues.
Mr. Neidorf, thought the Illinois Secret Service and the Illinois U.S.
Attorney-General's office, was up to no good. There was no difference
in their minds between writing about the computer underground and
participating in it. In the last days of January, 1990, Secret
Service agent Timothy Foley conducted a formal interview with Mr.
Neidorf in his college frat house. According to an affidavit sworn to
by Agent Foley, the two discussed the author of an article in Phrack
that contained a modified version of an element from an AT&T computer
operating system. The article was penned (under a pseudonym) by
Leonard Rose, Jr., a computer consultant who lived in Maryland at the
time, the affidavit said.
Mr. Rose was not unknown to computer professionals and enthusiasts in
Texas and around the country. His electronic mail and telephone
records were enough to shift the Secret Service's interest to Texas.
What follows is an informal chronology of the events between January
of 1990 and today. It is incomplete, partly out of consideration for
the wishes and privacy of some of the people with whom I spoke, and
partly because of the troubled calm that people have felt after the
departure of the current masters of Operation SunDevil.
1/90: Bell Communications Research security manager Henry M.
Kluepfel dials into Loyd Blankenship's home BBS, the Phoenix
Project, under his real name. By mid-February, he has seen
and read an issue of Phrack on the system, copied a list of
the system's users who might have read the newsletter, and
called the Secret Service. According to Agent Foley's
affidavits, what Kluepfel saw there was a threat to the
business of Kluepfel's employer and other telephone
companies.
2/90: Search warrants are given for the residences of Bob Izenberg
(2/20), Loyd Blankenship (2/28) and Chris Goggans (2/28),
and at the office of Steve Jackson Games (2/28). The SJG
warrant is unsigned; the other warrants are signed by U.S.
Magistrate Stephen H. Capelle on the day that they're
served. Although the warrant specifies that only computer
equipment and media may be seized as evidence, Secret
Service interest goes farther afield. Several videotapes of
public access programs are seized from one residence. Three
hours after the raid at another, Secret Service agents have
called Austin computer store owner Rick Wallingford at home,
to verify that he sold a pinball machine to one of the
warrant subjects. Prior to executing the warrants, Secret
Service agents have gone to security personnel at the
University of Texas to discuss the individuals, and to
obtain driver's license information and physical
descriptions. A subpoena is served at the University to
obtain access to Chris Goggans' computer records. Public
access computers attctc/killer (run by AT&T) and
elephant/puzzle (run by Izenberg) cease operation. The
former, which Secret Service agents claimed to have run "to
monitor the hacker community" was closed by AT&T order. The
latter was closed when the machine was seized under warrant.
The Steve Jackson Games "Illuminati" BBS goes down when it
is seized as evidence.
3/90: Semi-public access computer rpp386, in service since
September of 1987, drops most user accounts and connections
to other computers. Said its owner, John Haugh, "The
investigation with SunDevil was starting to get too close.
I knew Bill Kennedy, Bob Izenberg and Charlie Boykin. It
seemed reasonable that my system would come under
investigation." It didn't, and Mr. Haugh said that he has
never been contacted by any law enforcement officials with
regards to these matters.
4/90: Newsweek article "The Hacker Dragnet" by John Schwartz
discusses the Steve Jackson Games raid, among other issues.
6/90: Steve Jackson is told by the Secret Service that his seized
property can be picked up. Some of it is damaged, and one
hard disk, some hardware and assorted papers are not
returned.
9/90: Houston Chronicle article "War on Computer Crime Waged With
Search, Seizure" by Joe Abernathy discusses Steve Jackson
Games and Operation SunDevil. Agent Foley, on the phone in
Chicago, refuses return of property seized from Izenberg
residence.
1/91: Bill Kennedy gets a phone call from the Secret Service about
his knowledge of Len Rose. He is told that he's not under
investigation, and the Baltimore, Maryland Federal
prosecutor confirms this.
4/91: Byte magazine columnist Jerry Pournelle gives his
hall-of-shame "Onion of the Year" award to Agent Foley,
saying, "Mr. Foley's actions in Austin, Texas, regarding
Steve Jackson Games not only exceeded his authority, but
weren't even half competently done."
5/91: Steve Jackson Games and the Electronic Frontiers Foundation
file a civil suit against the Secret Service agents,
Bellcore technical personnel and others for damages.
9/91: U.S. Magistrate Capelle grants Izenberg's motion to unseal
the affidavit in support of search warrant filed by Agent
Foley on behalf of the Secret Service.
Now: The Steve Jackson Games suit presumably continues. The
Secret Service claims, in court documents, that all
investigations which have not resulted in indictments are
still in progress.
WHO'S WHO
LOYD BLANKENSHIP: (aka The Mentor): Handed unsigned search warrant in
Austin, TX on 3/1/90, pursuant to which the feds seized $10K of
computer equipment. To this date, none of the equipment has been
returned, and no charges or indictments have been made. Still works
for Steve Jackson Games (who is in the middle of suing the government
thanks to the EFF!). Now runs a usenet node out of his house
(
[email protected]).
CHRIS GOGGANS: Former employee of Steve Jackson Games. Unavailable
for comment.
JOHN HAUGH: Computer consultant in Austin, TX. Owner/operator of
rpp386 semi-public computer system. On computer
criminals: "These are the people that are making it
hard for us...Forcing the government to be
investigating people in the first place."
BOB IZENBERG: Former operator of public access Unix site "elephant".
Handed search warrant in Austin, TX on 2/20/90. U.S.
inventory of seized property: minimum $34,000, give or take
a $900 hammer. Court motion to unseal affidavit for search
warrant granted early 9/91. No charges or indictments.
Property not returned, pursuant to "ongoing investigation."
Runs public access usenet site "dogface" at home.
BILL KENNEDY: Computer consultant in Pipe Creek, TX. Contacted by
Secret Service agents over the phone at a friend's home. (It is a
subject for speculation how it was known that he was at this
particular friend's house. Monitoring of phone activity at Kennedy's
home might have given this information.) During the half hour
conversation, he was told that he was not under investigation, and was
asked about his association with other individuals under scrutiny. A
copy of a note which stated that he was not under investigation was
faxed to him. Subsequent phone conversation with the Baltimore
Federal prosecutor confirmed this. After Len Rose pled guilty,
Kennedy was told that he would be flown to Baltimore to testify, but
never was called upon to do so. He called the Baltimore Federal
prosecutor back at this point and was told that they "were through
with him." Of the investigation,
and of former Chicago prosecutor William Cook, Kennedy said, "They may
not have had enough live sacrifices to suit them... Cook was on a
witch hunt: If they didn't have anything, they'd make some."
As mentioned earlier, there are names and events left unmentioned at
individual request. It is difficult to convey the frustration, anger
at various individuals, and desire to put it all behind that the named
and un-named individuals with whom I spoke have expressed. As one
said, "The emotional toll was pretty steep." But, hey, aren't we all
safer? Wasn't it all worth it?
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