hacking

	==Phrack Inc.==

	Volume Three, Issue Thirty-Four, File #3 of 11

	-[ P H R A C K XXXIV P R O P H I L E ]-

	-=>[ Presented by Dispater ]<=-

	The Disk Jockey
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	Handle: The Disk Jockey (over 10 years now...)
	Call him: Doug
	Reach him: douglas@netcom.com
	Past handles: None
	Handle origin: Selected it way back in the Apple days, when
	it was hip to have a hardware-related name.
	Date of Birth: 12/29/67
	Age at current date: 23
	Approximate Location: Silicon Valley
	Height: 6'1"
	Weight: 220 lbs.
	Eye color: Green
	Hair Color: Blond/brown
	Education: Cornell, Univ of Michigan, Stanford, and a
	slew of others schools that I had the
	opportunity to attend. What started out as
	a strong belief in law became so jaded that
	I fell back on Comp Sci. Still wake up in
	the middle of the night yelling "NO!, NO!"
	Also have a wallpaper degree in Psychology.
	Computers: First: Apple //. Presently: several. Mac
	IIfx, 386/33, and several others that I can't
	seem to get rid of...

	-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The Story of my Hacking Career
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	I was lucky enough to be able to get my hands on computers early, back in
	the days of the PET and the TRS-80. Although we poke fun at a Trash-80 now, at
	the time I was completely fascinated by it. Remember Newdos/80, LDOS, and
	utilities like SuperZap?

	Things started really rolling after a friend introduced me to the Apple.
	Although I never fell into the stereotype of being a computer "nerd" (don't we
	all like to think that?), compared to the redundancy of normal schoolwork,
	learning about the Apple was a new and unexplored world. Unlike most of the
	other computer "types", I didn't read science fiction, didn't have any social
	problems, and thought looking at girls was more enjoyable than talking about
	hardware. Well, depending on the hardware. (ha-ha!)

	"Cracking" Apple software was of course the next logical step. The 6502
	was a wonderful chip, and easy to learn. Copy-cards and other "hacked"
	hardware was becoming findable and it was getting to the point that the
	only goal was to get your hands on pre-release software. Before I had entered
	the "modem" world, friends had a network of other people across the country and
	traded things by mail.

	Of course the whole world changed when I picked up a 300 baud modem.
	Suddenly there was the communication and knowledge that I had been hungry for.
	People wrote text files on just about everything imaginable. What is the
	president's phone number? How can I call the pope? How can I make lowercase
	on my Apple II? What are the routing numbers for boxing to the Eastern Bloc
	countries?

	Codes were never much of an interest. The systems that ran them, however,
	were quite interesting. As technology advanced, SCCs started using
	sophisticated AI techniques to detect any kind of abnormal usage instantly.
	Codes used to last several months, now they only lasted a few hours. Boxing,
	however, was a little more elegant and was the flashy way to call your friends.

	Even before I had ever heard of boxing or phreaking, I enjoyed the
	benefits of what we now know as a "red box". While in boarding school, I
	noticed that a somewhat broken phone emitted obscenely loud "beeps" when you
	dropped in a quarter. I took a little micro-recorder and recorded myself
	dropping about $5.00 into the phone. When I played this back into the
	telephone, the telco thought I was actually dropping change in the machine! I
	was able to call my girlfriend or whomever and speak for hours. Now most
	payphones mute those tones so they are barely audible, if at all.

	Local user groups were a good place to pick up software, legal and
	otherwise. Remember those damn "CLOAD" magazine tapes for the TRS-80? 80-Micro
	magazine? The early 80's was the time of the hardware hacker - anything
	bizarre you wanted you had to make yourself, since it wasn't available
	otherwise. Now you can call any of a slew of 800 numbers, give them your
	credit card number (!) and have it on your doorstep the next day.

