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- Guardian Of Time | __ N.I.A. _ ___ ___ Are you on any WAN? are
- Judge Dredd | ____ ___ ___ ___ ___ you on Bitnet, Internet
- ------------------+ _____ ___ ___ ___ ___ Compuserve, MCI Mail,
- X / ___ ___ ___ ___ ___________ Sprintmail, Applelink,
- +---------+ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___________ Easynet, MilNet,
- | 26OCT90 | ___ ______ ___ ___ ___ FidoNet, et al.?
- | File 60 | ___ _____ ___ ___ ___ If so please drop us a
- +---------+ ____ _ __ ___ line at
- ___ _ ___ elisem@nuchat.sccsi.com
- Other World BBS __
- Text Only _ Network Information Access
- Ignorance, There's No Excuse.
-
- Network Thought Machine [2]
- Guardian Of Time And The Net
-
- NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA
-
- Early Apple Phreaking Days
-
- Those that don't know, I was busted, back in 1980, and I will explain in this
- file, what lead up to me being busted, what happened, how I got out of it.
-
- 1980, I got my first computer which was an Apple //e for a Xmas Present, and
- I immediately started out in the world of Apple Phreaking. Thanks to a friend
- of mine (The Mad Cracker (409) (BTW, How is Nuclear School? hehehe)), we began
- our trail, meeting up w/ a person by the name of Joe Nowak from Michigan.
-
- Joe was the person that taught both of us, who where just young pups at that
- time, what Phreaking was, gave us the rules to follow, how to phreak, how to
- hack, how to crack, everything.
-
- I created my first handle, which was The Rammaster, as you can tell, I quickly
- changed it to my present one. My friend, dreamt up the handle of The Mad
- Cracker (even though at the time, he NEVER cracked anything that later
- changed). We had our handles and we where ready for the Apple Pirate World.
-
- Apple Pirates at that time, where the cream of the crop w/ Jack The Ripper,
- Taran King running The Metal Shop AE, in Houston there was Wizzardry, Sub
- Station Charlie, and the infamous Mines Of Moria (w/ the Tele Trials!), and
- the 414 Group (busted for breaking into a Hospital Computer and altering
- vital records), Phrack was just a dream to be made, and the ever so popular
- Apple Cat Modems and running 10 megs with Ascii Express Professional.
-
- Just for a side note, those of you who don't know what AE (Ascii Express) was,
- it made all of us IBM people look bad for having Ratio's, for AE was LEECH and
- LEECH it was, you would dial into an AE line, get the prompt, and then you
- would have the capability (if your access was allowed), to d/l everything in
- whatever disk drives or harddrives where set up. Meaning you could call and
- d/l all of the latest game and never worry about Ratio's for the ratio was
- set up something like 1 u/l for every 1000 d/ls or mostly they never had any
- ratio's on there at all. As the year progressed, many AE lines became part
- of BBS's (GBBS) as a door, and only the "Elite" or "Pirate Access" users would
- have access to it. By 1982 most of the AE lines had gone away and left where
- phrases like "running AE off of my 2 double sided double density 5 1/4 inch
- disk drives". Those people where generally considered lame. Comparison would
- be like calling up an Em/2 board running off of an IBM w/ 2 3 1/2 inch drives
- and having PART of the latest game in the Xfer Section.
-
- Those days people had massive parties, brought their Apples over and just did
- MASSIVE coppying, for their copy protection was crude, and well with
- Locksmith 5.0 you could crack just about everything under the sun. Pirating
- was in, and phreaking was in, for there was not even a thought of ESS, or of
- Operation Sundevil. Black Boxing was just being figured out, by the telco
- company, and they figured out a way of "listening" for the device, but hey, w/
- our trusty Apple Cat modems we just didn't send a pure 2600 htz tone and that
- solved that problem, but then the Telco company got wise to that.
-
- Well as years progressed, the phone company started getting their act together
- there was rumors flying in and out of every major BBS that people where starting
- to be arrested. The term 'BUSTED' came into play, which meant, being caught
- by either the Feds, or by the Telco Company, while you where phreaking off of
- their system. Also ESS was just starting to be testing in rural areas...
