345 lines
18 KiB
Plaintext
345 lines
18 KiB
Plaintext
==Phrack Inc.==
|
|
|
|
Volume Three, Issue 25, File 11 of 11
|
|
|
|
PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN
|
|
PWN PWN
|
|
PWN P h r a c k W o r l d N e w s PWN
|
|
PWN ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ PWN
|
|
PWN Issue XXV/Part 3 PWN
|
|
PWN PWN
|
|
PWN March 29, 1989 PWN
|
|
PWN PWN
|
|
PWN Created, Written, and Edited PWN
|
|
PWN by Knight Lightning PWN
|
|
PWN PWN
|
|
PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN
|
|
|
|
|
|
Southwestern Bell Vs. Bulletin Board Operators February 27, 1989
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
For those of you unfamiliar with the situation, there is a major battle between
|
|
Southwestern Bell Telephone company and bulletin board operators in Oklahoma
|
|
City, Oklahoma. Southwestern Bell demands the right to charge more for phone
|
|
lines being used for the operation of bulletin boards. They claim that data
|
|
communications should be charged more to begin with and that running a bulletin
|
|
board is like a business and business lines should cost more than residential
|
|
lines.
|
|
|
|
Currently the conflict is being described as a stalemate. Southwestern Bell is
|
|
using a war-dialer in an attempt to find out what numbers are actually bulletin
|
|
board numbers. Several bulletin boards have already gone down because of this.
|
|
However, in support of the BBS community is a major television news station (a
|
|
CBS affiliate I believe) and several corporate lawyers have also taken an
|
|
interest in he BBS side. The lawyers say that a court case had come up several
|
|
years ago concerning bulletin boards and Southwestern Bell. In that case SWB
|
|
lost which meant that it is illegal for SWB to raise the rates in Oklahoma City
|
|
for bulletin board phone lines.
|
|
|
|
Southwestern Bell has been deceitfully trying to trick system operators
|
|
(sysops) into saying that they make money off of their systems. They get the
|
|
sysops to say that they run "non-profit" bulletin boards. Non-profit implies
|
|
that you are taking in income to offset your expenses, but do not make a
|
|
profit. This is simply not true for most bulletin boars; they do not take in
|
|
anything. In the meantime, these poor victims are getting their rates
|
|
increased. It has spread through the bulletin board community in Oklahoma City
|
|
like wildfire and they are just now getting wise to Southwestern Bell's fraud.
|
|
|
|
Fortunately, the bulletin board users of Oklahoma City are a very vocal bunch
|
|
of people and many of them are calling Southwestern Bell by the hundreds and
|
|
telling them that if they raise the rates of the bulletin boards, they will
|
|
have their secondary lines taken out. Many sysops have said the same. This is
|
|
the stalemate right now. Apparently, the Southwestern Bell executives are
|
|
realizing that if they do this they will actually make less money than if they
|
|
leave the bulletin boards alone. After all, their whole purpose is to make
|
|
more money. A user organization is being put together in Oklahoma City in an
|
|
attempt to stir up enough opposition to this move by Southwestern Bell for them
|
|
to reconsider. So far it is working, though they are far from a settlement.
|
|
|
|
The latest news heard from one of the leaders of this new user group was that
|
|
some major big-wig of Southwestern Bell and AT&T had flown into Oklahoma City
|
|
in an uproar about the actions taken by Southwestern Bell so far. Apparently,
|
|
they do not like what the local executives are doing. In addition, the lawyers
|
|
who have agreed to help are investigating a similar incident out in California.
|
|
|
|
This is the general manager's office. It might be useful to call this number
|
|
and indicate that the bad publicity is spreading outside of Oklahoma City;
|
|
maybe Southwestern Bell will rethink their position.
|
|
|
|
Information Provided By
|
|
Various Sources
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
Attention Telecommunication Fanatics March 7, 1989
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
The following was taken from TELECOM Digest, an Internet newsletter...
|
|
|
|
|
|
From: Red Knight
|
|
Subject: Review of Bulletin Board System
|
|
|
|
Please accept my invitation to the a Telecommunication Oriented Bulletin Board
|
|
System, located in Flushing New York.
