PPP Proudly Present Another Phucked Phreak Production ************************************************************************* *708/808-7629** **Saturday-February 16, 1991** **Vol #5* * 10:18:27 AM * ** ** * Computing Society And The Rest Of The World Pt. 1 * ** ** * Written By: The Wizard * ** ** * CopyMUCH 1991 (M) Phucked Phreak Productions * ************************************************************************* "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibitting the free excercise thereof; or abbridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Goverment for a redress of grievances" Under the above Law set forth in the First Amendment To The Constution Of The United States Of America, The Author releases this work into the pubic domain for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. Pre-Introduction ---------------- What follows is an introduction to a series of files I intend to write, called Computing Society. I don't know if I'll ever finish, and I really don't know if I'll write a second file. ((Granted, it would be a fairly short series if I only did just this one.)) Basically, I'm writing about anything that comes to mind about how the computer illiterate world has been brainwashed into thinking that there's a big underground network of little unscrupulous people who want to steal your credit card and crash national defense systems using their Apple Computer. ((Apple computer will get it's own section later on, and believe me, it won't be pretty.)) Without further crap from me, I give you, the introduction to, Computing Society. Introduction ------------ There's a whole society out there right now. If you've never heard of any of the terms or stories following this, then there will be a companion file available shortly which lists any terms that aren't common knowledge to any user with a brain cell. The objective is this:I want to introduce the alleged "computer underground" to the rest of the computer users in America, (and anywhere else that there are misconceptions.) I want to show you that we're not scheming lunatics who have set out to take over America using our Apple IIe's and a modem. I want to show that people who insist on using handles on a system aren't deranged paranoid lunatics who are bent on the destruction of the world, we're simply people who have name recognition using a handle, (in the 708 area code, I'm known enough to get access to systems that someone with a name like Joe Blow couldn't get access to. Now that I've finished kissing my own butt, I'll continue.)) I have a question for you. I'll answer it to, because this is supposed to be interesting light reading, not a research 101 course via netmail. How many people in America are computer literate? Probably a great number of the ones under 21 can at least use computer without being totally scared. How many of these people know how to do more than run a word processor and how to select files? Probably not many. I'd be willing to bet that the people who can't do much more than select files have been brainwashed into thinking that there is a "computer underground", where dangerous information is traded freely, money is stolen in great amounts, and things are just generally fucked with by people who are really familiar with their computers. Maybe they've seen Wargames a few too many times, who knows where they get this stuff. I know that in my 8th grade computers class a few years back, our teacher passed out a note for our parents to read w hich basically said that some students were playing games at school, and they shouldn't. He then expounded on the sources of these games as being "Software Pirates". He then devoted five pages to his moral opinion of "these ruthless criminals who are a danger to society" and "Why they break the law." Besides the fact that he's making it appear to be a capital offense to understand how to back-up a game you just paid fifty bucks for, he also has basically added to the big brainwash that software pirat es are "ruthless criminals" and "dangers to society." Obviously, this is a big pile of shit, but never the less, people believe it. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, I was in our writing lab at school, (a bunch of Mac Pluses networked to an SE/30) and I was just screwing around waiting for the bell to ring. I was reading the information file for the Mac Finder, when this really whiney fat bitch said "Hey, what are you doing TO the finder? Trying to crash the network, eh? Well, you just close that right up, you're banned from the room!" So, because I knew how to use a computer, I was told that I couldn't return to our wonderful writing lab, (there's more to this story.) Luckily enough, I talked to the person who was in charge, (she actually knows what's going on) and she explained to the other person, (the fat whiney bitch) that I wasn't hurting anything by reading an information file. (I did, however, come back a little later and sent a nice little piece of hate email to the person who made problems for me. God I love LANs.... ;) ) Just an example of the persecution of a person who knew how to use a computer. Then there's the SS action against Dr. Ripco, and his legendary board, Ripco International. The system was confiscated in conjunction with the other Operation Sun Devil "busts", (I use the term confiscation with Dr. Ripco because no charges have been filed at this writing, nine months later.) Nobody seems to be able to explain the system's confiscation. The sysop, (who has more credib ility than I do) says there was nothing illegal going on on the board, except for a small transfer section, (which didn't have any software from any companies that were still in business) and that was so tiny that to for the time and effort wasted, it would've been easier to simply issue a "cease and desist" order. SS sources say that the system was "A major component in the