-
- Soon BBS's started to go "private", the term "elite" no longer meant someone
- w/ a special talent, or an infamous computer handle (Count Zero, Jack The
- Ripper), the term started to apply to BBS's. The BBS initself, became "elite".
- About the same time this was happening, BBS INFOFORMS came up, testing ones
- ability. The idea at the time was to get onto said Elite BBS, you just passed
- a simple test. Fill out this Questionaire and if you answered the questions
- accurately then there was a chance you could get onto this Elite BBS. Problem
- w/ that was shortly aftwards, Acronym Lists started floating around. Funny how
- someone w/ absolutely no knowledge on a given subject, could pass the toughest
- questionaire w/out blinking an eye.
-
- How To Phreak files started to pop up everywhere, people where pumping out text
- files left and right. Many people tested these files out w/out every thinking
- of what they where doing, and again many people where caught by the phone co,
- for being stupid.
-
- As 1988 passed, the "Old Group" as most of us are now called, have either
- pulled out or went into hiding. Many of the later 80's people are still
- around, probably laughing at this file now (hehehehe, I am), and well it is
- a shame, but what have we to look for?
-
- Todays phreakers/hackers are uneducated people. I don't mean to sound like I
- know what I'm doing b/c I don't either. I pulled out in 1983 and haven't
- phreaked since. But as I scan BBS hacking/phreak bases I see the exact same
- thing that was started back in 1983. The home computer was priced just right,
- so just about every middle class person could afford one. People went out
- bought one, bought a modem, and just started away at BBSing coming across those
- dreaded Bad BBS's or those "Underground BBS's". People don't read the old text
- files anymore, there where many ground rules laid down by many text file
- magazines (Phrack, Lod, etc) you did a certain thing and not this, and the
- reason why you don't do it THIS way is b/c you will get busted, yet people don't
- read the warning label that says danger anymore why?
-
- I was busted, as I mentioned earlier, but what happened? Nothing special, I got
- this registered letter in the mail, which contained about 5 pages worth of BBS
- numbers, I checked against my own records (I kept detailed records of what code
- what service, what time and what BBS I called), narrowed down a 10,000.00$ bill
- down to around 2500$. I don't remember the exact figures but it was around
- those mentioned. If I refused to pay the bill, I would then appear in Galveston
- County's local District Court. I mailed in a letter stating that I had made
- only certain calls, attatched a sheet that contained all my codes used, numbers
- dialed (fax machines where still in testing...), and they returned my letter
- accepting the offfer I proposed to them.
-
- Remember todays carders, phreakers, and hackers, are reckless, uncaring for
- the system they aquire, the service they use, or the cards they card off of.
- People are not what they used to be, times have changed, and they have changed
- for the worse (my opinion), if we do not start re-educating people about what
- to do and what not to do, and making sure that people do not abuse our knowledge
- then Operation Sundevil will be a fairly common word etched in our minds.
- People that card, don't be so damned stupid, carding to your house? Jesus, what
- moron would do that? Someone w/ a modem and pc. Someone that is uneducated,
- and someone that should be stopped.
-
- I close this small file w/ a quote from a respected BBS User in our Community:
-
- 1980's Hacker: A person who hacked into a system w/ the sole intent on
- learning the system, inside and out. To better educate
- oneself, w/ no thought of harm or destructive means.
-
- 1990's Hacker: A person who hacks into a system w/ the sole intent of
- destructive purposes. No benefit has come of this type
- of hacker.
-
- Today the word hacker means to break into a system for malice intent. Why
- has this happened? I propose that question to you.
-
- I hope that some of you will recall that more and more people are being busted,
- it is no longer anyones fault, but YOUR own for being busted, the rules have
- been layed down for years now, you just need to re-educate yourself and learn
- something...
