| ==Phrack Inc.== | |
| Volume Three, Issue 28, File #11 of 12 | |
| PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN | |
| PWN PWN | |
| PWN P h r a c k W o r l d N e w s PWN | |
| PWN ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ PWN | |
| PWN Issue XXVIII/Part 3 PWN | |
| PWN PWN | |
| PWN October 7, 1989 PWN | |
| PWN PWN | |
| PWN Created, Written, and Edited PWN | |
| PWN by Knight Lightning PWN | |
| PWN PWN | |
| PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN | |
| FCC Orders Radio Station To Stop Phone Pranks August 30, 1989 | |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
| The Federal Communications Commission has slapped Chicago radio | |
| station WLUP-AM (1000) and WLUP-FM (97.9) with a $5000 fine and | |
| threatened to pull their license for illegally broadcasting phone | |
| calls to "unsuspecting individuals." | |
| The FCC specifically cited "willful behavior and repeated | |
| violations of its policy that recipients of phone calls from | |
| radio stations must be informed in advance -- and on the air at | |
| the start of the call -- that they are being broadcast." | |
| In particular, the FCC noted that morning host Jonathon | |
| Brandmeier and mid-day host Kevin Matthews were in frequent | |
| violation of this rule. | |
| Scott G. Ginsberg, president and chief executive officer of | |
| Evergreen Media Corporation, parent company and license holder | |
| for WLUP confirmed that his company had paid the $5000 fine | |
| without protest for illegally broadcasting phone calls. He | |
| compared this punishment to receiving a traffic ticket. | |
| Both Brandmeier and Matthews enjoy harassing people on the phone, | |
| and broadcasting the reaction of their victims over the air. One | |
| of the calls placed by Matthews involved him posing as a police | |
| officer. He called a funeral home and spoke to the widow of a | |
| man who died the day before. He told her that her niece and | |
| nephew, who were scheduled to come to the funeral home later that | |
| day to help with burial arrangements had been arrested. The | |
| widow was not amused. She filed suit against WLUP and Matthews. | |
| Brandmeier likes to harass celebrities by managing to find their | |
| unlisted home phone numbers and call them at 6:30 or 7:00 AM when | |
| his show goes on the air. He also pulls phone scams including | |
| sending unwanted food orders; calling employers to provide | |
| excuses for employees who won't be at work that day, and similar. | |
| Always broadcasting the calls on the air, of course. | |
| But it was the call to the grieving widow at the funeral home | |
| which got the FCC livid. The Commission contacted the station | |
| that day, and an Enforcement Officer threatened to put the | |
| station off the air that day -- in a matter of minutes when he | |
| could get the order signed. | |
| After some discussion, WLUP was permitted to continue | |
| broadcasting, but a memo was circulated to all employees warning | |
| that effective immediately, any violation of the phone rules | |
| would lead to immediate termination. | |
| But despite this, less than three months later, Brandmeier pulled | |
| another of his obnoxious phone pranks. This time, the FCC gave | |
| him personally a $5000 fine, and told WLUP "either keep those two | |
| under control on the air or you'll get your license yanked." | |
| Now WLUP faces more sanctions, and the probable non-renewal of | |
| its license when it expires December 1, 1989. Afternoon disk | |
| jockey Steve Dahl routinely broadcasts indecent material on his | |
| show. Daily topics of conversation include sadism and masochism, | |
| child molestation, sexual behavior of all sorts, and frequent | |
| slurs of the most vicious kind against gay people. He uses | |
| "street language" to express himself, of course, and has used the | |
| famous "seven words you never say on the radio" more times than | |
| anyone remembers. | |
| The victims of the phone pranks have consulted with their own | |
| attorney as a group, and he in turn is pressing the FCC to shut | |
| down WLUP completely. | |
| Ginsberg says he does not understand why the FCC is picking on | |
| them. He says it must be competing radio stations that would | |
| like to see them off the air, since they are rated number three | |
| in the Chicago area, which certainly says a lot about Chicagoan's | |
| taste in radio entertainment. | |
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | |
| - - - - - - - | |
| Long time Phrack World News readers may have noticed a familiar name in this | |
| article: Steve Dahl. | |
| Depending on how long you have been with us, you may wish to | |
| refer to Phrack World News Issue Five/Part One (in Phrack Inc. | |
| Volume One, Issue Six). There is an article entitled "Mark Tabas | |
| and Karl Marx Busted" and it is dated May 2, 1986. Along with | |
| this article is a short note that explains how an informant | |
