The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998

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Computer underground Digest Wed Dec 9, 1992 Volume 4 : Issue 64 ISSN 1066-642X Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET) Archivist: Brendan Kehoe Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala Copy Editor: Etaion Shrdlu, Junior CONTENTS, #4.64 (Dec 9, 1992) File 1--December's D.C. 2600 Meeting Summary File 2--HoHoCon and the SS File 3--Message from Solitude - (Re: CuD 4.57) File 4--H0H0CON (Xmascon) Update Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are available at no cost from tk0jut2@mvs.cso.niu.edu. The editors may be contacted by voice (815-753-6430), fax (815-753-6302) or U.S. mail at: Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL 60115. Issues of CuD can also be found in the Usenet comp.society.cu-digest news group; on CompuServe in DL0 and DL4 of the IBMBBS SIG, DL1 of LAWSIG, and DL0 and DL12 of TELECOM; on Genie in the PF*NPC RT libraries; from America Online in the PC Telecom forum under "computing newsletters;" on the PC-EXEC BBS at (414) 789-4210; in Europe from the ComNet in Luxembourg BBS (++352) 466893; and using anonymous FTP on the Internet from ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4) in /pub/cud, red.css.itd.umich.edu (141.211.182.91) in /cud, halcyon.com (192.135.191.2) in /pub/mirror/cud, and ftp.ee.mu.oz.au (128.250.77.2) in /pub/text/CuD. European readers can access the ftp site at: nic.funet.fi pub/doc/cud. Back issues also may be obtained from the mail server at mailserv@batpad.lgb.ca.us. COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST is an open forum dedicated to sharing information among computerists and to the presentation and debate of diverse views. CuD material may be reprinted for non-profit as long as the source is cited. Some authors do copyright their material, and they should be contacted for reprint permission. It is assumed that non-personal mail to the moderators may be reprinted unless otherwise specified. Readers are encouraged to submit reasoned articles relating to computer culture and communication. Articles are preferred to short responses. Please avoid quoting previous posts unless absolutely necessary. DISCLAIMER: The views represented herein do not necessarily represent the views of the moderators. Digest contributors assume all responsibility for ensuring that articles submitted do not violate copyright protections. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 7 Nov 92 18:52:31 PST From: Brock Meeks <brock@well.sf.ca.us> Subject: File 1--December's D.C. 2600 Meeting Summary ((MODERATORS' NOTE: Brock Meeks, the reporter who broke the story of possible U.S. Secret Service involvement in the November 2600 meetings in Washington D.C. (see CuD #4.57), attended the December 2600 meetings. Here is his account as he related it on The Well)) Well, we did have a few fireworks at the D.C. meeting. Some crazed journalist went off and did unthinkable: He tried to get some straight answers out of the folks in charge. A crime for which has threatened with arrest and physically removed from the mall. The fact that I was physically escorted from Pentagon City Mall last night, under direct threat of being arrested made up for that had been an incredible slow news day. My paper had just that day run a major investigative story I'd written about the National Science Foundation's continued fuck ups in regards to their computer network, NSFNet. I was cruising through my morning. Hell, I'd earned it. Two months of investigation take a lot out of you. I was expecting a blast of irate phone calls from NSF and all parties involved. I got none. "Suits me," I thought. Besides... that evening I was heading to the D.C. 2600 meeting. I had an agenda: First, confront Al Johnson and ask him why he'd lied to others about what he said to me. Second, reintroduce myself to the hacker underground, a culture I have a true affinity for and one which I'd been out of touch for too long. This was my foray back in and I wanted to play it for all it was worth. The day ground through its gears and by 5 p.m. I'd written enough copy to satisfy my editors so I blew off the Daily and headed for the Pentagon City mall. I didn't know who I was looking, what any of the kids looked like. "You'll know who we are," said Inhuman, who'd called earlier to make sure I was clued in. He was right. I spotted them right off, but opted to circle the group, cruising the mall, doing my own impromptu version of "spot the Fed" while scouting for the Mall Administrative offices and looking for the Security offices. Those objectives accomplished, I waded into the group introduced myself to about 30 pairs of skeptical eyes. The handles flew at me fast and furious, names I'd heard before, others new. I sat watching and listening to these guys, most of them a couple of generations younger than myself. The dichotomy was striking: Me in an uptown grey pin-stripped suit with leather suspenders. They