|
|
|
|
Our main objective is to discuss about the various telephony related concepts,
|
|
for example, ESS, DMS, COSMOS, Cellular, Mobile, Satellite Communications,
|
|
Fiber Optic, PBX, Centrex, Phone Rates, Signalling Systems, World Wide
|
|
Telephone, Switching Systems, ISDN.
|
|
|
|
We are trying to get as many knowledgeable users as we possibly can.
|
|
|
|
Not only does our Bulletin Board Specialize in Telecommunication, but also has
|
|
a few conferences for Computer Security. We certainly have many experts on
|
|
board who would be willing to discuss security related material.
|
|
|
|
We have a UNIX conference were all the UNIX wizards get together. We have a
|
|
special DEC User group. We also a conference for discussions on Viruses and
|
|
how it can be written and prevented.
|
|
|
|
Other conferences are as follows: Radio Hobbies>Hacking News>LockSmithing,
|
|
Pyrotechnics>Telco Numbers>TAP>Books>
|
|
Surveillance Systems>Pascal>Generic C>
|
|
Suggestions>Mac>BBS Numbers>Phrack>Cable>
|
|
.....and many other miscellaneous
|
|
|
|
Requirements: We don't have any requirements. Anyone is welcome. Access is
|
|
given immediately. We also allow alias names if desired. We
|
|
hope you will enjoy your stay.
|
|
|
|
The Telecommunication [H.D.BBS] <-- Hackers Den
|
|
|
|
[A 2600 Magazine Bulletin Board System]
|
|
|
|
Data: (718)358/9209
|
|
|
|
300/1200
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
Computer Users Worry That Stanford Set Precedent February 20, 1989
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
By Tom Philp (San Jose Mercury News)
|
|
|
|
"Decision to block bulletin board impedes free access to public information."
|
|
|
|
Computer scientists at Stanford fear the university has entered a never-ending
|
|
role as a moral regulator of computer bulletin boards by recently blocking
|
|
access to a list of jokes deemed to serve no "university educational purpose."
|
|
|
|
Many computer users on campus consider bulletin boards to be the libraries of
|
|
the future - and thus subject to the same free access as Stanford's library
|
|
system. Instead, Stanford apparently has become the nation's first university
|
|
to block access to part of the international bulletin network called Usenet,
|
|
which reaches 250,000 users of computers running the Unix operating system,
|
|
according to a computer scientist who helped create the network.
|
|
|
|
To some computer users, Stanford's precedent is troubling. "We get into some
|
|
very, very touchy issues when system administrators are given the authority to
|
|
simply get rid of files that they deem inappropriate on publicly available
|
|
systems," said Gary Chapman, executive director of Computer Professionals for
|
|
Social Responsibility, a Palo Alto-based organization with 2,500 members. "My
|
|
personal view is that freedom of speech should apply to computer information."
|
|
|
|
Ralph Gorin, director of Academic Information Resources at Stanford, disagrees.
|
|
"I think that it's very clear that one should be either in favor of free speech
|
|
and all of the ramifications of that or be willing to take the consequences of
|
|
saying free speech sometimes, and then having to decide when," Gorin said.
|
|
|
|
Since the jokes ban, more than 100 Stanford computer users, including a leading
|
|
researcher in artificial intelligence, have signed a protest petition. And
|
|
there is some evidence to indicate Stanford officials are looking for a way out
|
|
of the dilemma they have created.
|
|
|
|
The joke bulletin board, called "rec.humor.funny," is one of several bulletin
|
|
boards that discuss controversial topics. Stanford, for example, continues to
|
|
permit access to bulletin boards that allow students to discuss their use of
|
|
illegal drugs, sexual techniques, and tips on nude beaches. Gorin said he is
|
|
unaware of those bulletin boards.
|
|
|
|
The jokes bulletin board came to Stanford officials' attention in December,
|
|
after a report about it in a Canadian newspaper. The jokes hit a raw nerve
|
|
with campus officials, who have been plagued by a variety of racist incidents
|
|
on campus. And so they decided on January 25, 1989 to block the jokes from
|
|
passing through the university's main computer. "At a time when the university
|
|
is devoting considerable energy to suppress racism, bigotry and other forms of
|
|
prejudice, why devote computer resources to let some outside person exploit
|
|
these?" Gorin explained.