-
- Guardian Of Time
-
- NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA
-
- "Whats In A Name? : Brad Templeton"
-
- People keep trying to figure out what an electronic forum (or bulletin board)
- is in traditional terms -- common carrier or publication.
-
- I think that it is not analogous to any of the old forms, and a new type
- of law has to be created to apply to it.
-
- There are 4 types of BB today:
- A) The completely open BB with no supervision (USENET newsgroup, some
- BBS operations)
- B) The supervised open BB. (most BBS, GEnie, CIS forums, etc.)
- C) The heavily supervised BB. (Prodigy, moderated USENET group)
- D) The fully edited electronic publication
-
- D is a direct analog of the traditional publication. C is very close, but
- not quite. A is close to the "common carrier" model, but does not match
- it exactly. B has little analog in traditional publishing.
-
- All four are of course(*) deserving of constitutional protection of free
- speech. For all are published forms of expression.
-
- The closest thing to A is common carrier or enhanced service provider
- status, where the carrier is not liable for what is transmitted. However
- there are many differences. For one, I have not heard of a "public broadcast"
- common carrier, where messages are sent to arbitrary members of the public
- who request the material. The closest analog might be Ham radio, although
- Hams are licenced and thus not classed as general public. They are also
- restricted in use. Of course "Ham radio" is a thing, not an organization.
-
- In addition, most type A systems do have some controls and checks and
- balances. They do not have the "service to anybody who asks is mandatory"
- rule of common carriers.
-
- I would view each individual author as the publisher, and the system owner
- as a tool in this case. On the other hand, I would support the right of
- system owners to restrict *who* has access, if not necessarily what they
- say.
-
- Type B is also a new animal. Such systems are supervised, but
- supervised after-the-fact. ie. any user can post any message, but the
- SYSOP/supervisor/moderator can delete things after the fact. The amount
- of this deletion ranges from almost none to moderate. Sometimes it is
- there as an option, but never actually practiced. This needs a new type
- of law.
-
- Type C is very close to a publication, and may not need a new type of law.
- In this case, all messages must be approved before they go out -- ie. they
- pass through a human being first. This is not too different from a
- classical publication. However, in most such cases, the editors do not
- truly act as editors. They merely select material based on appropriateness
- to a forum. Only because the law requires it do they also sometimes
- attempt to remove libel and criminal activity. The editors almost never
- select material to match their own views, and it is not assumed that
- postings reflect the editor's views.
-
- Thus in A and B it is clear that the author is the publisher and the
- system is the medium. In C the author and system operator are jointly
- involved in publication. In D the system operator is the publisher, and
- the author is just the author.
-
- What new types of law? This we can discuss.
-
- Type A:
- Authors fully responsible for their postings. No liability
- for SYSOP unless illegal activity deliberately encouraged.
- (ie. "The Phone Phreak BBS" might have a liable SYSOP, but
- "Joe's Amiga BBS" would not be liable if somebody posts a phone
- credit card number.)
-
- NO complete anonymity. Author's names need not be revealed in
- the forum itself, but a record should exist for the authorities
- in case of libel or other illegal activity by an author. The
- sysop must maintain this list in return for the limit of SYSOP's
- liability.
-
- (Note SYSOPS still have the right to delete material, but not
- the obligation.)
-
-
- Type B:
- Authors continue to be responsible for their postings. SYSOPS
- responsible for illegal material which they are aware of but do
- not delete in a timely fashion. Anonymity possible, if desired.
-
- Type C:
- Authors responsible together with SYSOPS for postings. If Author
- warrants to SYSOP that material is legit, most liability goes to
- Author. SYSOP must not permit any obviously illegal material,
- and delete any material found to be illegal ASAP.
-
- Type D:
- Standard publication. No new law.
- --
-
- NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA
-
- "Musing On Constituionality : Karl Lehenbauer"
-
- In article <1990Sep20.221955.10879@spectrum.CMC.COM> lars@spectrum.CMC.COM (Lars
- Poulsen) writes:
- >By analogy, it may not be unreasonable to hold the "publisher" (i.e. the
- >owner/SYSOP) jointly liable with the poster for whatever appears on the
- >bulletin board.
