679 lines
36 KiB
Plaintext
679 lines
36 KiB
Plaintext
==Phrack Inc.==
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Volume Four, Issue Forty, File 3 of 14
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==Phrack Pro-Phile==
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Written and Created by Taran King (1986)
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Welcome to Phrack Pro-Phile. Phrack Pro-Phile is created to bring info to
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you, the users, about old or highly important/controversial people. This
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month, I bring you perhaps the most famous all underground hackers and the
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founder of the Legion of Doom.
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Lex Luthor
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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Personal
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~~~~~~~~
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Handle: Lex Luthor
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Call me: I really no longer identify with "Lex Luthor" and don't ever
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expect me to use the handle again with regards to calling
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boards so you CAN call me "Johnson."
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Past handles: I was too status conscious to have more than one handle. All
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my effort went into just one persona.
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Handle origin: From the Superfriends/Justice League of America (ABC TV)
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cartoon series where the Legion of Doom (LOD) kicked their
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asses until the series writers thought up some lame way for
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them to win, but of course, LOD always escaped to fight another
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day.
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Date of Birth: You should know better than that.
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Height: You should know better that that.
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Weight: Approximately 610 Newtons plus or minus a few.
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Eye color: With or without colored contact lenses?
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Hair color: With or without my wig disguise?
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Computer: Apple //+ collecting dust and a soon to be obsolete IBM 286.
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Email address: lex@stormking.com
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The Interview Of Lex Luthor!
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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by Taran King
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TK = Taran King
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LL = Lex Luthor
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TK: So Lex, why have you finally relented to a Pro-Phile/interview when I have
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been after you to do one for about 5 years now?
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LL: Well, I have to admit that I am still reluctant. This whole issue of
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computer security/insecurity, hacking/phreaking, philes/electronic
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publishing, etc. is still quite controversial and I would prefer to
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concentrate on strictly legitimate activities. Especially areas where the
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importance of opinions are negligible and the importance of facts are
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paramount, as in Science and Engineering. However, I realize that Phrack
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won't be around forever, so I thought that if I had any last words left to
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say I'd better say it now so here I am.
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TK: How did you get started into hacking/phreaking?
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LL: It was easy. I had a delicious shake for breakfast, one for lunch and oh
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sorry. No really, it WAS easy. I had a friend who bought an Apple and I
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used to go over to his house and watch him play Ultima I, a fantasy/
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adventure game. After drooling over Ultima long enough, I took all my
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savings and bought a system, which was in excess of $1000 at the time.
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Being penniless, I had nothing else to do but learn the machine. My
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friend then purchased a modem and started calling boards. I followed
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suit. He was interested in cracking software and became rather well known
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using the handle "The Punk". After he gave me some codes for various LD
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companies I started calling around. A short while later, I noticed that
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there were boards, sections of boards, and most importantly INFORMATION
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that I was not permitted to use/see. I was unhappy about being excluded
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especially from RACS III (Tuc eventually came around though) and took it
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upon myself to learn what was involved in accessing these systems and
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getting more information. I realized as most have, that providing
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information that others do not possess allowed me to be noticed and
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therefore gain more information. By the way, I still play Ultima, I
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BOUGHT Ultima VI two years ago but am just getting around to playing it
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now.
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TK: What was more important to you, getting noticed or getting information?
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LL: The information was undoubtedly the goal. I realize now, as many hackers
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and phreaks have in retrospect, that I am an INFORMATION JUNKIE. The
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notoriety was simply the means to be trusted with more information and
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knowledge. Unfortunately back then I was unaware that most of the
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information that I seeked was available LEGALLY. I was blinded by the
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information itself, and did not concentrate on the *methods of obtaining
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information*. Now with the advent of CD rom databases, and also online
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databases, the information is readily found. The problem is that the
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service providers are pricing the disks and online time out of the reach
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of common people, which of course puts me back to square one in a way.
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TK: Why do you need information?
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LL: Look, if there is one thing that prevents people from doing things or
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pursuing their dreams, its INFORMATION. Not money, not guts, not
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anything. With the right information just about everything else can be
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obtained with the exception of health and happiness I suppose.
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TK: Give me an example.
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LL: Okay. If you have ever been up late watching TV and 'ol Dave Del Dotto or
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Carlton Sheets or whomever gets on and is trying to sell you their
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"courses" on Real Estate, Buying at Government Auctions, etc. then you
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know what I am talking about. These guys made millions simply by
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obtaining information that the majority of people were not aware of and
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put it to use, they could have been anybody.