|
|
|
|
Stanford officials were troubled because the jokes bulletin board is
|
|
"moderated," meaning that one person controls everything that it publishes.
|
|
The jokes bulletin board "does not in itself provide for discussion of the
|
|
issues that it raises," Gorin said. The moderator, Brad Templeton of Waterloo,
|
|
in the Canadian province of Ontario, publishes only jokes. Comments he
|
|
receives go on a separate bulletin board, called "rec.humor.d." For Stanford,
|
|
the existence of a comment bulletin board is not enough because people who call
|
|
up the jokes will not necessarily see the comments.
|
|
|
|
The problem with "unmoderated" bulletin boards is clutter, according to Eugene
|
|
Spafford, a computer scientist at Purdue University who is one of the pioneers
|
|
of Usenet. The network accumulates the equivalent of 4,000 double-spaced,
|
|
typewritten pages every day, far too many comments for any person to read.
|
|
"People who use a network as an information resource like a more focused
|
|
approach," Spafford said. They is why another, unmoderated, bulletin board
|
|
that has many comments and fewer - but equally offensive - jokes, is far less
|
|
popular. Stanford does not block transmission of that bulletin board.
|
|
Templeton's bulletin board is the most popular of the 500 on Usenet. An
|
|
estimated 20,000 computer users pull up the jokes on their screens every day,
|
|
Spafford said.
|
|
|
|
Usenet has its own form of democracy, calling elections to determine whether a
|
|
new bulletin board should be created, and who - if anyone - should moderate it.
|
|
Templeton's jokes bulletin board was created by such a vote. Stanford's
|
|
decision to block access to it "strikes me as hypocritical," Spafford said.
|
|
"At best, it's someone who doesn't understand the situation who is trying to do
|
|
something politically correct."
|
|
|
|
John McCarthy, a Stanford computer science professor and one of the founders of
|
|
the field of artificial intelligence, has met with university President Donald
|
|
Kennedy to discuss his opposition to blocking the jokes. "No one of these
|
|
(bulletin boards) is especially important," McCarthy said. The point is that
|
|
regulating access to them "is not a business that a university should go into."
|
|
|
|
Since deciding to block access to the bulletin board, the administration has
|
|
referred the issue to the steering committee of Stanford's Faculty Senate. The
|
|
future of the bulletin board may end up in the hands of the professors. "I
|
|
think that is an entirely appropriate internal process for reaching that
|
|
decision," Gorin said.
|
|
|
|
Added McCarthy: "I should say that I am optimistic now that this ban will be
|
|
corrected. There are some people who think they made a mistake."
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
Outlaw Computer Hacking -- CBI March 1, 1989
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
by Peter Large (Guardian Newspaper)
|
|
|
|
"Computer hacking should be made a criminal offense, the CBI said yesterday."
|
|
|
|
The employer's organization said it was vital to secure a stable base for
|
|
computer development, since computers played a major part in the nation's
|
|
economic competitiveness and "social well-being." Computer buffs were
|
|
increasingly gaining unauthorized access to confidential information held by
|
|
banks and other companies in computer databanks, it said.
|
|
|
|
Much computer fraud is hidden by firms, but the conservative consensus estimate
|
|
is that the cost to British business is at least 30 million a year.
|
|
|
|
But computer disasters, caused by software failures, fire and power failures,
|
|
are reckoned to be cost about ten times that.
|
|
|
|
The CBI, in its response to the Law Commission's paper on computer misuse, made
|
|
six proposals:
|
|
|
|
* Hacking cases should be tried by jury;
|
|
|
|
* The concept of "criminal damage" should cover computer programs and
|
|
data and attacks by computer viruses (rogue programs that can disrupt
|
|
or destroy data);
|
|
|
|
* Laws should be harmonized internationally so that hackers cannot
|
|
operate across country boundaries;
|
|
|
|
* The offense of obtaining unauthorized access should include
|
|
non-physical access, such as computer eavesdropping;
|
|
|
|
* Even unsuccessful attempts to hack should be subject to criminal
|
|
sanctions;
|
|
|
|
* The value of confidential commercial information should be protected by
|
|
civil remedies for loss or damage caused by hackers.
|
|
|
|
The United States, Canada, Sweden, and France have outlawed hacking, but it is
|
|
not an offense in Great Britain unless damage is done, such as fraud or theft.
|
|
In February, the Jack Report on banking law proposed outlawing the hacker. The
|
|
Law Commission has produced a discussion document and is to make firm proposals
|
|
later this year.