in an eclectic blend of street hip, anti-authority, "don't fuck with me" cloths. I didn't tell them, but I'd much rather have been dressed like them. So much for the trade-offs of legitimate journalism: The corporate garb. But the skins we wore peeled away nicely and I shifted through several different conversations as if I'd been a member of this fraternity for ages. I had at 15 years on most of them and yet it was they who were mentoring me: Education, real time. I was eating it up. A writer for Village Voice wandered over and I decided that he and I would be allies for night. It wasn't in my planned agenda, but fuck agendas and plans and go with the flow. I decided that any confrontations would be better off if I had someone at my back and another journalist was all the better. I tagged Julian (the VV writer) to help me hunt down Al Johnson. We never found him. Gone for the night. "Didn't even come in today," said some mall flunky when Julian and I crash the Mall administrative offices, looking for him. All the mall security people denied knowing anything about the events of last month. Shit, they don't even lie well, I thought to myself. So, back to the food court for more hang time. But it's getting a bit slow. It's become obvious to me that the authorities are away on this night and that they don't want confrontation. But this is all going too smooth for me. I came here to ask some legitimate questions. So I went seeking someone to answer them. I found Santa Claus. Well, Santa Claus is what he eventually told me his name was. In reality he is Lowell Davis, part of the Mall's Administrative management team. Last night, he was "MOD" Manager on Duty. And he was the one I cornered to ask my questions. Julian and I had spotted him before; he was painfully obvious: Older greying overweight white male: A heart attack in a cheap polyester suit. We'd actually thought he might be Secret Service. Ok, we got one wrong. Julian and I had dogged him to the mall office, but he wouldn't come out. So, when we spotted him standing up on the second floor, watching the meeting along side a security guard, we raced up the escalator to confront him. I introduced myself, shaking his clammy, meaty palm: "Hi. I'm Brock Meeks, reporter for Communications Daily." "I'm happy for you," Davis said. "Are you associated with the mall somehow?" I asked. "I'm associated with everybody. I just want... listen, before I talk to you guys, turn off those tape recorders..." Yes, we had recorders, but they weren't turned on. "Look I just want everyone to be happy, buy stuff, that's all," Davis said. "You can quote me on that." I said fine, but I'd have to have a name to quote. "You don't need my name." "OK, but I didn't catch your title, what's your job?" "I work for one of the stores here." "Which one?" "None of your business. I don't have to tell you that." A few more minutes of conversation revealed nothing more. I asked Davis if he knew about the events of last month. "I'm shocked such a thing would happen! I don't know anything about it." "Then you don't approve of such actions taking place?" I asked. "Certainly not, I don't support anybody's rights being violated," Davis said. I asked him his name again, and he said, "Santa Claus, as far as your concerned." I pressed him some more about what relation he had to the mall and he told me: "I'm responsible for making sure the food court is clean and that everyone has a good safe time." "Oh, so you're in management then... I thought you said you worked for a store?" I said. At that point he refused to talk to me. "Just stop. Stop it now. I'm through answering questions. You're harassing me. Leave me alone." At that point the security guard told me to leave or I'd be in trespassing. "Why?" I asked. "A shopper has complained about you and I'm telling you to leave." security guard wouldn't listen and immediately called for the uniformed Arlington Police who were already in the mall. "What are you going to do, arrest me?" I asked the security guard. "No, he won't, but I will," said the Arlington Officer. And I left. The story's not over, folks... just delayed... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Nov 92 13:50:17 -0500 From: Doctor Math <root@SANGER.CHEM.ND.EDU> Subject: File 2--HoHoCon and the SS The recent "shadow" SS raids on both PumpCon and the 2600 meeting scare me. The implications are chilling. In both cases, the law enforcement conducting the raid had "legitimate" reasons for doing so - the raid could stand up in court if it had to, all by itself. So the SS (and who else? FBI? DIA? CIA?) gets the best of both worlds: meetings of the "Underground Hacker Menace" are broken up while the SS doesn't have to take bad press for it; most mainstream media doesn't mention the SS if there's any coverage of the incident at all. I really wanted to go to HoHoCon this year. I was even prepared to be photographed by whichever federal agencies decided to attend. More notes for my file, at least. This didn't bother me, since