-
- >Indeed, this may require that the SYSOP not allow unmoderated discussion
- >except within closed user groups whose members have all signed a pledge
- >of responsible behaviour and are all known to the SYSOP.
-
- >Seems pretty reasonable to me ...
-
- If this were the case, it would be the end of Usenet. Further, it would
- have a chilling effect on free speech via bulletin boards. As a sysop,
- I would have to be very careful to never allow anything out that was
- in the least bit controversial, and would always want to err on the side of
- not allowing a message to go out unless I was really sure there was no chance
- of me getting in trouble for it.
-
- Shouldn't the poster of the message be accountable for its contents?
-
- Or by your reasoning, shouldn't the phone company have to listen to *all* the
- phone conversations going on at any time to make sure nothing illicit was
- being said, done or planned? They tried this in Eastern Europe, you know.
-
- Further, this would be a new and time-consuming burden on sysops and introduce
- potentially long delays in messages getting out.
-
- If a sysop let a bad message go out and it was gatewayed to a bunch of other
- machines, or one was forged or somehow illicitly injected into the network,
- by your reasoning wouldn't the owner/sysops of all the machines the
- message went to be liable? If that were the case, it would definitely be
- the end, because nobody has the resources to monitor, for example, all the
- traffic on the Usenet.
-
- I used Prodigy several times, and it is a heavily censored system, i.e.
- Prodigy's censors examine every article posted before it goes into the
- message base, and people on it were complaining that the censors were
- capricious, arbitrary and would not state reasons why specific articles
- had been censored.
-
- Not only is there nothing like talk.religion.*, talk.politics.*,
- soc.motss on Prodigy (they dropped a forum in which fundamentalist Christians
- and homosexuals and homosexual rights advocates were going at it, although
- they claimed it was for a different reason), but you can't even mention
- or talk about most products by name because advertising is a big part
- of their revenue base (about 20% of your display is permanently dedicated
- to advertising when using it -- ads are continually updated in this area the
- whole time you're on) and they don't want anyone to get free advertising.
- Consequently messages of the "Yeah, I bought a Frobozz 917 and it works really
- well" are censored. If this is IBM's view of the future of personal
- electronic communications (Prodigy is a joint-venture of IBM and Sears), and
- there is every reason to believe it is since this is what they chose to
- provide, it is a bleak future indeed. (The reason they do this, I think, is
- that Prodigy is supposed to be a "family" system. Under your one account you
- can set up logins for your other family members. So they don't want anything
- in there that some kid is going to read. But that restricts everything on the
- system to a very low common denominator, namely that every message must be so
- inoffensive that *nobody* is going to be offended by it... and that is
- censorship.
- --
- -- uunet!sugar!karl
- -- Usenet access: (713) 438-5018
-
- NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA
-
- From $The Age, 12th October, 1990, Melbourne, Australia.
- By Leon Gettler, Communications reporter.
-
- Is it all over between PETA and LES since she found out about the
- LEOPARD? Was SID linked to the MAFIA? And where did DRACULA fit into
- all this? Was he really a VAMPIRE or just one of the DAGS?
-
- Confused? Just consult the Telecom staff dictionary, an introduction
- the to world of tele-babble. Insiders in every profession have their
- jargon, but no one generates it faster than telecommunications
- engineers.
-
- Take, for instance the story of the chap sent to Cairns on an
- emergency mission several years ago when the phone system was wiped
- out by flood. He designed the Cairns restoration and provisioning
- program. No prizes for working out the acronym. "It just rolled off
- the tongue," said a Telecom official this week.
-
- Step into the world of telecommunications and you find yourself in a
- sea of acronyms and jargon. Some examples: DNA (does not answer), DND
- (did not dial), MBC (major business customer), HC&F (heat, coil and
- fuse), LIBFA (line bearer fault analysis), DELY (delivery), CIE
- (customer interface equipment), PP (prompt public telephone) and TTT
- (terminatng trunk tandem).
