New Mitnick Book

[John Young <jya@pipeline.com>]

   Jonathan Littman, an investigative reporter, has published
   "The Fugitive Game: Online With Kevin Mitnick," Little
   Brown, 1996. 381 pp. $23.95. ISBN 0-316-52858-7.

   It is a dramatic recount of Mitnick's exploits; the pursuit
   by Shimomura, Markoff, telcos and Feds; the bust and
   Markoff's tales; The Well controversies aand disputes about
   what really happened; suspicions of Shimomura and Markoff -
   - their complicity with TLAs, their movie and book
   dealings, their disputes with hackers and journalists. What
   Mitnick was telling Littman while a fugitive.

   Littman ends with this letter from Markoff and Shimomura:

   October 8, 1995
   Jonathan Littman
   38 Miller Avenue Suite 122
   Mill Valley, California 94941

   Dear Jonathan,

   This is in response to your separate letters to us. We
   apologize for not being more prompt, Tsutomu was travelling
   on business and did not receive your September 5 letter
   until recently. As you know we have a contract with
   Hyperion for Tsutomu's account of his participation in the
   arrest of Kevin Mitnick, and at the request of our
   publisher we have decided not to participate in other books
   on the same subject.

   First, in response to your September 7 request to John
   Markoff, for permission to reprint his March 14 Well
   posting, he is not willing to give permission.

   However, we do think it is appropriate to respond to
   several points where you have received inaccurate
   information.

   Our responses are not intended to be a comprehensive answer
   to your list of questions, but only to protect you from
   including libelous material in your book.

   Tsutomu was not asked by any governmental, military or
   intelligence representative to assist in the capture of Mr.
   Mitnick. All of his actions were taken in response to
   requests for assistance from both The Well and Netcom to
   deal with extensive and persistent break-ins.

   Tsutomu's decision to tell John Markoff that he was
   travelling to Raleigh on Sunday morning was done without
   contact with any law enforcement agency. Markoff flew to
   Raleigh independently six hours later after discussing the
   possibility of a story with his editors at the New York
   Times. Markoff did not at any time assist or participate in
   any aspect of the investigation into Kevin Mitnick's
   activities; Markoff was there only as an observer in his
   role as a newspaper reporter.

   Moreover, in Raleigh on Sunday evening the Cellscope
   equipment was never placed in Markoff's car, and there was
   never any discussion about taking it out of the Cellular
   One engineer's van or about placing it in Markoff's car.
   Markoff parked his car near the cell site that night and
   then later drove back to his hotel.

   Tsutomu never told anyone from law enforcement that anyone
   had authorized or cleared Markoff's presence in Raleigh.

   Tsutomu was informed by the Justice Department that his
   actions on behalf of the Internet providers and the
   cellular telephone company during the course of the
   investigation were covered under their fraud detection and
   prevention exception granted to these organizations under
   the ECPA.

   Tsutomu did have discussions with the National Security
   Agency about funding computer security research, the
   results of which were to be placed in the public domain,
   however no research grant was ever made. Tsutomu was not
   aware of any statements made in the search warrant until
   many days after the arrest.

   Tsutomu did not lure Mitnick or anyone else into
   breaking-in to his computers. The attack was entirely
   unprovoked.

   No copies of any files allegedly stolen by Mitnick were
   provided by Tsutomu to anyone other than the legitimate
   owners.

   The first discussion of the possibility of a book on the
   subject of Kevin Mitnick's arrest took place on Thursday
   February 16, when John Markoff received a telephone call
   from John Brockman, a New York City literary agent,
   proposing a collaboration between Markoff and Shimomura.

   You will remember, we hope, that after his July 4, 1994
   article about the hunt for Mitnick, Markoff did not wish to
   pursue the subject of Mitnick's life as a fugitive and
   referred a free-lance article on the subject proposed by
   Playboy to you.

   Also please note that you are inaccurate in stating that
   Tsutomu requested immunity before testifying before
   Congress on April 1993.

   We realize this is a delicate issue for you because of your
   involvement and communication with Kevin Mitnick during the
   period he was a fugitive. However, since your questions
   suggest you believe there may have been something
   inappropriate in Tsutomu's cellular telephone software
   development work, if you do include material in your book
   along this line, journalistic ethics require you to include
   the following: Tsutomu, unlike Mitnick, in all of his
   computer security research over a fifteen year period, has
   always, whenever he has found a vulnerability, made it
   known to the appropriate people, whether CERT, or a private
   company at risk, or the United States Congress.

   Sincerely, (signed) John Markoff Tsutomu Shimomura