I don't do anything interesting or "dangerous" enough to get myself investigated (at least not for the past couple of years). A little surveillance, no big deal. Now I'm not so sure I want to go given that it appears likely that some sort of law enforcement will be there conducting some sort of raid and making some sort of arrest... later they will deny any involvement of any federal agencies, claiming that they had their own investigation into the (pick one or more: stolen property, illegal K0DEZ, underaged participants, hijacked source code, proprietary documents...) and that the bust stands on its own merit. Right. Another note: Was the 2600 meeting that got raided the only one to occur on private property? I think the Bill of Rights says something about the right of citizens to peaceably assemble, but the Mall was indeed private property and they could theoretically suspend this right. Of course, that should have amounted to "chasing off a bunch of kids" as it almost always does, not "detain and confiscate". Would it have been any different if the meeting was being held in a public park, assuming that the park was open and that the participants weren't breaking any local ordinances about noise or failure to obtain permits for a meeting of greater than X people (yes, there are ordinances like that in some cities) ? Would it be any different if the meeting was held in someone's house (other than perhaps generating additional liability for the host) ? Pipe dream: Secretly replace the attendants of a given conference with lawyers at the last minute. Install hidden cameras and microphones at the site of the convention. Make sure that the "attendees" aren't doing anything that is even slightly illegal. Wait for raid. After raid, sue. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 04 Dec 92 22:42:00 PDT From: Eagle.Runner@SOLITUD.FIDONET.ORG(Eagle Runner) Subject: File 3--Message from Solitude - (Re: CuD 4.57) Whew! After reading the CUD-457, which gave a pretty good account of the USSS and property seizures, I didn't know whether to "laugh" at the ridiculous behavior, or "cry", because of what it seems to indicate about the current State of the Union. Obviously, folks at N.S.A., D.I.A., F.B.I., and probably C.I.A., are all becoming rather `paranoid' of the so-called "hacker threat" to national security. I see corruption, abuses of authority, extreme incompetence well-beyond Peter Principle levels in Government, but this is indicative of incredible malfunctioning by decision makers in high places. It isn't likely some low-level USSS person authorized this, without somebody higher up the chain's knowledge. Sounds like we're in for some Dzerzhinski style `hijinks' with regard to the intelligence community in this country, beyond what most American's are ready to believe is really happening. The real danger with this stuff is that, given the relatively large segment of the public that already "fears" the computer, or is "ignorant" of how far or how limited the technology is, it's likely that there won't be a large enough voice of "dissent" over this incident, or other's. It's scary that this Gestapo-like garbage can be condoned in ANY so-called democracy, let alone one with a Constitution and a Bill of Right's, as we have. What next?? Already, I've had my telephone `tapped' without writ or court order, by `corrupt' law-enforcement people here in Arizona, both state and federal, and often wonder when they'll just break the door down, jerk my computer up by the wires, and depart. All it takes is to stand-up and "just say no" to the incredible Orwellian fascism we're living, and boy, you can kiss your Constitutional rights `adios'. I have read a lot of stuff that `sickened' me, but I think with all of the other naivete that I've had jerked off of me like a well worn in security blanket, things of this nature really make me ask myself "why" I served in the military during the Vietnam conflict, only to find out that communism isn't so much a red flag with a hammer and sickle on it, as it is a government that is totalitarian in nature, as ours has certainly become. This `incident' at the mall ought to serve as a wake-up call to every single American with a computer, and perhaps anyone with views contrary to the politically correct ones. I remember reading volumes of books about Germany, post WWI, and incredibly enough, this nation is increasingly looking a lot like the Germany I'd read about, from about 1934, onwards. Ronald Reagan and George Bush must've copied their scripts straight out of Mein Kampf. Anyway, I didn't want to rant and rave about how bad-off we are, but sit at the computer tonight, asking myself how much longer it will be before we find ourselves sitting around, computer-less, absolutely no guarantee whatsoever that our telephones, if we still have them, aren't tapped, and that any dissenting comment we might make, about any governmental entity, might ultimately be used as an excuse, as the term "hacker" has, to "threaten," "intimidate" and without due process, confiscate our property? It is perhaps time for you to think seriously about getting this story a lot wider dissemination into the press, s the rest of the nation can, if it isn't lobotomized yet, realize that something went horribly "wrong" in Washington, D.C. on the 7th of ((November)), and that nothing less than a full-blown accounting for it by the D.O.J. and F.B.I ought to be mandated by the public. Thanks for your time, and I hope that if there ever was a time when the alert lags ought to be flown, this was one of them. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Dec 92 23:15:12 CST From: HoHoCon Information Account <hohocon@KIDPORN.FREESIDE.COM> Subject: File 4--H0H0CON (Xmascon) Update [Updated Announcement #2 - December 4, 1992] dFx International Digest and cDc - Cult Of The Dead Cow proudly present : The Third Annual X M A S C O N AKA H 0 H 0 C O N "G0T ANY K0DEZ?!!" Who: All Hackers, Journalists, Security Personnel, Federal Agents, Lawyers, Authors and Other Interested Parties. Where: Allen Park Inn 2121 Allen Parkway Houston, Texas 77019 U.S.A. Tel: (800) 231-6310 Hou: (713) 521-9321 Fax: (713) 521-9321, Ext. 350 When: Friday December 18 through Sunday December 20, 1992 Fee: Five Dollars (Optional Donation) Two Weeks And Counting! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's starting to creep up on us... HoHoCon '92 is right around the corner and it looks like we're going to surpass our attendance expectations in a BIG way. We figured we were going to lose a lot of people when we had to change hotels, but such was not the case. All the designated HoHoCon rooms at the Allen Park Inn were called for by the third week of November. Luckily, the hotel opened up another wing for us. That means it's not too late to reserve a room and make plans to attend. Another big plus for everyone is that the airlines are engaging in a price war again which will hopefully help some people make it. This update contains some of the new conference revelations as well as general information from the last announcement. Believe it or not, we are still in the process of getting everything finalized so we're not able to give every exact detail of the conference as we don't know them all yet. If you need additional information or a question answered, just contact us and we'll try to help you out. Which brings me to something. Unfortunately, our voice mail system automatically deletes messages on a three day basis so we weren't able to get back to some people who wanted us to call them. Before anyone had a chance to write the phone numbers down, the messages were erased. If you left a message asking us to call you and you haven't heard from us yet, please call back again. On with the new info... Will HoHoCon Get Raided Like PumpCon & The 2600 Meeting? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I've not only been asked this a million times, but I've recently seen messages across Usenet and smaller bbs nets from people stating they wouldn't be attending to HoHoCon because of the recent happenings on the east coast. Those who say they're not coming because they know the fEdZ, Secret Service, bUnk0 sKwaD, CIA, SPA, Twinkie Police, CERT and Sha Na Na are planning to arrest everyone in attendance, are not only stupid but also the ones who'll be missing out as the feds are not coming to take anyone away. You can believe what you wish but the following is taken from a conversation we had with a fairly high ranking federal computer crime investigator (a.k.a the FeDs themselves) - "There's a big difference between your conference and what was going on up North. First of all, the 2600 thing was handled by mall cops, not the government and the PumpCon people attracted attention to themselves by doing some really stupid stuff and not thinking. There was no pre thought in that anyhow.. nobody drew up a game plan beforehand to sweep the hotel. Plus, those were private little meetings where the people really didn't have the means of fighting back even if they thought the interruptions were unjust. Hopefully, nobody within this organization is going to be stupid enough to break in the doors of a very well known public meeting of 400 potential witnesses, a nice percentage of whom are the two people feds hate most - Journalists and Lawyers. And we do know about the ones who are going to be there waiting for us to show up, guns in hand. They'll be waiting a while. You're talking about the weekend before Christmas, if I'm not at the mall, my wife's gonna kick my ass. You can tell your people to sleep easy, we're not coming." Direct from the source. Speakers ~~~~~~~~ The big question on people's minds seems to be "Who will be speaking at the conference?" There are currently twelve speakers slated for Saturday, and that number is undoubtedly sure to increase within the next two weeks. We have a number of proposed speakers who are still in the "trying to make it" stages. Definite speakers at this time include Scott Chasin (Doc Holiday) and