	I think part of the problem of the "new generation" of hackers, phreakers,
	warez kids, etc, is that they never had the experience with low-level stuff and
	actually having to into the hardware to get what they wanted. Their only
	programming experience is coming from school, which gives a shallow and usually
	totally impractical background for the "real world".

	My eventual disgust with the pirate world came when products such as
	"Pirate's Friend" came out, allowing people to sector edit out my name and
	insert theirs. I had spent quite a lot of time trying to find new software,
	and enjoyed the ego stroke of having my name passed around. I had a lot of
	respect for book authors that were plagiarized after that...

	About the industry
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	The computer industry in general is interesting. Working in it, I hope
	I'm justified to speak about it. Getting a job is quite easy, since the
	technology is changing so much, unless it is in something that will be around
	for some time, you can usually pick up a job by just knowing the latest
	developments, the buzzwords, and having good "chemistry". In the valley many
	firms realize that colleges don't really teach you much in the way of practical
	knowledge. At best, they give you the opportunity to try different types of
	machines. It amazes me that HR departments in companies across the country
	won't even look at a resume unless the applicant has a college degree.
	Advanced degrees are a different matter and are usually quite applicable
	towards research, but your usual BA/BS variety? Nah. If you want to make a
	lot of money in this industry, all you need to do is get the reputation as a
	person who "gets things done" and have superior communication skills. You can
	write your ticket after that.

	About legal issues
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	Anyone who has ever read some of my later text files (1986, 1987) knows
	that I had no qualms about the legalities of beating an establishment.
	Although my line of morals was probably beyond where others placed theirs, I
	could always justify to myself damage or loss to an establishment, "beating the
	system", rather than hurting the individual. Although I am pretty right-winged
	in beliefs, I have a great distrust for the policing agencies.

	Various memories
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	Getting a call from my father while at school and being told that Control
	C had called him and relayed the message "Tell Doug the FBI are after The Disk
	Jockey. Get rid of everything and hide." To say I "cleaned house" would have
	been a gross understatement. I knew this was true, I, like many others, had
	just ridden on the false pretense that they would have better things to do then
	come after me. I later saw intelligence reports showing that I had been kept
	track of for some time. I was described as:

	"Involved in some type of student-loan scam through creating fictitious college
	applicants at his school. Very violent temper, ruthless attitude. Breaks
	people's legs for money (TX). Owns a motorcycle and a european sedan. Nasty
	hacker."

	Only a handful of people would know that I had a motorcycle, so it was
	somewhat upsetting that they had this kind of information on me. I later saw
	some of this same information in Michigan Bell Security's records. They also
	had the correct phone number for my place at Cornell, my parents number, and
	even the number of some of my personal non-computer related friends.

	SummerCon in 1987 was a fun experience. I had the opportunity to meet
	many of the people that I communicated with regularly, as well as wonder why
	people thought St. Louis was such a wonderful place. While there were a few
	socially "on-the-fringe" types, I was amazed that most of the other "hackers"
	didn't fit the usual stereotypes. They were just regular guys that had a some
	above average cleverness that allowed them to see the things that others
	couldn't.

	By the time I was 20 years old, I had about $40,000 worth of credit on
	plastic, as well as a $10,000 line of credit for "signature loans" at a local
	bank. The credit system was something that seemed fun to exploit, and it
	doesn't take long to figure out how the "system" works. With that kind of cash
	Aavailable, however, it's tempting to go and buy something outrageous and do
	things that you wouldn't normally do if you had the cash. This country is
	really starting to revolve around credit, and it will be very hard to survive
	if you don't have some form of it. If more people were aware of how the credit
	systems worked, they might be able to present themselves in a better light to
	future creditors. I don't think that credit is a difficult thing to
	understand, I just had an unusual interest in understanding and defeating it.
	Perhaps this is something that my future text files should be about.