-
- Traditionally, acronyms have been used to help us remember
- terminology. Usage has transformed many into ordinary words.
- Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services is always Qantas.
- The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps gave us Anzac, the North
- Atlantic Treaty Organisation is NATO.
-
- But Telecom Australia seems to have done the reverse. It produced
- DRACULA (data recording and concentrator unit for line applications),
- VAMPIRE (videotex access monitoring and priority incident reporting
- equipment), LEOPARD (local engineering operations processing and
- analyses of recorded data), MAFIA (maintenance and fleet information
- analysis), SULTAN (subscribers' universal line testing access
- network), CARGO (complaints analysis recording and graphing
- organisation), CATNAP (computer-aided network assessment program) and
- DAGS (digit-absorbing group selector).
-
- In many ways, Telecom employees are lucky. They can see PARIS
- (product accounting and reporting information system) or even MARS
- (microfiche auto-retrieval system). They don't even need a MAP
- (manual assistance position), the work station for telephonists.
-
- Telephone operators-turned-philosophers can turn to PLATO (programmed
- evaluation review technique) over a few POTS (plain old telephone
- services) of CIDER (costing input, data editing and reporting) or SODA
- (service order debit advice). and romantics can contemplate EROS
- (emitter-receiver for optical systems).
-
- But things can get confusing, too. COLDEWS (computerised lines depot
- external works scheduling) does not cover grass in the morning. And
- TACONET is short for Telecom Australia computer network, not tapas
- tucker. Similarly, CONTRAFAST is not a Nicaraguan health regime but
- the consolidated trunk forecast.
-
- Are Telecom employees happy with the ALP (associated line prime) after
- the [Australian] Labor Party's national conference last month? And
- does COM (computer output to microfilm) suggest that the reds have
- escaped from under the beds and infiltrated the phone exchanges?
-
- The names are also a worry. There are nine males (REX, JACK, SID,
- DAVID, LARS, LES, LEN, MARC AND SAM) but only four females (PETA,
- DAISY, DOT AND SUSIE). Koorie and other non-English names do not get
- a mention. And what about the indelicacy of TART (TACONET
- availability and response time monitoring) and TIT (technician in
- training)?
- ----------------------
-
- Don't blame me if my fingers did not type what my eyes saw!
-
- Danny
-
- [Moderator's Note: Thanks for taking the time to type in such a clever
- report. Speaking of obscure acronyms, everyone must know of CARE, the
- organization which provides assistance to other countries in need. But
- do you remember what the letters mean? Committee on American Relief
- in Europe. And lest we forget, the zip in the postal Zip Code refers
- to the Zone Improvement Plan. Seriously. PAT]
-
- NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA
-
- "Vanessa Layne: Education And Cyberspace"
-
- I *can* think of a (hopefully) beneficial use to young people of Cyberspace.
- It all started with a high school aged student/friend of mine who had
- dyslexia (one of many) and was diagnosed rather late in his school career...
-
- Well, my friend had (after much sweat and tears and tutoring and really great
- supportive parents, teachers and counsilors) learned to read at age level
- ability, more or less. More, because he was very smart; less, because no matter
- how wonderful your tutoring is, it can't make up for lost practice. In addition
- ,
- (his greatest problem in fact) was that he just couldn't articulate his ideas
- in print. He had trouble with literature because he was so busy reading the
- words and just figuring out what the sentences said, he missed the relevence of
- the give passage. Myself and another of his teachers and he discussed what woul
- d
- be the most helpful to him. We knew he needed practice reading sheer volumes of
- text, good and bad, to learn differences in quality and style. We knew it shoul
- d
- be interesting (no Dickens [pardon me if *you're* a raving rabid Dickens fan,
- but...]) about things that were immediately relevant, at least to the people
- writing the material. The material had to be communicating its ideas rather
- straight-forwardly, like a in a letter or essay. But it couldn't be plain
- factual information...it had to communicate emotion, and demonstrate attemps to
- convince the reader. And we knew he needed practice trying his own hand at
- communicating, not just writing reports on what he had read, but real writing
- trying to *communicate* his ideas and feelings. And he needed lots of feedback,
- not just you missed a semicolon'' but What did you mean by THAT crack
- mister?!'' He needed practice at honing an argument, and describing things
- clearly and concisely.