Chris Goggans (Erik Bloodaxe) of LoD/Comsec, John Draper (Cap'n Crunch), Ray Kaplan, Byron (Louis Cypher), Mike (Bootleg), Steve Ryan (Brian O'Blivion), and a host of others including representatives from a fair share of today's computer underground related publications. Hardly anything is etched in stone, and some of the speakers are still deciding exactly what they're going to talk about. Proposed topics at this time include "The Federal Government Taught Me How to Counterfeit", "The Computer Underground of the Former Soviet Union", "The Implementation of a System and Network Security-Related Incident Tracking and Vulnerability Reporting Database", and, of course, "bLiNKeEZ!" We are still entertaining offers from anyone who would like to speak. Please contact us if you wish to do so. Will Bruce Sterling Be There? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We've received a few dozen letters from people asking if Bruce would be attending and speaking (and if he'd also sign their books). The honest answer is nobody knows. I haven't heard a definite answer yet. Bruce did speak last year and he does live in Austin, so there is a decent chance he may attend. Although.. a few people think he may be wary of coming due to the fact that he was hit in the head with a flying 'partyball (tm)' last year. Karl says "Sorry about that Bruce." Who Was That Guy On Dateline? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don't ask me why, but we've also received a large number of letters from people asking this particular question. The social engineering extra-ordinare was Scott Chasin and, yes, he will be attending and speaking. A few of you asked us some other questions about Scott that were very odd. As far as we know, he is from Earth and has never been abducted by aliens. You may want to ask him yourself though. A Conference Fee? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes, but not exactly. There is no designated cost to attend, but we are gladly accepting donations. We talked to a number of the people coming and everyone seemed to agree that five dollars ($5) was a reasonable figure to ask for. Of course, this is completely optional, but there will be definite benefits to those who donate such as better seats, better service, cheaper shirt prices, and... prepare yourself... raffle tickets. That's right, a raffle! It'll be more fun than bingo with Granny! Everyone who donates five dollars gets a raffle ticket, and anyone who donates over that will get more. We'll hold the raffle during the last part of Saturday's conference. Anyone wishing to donate prizes (or really stupid items) for the raffle should just let us know or bring it with you. Prizes at this time include shirts, an autographed copy of Bruce Sterling's 'The Hacker Crackdown', autographed copies of Steve Jackson's 'Hacker' and 'Gurp Cyberpunk' games, an autographed Comsec brochure (woo!), Chris Goggans' UofH parking sticker, SunOs 4.1.3 on CD, a year's subscription to Mondo 2000, some screwdrivers, a photocopy of Omar and E.T., and other assorted gOOdeez. Anyone planning on selling shirts, buttons or other items should also plan on giving up two of each item. One to myself and one to the raffle. Where Does The Money Go? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A reasonable and expected question. Some people don't realize how much time, effort and $money$ it takes to put on a conference of this size. It's no secret that hotels will sometimes increase conference room costs in December because so many businesses hold their Christmas parties in them. Given that, and the fact that we had to practically call every hotel in town and haggle like hell to house the con after HoJo's backed out, you can rest assured knowing we're dropping a nice amount on the conference room. Anyone doubting this should feel free to call some hotels in their area and inquire as to what their room rental is for the same weekend. The going rate in town is about $300. We've also spent a bit of money on calling not only the media and speakers, but everyone else who requested we call to answer questions or fax information to them. Other people wanted us to mail the information to them. Mail needs stamps. Stamps cost money. Then there is the fact that immediately after we released the first announcement, our local Unix site (the only local free site) changed over to a pay-per-minute scale. We're still receiving and sending endless letters regarding the conference. We were finally able to set up our own site last week, but the previous charges still remain. The only possible way for all of us to be compensated for what we spent in time organizing this whole thing would be to charge what some other security conferences do... about fifty times what we're suggesting. Transcripts ~~~~~~~~~~~ Those not able to attend have inquired about obtaining transcripts of the conference. Written transcripts would not only be huge, but next to impossible to produce and audio transcripts would take up too many tapes. So, we will be offering "HoHoCon '92 : The Movie" starting the first week of January. The conference footage will be shot and edited with professional equipment and will include not only what happened on Saturday, but Friday and Sunday as well. You can also get the official HoHoCon '92 T-shirt even if you can't make it. The shirts are black and have the following on the back: dFx & cDc Present: HOHOCON '92 December 18-20 Allen Park Inn Houston, Texas There is a keen, elite message on the front that we're waiting to unveil at the conference. The shirts will be available at the same time the video is. Anyone needing additional information or wishing to purchase either item should contact us (e-mail is best). How You Can Help? