Computer underground Digest Sun Nov 22, 1992 Volume 4 : Issue 60
Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET)
Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
Copy Eater: Etaion Shrdlu, Junior
CONTENTS, #4.60 (Nov 22, 1992)
File 1--A Bird's-eye view of the Pumpcon Problem
File 2--We Must Defend our Rights Ourselves!
File 3--Re: CPSR Platform and You
File 4--2600 Allegations Require Collective Response
File 5--Creative Computing for College
File 6--Another view of Software Piracy
File 7--Piracy Declines
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 06:32:21
From: Iwasthere@when.down.it.com
Subject: File 1--A Bird's-eye view of the Pumpcon Problem
********** PUMPCON BUSTED!!! ***********
10/31/92
written by someone who was there
who wishes to remain anonymous
NOTICE: The word "Hacker" is used frequently throughout this file -
it is to be interpreted as "a computer literate person", and
NOT as "someone who engages in illegal activities using a
computer".
Friday, October 30, Pumpcon began, at the Courtyard of the Marriott,
in Greenburgh, NY. All in all, about 30 hackers showed up, and had a
great time. At least until the evening of Oct. 31st, when 8-10
members of the Greenburgh police force showed up and raided the Con.
At the time of the raid, there were between 20 and 25 hackers in the
hotel. 3 of the 4 rooms rented by Con attendees were raided. All the
occupants of these rooms were taken to a conference room, and then
another hotel room (255) where they were held approximately 6-8 hours
for questioning.
The police all came in unmarked police cars, and parked on all 4 sides
of the hotel. No one noticed they were there, until they were
standing in the hall where all 4 rooms were located. The officers
stood in the hall outside the doors, but did not enter the rooms right
away. They waited about five minutes, for some unknown reason, which
was just enough time for them to be noticed by the hackers in at least
one of the rooms. Unfortunately, there was no way the hackers in one
room could warn the other rooms - the fone lines were busy, and the
cops in the hall kinda left the "walk down and tell 'em in person"
option out.
The police produced copies of a search warrant to search rooms 246,
233, and 237. Room 246 was the one where everyone was hanging out; it
was pretty much THE room. It was where the computers were located,
and where most of the Con attendees were 99% of the time. The other
two rooms were rented by attendees of the con, and were simply used
for sleeping quarters.
Before too long, the police entered the rooms, and began rounding up
people. My recollection of this time period is a bit faint, and I
don't remember all the minute details. All I know is that we all
ended up in a conference room, and then room 255.
A few hackers who had been out driving around during the time of the
bust returned a few hours later, and when they were seen by police,
they were immediately taken to 255 and questioned. (They were walking
down the hall, when a cop appeared, and told them to step into a room)
The cops asked them if they were hackers, and when they didn't answer,
one police officer reached into the coat pocket of one of the people,
and produced an auto dialer. This in itself was enough to send the
three to room 255, where the rest of the hackers were being held for
questioning. My question to you - isn't that just a bit illegal?
Bodily search without probable cause OR a warrant? Ooops - I'm
forgetting - we're HACKERS! We're ALL BAD! We're ALWAYS breaking the
law. We don't have RIGHTS!
Room 255 was packed. No one was allowed to smoke, and everyone was
nervous as hell. One by one people were called to be interviewed,
with some interviews lasting 5 minutes, others lasting 30 or 45
minutes. Some people were sleeping, others were conversing, and still
others were shaking, and looked like they were about to puke at any
second. Even though the situation was quite serious, a few joked
around, saying things like "So guys, I guess PumpCon '93 won't be held
here, eh?".
No one knew who was going to be arrested, or when they would be
released. The 2 cops in the room with them were actually pretty cool,
and answered any questions they could to the best of their knowledge.
They weren't the guys in charge of the investigation; they were simply
there to make sure we didn't leave. Of course, as friendly as they
seemed, they were still cops...
All the people who were detained were held until between 5:45 and
6:30 am. Four hackers were arrested, 1 because 2 of the rooms were
registered in his name, a second because he signed for the rooms, and
the others for previous crimes, apparently. No one knows as of yet.