	Getting busted
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	On June 27, 1988 at 1:47am, I had just parked my car outside my apartment
	and was walking up to the door when I heard someone say "Doug?" I knew that no
	friend of mine would be visiting at that hour, so I knew my fate before I
	turned around. An FBI agent, State police detective and a local detective were
	walking up to me. "We have a warrant for your arrest." Interestingly, they had
	actually several warrants, since they weren't sure what my name was. I was
	being arrested for 6 counts of "conspiracy to commit fraud". After being
	searched to make sure I wasn't carrying a gun, they asked if they could "go
	into my apartment and talk about things". Although I had completely "cleaned
	house" and had nothing to hide in there, I wasn't about to help out an
	investigation on me. "Ah, I think I had better contact an attorney first."
	"Is there one you can call right now?" "Are you kidding? It's 2:00am!"

	I was handcuffed and had my legs strapped together with a belt and was
	thrown in the back of a car. This was one of those usual government cars that
	you see in the movies with the blackwalls and usual hubcaps. Interestingly
	enough, the armrest of the car hid quite an array of radio equipment. Although
	pretty freaked out, I figured the best thing to do at that point was try to get
	some sleep and call the best attorney money could by in the morning.

	Little did I know where I was being brought. I was driven all the way to
	a small Indiana town (population 5,000) where a 16 year-old Wheatfield Indiana
	boy had made the statement that he and I "agreed to devise a scam". Although
	nothing was ever done, merely planning it created the conspiracy charge.

	I figured that after my arraignment I could post bail and find an
	attorney. I had almost $10k in the bank and could probably find more if I
	needed it. I was sadly mistaken. The next day at my arraignment the charges
	were read and bail was set -- $150,000.00, cash only!

	In a strange turn of events, the FBI decided to totally drop the case
	against me. The federal prosecutor figured it wasn't worth wasting his time
	and they jumped out. However, the Indiana state police were involved in my
	arrest and were angry that the FBI was dropping the case after they had
	invested so much time and money in the case, so they decided to pursue the case
	themselves. There is so much friction between the FBI and state police, that
	the FBI didn't even answer their letters when they tried to request information
	and data files on me.

	Funny. I spent 6 months in a tiny county jail, missing the start and
	first semester of school. I was interrogated constantly. I never told on a
	sole and never made a statement about myself. I sat in jail daily, reading
	books and waiting for my court dates. Although I never expected it, nobody
	ever thanks you when you keep your mouth shut. I can't imagine that many
	people would sit in jail for a long time in order to save their friends.
	Perhaps it's a personal thing, but I always thought that although I doubt
	someone else would do it for me, I would never, ever tell anything on anyone
	else. I would never be responsible for someone else's demise. It took a lot
	of money, and a lot of friday nights of frustration, but I walked away from
	that incident without ever making a statement. It was at a time when my
	"roots" were deepest and I probably could have really turned in a lot of other
	people for my benefit, but it was at a time in my life where I could afford to
	miss some school and the integrity was more important to me. There were a lot
	of decisions that had to be made, and spending time in jail is nothing to be
	proud of, but I never backed down or gave in. It did provide the time for me
	to really re-evaluate who and what I was, and where I was going.

	People I've known
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	Compaq Personal friend for some time now.
	Control C Mostly likely the craziest guy I've ever met.
	Really nice guy.
	Knight Lightning Would call me up in the middle of the night and
	want to discuss philosophical and social issues.
	Kind of guy I would probably get along with outside
	of computers as well.
	Loki Friend since high school. Made a big splash in the
	h/p world, then disappeared from it. He and I (and
	Control C) drove to SummerCon together.
	Shooting Shark Great guy who used to be into calling bridges
	and would yell "Hey, I'm paying for this!" Truly
	one of the only people that I ever knew that didn't
	do anything blatantly illegal. Most of our email
	was over the optimization of crypt. The Mad Alchemist
	Sysop of Lunatic Labs, one of the only boards that
	I feel is worth the telephone call anymore.
	He has given me a lot of slack and runs
	a BBS that picks up some of the most obscure
	information. A sysop that others should be judged
	by.
	Tom Brokaw Personal friend since childhood that stood by me
	through thick and thin, bailing me out of trouble
	time and time again. I can never thank him enough
	for being a true friend.