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some folks, most from the Houston and Austin area have offered their services and we've had a hard time thinking of exactly what we needed. The following is a list of items we are currently in need of : A *large* tv for use in the conference room, a tripod, blank Hi-8 and VHS tapes, volunteers to help work the door on Saturday morning, interesting items for the raffle, and countless other things I can't recall. We're also looking for someone in Houston who may wish to spend a day with the infamous Cap'n Crunch (John Draper). John is arriving a day early and needs a place to stay on Thursday night. I can guarantee you'll hear many interesting stories about the very early days and telecom and phreaking. You'll probably pick up a few swell exercising tips too! Starting Time ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Saturday's conference will not start like last year where we opened the doors and everyone sort of piled in. The door will be open at approximately 10 a.m. at which point you can sign the conference registrar, make a donation if you wish and enter the conference room. The conference starts promptly at 11 a.m. (no renditions of SummerCon please). Plan for this in advance as we won't be moving the starting time like last year. Ending Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Everything after this paragraph is taken from the last announcement. If anyone wants it in full just mail us and we'll send it to you. The "Howard Johnson's Story" is attached with it in CuD 4.45. If, for some reason, you can't get CuD and want to read about, we can send that to you too. That should just about wrap everything up. You know what to do if you need anything else. Hopefully, we'll see you at the con! dFx of cDc +++++++++++++ What Exactly Is HoHoCon? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HoHoCon is something you have to experience to truly understand. It is the largest annual gathering of those in, related to, or wishing to know more about the computer underground (or those just looking for another excuse to party). Attendees generally include some of the most notable members of the "hacking/telecom" community, journalists, authors, security professionals, lawyers, and a host of others. Last year's speakers ranged from Bruce Sterling to Chris Goggans and Scot Chasin of Comsec/LoD. The conference is also one of the very few that is completely open to the public and we encourage anyone who is interested to attend. Hotel Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Allen Park Inn is located along Buffalo Bayou and is approximately three minutes away from Downtown Houston. The HoHoCon group room rates are $49.00 plus tax (15%) per night, your choice of either single or double. As usual, when making reservations you will need to tell the hotel you are with the HoHoCon Conference to receive the group rate. Unlike our previously chosen joke of a hotel, the Allen Park Inn is not situated next to an airport and this may cause a small inconvenience for those of you who will be flying to the conference. The hotel is centrally located so you can fly in to either Intercontinental or Hobby airport but we are recommending Hobby as it is 15 miles closer and much easier to get to from the hotel. Here's where it may get a little confusing - If you arrive at Hobby, you will need to take the Downtown Hyatt Airport Shuttle to the Hyatt, which departs every 30 minutes and will cost you $6.00. When you get to the Hyatt, get out of the shuttle with your luggage (for those who may not of figured that out yet) and use any of the nearby pay phones to call the Allen Park Inn (521-9321) and tell them you need a ride. It's just like calling Mom when you need a ride home from glee club! The hotel shuttle will be around shortly to pick you up and take you to the aforementioned elite meeting place, and that ride is free. If all this is too much for you, you can always take a cab directly to the hotel which will run you about $20. If you arrive at Intercontinental, you will need to board the Airport Express bus and take it to the Downtown Hyatt ($9). Once there, just follow the same instructions listed above. Check-in is 3:00 p.m. and check-out is 12:00 noon. Earlier check-in is available