- So we got him an account.
-
- One of the fascinating phenomina I have noticed, in myself and others, is how
- much better a person becomes (usually) at communicating via print after
- doing it over the net for a while. When a person first begins using newsgroups,
- emailing lists, and (here at MIT) discuss and zephyr, usually s/he will try
- to communicate by typing down what it was they (damnit, I *will* use the
- plural for a gender indefinite pronoun) would have said out loud, if what
- they were responding to were a spoken conversation. This tends to fail
- miserably (though I have known people who always sounded funny when they
- talked because they talked as they read and wrote, who then e-sounded' fine
- here in Cyberspace). I once heard that 90% of all realtime communication is
- via body language. I'm not so sure that is unreasonable. Certainly
- printed-out speach is odd stuff. The raised eyebrows, which turned a demand
- into a statement of mock-dismayed-disbelief, disappear. The turning up of
- the lips which made an insult a friendly tease disappear. The grating pulled
- out note of mockery which makes a bald statement into its very inverse
- disappears. How many times have you seen what was originally supposed to be
- sarcasm interpreted to be opposite of what the sender intended? Printed-out
- speach is raw, and cold, and its impact is not lessened by any cloaking
- tones: it does not pull its punches. So the culture here developed :) :( : ;)
- :P and ///italics/// and *emphasis* and so forth to try to let the reader know
- when the speaker'' would have done such things in realspace. But they are not
- adequate for most of the subtleties people wish to get across. So they wind up
- honing their skill with written English, often from reflex and not conscious
- determination...you keep plugging away at the argument until 1) you are
- understood 2) your account gets nuked enough that you decide it's not worth it.
- First, usually, people figure out about the tone implicit in word choice
- .
- People, when speaking, and at first on the net, will vehemently deny such a thin
- g
- exists. But there is obvious difference between I think you are incorrect''
- and I think you're wrong'' and that difference is in implied attitude. Next,
- people seem to pick up on supporting arguments (like when you're nth grade teach
- er
- harassed you about writing essays w/ three paragraphs of support for your three
- points?)...if you hear What makes you say that?!'' Who ever heard of such a
- thing?'' Well *i've* seen...'' enough times, you begin to respond Well, whe
- n
- I...'' or I noticed...'' or Well haven't you seen...''
- The more a person writes in Cyberspace, the more it seems s/he is able
- to see the mood and point of other writers. Something in a person's subconsciou
- s
- goes gee, I said something in just that way when I was tired.'' People get
- better at this.
- If you are not clear in Cyberspace, someone is *going* to misunderstand
- you (yes, someone will probably if you are clear as well, but no need to encoura
- ge
- it). If you are not concise (my sin [if you hadn't noticed]) your letter will
- be flushed before it is read. If either happens you are GOING to be FLAMED. An
- d
- if you really gave a damn about what you were trying to tell people, you will
- try again, on another tack, or clarifying your previous statements (all the whil
- e
- making mental notes not to let yourself be misunderstood the same way again,
- unless it is a deliberate firestarter tactic). So people inprove, and surprizin
- g
- to say (for all those insulting Humanitites out there), people who use the net
- for communication, get better at using the printed word, both to express
- themselves and to glean the insights of other writing. I don't think it is
- necessarily so that we'll all become Shakespears, but maybe it will help some
- kids understand what he was saying about people.
- Computers cannot solve nearly as many problems in education as many
- teachers seem to hope, but surely Cyberspace is not evil, and may be a benefit
- in varying degrees to those kids who need it. And certainly its computer
- science benefits are not the only ones, and maybe not even it's greatest. Cyber
- -
- space is the greatest communications network in history to date, and perhaps
- can help teach what today is that most relevant of skills: the use of the printe
- d
- word.