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TK: What types of information do you look for?
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LL: Although I always look to learn new ways of how to obtain information in
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general, i.e., what new databases are available and how to use them, etc.
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I am currently concentrating on scientific data since I am working on my
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Master's Thesis and a comprehensive literature search is required to
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prevent me from duplicating what has already been accomplished. The
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"don't re-invent the wheel" philosophy.
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TK: You mention a thesis, what schooling have you had/are pursuing?
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LL: I don't want to be too specific, however, I have an undergraduate
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engineering degree and am currently in the process of completing dual
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Master's degrees, one in Quantum Physics and the other in Engineering.
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TK: Sounds heavy, but why be vague, you must have a computer-type or
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electrical engineering degree?
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LL: No, and I get that a lot from old friends: "You are so good with
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computers, why aren't you doing that?" My interest in computers now is
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simply to make them calculate equations and do simulations of physical
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systems. And to help me get more information.
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TK: Let's get back to the H/P subject, there's a few people who have always
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contended that you and the guys in LOD really didn't know much of
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anything, is that true?
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LL: Well I can't speak much about the old members, but their expertise
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satisfied me and other members (we would usually vote on new members, I
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wasn't a dictator you know). As for me, I realized early on that only
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certain people can be trusted with certain information, and certain types
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of information can be trusted to no one. Giving out useful things to
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irresponsible people would inevitably lead to whatever thing it was being
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abused and no longer useful. I was very possessive of my information and
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frequently withheld things from my articles. By not providing much data,
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some people may conclude that I didn't know anything at all. Its just
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that I didn't release it to just anyone and that dismayed various people
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probably to the point of lashing out at me and LOD.
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Some People to Mention
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Taran King: You were always hounding me for a Phrack Pro-Phile. Hope
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you are enjoying it.
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Knight Lightning: Great guy, but how did he get so famous even though he never
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even broke into the E911 computer? Sad to see him get
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screwed by overzealous "professionals." Wish I had some
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money to donate to his defense fund.
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The Blue Archer: Always wanted to meet him. I never got a chance to meet him
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face to face although I have known him for 8 years. To be
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honest, he was better at getting into systems than I was.
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Tuc: Always willing to bend over backwards to help you out. I
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still use the briefcase he bought me in NYC many years ago.
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Paul Muad'Dib: The one in New York. He is one of the smartest people I've
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ever met. I hope he is doing something worthwhile.
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Bioc Agent 003: Talked to him quite a number of times and met him at TAP
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meetings, but we never got to be friends.
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Cheshire Catalyst: I still owe him $20. He lent it to me in NYC.
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Control-C: A wildman with the women. I hope he gives me his STARGATE
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videogame when he gets tired of it. I don't play it every
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day like him, but I still can kick his ass.
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Phantom Phreaker: He has a spiritual side to him that most people never
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realize.
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The Videosmith: A fun person with talent. I was sad to see him leave the
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scene so early. Met with him in his home state two years
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ago just to say hello.
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Dr. Who: Here is a guy who loved hacking and exploring systems. I
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mean he really enjoyed it. He got quite good at it too.
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Telenet Bob: Met him up in Massachusetts at Dr. Who's conference.
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Jester Sluggo: Met him up in Massachusetts along with The Sprinter.
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Obviously he knew more than he let on even way back then.
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Compu-Phreak: I liked listening to his pirate radio station while he
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operated it. The FCC never did catch on.
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Silver Spy: A very smart guy with a future. Someone who knows when to
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stop, but was a little bit panicky at times.
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Erik Bloodaxe: Part of the original LOD group. I think he always wanted my
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job. I consider him a friend even though we had our
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misunderstandings.
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Mark Tabas: Part of the original LOD group and sysop of Farmers of Doom
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(FOD) for the short time it was up. I hope he isn't in any
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trouble again.
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Flash Hoser: A fellow information junkie in the Great White North (GWN).
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Gary Seven: Probably one of the least known yet talented hackers around
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except that I mentioned him in the acknowledgement section
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of many of my files. He has since quit.
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Digital Logic: Ran a good board for quite a while. An idealist who could
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give a great speech. Too bad no one would listen.
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The Ronz!: Old friend who no one ever heard of unless they called
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Digital Logic's Data Service BBS.