| (possibly the son of an agent of the Secret Service or Federal | |
| Bureau of Investigation) was believed to be using the handle of | |
| Jack or Will Bell and had helped the authorities get Tabas and | |
| Marx. It was widely known that he was from the 312 NPA -- | |
| Chicago, Illinois. | |
| In the following issue of Phrack Inc. we have PWN Issue VI/Part 1 | |
| and an article entitled, "Marx and Tabas: The Full Story." This | |
| article further explains how Steve Dahl was busted (for unknown | |
| crimes) in Miami, Florida by the U.S. Secret Service and then | |
| made a deal to help them get Karl Marx and Mark Tabas. | |
| So is the Steve Dahl of WLUP in Chicago the same Steve Dahl from | |
| Chicago that helped the U.S. Secret Service nail Mark Tabas and | |
| Karl Marx? | |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ | |
| Reach Out And Tap Someone Revisited July 30, 1989 | |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
| In Phrack World News Issue XXVI/Part 2 there was an article about | |
| two former employees of Cincinnati Bell (Leonard Gates and Robert | |
| Draise) who claimed they had had engaged in numerous illegal taps | |
| over a 12 year period at the request of their supervisors at | |
| Cincinnati Bell and the Cincinnati Police Department. | |
| Cincinnati Bell filed suit against the two men, Leonard Gates and | |
| Robert | |
| Draise, claiming both were liars out to get even with the company | |
| after they had been fired for other reasons. | |
| "'Taint necessarily so," said a judge who agreed the charges may | |
| have some merit, and permitted the class action suit against | |
| Cincinnati Bell to continue this past week. | |
| The class action suit claims that Cincinnati Bell routinely | |
| invaded the privacy of thousands of people in the area by | |
| secretly tapping their phones at the request of police or FBI | |
| officials over a twelve year period from 1972 - 1984. The taps | |
| were mainly applied against political dissidents during the | |
| Vietnam era, and in more recent years, against persons under | |
| investigation by the United States Attorney in southern Ohio, | |
| without the permission of a court. | |
| Now says the court, depending on the outcome of the class action | |
| suit, the criminal trials of everyone in the past decade in | |
| southern Ohio may have to be re-examined in light of illegal | |
| evidence gained by the United States Attorney, via the FBI, as a | |
| result of the complicity of Cincinnati Bell with that agency, | |
| courtesy of Robert Draise and Leonard Gates. | |
| The testimony this past week got *very messy* at times. Gates | |
| and Draise seem determined to tell every dirty thing they know | |
| about Cincinnati Bell's security department from the dozen years | |
| they worked there. More details as the trial continues. | |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ | |
| The Grim Phreaker Cleared In Phone Scam June 30, 1989 | |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
| by Suzanne Getman (Syracuse Herald Journal) | |
| "We disposed of this on the basis of his | |
| cooperation." | |
| A college student who talked his way into being arrested in April | |
| (by speaking with a chat operator) was cleared of charges against | |
| him this week. Kevin C. Ashford aka The Grim Phreaker, age 22, | |
| was arrested by sheriff's deputies on April 21 a mere five | |
| minutes after using a payphone to speak with an operator on the | |
| Onadaga Community College campus and charged with theft of | |
| services, a misdemeanor. | |
| Ashford admitted placing about 30 calls to a party lines known as | |
| bridges by using phony credit card numbers and extenders. "We | |
| disposed of this on the basis of his cooperation, our problem | |
| with proof, and his completion of 30 hours of community service," | |
| Assistant District Attorney Timothy Keough said. Ashford had | |
| cooperated by assisting and providing information to the | |
| Sheriff's Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and | |
| the Secret Service for more than three weeks. There was no | |
| problem with proof however because Ashford admitted he was guilty | |
| of all of the crimes. | |
| Ashford was arrested in Onadaga Community College campus' Gordon | |
| Student Center on April 21, minutes after he placed a call to a | |
| nationwide party line called Systems 800 International (who | |
| offered to drop charges if they could receive copies of Phrack | |
| Inc. Newsletter from him and if he would work for them trapping | |
| others). Company officials said there is no way to establish the | |
| cost of the fraudulent calls. "Without a dollar amount, we | |
| didn't have proof. Without proof, we couldn't prosecute," Keough | |
| said. | |
| Article Submitted by DarkMage | |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ | |
| Phony IRS Refunds By Computer August 17, 1989 | |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
