Mitnick Rings Bell

[John Young <jya@pipeline.com>]

 6 November 1997, Digital Cellular Report:

 U.S. government takes hard line on Mitnick. US Hacker Pleads for Help 

 A US 'hacker'- Kevin David  Mitnick - has issued a plea for financial help to 
 fight his defence case through his lawyer, Donald  C Randolph of Santa Monica, 
 USA. Through Randolph, Mitnick is claiming that the US government is
seeking to 
 make an example of him for the possession of unauthorised cellular access
codes. 
 The issue is particularly important in the North American market where
analogue, 
 rather than digital cellular, is the norm. 

 In one of the most amazing claims, Mitnick claims to have been kept in solitary
 confinement for 23 hours a day, naked in a freezing air-conditioned cell
for eight
 months and led to the showers in chains. Perhaps the most puzzling aspect
to the
 whole case is the fact that while the US government has never sought to prove
 that Mitnick profited from his 'hacking' activities - although he could
certainly have
 done so by 'selling' stolen airtime to third parties. Instead they claim he
caused
 losses in excess of $80 million. Kevin certainly appears to be paying the
price for
 his nefarious deeds having already spent nearly two years in custody during
which
 time he has been prohibited from any access to wireless communications
 equipment, computer hardware or computer software. It's difficult to know
 exactly which side is the more paranoid since Mitnick is claiming that his
fate is
 part of a deliberate US government plot to divert scrutiny away from its plans
 concerning the control and regulation of both telecommunications and the
Internet.
 The case would seem to present a most powerful argument for the US to switch
 more swiftly over to digital cellular where 'hacking' is far more difficult.