Computer underground Digest Sun Aug 8 1993 Volume 5 : Issue 59
ISSN 1004-042X
Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET)
Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
Ian Dickinson
Coop Eitidor: Etaoin Shrdlu, Senior
CONTENTS, #5.59 (Aug 8 1993)
File 1-- Unfair Newspaper Article on BBS Network & Replies
File 2-- NIRVANAnet BBSes and the Media (CuD Commentary)
Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are
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On Delphi in the General Discussion database of the Internet SIG;
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 93 13:31:21 PDT
From: royb@NETCOM.COM
Subject: File 1--Unfair Newspaper Article on BBS Network & Replies
((MODERATORS' NOTE: The Contra Costa Times printed a page one story on
NIRVANAnet, a network of a half-dozen BBSes in California's Bay Area.
The story focused on the potential "criminal activity" of the boards,
using the general collection of ASCII "anarchist" and "phreak/hack"
files as the basis. Below is the story that triggered the controversy
and some of the letters that were sent in response)).
++++
Here is the original story, again, with all the replies and reactions
we have collected. Many of these have already been submitted to the
newspaper (Contra Costa Times).
Date--1993-07-28,12:11
From--DEMENTED PIMIENTO
To--ALL
Subject--NIRVANAnet(tm) a "rogue n
MODEM OPERANDI: Tips on crime go on-line
by: Michael Liedtke
staff writer for the Contra Costa Times
Wednesday, July 28, 1993 (p. 1)
Tips on how to commit fraud, murder and other mayhem are just a phone
call away in the Bay Area, courtesy of rabble-rousing electronic
bulletin boards that turn the personal computer into a clearinghouse
for crime.
Using the First Amendment as a legal shield, a group of electronic
bulletin boards in the Bay Area has created an information network
providing criminal insights to anyone with a phone, personal computer
and modem.
Essentially, these computer forums, known as bulletin board services,
are electronic libraries. While some computer bulletin boards are
limited to paying subscribers, the rebel network distributing criminal
expertise is open to everyone, free of charge.
Most of the bulletin board files can be fetched over phone lines and
brought into the caller's home. In turn, callers to the bulletin
boards are encouraged to send in files, so the systems can accumulate
advice from experts and novices.
More than 45,000 computer users have called an underground Bay Area
bulletin board, known as "Lied Unlimited," that offers a roguish
gallery of information. File titles include:
o "How to Make Your Own Valid American Express Card"
o "How to Rob a Bank"
o "How to Break Into Houses"
o "Stealing Toyotas and What to Do With Them"
o "Simple Way to Make a Car Go BOOM!"
o "Twenty-two Ways to Kill"
The bulletin boards also have other categories offering
more-mainstream advice and entertainment, but they appear to be
primarily interested in promoting disorder.
In a self-description appearing on a bulletin board review, Lied
Unlimited said it tries to focus "on political realities. The point
being that this reality is created by consensus, and the only way to
change the reality is to change the consensus."
Lies Unlimited plans to shut down today and reopen next month after
the system operator, listed a Mick Freen, moves from South San
Francisco, to Salt Lake City. Mischievous information similar to Lies
Unlimited's archives remains available on several other Bay Area
bulletin boards, including a Walnut Creek-based system known as "And
the Temple of the Screaming Electron."
Based on computer files retrieved by the Times, other contributors in
this unorthodox network include "My Dog Bit Jesus" in Berkeley,
"realitycheck," in Albany, "Burn This Flag" in San Jose and "The New
Dork Sublime" in San Francisco.
Among them, the bulletin boards offer hundreds of files providing
instructions on credit card fraud, money laundering, mail fraud,
counterfeiting, drug smuggling, cable-tv theft, bomb- making and
murder.
The Time left electronic messages on several of those bulletin boards
seeking interviews with the system operators. None of the operators
responded by late Tuesday.
Virtually anyone who understands how to use a computer and modem can
tap into the rogue bulletin boards, if they have the phone numbers.
The boards allow callers to create their own logons and passwords,
opening the door for kids to get into the system. Based on their
content, the bulletin boards appear to be particularly popular among
teen-agers.
"This shows why people need to be much more aware of what kids are
doing with their computers," said Hans Von Braun, a computer security
expert who works for San Francisco-based Comsec.