| By John King (Boston Globe) | |
| "Computer Filer Got $325,000 In Phony Refunds, IRS | |
| claims." | |
| Clever tax preparers are one thing, but a clever bookkeeper who | |
| allegedly pried 325,000 dollars from the Internal Revenue Service | |
| found himself on the wrong side of the law yesterday, August 16. | |
| In what may be the nation's first charge of electronic tax fraud, | |
| IRS special agents yesterday arrested Alan N. Scott of West | |
| Roxbury [a suburb of Boston], saying he claimed 45 fraudulent | |
| income tax refunds for amounts ranging from | |
| 3,000 dollars to 23,000 dollars. | |
| The IRS charges that Scott, age 37, used the service's new | |
| electronic filing system -- open only to tax preparers -- to | |
| submit phony claims with assumed names and Social Security | |
| numbers. In some cases, the names used were of people in prison, | |
| according to Chief Kenneth Claunch, IRS Criminal Investigation | |
| Division. | |
| "The computer age has spawned a new breed of criminal," Claunch | |
| said in a statement. | |
| New in tools, perhaps. As for the basic idea -- filing a false | |
| return in order to snare an unwarranted refund -- that's old hat, | |
| admitted IRS spokeswoman Marti Melecio. | |
| "I can't say that it's a new trick. We've had fraud cases with | |
| paper returns," Melecio said. "The time frame is different, | |
| though. With electronic filings, the returns come back in two or | |
| three weeks." | |
| According to the IRS, Scott received electronic filing status on | |
| January 31. He did this by using a false Social Security number, | |
| and making false statements on his application. However, the IRS | |
| also says Scott electronically filed 10 returns where he used his | |
| own name as a preparer, and these returns appear to be | |
| legitimate. | |
| The scheme was uncovered by a "questionable refund detection | |
| team," at the IRS service center in Andover, Massachusetts. | |
| Also, the IRS credited a tip from an unnamed Boston bank "which | |
| reported a suspicious electronic transfer of funds to an | |
| individual," presumably Scott. | |
| If convicted, Scott faces a possible prison sentence and up to | |
| 250,000 dollars in fines on each of the counts of fraud. | |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ | |
| Paris Computer Takes Law Into Its Own Hands September 6, 1989 | |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
| >From The Guardian | |
| A crusading computer has taken the law into its own hands and | |
| caught 41,000 Parisians on charges of murder, extortion, | |
| prostitution, drug trafficking and other serious crimes. But the | |
| big round-up ended in embarrassment after an admission by the | |
| City Hall yesterday that the electronic "Batman" could not | |
| tell the difference between a parking offense and gang warfare. | |
| "The accused persons will be receiving letters of apology," an | |
| official at the City Hall Treasury department said. "Instead of | |
| receiving summons on criminal charges, they should have been sent | |
| reminders of unpaid motoring fines in April. Somehow the | |
| standard codes we use for automatically issued reminders got | |
| mixed up." | |
| The first hint of the avenging computer's self-appointed mission | |
| to clean up the capital came at the weekend. Hundreds of | |
| Parisians received printed letters accusing them of big crimes, | |
| but demanding only petty fines for the major crimes of between | |
| $50 and $150 (pounds - UK equivalent). "About 41,000 people are | |
| involved and some of the charges are quite weird," the official | |
| admitted. "One man has complained of being accused of dealing in | |
| illegal veterinary products. Unfortunately, other accusations | |
| went much further, like man-slaughter through the administration | |
| of dangerous drugs." "There were a lot of cases of living off | |
| immoral earnings, racketeering and murder." The official said an | |
| inquiry had been started to see if the caped computer had a human | |
| accomplice. So far, no one has asked the Joker if he was in | |
| Paris last week. | |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ | |
| Chalisti Magazine by the Chaos Computer Club | |
| August 20, 1989 | |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
| In the future, there will be an electronic magazine, published | |
| by, and concerning the Chaos Computer Club. It is called | |
| Chalisti and the name is derived from "Kalisti," the Goddess of | |
| Chaos and will, hopefully, stand for creative Chaos and not for | |
| chaotic, but, as always only time will tell. | |
| The idea is like this... | |
| Over the different data networks, masses of information flow. On | |
| the Usenet it is about 100 MB/Month, on the CREN (Bitnet + CSNet) | |
| the flow is about the same size. On top of these flows, there is | |
| the information from national networks like Zerberus, BTX and | |