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
Highest German Court Strikes Down A Telecommunications Law March 23, 1989
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
The law in question reads:
|
|
|
|
Paragraph 15, Section II of the law regulating telecommunication equipment:
|
|
|
|
"Any person who installs, changes, or uses modifiable
|
|
telecommunications equipment in violation of the lending conditions
|
|
will be punished with two years imprisonment or fines."
|
|
|
|
The German Supreme Court has declared this law unconstitutional and
|
|
null-and-void in a decision of June 22, 1988. The consequence to this is that
|
|
imported modems can no longer be confiscated (according to the guidelines of
|
|
the Code of Criminal Procedures).
|
|
|
|
The German legislature has been called upon to pass a new law. However,
|
|
because there exists such strong interest and influence of industry, users, and
|
|
the European market-community against such a new prohibitive law, it is
|
|
believed that there is reason for optimism and no such prohibitive law will be
|
|
passed.
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
California PUC Pulls Plug On AOS March 24, 1989
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
According to a story in the San Francisco Examiner, Business Section, the
|
|
Public Utilities Commission directed TPC (Pacific Bell) to disconnect 54
|
|
privately owned pay phones in its first enforcement action against "price
|
|
gouging by some operator services".
|
|
|
|
"Privately owned pay phones can charge no more than 10 cents above Pacific Bell
|
|
and AT&T rates for local calls or calls in California".
|
|
|
|
The 54 privately owned pay phones belonged to 12 owners, and their charges were
|
|
found to be at least 90% higher than the authorized rates, and sometimes were
|
|
up to three times as high. All owners had been warned of the overcharging in
|
|
November. Under the PUC orders, Pacific Bell has sent letters to the owners
|
|
notifying them that their plug will be pulled in seven days.
|
|
|
|
The article also mentioned the FCC last month imposed some restrictions on five
|
|
AOS firms accused of egregious gouging that require the companies "to identify
|
|
themselves to each caller and disclose rates if computers asked."
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
PWN Quicknotes
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
1. The University of Delaware Library System electronic card catalog (DELCAT)
|
|
is now available for access to residents throughout Delaware. In each
|
|
county within Delaware, there is now a local number which you can call to
|
|
link up. Service is provided by the Bell Atlantic Public Data Network.
|
|
|
|
The numbers are:
|
|
|
|
New Castle County (302) 366-0800
|
|
Sussex County (302) 856-7055
|
|
Kent County (302) 734-9465
|
|
|
|
Users wishing to call from out of state should call (302) 366-0800. Normal
|
|
long distance charges apply for out of state callers.
|
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
|
2. Strange as it may sound, several bulletin board system operators
|
|
in the northeastern part of the country have received letters from the
|
|
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) telling them to shut down their
|
|
systems or face unpleasant consequences. Two of the bulletin board systems
|
|
in question are The Edge and Ridgewood. Confirmation that these letters
|
|
were actually from the FBI has still not been achieved.
|
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
|
3. Mark Tabas is currently supposed to be working on a book. He has requested
|
|
that anyone that has copies of any of his text files or news reports about
|
|
him should contact him.
|
|
|
|
Unfortunately, we are not at liberty to give out his mailing address in a
|
|
forum as public as Phrack World News.
|
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
|
4. CompuServe (CIS) just announced that they will begin charging a $1.50 per
|
|
month user fee over and above whatever usage is charged. The fee will be
|
|
waived during the first three months of a new account. They will, however,
|
|
make some services free -- like looking up your charges.
|
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
|
5. Unconfirmed rumors from the security side of the hacking community state
|
|
that GTE Telenet has acquired new assistance in the fight against Telenet
|
|
abusers and new security measures are already in the process of
|
|
implementation.
|
|
|
|
The alledged new assistance was in the form of personnel: People who are
|
|
regarded as "experts" not only on Telenet, but the hacking community as
|
|
well.
|
|
______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|