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Al Capone: Should have been born a few years earlier so he could have
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gotten into hacking when it was fun. He got into it too
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late and the risk became a little too high for him.
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Quasi Moto: Sysop of Plovernet. Was a good sysop, but not much of a
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hacker. Still talk to him on the net.
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King Blotto: Known him a long time. Glad he never put me on
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TeleTrial!
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The Mentor: A fantastic writer. He ran a great board (Phoenix Project).
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The last time I talked to him was a few years ago, but he
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wasn't very talkative. I think he fell for the 'ol Lex is a
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rat rumors.
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The Leftist: I hitched a ride with him to one of the SummerCons in
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St. Louis. Haven't talked to him since his trouble began, I
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hope he's cleaned up his act. I thought he was cool until I
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heard he was making stuff up about me to the investigators.
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The Prophet: A kindlier gentler hacker. Sorry to see him get screwed by
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the system.
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The Urvile: Met him at SummerCon '89. Definitely seemed to be the type
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who you could trust not to screw you over.
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Sir Francis Drake: Met him at SummerCon '87. I'm glad I got a chance to.
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Sir Knight: What a character.
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Shooting Shark: I appreciate the favorable comments he made about me in HIS
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Phrack Pro-Phile.
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A Few Other Things
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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While I'm on the subject of people, there is one thing that I have not see
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published in any form, and that's a "Where are they now" type of thing for
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ex-hacks/phreaks. Just so people know, there are a number of us who are doing
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quite well at lawful pursuits.
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For example:
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Silver Spy - Completing a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering.
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Knight Lightning - Working to become a lawyer.
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The Unknown Soldier - A high level manager at a successful software company.
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The Mentor - Creating games at a well known game company.
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Jester Sluggo - Working for a 'high technology' company.
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The Disk Jockey - Working in the computer business.
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Gary Seven - Chief engineer at a radio station.
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The Interview With Lex Continues
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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TK: In an early issue of Phrack you were referred to by the following:
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"There is paranoia and beyond paranoia there is Lex." How do you respond
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to that?
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LL: Ha Ha, I remember that one. Well of course there is some truth to it.
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And the saying, "better paranoid than sorry." is true as you can see since
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I am not behind bars... not that I ever did anything illegal of course,
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ahem. I should mention that I met two individuals early in my hacking
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career that had a significant influence on me, and both are the absolute
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epitome of paranoid.
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One was "Eliott Ness" who was probably in his late 30's to 40's by the
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sound of his voice. He used to call LOD, I met him on a local board. He
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was extremely knowledgeable, but always knew when to stop giving general
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information, never gave out ANY personal information, and never
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communicated for any length of time.
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The other guy was "Number 6" from TAP meetings in NYC. I met him a few
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times. Six was another older gentleman. He was very calm until anyone
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showed up with a camera. Then he "went off" until the camera threat was
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negated. This guy had a way of extracting information out of you without
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you even realizing what he was up to.
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As I recall people would ask him a question and he would simply turn it
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around and say, "well, what do you think (or know) about so and so" and
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the hapless phreak would spill his guts with Six taking notes and
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sometimes making corrections to what the phreak said much to the phreak's
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surprise. But Six never really gave out much information although it was
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completely apparent to me that he knew a great deal just by the way he
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carried himself.
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A few phreaks would try to follow him after the TAP meetings, but he
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always lost them without ever letting on that he knew he was being
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followed. It should be mentioned that paranoia can destroy you (as the
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song goes). A number of times I ran into real problems trying to escape
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from suspected problems that probably weren't anything to worry about.
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TK: What memorable H/P BBSes do you recall?
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LL: OSUNY: Caught the tail end when I first started. I was impressed.
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Plovernet: That BBS was crazy. Constantly busy since it had hundreds of
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active users and Quasi Moto let everyone post whatever they
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wanted and never deleted messages unless there was no disk
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space left. We helped start the "philes" trend there also.
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It was easy to spot who knew what they were talking about so I
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invited them onto the LOD BBS. Some of the people on the LOD
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BBS were then asked to join the now infamous LOD group.
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TK: (*Interrupts*) Did you ever think the group you started would become a
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household name in security and hack/phreak circles?
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LL: Although I knew the guys in the group were good hacks/phreaks, I had no
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clue of where it was leading. Since we did not tolerate destructive/
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malicious behavior nor things like credit card fraud I did not think there
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was much risk in the group as a whole getting any real attention. Of
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course, all that changed with time.