	BBSs
	~~~
	More than I could mention here. A few more recent notables --

	Atlantis Although run on an Apple, the Lineman had this
	system so slick and customized that it became the
	standard that a lot of the PC based boards were
	created with. It was the first real
	"clearinghouse" for text files.
	Free World II Run by Major Havoc and myself, this was an
	incredibly robust system, and was one of the first
	to be run on a US Robotics HST. Although it was
	primarily a discussion board, the file areas
	offered some of the best files -- virtually no
	games, but about every real utility and the like.

	Metal AE 201-879-6668 - this was a true blue AE line that
	was around for like 5 or 6 years and was ALWAYS busy.
	Had all of the original cDc and other bizarre text
	files, occasionally some new Apple warez.

	Lunatic Labs Still up and still great.

	Metal Shop Private Perhaps one of the best boards of all time.
	Run by Taran King and had a healthy, yet
	secure userlog. It was a closed system, the
	only way to get on was to know somebody.
	Everyone on the system knew each other in
	some sense.

	World of Cryton One of the first boards to have a "philter" and to
	really push the messages as far as codes, accounts,
	card numbers, etc. This was also the demise, along
	with many of the 414 hackers.

	Misc
	~~~

	2600 Magazine How could I not like a magazine that published
	articles I wrote? This really is a great magazine
	and anyone who is interested in computers, privacy,
	or cyber-issues in general should subscribe.

	Fame...? Was in the movie "Hoosiers" (thanks for bringing
	that up, Shark!), even though I'm not a basketball
	fan. Met Dennis Hopper, etc. Went to school with
	a lot of famous people's kids. Most have some
	pretty serious problems. Be glad you are who you
	are.

	Marriage...? I'm single and will do everything I can to stay
	that way. When people ask me about getting married
	I tell them that the idea of car payments scare me.
	I enjoy having girlfriends, but I've become too
	independent. I still run around at bars until
	sometimes 3:00am or so, but still manage to spend
	about 50 or 60 hours a week at work. Even if I cut
	out the bar scene, I wouldn't have much time to
	spend with someone else on a daily basis.

	Advice If you ever get into doing illegal things, make
	sure you do them by yourself. Your chances of
	getting caught when you do things solo and resist
	the temptation to "brag" about them is minimal.
	When someone else knows about what you have done,
	it doesn't matter how good of a friend they are.
	If they get into trouble, you are going to the
	sacrificial lamb when it comes to negotiating their
	freedom. Even the strongest willed individuals
	seem to crumble when questioned by police.
	Groups are bad news. There are very little
	advantages to being in a group and all it does is
	increase your personal risk by multitudes.
	Cracking groups aren't nearly as dangerous, but
	they DO bring boards down. Look to the fate of
	groups such as LOD for examples of group fate. Lex
	Luthor, perhaps one of the most elusive and private
	hackers of all time was the one to bring down the
	rest of the group. This was tough for me, as many
	of the members were people I talked with and could
	really feel for.

	Don't get discouraged in life if you feel that you
	are behind the rest because you don't come from a
	rich family or have the best equipment. I left
	home when I was 17 years old, keeping only minimal
	contact with my parents since then and lived life
	pretty well, using my abilities to "smooth talk"
	and pure enthusiasm to walk into about any job.
	Don't put people down -- everyone has something to
	teach you, even the bum on the street might be able
	to tell you how to make some free phone calls!
	There is a wealth of information to be found via
	Usenet, text files, or even your school or public
	library. Stay informed and well read.

	Email I always enjoy hearing from people. Reach me via
	the Internet at douglas@netcom.com, or on Lunatic
	Labs BBS.

	________________________________________________________________________________