As of this message, no news on what will become of those arrested is
known. They have not yet been arraigned. The other hackers were all
searched, questioned, and then released pending further investigation.
Those under the age of 18 had their parents notified.
To my knowledge, there were no federal investigators there at the time
of the bust. However, people kept mentioning the FBI and the Secret
Service, and it is very possible that they will be called in to
investigate. Actually, it's more than just possible, it's almost
guaranteed. The police said that although most of those detained were
released, there will most likely be more arrests in the near future,
as more is learned about the alleged illegal doings.
3 computers (2 Amigas, and 1 AT&T dumb term) were confiscated, along
with anything which looked like it could have been involved in phone
fraud. For some odd reason, although Auto Dialers were listed on the
search warrant, not all of them were confiscated. I actually don't
know if ANY were, I do know that not ALL were. ;)
In one of the rooms, there were about 2 dozen computer magazines which
were apparently confiscated, although the warrant did not specify that
magazines could be taken. But, when you're busting HACKERS, I suppose
you can take what you want. After all, hackers are evil geniuses, and
don't have the same rights as NORMAL criminals do.
As of yet, the actual charges against the hackers are not known. The
raid apparently stemmed because the hackers were ALLEGEDLY using
stolen calling card numbers and/or access codes to obtain free phone
calls. One of these card numbers or codes was rumored to have
tripped a flag at AT&T, which alerted security personnel that something
was possibly wrong.
This assumption about the calling card fraud is made because the
police confiscated any calling card found during their searches, and
some of the questions they asked the detained centered entirely around
calling card theft and use. A few other questions asked me were "Do
you know what computer systems were accessed?", "Do you refer to each
other with handles?", "Who was primarily responsible for this
meeting?", and "Where did you hear about this meeting?"
My interview lasted only about 10 minutes, and it started at about
5:50 am. Everyone was dead tired, and the cops wanted to get
everything over with as fast as possible so they could get some sleep.
After the interviews were over, everyone left, to wait and see what
the next few days will bring.
I am releasing this file now, to prevent any rumors from starting, and
to try to make the outside world aware of what happened during
PumpCon. I have left out any specific incidences and references to
specific people as a precaution, since the investigation is only
beginning. We were hoping to write a file of all the attendees of
PumpCon, to share with the world the names of those who were there.
However, as you can obviously see, that would be highly stupid. For
anyone who WAS there who is reading this, rest assured that the
running list of names which was kept made a very tasteless dinner for
the one who had it in his pocket.
Oh, BTW, one of the cops who was apparently in charge made a comment
to me... he said "You can post a message on the boards telling your
friends to stay out of Greenburgh". Well boys, you heard him -
PumpCon '93 will be held in Greenburgh, at the Courtyard Marriott....
*--------------*
The following is a word for word copy of the search warrant issued to
each person who was detained and questioned. No spelling errors were
corrected, but I probably made a few when I typed this in. Oh well.
TOWN of GREENBURGH POLICE DEPARTMENT
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK
ORDER OF SEARCH AND SEIZURE
+-----
( signed here by Det. Hugh F. Gallagher #103)
----------------------------------------------
JUSTICE COURT, TOWN OF GREENBURGH
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK ORDER
-----
IN THE MATTER OF Room 233, 237, & 246 Westchester Marriott Courtyard
THE APPLICATION FOR AN ORDER OF SEARCH AND SEIZURE OF: (Specify)
Computers Diskettes Computer Printers
Computer Terminals Auto Dialers Diskettes
Calling Card Computer Systems & Wire
Computer Printouts Disk Drives
Modems Hand Written Notes About Credit Co.
" " " " Computer Service.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++X
IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
TO: ANY POLICE OFFICER OF THE TOWN OF GREENBURGH POLICE DEPARTMENT
PROOF by affidavit having been made before me this day by
Det.H.Gallagher #103
___________(Affiant) of the Town of Greenburgh Police Department that
certain property, which is (stolen/unlawfully possessed, used to
commit an offense...) and which constitutes evidence and tends to
demonstrate that an offense has been committed and that a particular
person participated in the commission of an offense will be found at
the location captioned above.