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TK: Sorry for the interruption. Please continue.
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LL: Metal Shop Private: The users were idealistic and good natured which was
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refreshing. I liked it most because it was a good
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source of information/files and we were the first to
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see new Phrack issues.
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Farmers Of Doom: Mark Tabas did a fantastic job with this one. It was
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quite busy, but did not remain up very long.
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Phoenix Project: Again, another fantastic job. The Mentor had some
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rather unconventional ideas like letting security people
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on, which I thought was a good idea.
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RACS III: Tuc didn't give me the time of day at first, but eventually I
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got on. Then he took it down.
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Pirates Cove: The board in 516 (Long Island, NY). One of the classics.
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It's where I met Emmanuel Goldstein and invited him onto
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Plovernet to help sell 2600 subscriptions.
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Catch-22: Absolutely positively the most secure BBS I ever encountered.
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Besides passwording subboards along with requiring users to
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have a high enough security level to access them, it made use
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of many concepts from the "basic security model" introduced by
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Lampson and later augmented by Graham and Dorothy Denning. Of
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course Silver Spy and I had no clue what an access matrix was
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and things of that nature. A duress password was implemented
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so if someone got nailed they could enter the password, not
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compromise the system, yet appear as to be cooperating with the
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authorities who we presumably thought would ask the hacker to
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call. It was never used but nice to have.
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BlottoLand: Good board for a while, but he let too many of his "loyal
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subjects" on the system who were locals and they eventually
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overran it.
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TK: Do you REALLY think you are ELITE or what?
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LL: I really don't know how anyone got the idea that I considered myself
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elite. The only people who said I thought I was elite were those who I
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never met or talked to. Contrary to some people's belief, I never
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considered myself as elite. I was just a guy who liked to pass
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information on to others so I wrote some files. The files did help me get
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access to more information by making me more well known. When I read the
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newspaper, I'm one of those annoying people who keeps interrupting your
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breakfast to tell you details about all the neat stories.
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TK: Speaking about the group, what do you think about Erik Bloodaxe and others
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starting ComSec Data Security?
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LL: When I first called Bloodaxe after I saw them in the papers/magazines he
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thought I would be mad, maybe that he took my idea or something. I told
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him I am familiar with the computer security consulting business and don't
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want any part of it. It's too tough to get people to pay money for
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something that they cannot get a verifiable return on their investment.
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Besides, getting them to trust you with their inner most secrets is
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extremely difficult.
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I told ComSec to write articles about security until their fingers fell
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off. Legitimize themselves as soon as they can. There was too much
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prejudice out there against them with ComputerWorld leading the pack. I
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really think they could have helped some companies if given a chance. But
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I don't think they had enough knowledge about the whole security picture,
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i.e., Physical Security, Environmental Systems (fire suppression, UPS,
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etc), Administrative Security (Hiring/firing policies, etc.), what goes on
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in big IBM shops MVS, CICS, ROSCOE, etc. There is a lot involved.
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TK: How did you feel when Knight Lightning and Phrack erroneously insinuated
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that you might have informed on other hackers, maybe even the Atlanta
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Legion of Doom members a few years ago?
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LL: Well as you now know, Craig (KL) has seen all the documents and records
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from his trial and many documents from the Atlanta case and there was no
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mention whatsoever of me in regards to providing information, being a
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witness, testifying, etc.
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Although I haven't talked to the Atlanta guys since before their trial I
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am sure they know I had absolutely nothing to do with what happened to
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them. The real story has since come out. If there is one thing I hate,
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it's being accused of something you didn't do.
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If someone does something they are accused of, he should be man enough to
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admit it. I have said this before a number of times, I have never
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provided information to anyone about other hacks/phreaks that directly nor
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indirectly led to them being visited, arrested, or prosecuted. It's just
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not my way. What goes around comes around and that kind of boomerang is
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something I knew I didn't want to play with.
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My success in avoiding trouble is fairly straightforward: Most of all it
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was secrecy and misdirection (ala Stainless Steel Rat), avoiding phone
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company computers especially those in which I was a customer of (i.e., my
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local RBOC) because if you get THEM pissed at you, they'll get you one way
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or another. Also, lots of LUCK and not intentionally making any enemies
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although there have been a few hackers mad at me whom I never even talked
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to and I have no idea as to why they didn't care for me.
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TK: Do you have any advice for people out there who may want to begin hacking
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or phreaking?