One bulletin board, Burn This Flag, requires callers to fill out an
application before gaining access to an adults-only section that
contains files describing "bizarre sexual behavior." But in a written
message, Burn This Flag's system operator, known as "Zardoz,"
acknowledges there is no foolproof way to ensure all users of the
adult section are at least 18.
The Time isn't publishing the phone numbers of the rebel bulletin
boards as a children's safeguard.
The bulletin boards remain open by straddling a fine line between the
legal definitions of free speech and criminal behavior.
Under First Amendment rights guaranteeing free speech, the law allows
the bulletin boards to serve as criminal primers, as long a the advice
is limited to generic instructions. Essentially, it's legal for
individuals to discuss how to commit a crime as long as they don't
solicit or encourage the commission of a crime.
"We're aware of these types of bulletin boards," said Rick Smith, an
FBI spokesman in San Francisco. "But to shut them down, you have to
make a link between the discussion of a crime and the commission of a
crime."
Law enforcement officials and security experts said they snoop through
rogue bulletin boards to stay abreast of advice available to
prospective criminals. These periodic checks might spot possible
weaknesses in security systems and help authorities take precautions.
Pacific Bell can't refuse phone access to the underground bulletin
boards, eve though the forums often contain advice on how to commit
phone fraud. For instance, one file on the "realitycheck" board is
titled "basic telephone sabotage."
Typed by Demented Pimiento - 7/27/93---
* Origin: &TOTSE --> What in HELL is this echo FOR? <-- 510/935-5845 (9:900/2)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>> USERS REPLY <<<
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Date--1993-07-28,18:13
From--JEFF HUNTER
To: ALL
Subject--Contra Costa Times
Flags:
Jeff's Letter to the Editor of the Contra Costa Times
July 28, 1993
To Whom It May Concern:
As the System Operator of & the Temple of the Screaming Electron and
the network co-ordinator for NIRVANAnet(tm) I wanted to thank your
paper for the extra publicity that Michael Liedtke's sensationalistic
article "MODEM OPERANDI: Tips On Crime Go On-line" has provided for our
BBS network.
I helped to start NIRVANAnet(tm) four years ago because I wanted to
create a computer network where ideas, any ideas, could be freely
exchanged between people. I wanted to create a network that was open,
free, and easily accessable.
When you exchange messages with people on NIRVANAnet(tm), you do not
know the age, gender, race, religious affiliation, political party,
hair length, mode of dress, or sexual orientation of the person you are
talking to. Because of this, people cannot be pigeon-holed into neat
little categories and you end up learning an amazing amount about the
thoughts, feelings, and beliefs of a much wider array of people than
you would encounter in everyday life. On our network teenagers talk to
grandparents, bikers talk with born-again Christians, and Socialists
talk to Republicans. These people would never speak to one another if
they met on the street, but because they can use computers, they freely
exchange thoughts, ideas, dreams and hopes.
Mr. Liedtke stated that we are "Using the First Amendment as a legal
shield" and that "The bulletin boards remain open by straddling a fine
line between the legal definitions of free speech and criminal
behavior."
I'm surprised that a newspaper reporter, of all people, has such a
callous disregard for the First Ammendment. There is no "fine line". We
are not engaged in criminal activities, period. We are engaged in
speech, period. Speech is protected, period. When the day comes where
people can be imprisoned merely for what they say or what they think,
it's time to move to another country. As Pacific Bell spokesman Craig
Watts stated in the article "You can't prosecute someone for bad
thoughts."
The information in the "criminal" text files that Mr. Liedtke refers to
can be found in any well-stocked library, or ordered from any number of
book publishers in this country. Many of our files were found on the
Internet, a worldwide government/university/industry network funded in
part by the National Science Foundation.
The article also stated that "The Times isn't publishing the phone
numbers of the rebel bulletin boards as a children's safeguard."
Another reason might be that people would actually call the systems in
question and find out that Mr. Liedtke did not tell the whole story,
and as everyone knows, the most effective way to lie is to only tell
part of the truth.
Sincerely,
Jeff Hunter
Sysop, & the Temple of the Screaming Electron
--- GEcho 1.00
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Conference: 2,General
Number: 2590
Reply-to: 0
Private: No
Receipt: No
Date--1993-07-29,09:07
From--DEMENTED PIMIENTO
To: ALL
Subject--My response to the CCT ra
Flags:
The following is the letter I sent in response to the Contra Costa Times
article slamming NIRVANAnet bbses as a 'rabble-rousing' network. I encourage
all reasonably lucid people to voice their opinions to the editor of said
paper.