-
- Vanessa Layne
- dagoura@athena.mit.edu
-
- NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA
-
- "Triva Of A Hacker: Bob Bickford"
-
-
- In article <748@public.BTR.COM> techie@public.BTR.COM (Bob Vaughan) writes:
- >
- >A friend of mine posed an interesting trivia question.
- >
- >What was the system manager password for the Burroughs 6700
- >at the Universty Of The Pacific in 1977?
- >
- >This password was included in a utility program that the TA's used
- >for job control (they weren't allowed to have the system manager
- >password, so the program had a line that allowed the utility to
- >run as the system manager)
- >
- >Please reply by email.
- >
- >Thanks in advance
- >
-
- I'm the friend. Here, I'll make this even easier:
-
- 1) The TA's utility was written in the Burroughs - specific variant of
- the ALGOL language called "DCALGOL"; it used the construct
-
- REPLACE MYSELF.USERCODE BY "XXXXXXX/YYYYY."
-
- to change its permissions to the system manager's. The TA's were
- very interested in the DCALGOL language; I distinctly recall being
- in the computer center with them late one night as they waited
- breathlessly for the compiler to come online so they could try
- out an MCP-modifying program that they'd written. It worked, as
- I recall, which was rather scary. (Yes, MCP means Master Control
- Program, as in the movie TRON. No, I don't know if they were
- thinking of the Burroughs machines when they wrote the movie.)
-
- 2) The name of the utility was "LOOKING-GOOD". When I obtained that
- usercode/password combination, one of the things I did was to print
- out a source-code listing of same, which I still have. (I was then
- invited to the Dean's office for a morning chat.... ah, the trials
- and irresponsibilities of youth.) I realize now, looking at it,
- that it's *horribly* bad code, but in 1977 I didn't know any better.
-
- 3) I was at UOP from September of 1976 through January of 1978; the
- password being queried about was in use in the Spring of 1977.
- They changed it, obviously, after my little adventure.....
-
- 4) I obtained this totally by accident; I was curious as to how the
- TA's utility worked, and printed out the object code. Before I
- arrived at UOP, that was illegel and would crash the system every
- time; I didn't know that and had crashed the system twice earlier
- in the year by printing the wrong file. So they "fixed" it; what
- you got was a page full of question-marks, with any quoted strings
- from the source code appearing in cleartext form. So when I printed
- out the object to LOOKING-GOOD, there were lots of strings lying
- around in it, including one that said XXXXXXX/YYYYY. which I
- immediately recognized as an ALGOL usercode/password string. So
- I tried it...... and was immediately caught (but not before I'd
- made a printout of the program, as mentioned above). When they
- explained to me what the ramifications of having that knowledge
- were, I got real scared.
-
- BTW, the LOOKING-GOOD object file had the security attributes
- "CLASSA-OUT" which meant that *anybody* could read it and print it
- out as I had done. I pointed that fact out to them...... and the
- Dean had a few hard words with the computer center manager. His
- name was Jerry (no, that won't help you guess the password) but he
- was later replaced by a friend whom I had introduced to the B6700
- that year named Ed.
-
- Ed helped me late one night to print out a voluminous system
- logging file that also turned out to have lots of sensitive
- security info in it; we left one copy of the printout on Jerry's
- desk the next morning (Ed took the other, I don't think he ever
- did anything with it) along with instructions that *any* user
- could use to print the same thing out with. We were playful and
- harmless; I gather that a year or so later some guys came along
- that tried to repeat my stunt but with malign intent: they were
- caught, and prosecuted.
-
- I'm revealing all this now because I've finally stopped using that
- password as my own on any system, and because it makes a rather
- interesting challenge as a trivia question. A harmless one, too.
-
- --
- Robert Bickford $apple,pacbell,hplabs,ucbvax!well!rab
- rab@well.sf.ca.us
- "A Hacker is any person who derives joy from
- discovering ways to circumvent limitations."
-
- NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA---NIA
-
- [OTHER WORLD BBS]
-
-
-