Waving the White Flag

["L. Detweiler" <ld231782@longs.lance.colostate.edu>]

Gosh, it has been very unpleasant lately. I have never been subject to
mailbombs, and my postmaster has never been harassed over my postings
anywhere (by an Eminent Cypherpunk Leader, no less), before yesterday
and today. Yes, I really thank all the cypherpunks for their valuable
lessons on the internet and cyberspace. Now we really *can* believe
that pseudospoofing inherently promotes a sense of community trust and
harmony! All this time, and all the rancor on the list, all our stellar
successes in media penetration and identity-subversion protocols can be
chalked up to the Joy of Pseudospoofing. I really am grateful for you
all in showing me your vision of cyberspace, and how it is superior to
all those Orwellian and `Dossier Society' schemes that involve those
oppressive identification protocols.

shew.

Anyway, this letter is an attempt to find a topic that someone will not
flame me about, and is relevant to the cypherpunk list as I understand it!

Phiber Optik
--

I have been watching the trial of Mark Abene, aka Phiber Optik,
closely, and I think I even fowarded articles on it to the cypherpunks
once. This is a very fascinating trial. We learn, for example, of the
first use of wiretaps for digital data (modem communications) for a
successful prosecution. Also, we learned about how LOD (Legion of Doom)
-- or was it MOD, Masters of Deception, I get all these criminal
organizations mixed up! -- infiltrated phone systems. I think I even
heard in one news report that some in the group performed illicit wiretaps.

I find this *fascinating*. Can anyone elaborate to me the wiretapping
that was going on? who did they wiretap? how did they do it? how did
they avoid detection? more importantly, have the phone systems been
upgraded or modified to be protected from this kind of extremely insidious crime?

I read in `Cyberpunk' by K.Hafner and J.Markoff (the latter my favorite
cyberspatial writer) that K. Mitnick in California also had this
capability of wiretapping, and used it in an extremely sophisticated
way. Apparently he actually tapped the lines of police stations and
knew when they were coming, or knew when they had detected or `sniffed'
his own illegal wiretapping.

Did this happen? or is all of this rumor?

I remember Phiber Optik posting to *this list* on the subject of phone
wiretapping. I think he might have been a bit too knowledgeable for his
own good, eh? What ever happened to K. Mitnick, anyway? He did serve
federal time, I know that. I remember reading that story and thinking
-- here is someone we should keep our eyes on, even after he is out of
prison, *especially* when he is out!

Conspiracy Charges
--

Another question. I understand that Mr. Abene was charged with
`conspiracy' or at least that was one of the charges involved in the
whole affair, perhaps against others. My question: what is the legal
criterion for a `conspiracy'? what are the penalties? did Abene
actually get successfully prosecuted for `conspiring'? what was the
conspiracy? Did it have anything to do with the wiretapping?what are
famous conspiracy cases?  I'm sure that some cypherpunks may be
knowledgeable on these subjects. I sincerely hope I haven't offended
anyone in asking. Mr. Finney posted some outstanding analyses of the
ITAR (which I subsequently incorporated into a RISKS article), for
example, so there is definitely some strong legal background here.

please cc: your replies to me or I may not see them.