===========================================================================
The New Dork Sublime BBS (415) 864-DORK Sysop:
Demented Pimiento OR (415) 255-NERD 42A Broderick
Street 24 Hours / 300-14.4k v.32bis/v.42bis San Francisco, CA
94117-3115 NIRVANAnet~ Node 9:900/10 Subliminal News For New Dorks
Everywhere - Don't Die Wondering...
July 28, 1993
Letters to the Editor
c/o Michael Liedtke
Contra Costa Times
P.O. Box 8099
Walnut Creek, CA 94596-8099
Mr. Liedtke:
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your recent article on
NIRVANAnet, (although you never mentioned the network by name). It's proven
quite popular among our callers, and I thank you for your unsolicited
publicity.
Blatantly slanted, chock-full-o-buzzwords ("rebel network," "bizarre sexual
behavior," "rogue bulletin boards"), long on sensationalism and short on
content, Mr. Liedtke's story weaves a fantastic vision of intrigue,
underground conspiracies, and computer criminals lurking in suburban rumpus
rooms in the guise of adolescent cyberpunks. While this certainly adheres
to the media stereotype of computer hobbyists that your paper seems happy to
portray, it is simply not the truth.
All information compiled on NIRVANAnet~ has been compiled over the years fro
other such "rebel" sources as the Library of Congress, and the Internet
(network which connects universities & government offices worldwide), but
perhaps I shouldn't include their addresses here "as a children's safeguard
NIRVANAnet was founded on the belief that bulletin board systems should rema
open and free. We don't charge for access to our systems because we're all
nice folks and wouldn't want the public to pay for something which is
absolutely free and available at any public library. We are not "undergroun
in any way, and the phone numbers to ALL the NIRVANAnet BBSes are printed ev
two weeks in Computer Currents and every quarter in MicroTimes (Bay Area
computer trade magazines) and indeed, the numbers have been printed there fo
years. I'm including the phone numbers to all NIRVANAnet~ bulletin boards,
and I encourage your readers to call the nearest one to judge for themselves
whether or not criminal behavior is encouraged or even tolerated on NIRVANAn
Perhaps if Mr. Liedtke had bothered to actually READ a few messages in ANY o
the message areas, he would have come to a more reasonable conclusion on
NIRVANAnet before going to press.
& the Temple (510) 935-5845
of The Screaming Electron
realitycheck (510) 527-1662
My Dog Bit Jesus (510) 658-8078
Lies Unlimited (415) 583-4102
The New Dork Sublime (415) 864-DORK
Burn This Flag (408) 363-9766
The Shrine (408) 747-0778
Sincerely,
Demented Pimiento
Sysop - The New Dork Sublime BBS
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BBS: BTF
Conference: 2,General
Number: 2591
Reply-to: 0
Private: No
Receipt: No
Date--1993-07-29,13:44
From--SAM UZI
To: ALL
Subject--MY letter to CCTimes
Flags:
Sirs,
I am deeply disturbed at the tone of your article, dated Aug, 28, 1993,
by Michael Liedtke, concerning the supposed criminal
predilections of the free-access electronic bulletin-board
community. The bulletin boards (BBSs) that you singled out in your article
all belong to what is called the NirvanaNet, which is a
network of Bay Area BBSs. I have been a user of this network for four years,
and take great offense at your relentless
characterization of NirvanaNet as an "unorthodox", "rebel", "rogue" network,
and by the wanton claim that we are "primarily interested is promoting
disorder".
I would like to address the charges that you have made against us in
detail.
You stated that "using the First Amendment as a shield", we
are a collection of "rabble-rousing electronic bulletin boards
turning the personal computer into a clearinghouse for crime" which "remain
open by straddling a fine line between the legal
definitions of free speech and criminal behavior". Using these
terms, you have painted a picture of us a group of criminal-minded people who
advocate crime, and who's purpose is to create more
criminals in the world, as well as directly implying that we
ourselves are engaged in criminal behavior. This is patently
untrue, and a gross misinterpretation of fact. The statement that "Pacific
Bell can't refuse phone access to underground bulletin
boards" further implies; one, that we are an "underground" network, and also;
that the telephone company should somehow have the right to deny telephone
access to anyone that it might find politically offensive. We are in no way
an "underground" network. All of the NirvanaNet BBSs advertise quite openly,
as noted by Liedtke himself elsewhere in the article. In fact, in attempted
support of his
claims of our supposed "criminal behavior", Liedtke quoted a "self-
description" of Lies Unlimited (which is a NirvanaNet BBS) which
stated that its focus is "on political realities". The quote went on to say
that "the point being that this reality is created by
consensus, and the only way to change the reality is to change the consensus".