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LL: I am not one to dictate what people should or should not do, but I
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wouldn't if I were them. The technology to prevent and detect security
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breaches and then to track down their source is ever improving. The
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Cuckoo's Egg (by Cliff Stoll) provides a good example of that. But that
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shouldn't even come into the picture.
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I think they should examine objectively why they want to do it. Then make
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an honest attempt at finding other legal ways to accomplish whatever they
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were trying to do. I don't care how you justify it, its dishonest.
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Forget about the law part of it. It just causes other people problems. I
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didn't know how much until my school's systems were hacked and I was
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unable to read my e-mail for a week. I was angry and thought to myself
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that I'd like to get my hands on that asshole hacker. Then I laughed for
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quite awhile realizing what I was thinking and the irony of it all.
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Poetic justice I suppose. None of my data was touched, but I was denied
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service and denial of service can be just as damaging. As for the
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challenge of it, well I can't deny that that was very addicting, but there
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are many legal ways to challenge yourself.
|
|
|
|
TK: What conventions/involvements outside of phone calls have you done?
|
|
|
|
LL: TAP meetings were probably the first. Then a Con in Massachusetts, the
|
|
Con in Philly with Videosmith et al. and of course the few SummerCons
|
|
(1987 and 1989) in St. Louis. There were some computer security
|
|
conferences that were interesting also. Those helped to sensitize me to
|
|
the "other side."
|
|
|
|
TK: I remember at SummerCon '89 that you were accidentally caught on video
|
|
tape for about 2 seconds and requested that it be erased, which it was.
|
|
What is the deal with cameras?
|
|
|
|
LL: It may sound a little odd, but I don't think anyone has the right to take
|
|
another person's picture without their permission. Especially when the
|
|
person who is on film has no idea where the picture will end up.
|
|
|
|
I predict within 5-10 years maximum that states will start using video
|
|
cameras to digitize your picture when you go for a new driver's license.
|
|
The digitized image will be stored with the rest of your personal
|
|
information and probably be available to people like private investigators
|
|
and others who gain access to the information illegally. With ISDN,
|
|
Multi-Media, etc., it will be possible to "set up" people very easily by
|
|
altering images via computers, etc. to make them look like they are doing
|
|
just about anything you can think of. When things like that start to
|
|
happen I will not look crazy but smart, at least to my friends who think
|
|
my avoidance of cameras is abnormal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Most Memorable Experience
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
TK: What are your most memorable experiences (funny things that happened to
|
|
you during your phreaking/hacking or not so funny)?
|
|
|
|
LL: Dr. Who in Massachusetts had a conference in which me, Tuc, and The
|
|
Videosmith drove up at 4 AM in Tuc's VW Beetle hydroplaning all the way
|
|
due to the rain, and dead tired. We were all in a silly mood and had a
|
|
lot of laughs.
|
|
|
|
Also, the time when I was in NYC with Paul Muad'Dib and we had no money to
|
|
eat. He was the first person I know of who had any real knowledge of
|
|
phone company switching systems. He engineered a switch in Manhattan to
|
|
put call forwarding on a pay phone. Once this was done, all the money put
|
|
into the phone would remain in the phone but would not drop into the coin
|
|
box. Those who put money in didn't really have to since the phone was
|
|
converted to a POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service). Alas, humans are
|
|
creatures of habit. So after a couple of hours (since it was a busy
|
|
phone) he had the guy put the phone back to the way it was. When this was
|
|
done, all the money held in the phone was returned. It was like hitting
|
|
the jackpot in Las Vegas. We then proceeded to McDonald's.
|
|
|
|
The story about me running around naked in a Motel 6 parking lot that
|
|
Control-C has tried to get people to believe is, of course, grossly
|
|
exaggerated. His girlfriend hooked me up with a friend of her's. Dan and
|
|
his girl were in another room. He called me to come over, but I was in my
|
|
underwear. We had been drinking so I ran the 8 feet or so to his room (we
|
|
were on the 2nd floor with a solid balcony so no one from the ground could
|
|
see anyway), I said hello and then ran back to my room to go another
|
|
round.
