>: Wdnsa morning,. 28, the offices of Steve Jackson Games, inc.,
>: were raided by FBI and Secret Service officials. The establishment was
>: shut down, and all computer systems, including the Illuminati BBS,
>: were confiscated.

According to Fearless Leader (the SJG-BBS sjsop, reporting on another
Austin BBS), not all the computers were taken -- just the BBS, a laser
printer (Murphy only knows what the Secret Service thought they could
get out of that -- reading the typewriter ribbon?), and some disks and
papers.

>: As of this writing, the Mentor is reportedly out on bail, sans system
>: and network connection. The Illuminati BBS is still down, although SJ
>: Games is back in operation, and no charges have been filed against any
>: of the employees other than The Mentor. The systems owned by SJ Games
>: have not been returned as of this writing.

Mentor is Loyd Blankenship, recently made the chief editor at SJ
Games.  I hadn't heard he was involved, though I'd heard an unofficial
report that one SJG employee's home was raided and his system taken.

The following is what appears if you call SJB-BBS right now (at 1200
baud or less).  (Sorry for the caps and weird formatting, the system
they're using is an old Apple II, considered expendable if the Feds
decide to come back.)


  GREETINGS, MORTAL! YOU HAVE ENTERED
     THE SECRET COMPUTER SYSTEM OF


                  /\
                 /  \
                / () \
               / ____ \
              / /    \ \
             /__________\


             THE ILLUMINATI
     FRONTED BY STEVE JACKSON GAMES
INCORPORATED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. FNORD

NOTE! AT THE MOMENT ILLUMINATI IS AN
READ-ONLY SYSTEM. READ THE INFORMATION
BELOW TO FIND OUT WHY. USING THE SPACE
BAR WILL LOG YOU OFF. YOU CAN STOP THE
SCROLLING AT ANY TIME WITH A CONTROL-S.
CONTROL-Q WILL RESUME THE SCROLLING.

YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED THAT OUR CORPORATE
MASCOT, WHO USUALLY GREETS OUR CALLERS
WITH A CHEERFUL SMILE, IS FROWNING
TODAY. I THINK YOU'LL AGREE HE HAS
EVERY RIGHT TO.

BEFORE THE START OF WORK ON MARCH 1,
STEVE JACKSON GAMES WAS VISITED BY
AGENTS OF THE UNITED STATES SECRET
SERVICE. THEY SEARCHED THE BUILDING
THOROUGHLY, TORE OPEN SEVERAL BOXES
IN THE WAREHOUSE, BROKE A FEW LOCKS
AND DAMAGED A COUPLE OF FILING CABINETS
(WHICH WE WOULD GLADLY HAVE LET
THEM EXAMINE, HAD THEY LET US INTO THE
BUILDING), ANSWERED THE PHONE DIS-
COURTEOUSLY AT BEST, PROBABLY ATE A FEW
OF THE ORANGE SLICES THAT WERE ON
FEARLESS LEADER'S DESK (WHICH THEY
WERE WELCOME TO, BY THE WAY), AND
CONFISCATED SOME COMPUTER EQUIPMENT,
INCLUDING THE COMPUTER THAT THE BBS WAS
RUNNING ON AT THE TIME.

SO FAR WE HAVE NOT RECEIVED A CLEAR
EXPLANATION OF WHAT THE SECRET SERVICE
WAS LOOKING FOR, WHAT THEY EXPECTED TO
FIND, OR MUCH OF ANYTHING ELSE. WE ARE
FAIRLY CERTAIN THAT STEVE JACKSON GAMES
IS NOT THE TARGET OF WHATEVER INVESTI-
GATION IS BEING CONDUCTED; IN ANY CASE,
WE HAVE DONE NOTHING ILLEGAL AND HAVE
NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO HIDE. HOWEVER,
THE EQUIPMENT THAT WAS SEIZED IS
APPARENTLY CONSIDERED TO BE EVIDENCE IN
WHATEVER THEY'RE INVESTIGATING, SO WE
AREN'T LIKELY TO GET IT BACK ANY TIME
SOON. IT COULD BE A MONTH, IT COULD BE
NEVER.

IN THE MEANTIME, FEARLESS HAS LOANED
STEVE JACKSON GAMES THE APPLE SJSTEM
THE BBS RAN ON BACK IN THE OLD DAYS
BEFORE JOENET. TO MINIMIZE THE POSSI-
BILITY THAT THIS SJSTEM WILL BE CONFIS-
CATED AS WELL, WE HAVE SET IT UP TO
DISPLAY THIS BULLETIN, AND THAT'S ALL.
THERE IS NO MESSAGE BASE AT PRESENT.
WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE,
AND WE WISH WE DARED DO MORE THAN
THIS. HOWEVER, WE AGONIZED LONG AND
HARD, AND DECIDED IT WAS A COURTESY TO
OUR CALLERS TO LET THEM KNOW WHAT WAS
HAPPENING.

AT THIS POINT WE DON'T KNOW WHEN THE
BBS WILL BE BACK UP FOR REAL. IF YOU
HAVE IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR US,
SUCH AS PLAYTEST NOTES, YOU CAN MAIL
THEM TO US (YEAH, I KNOW, ECCH) OR IF
IT'S SOMETHING TRULY IMPORTANT, YOU
CAN REACH US AT OUR VOICE NUMBER
(512-447-7866). IN THE MEANTIME,
FEARLESS WILL BE CHECKING IN ON A
REGULAR BASIS ON SMOF (512-UFO-SMOF)
AND RED OCTOBER (512-834-2548).

IN PARTICULAR, IF YOU HAVE DOWNLOADED
THE GURPS CYBERPUNK PLAYTEST MATERIAL
THAT WAS ON THE BOARD, PLEASE LET US
KNOW RIGHT AWAY SO WE CAN ARRANGE TO
GET A COPY. SOME OF THAT MATERIAL WAS
NOT EASILY REPLACABLE, AND WE WOULD
LIKE TO GET COPIES - IT WOULD MAKE
GETTING GURPS CYBERPUNK OUT MUCH,
MUCH EASIER (AND IT WOULD COME OUT
THAT MUCH SOONER). PLEASE CALL US
AND ASK TO TALK TO CREEDE OR LOYD
FOR ARRANGEMENTS.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING, AND
THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS GIVEN US
WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT. WE
HOPE WE'LL BE BACK ON LINE, FULL TIME,
VERY SOON.

-- STEVE JACKSON GAMES AND
   THE SJSOPS OF THE ILLUMINATI BBS

<>
<>


The comment about GURPS Cyberpunk playtest material is interesting --
that was the project Loyd was working on, and it sounds like the
Secret Service made off with all the copies SJG had.  Wonder if
they're confusing gaming with reality?

Incidentally, I am a frequent user of SJG-BBS, and I've never seen
anything there that the government could find remotely interesting,
and the sjsops of Illuminati BBS have been *very* careful to run a
clean system.  About the only place they might find anything would be
in the private e-mail system, if that.