Live on the Web: Kevin Mitnick

[Metgod]

All I can say here.. is glad Mitnick is finally free from probation. It is good to see it, it is good to see he is doing well.

That and I do miss the times where pop up ads weren't an issue on websites. Oh how I miss text...

Any comments ?

Personally, I think what Mitnick did was over exaggerated by far. I can not believe the shit he was dealth because of some of the things he did. Why don't they treat hard core criminals like that ? Rapists, pedophiles...

Met

http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57338,00.html

By Leander Kahney
Jan. 22, 2003

After an absence of eight years, hacker Kevin Mitnick rediscovered the
Web on Tuesday afternoon. He did exactly what everyone does when they
first log on: he vanity surfed, wrestled with browser plug-ins and was
assailed by popup porn ads.

Mitnick, once labeled "the most wanted computer criminal in U.S.  
history," hadn't surfed the Web since 1995, when he was arrested for
breaking into the networks of software and phone companies.

Mitnick served five years in a federal prison for wire fraud, computer
fraud and intercepting communications.

Freed in January 2000, Mitnick's probation forbade him from connecting
to the Internet or sending e-mail, although he was allowed to use
unconnected computers, cell phones and his ham radio under the strict
supervision of his parole officer. Travel and employment were also
scrutinized.

When Mitnick's parole expired at midnight, Jan. 20, he was too busy
partying to surf the Web, so he logged on the following afternoon
during TechTV's live Screen Savers TV show.

The first site Mitnick visited was his girlfriend Darci Wood's weblog,
where their relationship has been documented. "I wanted to see what
she'd said about me," Mitnick said after the show.

Mitnick then visited a series of sites -- the Screen Savers, Slashdot,
Google News, Wired News and The Register, among others -- mostly to
see what others had been writing about him.

The show had invited two aides to help him surf the Web: the legendary
hackers Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, and Emanuel Goldstein,
publisher of the hacker quarterly 2600, a vocal supporter of the
long-running "Free Kevin" campaign.

The second site Mitnick visited -- actor Kevin Spacey's TriggerStreet
(the pair are collaborating on a project) -- required him to download
the Flash plug-in. He responded with a puzzled shoulder shrug, but Woz
and Goldstein helped him out.

Soon after, off-camera, a series of porn popups burst across his
computer screen. "Whoops," Mitnick laughed.

When Mitnick was locked up, the Web was mostly text. Popup ads and
multimedia were nonexistent. The last browser he used was an early
version of Mosaic (which later became Netscape's Navigator).

Mitnick also visited the Joy of Tech, which has cartoons about him;  
the Internet Movie Database, to see his listing for a TV appearance as
CIA agent; 2600 (Free Kevin), Amazon, to check on his book; The Art of
Deception; and his new security company's website, Defensive Thinking.

"I really want to check out online banking," he joked, as a taped
police siren wailed in the background.

"The Internet is like the phone," Mitnick said on-air. "To be without
it is ridiculous. I could not use an electronic toilet without
permission from the U.S. government."

Ironically, The New York Times on Tuesday reported that two federal
appellate courts ruled Internet prohibition was too broad a punishment
for computer criminals. The Internet was as essential as a phone, the
courts said.

"The day I get off," Mitnick said with a shrug.

Mitnick planned to send his first e-mail to Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the
Connecticut Democrat who is running for president. They met last year
when Mitnick was testifying before Congress on computer security
issues. Impressed by Mitnick's performance, Lieberman recommended that
he become a lawyer. But Mitnick said his conviction prohibited it.  
Mitnick plans to ask Lieberman for a pardon if he becomes president so
he can follow his advice.

Before his arrest, Mitnick led the FBI on an intensive three-year
manhunt. During his trial, Mitnick was portrayed as a "computer
terrorist" and accused of causing tens of millions of dollars in
damage to computer networks.

Mitnick said he was so demonized, authorities held him for 4-1/2 years
without a trial or bail hearing. Eight of those months were spent in
solitary confinement.

He spent five years in jail for what he claims was essentially
harmless hacking for educational purposes. He said he was denied
access to a pay phone in prison, because prosecutors argued he might
launch a nuclear strike by whistling into the handset.

Mitnick claims he never deleted files, crashed computers or stole
money, although he had plenty of opportunity to do so.

Mitnick's parole prevented him from using most electronic gadgets, or
even connecting to the Internet through a third party. He worried that
booking a flight over the phone, which required an agent to log onto
the Net, might send him back to jail.

Mitnick was delighted he no longer had to be extremely cautious about
everything he did. "It's a relief," he said. "It's a tremendous
relief."

Offstage, Woznial decried the government's over-zealous prosecution of
Mitnick.

"He didn't do anything that was completely disastrous," Wozniak said.  
"He didn't destroy any files or steal any money. He was punished so
severely, so unusually, for things he hadn't done, it gave hacking, an
innocent activity, a bad name."

Woz, a legendary hacker who built blue boxes -- telephone hacking
devices -- with Steve Jobs before the pair launched Apple, presented
Mitnick with a brand-new Titanium PowerBook as a parole graduation
present.

Woz actually bought Mitnick two PowerBooks. The first one he lent to a
friend in hospital, but hadn't yet gotten it back.

[Zerored]

its going to be intresting to see what he does from this point on...considering authorities are soo paranoid.

[Metgod]

paranoid.. nah.. blind, stupid, ignorant, and just being the government themselves.. that last one alone says a lot.


Met

[Zerored]

hehehe

[Vector186]

heh, the reason we scar them so much is were unseen and faceless and we can see how many skeletons are in their closets. just my to cents