The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998

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####################################### # # # # # ======== =\ = ====== # # == = \ = = # # == = \ = ====== # # == = \ = = # # == = \= ====== # # # # # # <Tolmes News Service> # # ''''''''''''''''''''' # # # # # # > Written by Dr. Hugo P. Tolmes < # # # # # ####################################### Issue Number: 16 Release Date: December 23, 1987 This first article comes from the December issue of Popular Communications (actually it's an editorial). $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ TITLE: The Celling of America FROM: Popular Communications DATE: December 1987 The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) has been on the books for several months now and (as many folks expected) hasn't crimped anybody's monitoring activities because it it mostly unenforcable. It seems that there aren't any federal agencies particularly interesting in doing so. As previously analyzed, it was primarily a bit of window dressing fluf high pressured into existance by the cellular (CMT) industry in order to mislead cellular customers into thinking that CMT calls are assured of privacy by federal law. Still, what the law threatens for the future is unpleasant to think about. The CMT industry, flushed with success at learning how easy it was to dazzle our Congressional representatives with their baloney, has been attempting to extend the ECPA to ban the sale and manufacture of equipment that is capable of receiving CMT frequencies. Regency Electronics has been attempting to defuse those efforts by suggesting that equipment should still be made available for receiving those frequencies, but would carry a label stating that the ECPA forbids monitoring of certain frequencies. Radio Shack, as widely noted, brough out their sensational PRO-2004 scanner minus the set's originally announced coverage of the 870 to 890 MHz CMT band. PRO-2004 owners have been able to easily restore those frequencies with a very simple modification (explained in our August issue). Reader Robin D. Colles of Battle Creek, MI was the first of several POP'-COMM readers to write to us saying that their newly-purchased PRO-2004's made it into factory sealed cartons with the CMT frequencies fully intact! Ed Jones, WB2DVL, of Somerset, NJ is a POP'COMM reader who regulary writes to politicians and industry leaders concerning relevant matters. A recent letter Jones received from an executive within the CMT industry provides one of the most interesting and informative insights yet obtained on industry attitudes and plans concering support for the ECPA, CMT privacy, etc. For starters, I raked for expressing outspoken anti-ECPA sentiments, stating "an editor with strong feelings on an issue has the advantage of a substantial private forum, and... complete control of printing opposing views." They added, "We find that it seldom paysys his ink by the barrel, even a nice guy and respected editor like Tom Kneitel." Curiously, they were complaining that I wouldn't print opposing views, then they said that it's not their policy to even bother offering opposing views. Figure that out! Strange, too, was their perception that I had "strong feelings" about the ECPA, because the CMT man followed that observation with the thought that maybe, down deep, I actually supported the ECPA because it's "hard to believe anyone would lobby for folks to listen in on his private or business phone calls or conversations with his wife or girlfriend...no matter how interesting those calls might be." The cynical inference that I expressed insincere opinions to appease my readers was, until now, about the only venal sin which I hadn't thus far been accused in my career. And anybody who wants to monitor my CMT calls is more than welcome to do so. The only conversations duller than my business calls are those to my wife an whatever girlfriends this fellow suspects I have. Furthermore, for the 25+ years I was writing prior to the development of CMT's, I always loudly advocated unrestricted monitoring access to all communications frequencies. The CMT industry man then went on to tell Jones how "it's frightening that the government might close down the airwaves," a concept that this fellow didn't endorse. Actually, he went so far as to note that his company "will lobby long and loudly for open airways in virtually all other services." The word "virtually" here does leave open the door for future modification of this policy. With scanners in the millions in the hands of the public for about twenty years now, it's difficult to think that any airwaves, at this point, could effectively be "closed down." Insofar as CMT's go, the industry memeber said that he considers "cellular phone service a unique case... The very technology of which makes cellular radio so appealing, makes it function almost exactly your home or office phone. That similarity creates an illusion that expectation of privacy found in no other radio service." This statement provides, in a nutshell, an international insight into the philosophies of the CMT industry. In view of the availiability of voice scramblers, it's hard to see how anybody can continue to insist that assuring the privacy of CMT calls becomes the responsibility of persons other than those using the CMT devices. Why should CMT users be so "unique" that they are entitled to more communications privacy than taxi drivers, tow truck operators, boaters, pizza delivery vans, Hams, CB'ers, or anybody else using two-way radio? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ NOTA: The article has been edited but the major points concerning listening in on cellular phone calls has been printed. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ TITLE: Tales That Just Do Not Compute FROM: The Chicago Tribune DATE: November 24, 1987 The story has many variation attributed to a computer user who is a friend of a friend, but "user friendly" has nothing to do with it. Quite the opposite. As the computer operator works, the Cookie Monster suddenly appears on his screen, with a message: "Gimme Cookie," "Want Cookie" or "Me Want Cookie." If the operator fials to respond by typing "cookie," the monster destroys his work. Jan Harold Brunvand, University of Utah professor of folklore and author of three books about urban legends- "The Mexican Pet" is the latest -has three computers and a raft of legends to go with them. In an alternate version, Richard Nixon pops up on the screen, with the message "Want Pardon." The operator types "pardon"- or else. Computer legends, Brunvand said the other day, speak to the operator's worst fear: that he'll lose all his data- programs, valuable records, everything. Killer programs are said to enter computers when hackers "download"- or take into their own computers -programs offered over telephone lines. The most fearsome is called the Trojan Horse, contained in a "utility" program, one that ostensibly organizes or catalogues existing programs or otherwise helps in managing stored