Feds Recant on Mitnick

[John Young <jya@pipeline.com>]

     23 June 1997:

     New twist/ Feds Recant on Mitnick's Fugitive Status 

     Back in 1994, a supposedly fleeing Kevin Mitnick told anyone 
     who would listen he really wasn't a fugitive from justice. 
     He claimed to be just a paranoid hacker who didn't want to 
     stick around once his probation was up. As it turns out, he 
     may have been telling me the truth. In a federal court in Los 
     Angeles, the government admitted it had made a mistake in saying 
     that Mitnick was on the lam. 

     The admission may put an entirely different twist on the case.
     If Mitnick wasn't really a fugitive, a couple of probation
     violations mistakenly escalated into one the biggest manhunts
     in cyberspace. Petty offenses by Mitnick -- probably
     punishable by an extension of his probation -- spun into a
     nationwide cat-and-mouse game that drew a frenzy of media
     hype. Along the way, Mitnick, who may have been no more
     than a scofflaw, instead became the notorious criminal
     mastermind the authorities apparently wanted him to be. 

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Full report:

   http://jya.com/kmtwist.txt

Crypto news:

S.F. Judge Likely to Uphold Encryption Ruling
EEMA/ EEMA Slams UK Government Over Encryption Restrictions 
Two reports on prospects for the McCain/Kerrey bill
Two reports on the import of the DES crack

   http://jya.com/cn062397.txt