I fail to see how this statement can, in any way, be interpreted as an
advocacy of criminal behavior, unless the author is intending to imply that
any attempt to become involved in the
political process is criminal in and of itself, which - if true -
would be in direct conflict with the letter and intent of the
Constitution of the United States and with the basic principles of our nation.
The NirvanaNet BBSs do have available all of the noxious text files that
were mentioned, but, quite frankly, none of the regular users I know of on the
network has much interest in reading any of them. In discussions with the
system administrators (Sysops) of
the various BBSs, I have gathered that the main reason that they
are there is because we have a legal right to have them. Far from "using the
First Amendment as a shield", the NirvanaNet users are, as a whole, deeply
dedicated to the concepts contained and
expressed by the Bill of Rights, and the Sysops seem to have
decided that it is their duty to take a stand on this issue. Also, far from
being "primarily interested in promoting disorder" by
"distributing criminal expertise", the main function of NirvanaNet is as a
message system, by which the users can (and do) engage in debates on broad
topics ranging from our tastes in books and films, our views on psychology, to
our opinions on political issue such
as the National Debt and Constitutional law. Never has anyone I
know of on the network (other than the occasional crank, who might call once
or twice, leave an inflammatory message, and then never be heard from again)
ever advocated criminal activity, nor
expressed a sentiment of condoning criminal activity. We are all responsible
and concerned citizens. As for the statement made by Liedtke that he
refrained from noting the telephone numbers of the BBSs, as "a children's
safeguard", this strongly implies that we
are somehow intent on the corruption of children. There are many things in
the world that are dangerous to children, but access to a BBS dedicated to
free speech is not one of them. In any case,
if a parent does not wish a child to have access (which is wholly appropriate
in the case of pornography), then it is up to the
parent to restrict the child, as much as it is for the Sysops to
attempt to restrict their access, in just the same way that it is a parent's
responsibility to restrict a child's access to
pornographic telephone services. The Sysops, in good conscience, do attempt
to restrict access of pornographic materials to minors, and there is no one on
NirvanaNet who would wish it to be
otherwise.
NirvanaNet is a forum which provides its users with the
opportunity to engage in discussion and debate on a daily basis. It is NOT a
"clearinghouse for crime", as Liedtke characterized it, nor are the NirvanaNet
users rogues, rabble-rousers, or criminals.
I am disappointed that a responsible and respected newspaper such as the
Contra Costa Times would make such a vilifying attack on a entity such as
NirvanaNet, leaving the general public with an image of us which is very much
the inverse of the truth.
Sincerely,
(me)
NirvanaNet user.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BBS: BTF
Conference: 2,General
Number: 2607
Reply-to: 0
Private: No
Receipt: No
Date--1993-07-29,06:18
From--POINDEXTER FORTRAN
To: ALL
Subject--More CCTimes Letters...
Flags:
Letters to the Editor
Contra Costa Times
P.O. Box 8099
Walnut Creek, CA 94596-8099
Dear Sir/Madam,
In regards to Michael Liedtke's article, "MODEM OPERANDI: Tips
on Crime go online":
How can the Bulletin Board Services (BBSes) mentioned in the
article be "Underground" when the telephone numbers are
published in several publications?
According to my BBS logs, Mr. Liedtke logged onto my BBS on
Tuesday, 7/27 at 11:50 a.m.. Without looking at any part of the
Bulletin board, he left me a message, and logged off. I find
it curious that an investigative reporter would not actually
investigate a BBS he was writing about, given the opportunity.
The message asked me to contact him that day, because the piece
was going to press tomorrow, 7/28. Other sysops mentioned in
the article have cited a similar lack of notice.
I would like to note that Mr. Liedtke took this article
to press without any information from the people involved, and
he denied those people the opportunity to present all sides of the
issue in question. BBSes offer a lot to their callers - a
place for debate, a place to make friends, a place to call
their own. Mr. Liedtke appears to have not seen this.
As it stands, Mr. Liedtke has presented one side of the story.
I invite him to contact any of the system operators of any of
the BBSes he mentioned for further information.
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