data. When the hacker downloads the utility, instead of assisting him, a "secret, undetectable, unremovable program" eats away at his files, destroying them. "I think there probably have been some programs like that cooked up," Brunvand said, "but I can find no evidence that it's actually been done, and isn't as though it couldn't be detected and destroyed." Not all computer myths entail disaster: "The 5 Yard Penalty," for example. "Without warning," Brunvand said, "a message appears on the screen: 'You've just been penalized 5 yards,' and suddenly your printer comes to life and five yards of blank paper comes rolling out. "Yeah, I think you could hide a program like that somewhere. But again, it's not the end of the world. As soon as it happened, you could just go in and take the program out." Clarence Petersen $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ I'm sure we've all heard of programs like these. For more information on Trojan Horses, see earlier issues of Tolmes News Service (TNS). $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ In TNS #12, I presented an article on Blue Boxes. The article came out of Radio Electronics. I'd now like to take the opportunity to print some things out of the following issue. These are letters to the editor. The letters deal with the article on Blue Boxes. -For The Information on The Earlier Article See TNS Issue #12 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - * BLUE BOXES * Having just read Herb Friedman's article, "The Blue Box and Ma Bell," (Radio-Electronics, November 1987) I am convinced that he knows very little about Automatic Message Accounting (AMA) in particular, and the phone company's use of it in general. For instance, customer billing tf electromechanical meters has been used since the turn of the century. The photographing of the meters started in the early 1920's. AMA came into being in 1948, as a natural adjunct to a new telephone switching system, namely Number Five Crossbar. (Number One Crossbar used the meters for billing at the time, as did other types of switching systems.) Thus, the introduction of AMA was evolutionary- not a direct result of customer complaints. The AMA system was not designed to record the details of local calls. It simply recorded the number of message units for message-rate subscribers, exactly as the electromechanical meters did. Flat-rate calls were by far the most numberous, and they didn't need to be recorded since there was no charge associated with them. (Subscribers served by AMA could have their billing complaints by being connected to a special circuit that forced the AMA to record local-call details.) Knowing that, it seems that Ma Bell was telling the truth when she said there was no detailed record on local calls. One AMA billing center handled the output of scores of AMA offices on a three-shift basis using electromechanical computers. To imply that sorting through millions of call records to trace criminal or obscene calls was a simple task shows a lack of familiarity with the system. Besides, most obscene calls are of local origin, and no record is generated. Finally, the mention of service observing and the reference to Senator Dodd had nothing to do with the Blue-Box story. It was Senator Long of Missouri who conducted the investigation to which the article referred. Ma Bell had many types of switching equipment and a variety of crossbar switching types. I have never seen detailed instructions or even a so-called manual. (Switching offices were described in documents known as "Bell System Practices.") RICHARD R. PLUM Bell Communications Research Red Bank, NJ 07701-7020 <I will now print Herb Friedman's Reply -Hugo> The manual shown in Fig. 1 of the article is a Bell manual, and it details the AMA billing procedures- including detailed local calls. The Number Five Crossbar manual had the circuit and recommended monitoring procedure for operators. In the New York area, at least, the local office had the AMA. It wasn't handled by just one billing center. Senator Dodd handled the investigation of the Westchester County Fire Department telephone delay, at which subscriber monitoring was first mentioned in the media. -Herb Friedman - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - * FREEDOM OF PRESS * Thank you very much for your October 1987 cover story, "Build This Laser Listener." I strongly disagree with Mr. Mim's criticisms (Letters, November 1987.) The people have a right to know everything. Crooks have access to the information, so nothing is lost- and much is gained -by letting the rest of us know also. We gain the awareness of the existance of those devices, and how they are designed. Design details are critical because theow the device is used, how it looks, and what its capabilities and limitations are. It's refreshing to know that 200 years after the signing of out Constitution, you can still find freedom of the press alive and well in publications such as Radio-Electronics. You also provide an important service by helping to keep electronics a rewarding and fascinating profession and hobby, and by keeping the public informed about new technologies, products, and techniques. With the ever-increasing technological competition world-wide, and the slippage of our educational system, you do a tremendous service to our country. I also found "The Blue Box and Ma Bell" (Radio-Electronics November 1987) to be well-written and most informative. However, it has one glaring mistake- the Red Box, also described in the article, is the Black Box. The Red Box was used to generate tones that emulated those made by coins deposited in payphones to place free payphone calls. I would have like to see a little on Captain Crunch and others who "pioneered" boxing; more explanation on the effects of ESS, automatic tone monitoring and computerized billing on boxing; and at least a tabulation the many other phone color boxes. JOHN J. WILLIAMS Alamogordo, NM $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Tolmes News Service (TNS) Issue #12 pointed out many of the errors in Herb Friedman's article. Mr. Plum and Mr. Williams (who runs ConsumerTronics) have helped to point out some of these errors. The mistake of calling a Black Box a Red Box was the most obvious one. One other error that hasn't been pointed out by anyone is the mistake of calling the 2600hz key a Key Pulse. For the entire article, see Tolmes News Service Issue #12. Thank you. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ******************* *TNS Quick /\/otes* ******************* TNS QuickNotes: /////////////// I'd like to announce that when there's space, I'll be making this section "TNS QuickNotes" a filler. I've come across a number of small news items lately and I'll be reporting them in this section. This will always occur at the end of an issue (but not every issue). All of the TNS Issues are availiable at these two bulletin boards: Executive Inn...................(915) 581-5145 Pirate-80.......................(304) 744-2253 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$