|
|
|
|
Probably my favorite memory is relatively recent. J.J. Bloombecker,
|
|
Director of the National Center for Computer Crime Data, spoke at my
|
|
school. I sat in the very back as usual (I hate to have anyone sitting
|
|
behind me, anywhere) in a room of about 40 people and listened to his
|
|
speech which basically was to promote his book, "Spectacular Computer
|
|
Crimes." I spoke to him but never let on who I really was. He talked
|
|
about Craig's (Knight Lightning) case and then he went on about whomever
|
|
named LOD, the Legion of Doom, should have named them something like the
|
|
"Legion of Ineffectual Pansies." The reason being that, what prosecutor
|
|
in his/her right mind would go to a judge and say how dangerous a group of
|
|
ineffectual pansies are.
|
|
|
|
I sat there trying not to blush and thinking that of all the hundreds of
|
|
people he said that to, he probably never expected to say it to the person
|
|
who really named the group.
|
|
|
|
I did meet Donn B. Parker, whom I consider the father of computer
|
|
security, twice. The first time I just shook his hand. The second time
|
|
was relatively recently and we spoke for 20 minutes or so. I never told
|
|
him who I really was, not that he would know anyway. But I complimented
|
|
him enough so even if he found out, he couldn't have gotten too mad at me.
|
|
|
|
TK: What were some of your memorable accomplishments (newsletters/files/etc.)?
|
|
|
|
LL: The REAL accomplishments (non-files) will remain anonymous, but my
|
|
favorite files were the IBM VM/CMS series because they were well written
|
|
along with the Attacking, Defeating, and Bypassing Physical Security
|
|
Devices series. Before I wrote a file I scoured boards and other
|
|
traditional sources for the information I sought. If I came up empty
|
|
handed, I researched it and wrote about it myself.
|
|
|
|
Although the COSMOS files helped me get started, they were a complete
|
|
joke. They provided enough information to be dangerous and didn't help my
|
|
standing with the RBOC's. The VAX/VMS files got better as they
|
|
progressed, but except for some of Part III they didn't provide much that
|
|
wasn't available in manuals. I enjoy writing, but it usually takes me
|
|
many revisions to get it just right. As for newsletters, the LOD/H
|
|
Technical Journal is another thing that I was involved in.
|
|
|
|
TK: What is the story behind the LOD/H Technical Journal?
|
|
|
|
LL: The LOD/H Technical Journal almost never was. As you are aware, LOD had
|
|
gotten a group of files together to be published in PHRACK as an "all LOD
|
|
issue," but some of the members thought we should put out our own stuff.
|
|
The idea grew on me and I said okay. I should let it be known that you
|
|
helped us out for the first issue by spell checking it and performing some
|
|
editing and critique. But we were only able to produce 4 issues since it
|
|
was difficult in getting quality non-plagiarized or non-highly paraphrased
|
|
material.
|
|
|
|
After the third issue, I realized that I was probably not doing anyone any
|
|
favors by exposing security holes and weaknesses in systems. Some people
|
|
may not believe hearing this from ME, but I don't agree with those hackers
|
|
who think they are doing people a service by exposing their system
|
|
vulnerabilities. Nobody needs someone checking their door at night to see
|
|
if its locked. And although the old door analogy isn't exactly the same
|
|
as the pseudo-physical computer login, its close enough. Sorry about
|
|
getting off the subject a little.
|
|
|
|
TK: That's okay. Why did you quit the H/P community?
|
|
|
|
LL: I wrote a letter to 2600 Magazine about a year ago that goes into it a
|
|
little. Between that and what I've said here, it should be fairly
|
|
apparent. In brief, I realized I was mainly in it for the purpose of
|
|
getting information. It got too dangerous and I decided to direct my
|
|
energy to graduating instead of how to defeat security systems. The
|
|
thought processes involved in hacking and those in solving problems in
|
|
Engineering Design are remarkably similar and I think my hacking experience
|
|
makes me a much better designer and problem solver. Not that I am
|
|
advertising for a job or anything...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lex's Favorite Things
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
Women: Without Diseases.
|
|
Cars: So fast that you are terrified to put the pedal all the way down to
|
|
the floor.
|
|
Foods: Anything that does not contain pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals,
|
|
radioactive elements, toxic chemicals, harmful microorganisms,
|
|
artificial colors, or preservatives. I guess that rules out fish,
|
|
produce, meat, processed foods, drinking water, and so on. In other
|
|
words there's nothing left to eat. In all seriousness, I do like
|
|
great big salads and if I was rich I would have an awesome wine
|
|
cellar.
|
|
Music: Heavy Metal, some Punk, and Classical.