| Geonet. Mostly, a person only gets information from one network | |
| and that is why interesting information on data protection, data | |
| security, alternative uses of computers, environment, university | |
| etc. are being broadcast over only one network. | |
| Information from the networks for the networks, but that is not | |
| all. There should emerge a list of editors, that is spread over | |
| a large area, and works over the nets. Information and and | |
| opinions should be exchanged, but also further contacts will | |
| emerge. | |
| The first edition of Chalisti will presumably be published | |
| mid-September. Because of this, the list of editors is | |
| relatively small, one will publish stuff from the newest | |
| "Datenschleuder", the MIK-magazine and the most interesting | |
| messages from the nets that appear in the following weeks. But | |
| as soon as the 2nd edition will appear, the content will be | |
| different from the "Datenschleuder." | |
| In Chalisti, copy and messages from the nets and other media | |
| (MIK, and others) will be published as well. Articles meant | |
| especially for the Chalisti magazine are requested and these | |
| articles will be published with the highest priority. | |
| The magazine will be no bigger than 100 KB/Month. In case of | |
| doubt, articles will be kept for the forthcoming edition or for | |
| the fall in copy in the Summer. But it is also possible, that | |
| too few articles are being sent in, in which case the content | |
| will be spiced with information from DS, the nets and the | |
| MIK-magazine. In this way, a regular emerging of editions is | |
| being secured. | |
| The first edition is due 15th of September. The second at the | |
| end of October. At that date, the holiday will be ended, and a | |
| editorial and informal infrastructure will be built. From then | |
| on, there should be an edition every month. | |
| The editorial part will presumably be done on EARN or CREN. That | |
| bears the advantage that quick reactions on recent messages will | |
| be possible, as well as the possibility to talk it over at | |
| Relay's or Galaxy Meetings, and in this way, an international | |
| medium is available. Writers of articles or editors from other | |
| nets can be contacted, and there shouldn't be no technical | |
| problems in getting the job done. Especially on UUCP and | |
| Zerberus, facilities will be created. | |
| As ways of contacting the Editors, the following Networks are | |
| available: | |
| EARN/CREN - Distribution will be done over CHAMAS (107633@DOLUNI1). | |
| There will be a board for Chalisti, as well as a CUG | |
| for the board of Editors. Contact there will be | |
| 151133@DOLUNI1. Presumably, from the beginning of | |
| October, the userid CHAMAINT@DOLUNI1 will be available. | |
| UUCP/Subnet - Contacting will be possible through chalist@olis, | |
| ccc@mcshh and through ..!tmpmbx!DOLUNI1.bitnet!151133. | |
| UUCP/Dnet - Contacting will be possible through simon@uniol. | |
| Distribution will proceed through this id in | |
| dnet.general. | |
| Zerberus - At this moment: terra@mafia and terra@chaos-hh. From | |
| mid-September on, presumably through chalist@subetha. | |
| BTXNet - Unknown yet. | |
| GeoNet - mbk1:chaos-team. Time will show, whether distribution | |
| of the magazine will be done on GeoNet. | |
| Contacting or distribution through FidoNet and MagicNet has been planned for, | |
| but has to be built first. | |
| Interested people are being asked to use these addresses. For the absolute | |
| uncontactable, there is a Snailmail address as well: | |
| Frank Simon | |
| 12 Kennedy Street | |
| 2900 Oldenburg, FRG (West Germany) | |
| 04411/592607 (Telephone) | |
| Greets | |
| Terra | |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ | |
| Computer-Based Airline Ticket Scam August 14, 1989 | |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
| Taken from the Los Angeles Times | |
| Phoenix police arrested four people as they continued to unravel | |
| a bogus airline ticket ring that allegedly sold millions of | |
| dollars of stolen tickets by advertising discounted fares in | |
| national publications. Investigators said the individuals put | |
| together a major conspiracy by knowing how to access airline | |
| computers to put travel itineraries in the computer system. - - | |
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | |
| - - - - - | |
| In the interests of equal access to information for all, I have | |
| decided to include some of the supposed deep secrets of how to | |
| access airline computers and inset travel itineraries. | |
| This can be done from virtually any telephone nationwide | |
| (including a rotary dial telephone). This can of course also be | |
| done from a public payphone if you should decide to make sure | |
| your identity is anonymous. | |
| It is necessary to determine the phone number for an airline's | |
| computer. All you have to do is call 1-800 directory assistance | |
