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                 >C O M P U T E R   U N D E R G R O U N D<
                               >D I G E S T<
             ***  Volume 3, Issue #3.23 (June 27, 1991)   **
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MODERATORS:   Jim Thomas / Gordon Meyer  ([email protected])
PHILEMEISTER: Bob Krause // VACATIONMEISTER: Bob Kusumoto
MEISTERMEISTER: Brendan Kehoe

           +++++     +++++     +++++     +++++     +++++

CONTENTS THIS ISSUE:
File 1: From the Mailbag  (Response to Dalton; Hacker Definitions)
File 2: Warrants issued for Indiana and Michigan "Hackers"
File 3: More on Thrifty-Tel
File 4: The CU in the News (Thackeray; Cellular Fraud; Privacy)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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From: Various
Subject: From the Mailbag  (Response to Dalton; Hacker Definitions)
Date: June 27, 1991

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***  CuD #3.23: File 1 of 4: From the Mailbag                   ***
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From: "Chas. Dye -- Solarsys Mechanic" <[email protected]>
Subject: Anonymous uucp from solarsys in Bay Area
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 91 19:13:32 PDT

       solarsys, the site available for anonymous uucp downloads in the Bay
Area, has had connectivity problems which have since been remedied.  If you
would like a listing of the available archives, you can grap the file

               /usr/uucppublic/ls-lR.Z

You need to have a line in you Systems (or L.Sys) file which looks like this:

       solarsys ANY ACU <speed> <number> ""-\n-gin: archinfo sword: knockknock
where
       <speed> is a standard modem speed between 300 and 19200
               (We have a Telebit T2500 modem)

                               and

       <number> is whatever portion of "1 415 339 6540" you need from
               your site

Feel free to contribute files by writing them to the directory

               /usr/uucppublic/newfiles

and letting me know (via mail to [email protected]) that you have sent
something.

       We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced by with
earlier attempts to dial in.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From: [email protected](C. Peter Constantinidis)
Subject: Dalton Spence's Imaginary Canadian BBS Crackdown
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 91 14:20:14 EDT

> However, I will not become TOO complacent, since the government of
> Canada has a history of following the lead of the United States, even
> when it would serve us better NOT to.  I am worried that the recent
> virus infestations of government computers, as described in the
> attached article from "Toronto Computes!" magazine (June 3, Vol. 7,
> #5, p. 3), may act as a catalyst for a crackdown on Canadian bulletin
> boards.  Which would be a shame, since I am just getting the hang of
> using them.

Give me a break Dalton. I would be very interested in understanding
how exactly you put two and two together to result in four. Because I
cannot seem to understand how it could possibly happen. So basically
you're saying, that if the government uses lousy computers with lousy
security and some 14 year old writes a virus program that says, for
example, "legalize marijuana" the government is going to take revenge
by taking away the computers of every single Canadian in the country?
Come on.. Unless the government goes dictatorship (doubtful) the
people would go ballistic and vote the government out of existence in
a hurry.

I would imagine those people who would like to ban BBSes are the same
people who are unable to program a VCR's clock because they are simply
too technologically stupid. There is an expression you might be
familiar with, "those who cannot do, teach".

But back to the topic, whipping out our handy copy of the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms we see in section 2b that ALL forms of
communication, electronic and otherwise are PROTECTED. The government
could not ban BBSes or crack down on them unless it could prove that
it would benefit the people to do so and obviously they can't. Because
of the protection in section 2b they cannot regulate bbses because
then it would be controlling people's ability to read,write and
communicate with other people.

Canada has better protections in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
than the Americans do in their Constitution. The Canadian Charter was
written in 1982 which makes it more up to date and contemporary. So
you needn't worry that tomorrow morning you'll be woken up by big
thugs shining a bright light into your eyes, having them drag you
outside and shoot you just because of some scare mongers (which you
tried to do) or out of date laws in OTHER countries.

Dalton, last time I looked, Canada was still a sovereign country. And
the government has more important things to worry about than computers
bbses.  So just take it easy and don't worry. Of course one knows one
shouldn't send email to the government over and over saying "fuck you!
i'm a BBS user! what are you gonna do about that?! hahahahahah"
Jesus...

Hope this has helped in clearing up any confusion.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From: "76012,300 Brad Hicks" <[email protected]>
Subject: Phreaks/Crackers/Hackers and Assundry Others
Date: 20 Jun 91 10:59:54 EDT

Attn: Computer Underground Digest
REGARDING                Re: Please Explain the Terms 'Hacker' and
"Phreaker'
In TELECOM Digest vol 11, #471, [email protected] (Jennifer
Lafferty) asked:

> I'm kind of lost here. Exactly what is "phreaking" and "hacking"
> as you are using the terms.

This should make a LONG thread.  Everybody has their own definitions.
Pat Townson, the TELECOM moderator, chimed in with his own.  If I may
paraphrase in the interest of brevity, Pat sez that a phreaker is
someone who likes to rip of the Phone Cops; a hacker, a bright
computer programmer; and a cracker, someone who rips off computer
users.

If true, this leaves a gaping hole in the language: what do we call a
bright phone system expert who isn't a bright computer programmer?
That aside, let me chip in my own definitions, which hopefully will
shed as much light as they will heat (grin):

HACKER: (n)  Derived from "to hack," a verb used at MIT for dozens of
years now to mean "to throw something together quickly" with an
alternate, but related meaning, "to prank."  (In MIT usage, a great
prank is still called a hack, whether or not it has anything to do
with computers.)  Computer hackers are people who live for their
hobby/profession.  What separates a truly brilliant hacker from a
truly brilliant programmer is that the hacker is only interested in
results; s/he will achieve the impossible in record time but with code
that cannot be maintained and no documentation.

As one of Nancy Lebovitz's buttons says, "Real programmers don't
document. If it was hard to write, it SHOULD be hard to understand."
Or as we used to say at Taylor U., a hacker is someone who will sit at
a computer terminal for two solid days, drinking gallons of
caffeinated beverages and eating nothing but junk food out of vending
machines, for no other reward than to hear another hacker say, "How
did you get it to do THAT?"

PHREAK: (n)  Derived from the word "phone" and the Sixties usage,
"freak," meaning someone who is very attached to, interested in,
and/or experienced with something (e.g., "acid freak").  A "phone
freak," or "phreak," is to the world-wide telephone system what a
hacker is to computers: bright, not terribly disciplined, fanatically
interested in all of the technical details, and (in many cases) prone
to harmless but technically illegal pranks.

CRACKER: (n)  A hacker who specializes in entering systems against the
owner and/or administrator's wishes.  Used to be fairly common
practice among hackers, but then, computing used to be WAY outside the
price range of almost anybody and computers used to have lots of empty
CPU cycles in the evenings.  (There also used to be a lot fewer
hackers; what is harmless when four or five people do it may become a
social problem when four or five thousand do it.)  Now hackers who
don't illegally enter systems insist on a distinction between
"hackers" and "crackers;" most so-called crackers do not, and just
call themselves hackers.

CRASHER: (n)  Insult used by computer bulletin board system operators
(sysops) to describe a cracker who enters for the malicious purpose of
destroying the system or its contents.  Used to be unheard of, but
when I was last sysoping, was incredibly common.  Crashers (who insist
on calling themselves hackers) insist that this is because sysops are
more obnoxious about asking for money and insisting on collecting
legal names and addresses.

CYBERPUNK: (n)  A cyberpunk is to hackers/phreaks/crackers/crashers
what a terrorist is to a serial killer; someone who insists that their
crimes are in the public interest and for the common good, a
computerized "freedom fighter" if you will.

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