computer underground network in America." But, I have to ask one quick question. What the fuck is a "computer underground network"? I've been around the "pirate" modem community for close to six years now, using various handles, and I've been on almost every system in my area code at least once. I haven't even heard ANYTHING about an organized "Underground Network." Yes, there were, (probably still are too) systems where credit card information gets passed from person to person, but not once in my six years of experience, have I once seen or even heard remotely of a concentrated "network" of CC Pirates. Regardless, the system was taken without any explanation. The statute of limitations on computer related offenses is ten years. The Secret Service took at least $15,000 in computer equiptment from the Doc's store, (most of it wasn't even connected to Ripco in anyway. ((According to Dr. Ripco, two of his personal Macintosh computers were taken along with the computer that the BBS ran on, because, quote "the cords and cables were all tangled together, and the SS people thought that the computers were somehow networked, even though I didn't have ANY networking equiptment around."))) In all likelyhood, he won't see his computer equiptment for another nine years, if ever, or until his attorney retains an order that forces the SS to give it all back, (snowball's chance in hell.) There may have beeb people passing info, but it was in email. ((Email, when using the bbs program that Ripco ran under, is unreadable by the sysop unless he logs on as the user whose mail he wants to read, reads it, then logs off.)) Many people are probably saying that "the sysyop should've deleted users posting illegal information." The thing is, I'm sure the sysop didn't know that anyone was doing this. He did have a big rules section saying "Don't Do This Or You're Leaving For Good." If he had known, he probably would've done something about it. Just like the post office does. Everybody knows that there are things available by mail that are not totally on the up and up. (I.e. Music clubs, "start your own business" flyers, etc.) The postmaster general investigates and then files charges against wrongdoers. What was done at Ripco was like this. The government saw a system that represented "dangerous" ((to their free ride jobs)) thoughts and ideas, so they closed it down. To cover this up, they went after other systems in America that actually WERE doing something illegal. This is equivalent to encountering someone pulling a mail-order fraud scam, and shutting down the U.S. Postal system. Is our government supposed to work like this? No. They're supposed to find out who is breaking the law, gather information, and punish them, not every user of our great (ha!) postal system. By taking Ripco apart, the Secret Service has decided to enforce justice "a la Reagan Drug Policy style." They've decided to punish the five hundred plus regular users by taking away their massive information source, and taking away the oldest system around, without a trial, and without filing any charges. Somebody in a position of power should be saying "HEY! You guys are violating his rights!" I guess that's what I'm doing. The problem is, that I'm just some stupid high school student whose opinion doesn't REALLY count because "You're not of voting age, and you're therefore not a voter, so I should just sit down and kindly shut the fuck up." Frankly, this type of attitude is what is pushing America towards it's eventual downfall as a Democracy into a socialistic police state. I know this sounds kind of alarmist, but look at the enforcement of the so called "Rico" laws. They were designed during Prohibition to punish alcohol trafficers quickly. The work something like this. A person who was arrested could have his or her possesions confiscated without any charges being filed, and without being found guilty. This sounds a lot like what made our forefathers leave their respective nations and move here. "The land of the free and the home of the brave." There are still brave people around, but free is a dwindling thing. Nowadays, it's illegal, (at least it is in some suburbs of Chicago) to park your pickup truck in your driveway. Pardon my saying so, but that sounds like discrimination against people who own pickup trucks. (Excuse me, someone has just corrected me that it is in fact illegal to park any type of truck in your driveway. My mistake.) Conclusion (Sort Of) -------------------- This is nowhere near the end of this file. Simply the introduction. I guess I'll stop writing when I'm done. Though I'll be damned if I know when that is. Disclaimer:I hereby want to say that if you don't like my anti-government bias, then fuck off and die. Someone has to be biased in favor of computer users somewhere along the line. Any information that is incorrect will be corrected in future files, (I of course reserve the rightto tell you to go to hell over little stupid things like using //'s to represent roman numerals instead of the correct II.) Spelling errors won't be fixed, because there are tons of them, and I don't have a spell checker. You can leave comments to me at any of the systems below. Or, if you're reading this and you're faraway, send me some netmail. My addresses are below also. System Name Usr. Number Phone Number --------------------------------------------------- The Cage 8 708/945-3665 Jackass BBS 156 708/808-7629 Silver Tongue 65 708/759-1916 Ripco International THE WIZARD 312/528-5020 ProLine: wizz.trm@pro-harvest Internet: wizz.trm@pro-harvest.cts.com UUCP: crash!pro-harvest!wizz.trm ARPA:crash!pro-harvest!wizz.trm@nosc.mil If you are intrested in joining our writing staff, please contact the SysOp at the BBS below. Phucked Phreak Productions JAckass BBS 708-808-7629 Courier HST 14.4k/85 MEGS 24 Hours/7 Days End of file. 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