YOU ARE THEREFORE COMMANDED,
** (Between the hours of 6:AM - 9:00 PM / AT ANY TIME OF DAY OR NIGHT) **
** (WITHOUT GIVING NOTICE OF YOUR AUTHORITY AND PURPOSE)**
TO MAKE A SEARCH of the above described (location/person)** for the
following property: (describe fully)
Room # 233, 237, & 246 of the West. Marriott Courtyard
and all its occupants as listed on this attached affidavit.
>><< Suspects name was written here >><<
AND if any such property is found, you are hereby directed to seize
the same and without unnecessary delay, return it to the court,
together with this warrant and a written inventory of such property
subscribed and sworn by you.
THIS COURT DIRECTS THAT this SEARCH WARRANT and ORDER issued this 1
day of NOV. 1992 is valid and must be executed no more than ten (10)
days after the date of issuance.
<< illegible justice's name here >>
____________________________________
Justice Name Signature
** Strike if N/A
UF91B
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 11:23:35 EST
From: ahoffmanjr@anony.com
Subject: File 2--We Must Defend our Rights Ourselves!
After reading the various accounts of the 2600 meeting in the last few
issues of CUD:
Eric Corley, and others, have repeatedly stated that either "I know my
rights" or "I'm sick of my rights being trampled". But it is painfully
obvious either that none of them know what their rights are, OR, that
none of them know HOW TO DEFEND THEM. Otherwise, the situation would
have been quite different.
Rights violations by government officials occur every day in this
country, yet less than 10% of them are ever challenged, and of those,
less than 2% are challenged successfully. Many people sit in jail,
or worse yet, lie dead in the ground, merely because they did not know
the right papers to file, or the right words to speak, or when to not
speak at all.
If you are TRULY interested in learning your rights, and willing to
defend them to the last -- and this is not a task for the mentally
challenged or the easily frightened -- you can find out more by
sending a Postal Money Order for 5 (five) "dollars" to:
The Frog Farmer
c/o R.B. Davis
320 W. Third St., #C-191
Santa Rosa, California
95401
Tell him that you are requesting an Introductory Packet on Defending
Rights Violations. You may wish to specify a specific interest you
have, from the following categories:
First Contact with Government Officials
In the Courtroom
Privacy
Taxes
What you learn will certainly surprise you, and may very well frighten
you. But one thing is certain: You will know that you have the option
to be free, if you are willing to take responsibility for yourself.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 11:17:32 EST
From: Rich=Gautier%SETA%DRC@S1.DRC.COM
Subject: File 3--Re: CPSR Platform and You
Questions, Anyone?
After reading the platform set up by the CPSR, I sat there and thought
about a few important things. Like, What can _I_ do about these
things? How can _I_ make a difference with regard to these ideas?
Who's going to pay for all this lobbying and change?
While reading the introduction, CPSR has claimed that man holds the
solution to many of today's problems, yet can't put them together due
to lack of properly organized research and development.
In today's society, money gets things done for the people who have
it. In our case, the people who have it are(is?) the government. In
order to get it OUT of the government, and into our hands (who
better?), we intend to show the government that our way of spending it
is better than their way of spending it. After all, it's our money,
right? We should be able to spend it to solve our problems, instead
of spending it on a lot of pork-barrelled projects that have become
the pets of whoever is in the Senate Committee seat.
However, how can we do this? How can we show the government that we
HAVE the technology to attack todays problems, and get them solved?
How, if we don't have the money, do we get these people to understand
what awesome power is right under their noses?
Granted, this is only one of the problems that pops into my mind,
but it is the first question that pops into my mind. What can
individuals do to further the knowledge of computing power? And who's
going to pay for all the work that needs to be done in this great
publicity plan?
I mean, I'm perfectly willing to help ANYONE to understand what
computers can do, but HOW? Is there an organizer? Is there a PLAN?
Is there a path for the followers, rather than just a path for the
leaders?
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 09:25:29 PST
From: Lawrence Schilling
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