telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) (06/07/90)
I have been deliberating holding messages on Kapor and the cracker
situation which have arrived this week. Thursday evening there will be
at least two special issues devoted to this topic, and I will be
picking several messages to include. I was going to have one special
issue, and that would have accomodated only a few letters. A second
issue will allow me to include a couple lengthy replies. Because the
topic is starting to stray far away from telecom and into areas of the
law and computer security, etc, this will be the last batch I can
print. Several of these items Thursday night will be replies to me,
which is the main reason I am running them ... and I won't even be
able to include all of them, so heavy is the flow.
Late Tuesday night, David Tamkin and I had a chance to speak at length
with someone close to the scene involving Len Rose. Some things were
off the record, at the request of Mr. Rose's attorney, and I agreed
to honor that request.
Apparently the Secret Service seized *every single electronic item* in
his household -- not just his computers. I am told they even took away
a box containing his Army medals, some family pictures, and similar.
It is my understanding his attorney has filed a motion in court to
force the Secret Service to return at least *some* of his computer
equipment, since without any of it, he is unable to work for any of
his clients at all without at least one modem and computer.
I am told the Secret Service broke down some doors to a storage area
in the basement rather than simply have him unlock the area with a
key. I am told further that he was advised he could pick up his fax
machine (which had been seized, along with boxes and boxes of
technical books, etc), but that when he did so, he was instead
arrested and held for several hours in the County Jail there.
Mr. Rose believes he will be found innocent of charges (rephrased)
that he was the 'leader of the Legion of Doom', and that he had broken
into 'numerous computers over the years'.
I invited Mr. Rose and/or his attorney to issue a detailed statement
to the Digest, and promised that upon receipt it would be run
promptly. I don't think such a statement will be coming any time soon
since his attorney has pretty much ordered him to be silent on the
matter until the trial.
If the things he says about the Secret Service raid on his home are
detirmined to be factual, then combined with complaints of the same
nature where Steve Jackson Games is concerned I would have to say it
seems to me the Secret Service might have been a bit less zealous.
The revelations in the weeks and months ahead should be very
interesting. One of the items I will include in the special issues on
Thursday night is the report which appeared in the {Baltimore
Sun} last weekend. This case seems to get more complicated every day.
PT