|
|
Authors: Richard P, Feynman, Isaac Asimov, Stephen Hawking, Jane Roberts, Budd
|
|
Hopkins, Jacques Valee, Bruce Sterling, K. Eric Drexler, and Matthew
|
|
Lesko.
|
|
Books: I liked the Cuckoo's Egg, anything about physics, and non-kook
|
|
metaphysical books. The only thing I collect these days are books.
|
|
I have hundreds of them.
|
|
Games: Atari's ASTERIODS DELUXE was probably the most difficult videogame
|
|
ever (even though it's more than ten years old) and which I am one of
|
|
the best there is at playing it. When it comes to this, I admit I AM
|
|
Elite. There's almost no one on this planet who can beat me.
|
|
Defender and Stargate are also great. They don't make games like
|
|
they used to. And of course, the Ultima series.
|
|
Actors: Dana Carvey, Bill Moyers, Patrick Stewart (ST:TNG), Jonathan Frakes
|
|
(ST:TNG), Andy Griffith (Matlock), and too many movie stars to
|
|
mention.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Interview Concludes
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
TK: Is there anyone specifically that you want to say a few things to?
|
|
|
|
LL: To all those who subscribe to the "Once a thief, always a thief" mentality
|
|
and to those few die-hard law people who would love to get their hands on
|
|
me and other ex-hackers: Don't bother, people are basically good and can
|
|
be "rehabilitated" without going to prison.
|
|
|
|
LL: The other thing that I have never understood about the hack/phreak
|
|
community is some of the obsession with tracking people down. I could
|
|
understand it a little better when the reason was to check out others to
|
|
make sure they were not feds.
|
|
|
|
I never compiled lists of who I talked to with anything except their
|
|
handle, first name, and phone number. I never CNA'd them for their last
|
|
names, or tried to find out where they worked.
|
|
|
|
But some guys just had to know everything about everyone. Don't they have
|
|
anything better to do? I was careful yes, but not to the point of
|
|
invading everyone's privacy especially when the person stated they just
|
|
wanted to be left alone. I am not saying I NEVER invaded another's
|
|
privacy, but I don't now and almost never did it in the past.
|
|
|
|
I left an Internet mailing address at the beginning of this Pro-Phile so
|
|
people can contact me. I don't mind talking to people, but I just don't
|
|
think it's fair to harass and threaten people who don't want to be
|
|
bothered. I am open to useful and constructive conversations via email,
|
|
but I really don't think it's necessary to compile individual's personal
|
|
information. I never did it and will never understand why people do it.
|
|
|
|
Besides, it's no great accomplishment to find people these days. The ways
|
|
of getting information are numerous and many are legal, so how much skill
|
|
does it really take to get someone's info? Almost none. Anyone can do
|
|
it... on just about anyone they want.
|
|
|
|
TK: What do you think about the future of the hack/phreak world or telecom
|
|
communications in general?
|
|
|
|
LL: As for the hack/phreak aspect, every time I think hacking is dead and
|
|
people would have to be deranged to break into computers or make phone
|
|
calls illegally for free, I read about another hapless person or group of
|
|
people who have done it. Don't they realize there are better and easier
|
|
ways of going about whatever they are doing? Don't they realize that the
|
|
technology to CATCH you is such that you have lost the fight before you
|
|
even get started?
|
|
|
|
Yes there will be new technologies that will help both sides, but there is
|
|
the law of diminishing returns. As for what hackers should be doing, if
|
|
anything they should keep an eye on our right to privacy. If it weren't
|
|
for hackers, TRW would still be screwing people over (worse than they do
|
|
now) and would have never apologized for not correcting invalid credit
|
|
information.
|
|
|
|
TK: And of course the question that no Phrack Pro-Phile does without...
|
|
|
|
Of the general population of phreaks you have met, would you consider most
|
|
phreaks, if any, to be computer geeks?
|
|
|
|
LL: Absolutely NOT. I don't judge people on how they look anymore (yes I used
|
|
to). As The Mentor so eloquently put it in his Hacker Manifesto (Phrack 7
|
|
and again in Phrack 14), of which this is, but a lame paraphrase, it's
|
|
more important to relate to people on what they know and on their ideas
|
|
than what they look like or what color their skin is, etc. And the vast
|
|
majority have non-geeky ideas.
|
|
|
|
TK: Thanks for your time, Lex.
|
|
|
|
LL: Thank you for letting me ramble on for so long.
|