if there are unoccupied rooms ready. Free local calls are provided, so bring dem 'puterz. I don't know if cable is free also, so those who wish to rekindle the memories of yesteryear may want to bring their screwdrivers. The hotel has both 24 hour room service, and a 24 hour restaurant, The Nashville Room. Call it a wacky coincidence, but the hotel bar is called the ATI room and like most of Houston's similar establishments, closes at 2 a.m. Good thing Tony still works at Spec's... Directions ~~~~~~~~~~ For those of you who will be driving to the conference, the following is a list of directions on how to get to the hotel from most of Houston's major freeways that bring traffic in from out of town: I-45 North or South: Exit Allen Parkway on the inside (left side) of the freeway. Take the Studemont/Montrose exit off Allen Parkway, then make a U-turn at the bridge and head back towards downtown. The hotel will be on the right hand side. 290: Take 290 to 610 South, then take I-10 East towards downtown. Exit Studemont. Right on Studemont, left on Allen Parkway. The hotel will be on the right hand side. I-10 West: Exit Studemont. Right on Studemont, left on Allen Parkway. The hotel will be on the right hand side. I-10 East: Take I-10 East to I-45 South and follow the same directions from I-45 listed above. US-59 North or South: Take US-59 to I-45 North and follow the same directions from I-45 listed above. Call the hotel if these aren't complete enough or if you need additional information. Conference Details ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HoHoCon will last 3 days, with the actual conference being held on Saturday, December 19 in the Hermitage Room, starting at 11:00 a.m. and continuing until 5 p.m. or earlier depending on the number of speakers. We are still in the planning stages at the moment, primarily due to time lost in finding a new hotel and getting contracts signed. We have a number of speakers confirmed (yes, Goggans will be speaking again) and will try to finalize the list and include it in the next update. We are definitely still looking for people to speak and welcome diverse topics (except for "The wonders and joys of ANSI, and how it changed my life"). If you're interested in rattling away, please contact us as soon as possible and let us know who you are, who you represent (if anyone), the topic you wish to speak on, a rough estimate of how long you will need, and whether or not you will be needing any audio-visual aids. We would like to have people bring interesting items and videos again this year. If you have anything you think people would enjoy having the chance to see, please let us know ahead of time, and tell us if you will need any help getting it to the conference. If all else fails, just bring it to the con and give it to us when you arrive. We will also include a list of items and videos that will be present in a future update. If anyone requires any additional information, needs to ask any questions, wants to RSVP, or would like to be added to the mailing list to receive the HoHoCon updates, you may mail us at: dfx@nuchat.sccsi.com drunkfux@kidporn.freeside.com drunkfux@freeside.com 359@7354 (WWIV Net) or via sluggo mail at: Freeside Data Network Attn: HoHoCon/dFx 11504 Hughes Road Suite 124 Houston, Texas 77089 We also have a VMB which includes all the conference information and is probably the fastest way to get updated reports. The number is: 713-866-4884 You may also download any of the conference announcements and related materials by calling 713-492-2783 and using the user name "unix", which is unpassworded. The files will be in the "/pub/h0h0" directory. Type "biscuit" if you wish to gain an account on the system. You can find us there too. Conference information and updates will most likely also be found in most computer underground related publications, including CuD, Informatik, NIA, Mondo 2000, 2600, Phrack, World View, etc. We completely encourage people to use, reprint, and distribute any information in this file. Stupid Ending Statement To Make Us Look Good ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HoHoCon '92 will be a priceless learning experience for professionals and gives journalists a chance to gather information and ideas direct from the source. It is also one of the very few times when all the members of the computer underground can come together for a realistic purpose. We urge people not to miss out on an event of this caliber, which doesn't happen very often. If you've ever wanted to meet some of the most famous people from the hacking community, this may be your one and only chance. Don't wait to read about it in all the magazines and then wish you had been there, make your plans to attend now! Be a part of what we hope to be our largest and greatest conference ever. Remember, to make your reservations, call (800) 231-6310 and tell them you're with HoHoCon. ------------------------------ End of Computer Underground Digest #4.64 ************************************