| (1-800-555-1212). Ask for Ozark Airlines reservations (a no | |
| longer existent company that was purchased by Trans World Airways | |
| [TWA] used here only as an example). The operators on duty will | |
| read you a number, 800-PRE-SUFF. | |
| Call this number and you will be connected with the Ozark | |
| Airlines reservation office. Here they will have a database | |
| which stores all of Ozark's itineraries. Simply state the date, | |
| flight number, departure and destination cities, and passenger | |
| name. It's that easy! You can later dial the same access number | |
| and cancel or modify your itineraries. The system even includes | |
| search functions if you don't know the flight number, and an | |
| extensive help system (just say "How do I make a reservation?"). | |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ | |
| Fighting Back Against Junk Calls September 4, 1989 | |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "We are not Pavlov's dogs and | |
| should not have to jump everytime a bell rings." | |
| And if we do hop to the phone on demand, we ought to be paid for | |
| it, says Bulmash, president of Private Citizen, Inc., a | |
| Warrenville, IL organization designed to prevent what Bulmash | |
| describes as "junk calls" from telemarketers. | |
| We deserve at least a C-note -- $100, he says. | |
| Twice a year, Bulmash, age 43, a paralegal by trade, mails a | |
| directory of people who don't wish to have telephone solicitors | |
| call them to 600 telemarketing firms. Along with the | |
| directories, he sends a contract which states that the people | |
| listed will listen to the solicitors only in exchange for $100. | |
| If the solicitors call, the contract says, the telemarketing | |
| company owes the listener $100. It's for "use of private | |
| property -- the phone, your ear, your time," says Bulmash. | |
| Subscribers, now numbering about 1000, pay $15 per year to be | |
| listed in the | |
| Private Citizen directory. | |
| While Bulmash doesn't guarantee you won't be called, he does | |
| offer some success stories. He says subscribers have collected | |
| anywhere from $5 - $92 from telemarketing companies. He offers a | |
| money-back deal for those subscribers not completely satisfied. | |
| He says only one person has taken him up on it. | |
| "You can tell those companies 500 times over the phone not to | |
| call and they won't listen," Bulmash says. "But when you | |
| threaten them with charging them for your time, that gets their | |
| attention." | |
| Bulmash, who began Private Citizen in May, 1988, says | |
| telemarketers have the attitude of "we're big business, so you | |
| just hang up the phone if you don't like us. I say we have a | |
| right to be left alone in the first place, at least in our | |
| homes." Typically, a telemarketing call to a home has less than | |
| a 3 percent success rate, he said, with the other 97 percent of | |
| us -- and we know who we are -- being unnecessarily | |
| inconvenienced. | |
| Bulmash says he has testified before Illinois and California | |
| state legislative committees and has lobbied state and federal | |
| lawmakers for relief from telemarketers. He teaches the members | |
| of his organization how to bill for their time, and in many | |
| cases, make the charges stick and get payment for "the use of | |
| their time, ear and phone." | |
| For more information on Private Citizen, contact Bulmash at | |
| 312-393-1555. | |
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | |
| Banned in Boston -- Telemarketer Gets Sued! September 14, 1989 | |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
| Alan Schlesinger's stock in trade is suing people. But you might | |
| say his stock is too hot to handle at Merrill Lynch these days. | |
| A Boston lawyer who hates telephone solicitors, Schlesinger sued | |
| Merrill Lynch after the brokerage firm ignored "repeated | |
| requests" to quit calling him with investment proposals. | |
| To Merrill Lynch's surprise, he won an injunction. Indeed, he | |
| sued them twice and won both times. The second time was after an | |
| unwitting broker called him in violation of the court order | |
| prohibiting it. | |
| "This is something that bothers a lot of people, but they don't | |
| have the sense they can do something about it," said Schlesinger, | |
| whose best retort is a tort, it would seem. In the second suit, | |
| the court awarded him $300, for the costs of his prosecution of | |
| the matter and for his time spent on the phone with the brokerage | |
| house's phone room. | |
| "He is using an atom bomb to deal with a gnat," said William | |
| Fitzpatrick, chief lawyer for the Securities Industry | |
| Association, faulting Schlesinger for doing what comes naturally | |
| for an attorney: "Being a lawyer myself, I can only guess he | |
| doesn't have enough brains to just hang up the phone." | |
| ______________________________________________________________________ | |