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Activist Times Inc. Issue 061
ATI STAFF MEMBER ARRESTED!!! DETAILS FOLLOW.
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. 61.
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Issue #61 September-30-1992
U.S. Mail: Our Usenet newsgroup: alt.society.ati
ATI
PO Box 2501
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
U.S.A.
Our net address: gzero@tronsbox.xei.com
ATI's Insane Staff:
Ground Zero - publisher, editor, writer
Prime Anarchist - editor, writer
Media Assassin - crass columnist
Geraldo Riviera - sleazy news columnist
Writing/Research Staff: The Happy Hacker, Fah-Q, MAC???, Justin Case,
and other occasional contributors
Hey, d00dz! Welcome to ATI61.
Welp, we don't have the New World Order article ready yet. There's
too much to research - but this will result in a better article once
it's done. So, watch for it. Hopefully it will be in the next issue,
and hopefully that will be soon!
ATI has a ****new FTP site!**** Read on for info on that!
In the interest of morality, decency, and family values, ATI staff
member Happy Harry Hardon has changed his handle back to The Happy Hacker.
And we have a new staff member. Justin Case. We now proudly add him
to our staff list. This issue contains his first feature article - about his
arrest in NYC.
. . . . . . . . . .
LETTERS!!!
Write to us. We won't publish your email address, etc. Just
what you say..
LETTER #1:
I have a novel suggestion: post new issues of ATI to newsgroup alt.society.ati!
I saw those two reruns of old issues, but nothing since then.
Also, explain how rejecting Christopher Columbus is rejecting what America is
About. Columbus was in it for himself. He was convinced that he would find
riches beyond beleif in the orient, where he thought he was headed. Everyone
knew the world was round; he thought it was smaller than it is.
Columbus first landed on the island of San Salvador, not to be confused with
the country, El Salvador. Both are named after Our Saviour, an idea he
and other explorers were very much into.
(Ok - what I was referring to is this anti-Columbus rhetoric that has
been going around, especially this year since it is the 500th anniversary
of his discovery. I don't think all the anti-Columbus hubub is productive.
It's too late, we're here. I just think it's a non-issue and people should
focus on the actual problems of today. -GZ)
LETTER #2:
I was reading a back issue of ATI and ran across an article about
cops busting somebody for just because of suspicion. Well I got a
story for you guys:
See I live in the States now but I'm from Tokyo. Last winter when I
was going home for christmas I was stopped by US.Customs at Chicago's
Ohare airport. Now I understand that an asian in a black suit with
long hair looks suspicious. But what really made me mad is the fact
that they stopped me in the gateway to the plane. I was stopped by an
officer at two feet from the plane. He asked me to open my attache
case and read a statement that said if I had a shit load of cash or
something illegal I would be busted.....So I opened my case which had
nothing else than a shit load of floppy disks which I use for my
work.(I'm a computer consultant for a company in Japan.) Then the
officer asked me why I had so many disks and I told him that it was
my job. He looked at me and said "alright I'll let you go this
time. Enjoy your trip." WHAT THE FUCK IS HE TALKING ABOUT! MY TRIP WAS
MISERABLE AFTER THIS INCIDENT. ALL THE OTHER PASSENGERS STARED AT ME
LIKE I WAS A MOBSTER. EVEN THE FLIGHT ATTENDANTS LOOKED AT ME LIKE I
WAS A CRIMINAL!!!!!!!11
Anyway that's the story . I'm recovered from the emotional crash I
had. But I thought I'll let you guys now.
Thanx.
(Wow. You had quite an ordeal at the hands of the k0pz. What
right did that k0p have to say "I'll let you go this time" as if you had
done someting wrong? That remark was totally un-called for, since he
found no evidence that you were a criminal. Read on for another
shocking story of law enforcement excesses! -GZ)
LETTER #3:
I run this bbs (nEON fOREST), so if someone from Finland needs
to get ATI tell them to email Mail-Server@nforest.pulp.nullnet.fi or email me
or call 981-515337 (22-06 GMT +2 only, 2400 bps). I have ATI #1-60 (except #9,
could u please email it to me if it exists?) available on my board.
cu & keep up the good work!
(Thanks! Also try this great BBS:
Holiday Inn, Cambodia: (510)689-8893
And read below for an explanation of "Issue #9"!! -GZ)
--------> the story on issue #9 -------->
Here's the deal on what happened to issue #9. At the time,
Prime Anarchist was running ATI. Prime put together a few issues all in
one night, and uploaded them to various BBSs. But, he did the issues on
his friend Cygnus' Amiga, and good ol' Cygnus deleted issue #9 by mistake!
By that time, it was too late to renumber the other issues, so ATI
just forged ahead and left issue #9 in that cybernetic void Cygnus consigned
it to.
That's the story!
---------> the story on Cygnus -------->
After suffering extreme torture for deleting issue #9, Cygnus
put up a BBS, which became pretty popular. Some of you have been asking
about his BBS. Well, he has to get the phone line for it re-installed,
and he will then put the board back up. We'll let you know when it's up!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PRIME ANARCHIST UPDATE! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Special Bulletin!!1!!@
We told you that Prime Anarchist was on a peace walk with Indians
to arrive in Washington DC around Columbus Day. The peace walk received
media coverage from all three networks, and other media. Prime was filmed
by all three networks, including NBC, who filmed him in front of the
Omaha, Nebraska military recruiting center.
Well, Prime arrived in DC a few days ago ahead of the peace walk to
begin the "Peoples' Fast for Justice and Peace in the Americas" with Dave
Dellinger, Bryan Wilson, Scott Rutherford and others.
The fasters will be on the east steps on the Capitol from 2-7 pm
every day except Sunday until October 12th. Go visit them. Prime wants
everyone to know about the fast. Prime says:
"We're NOT looking to reach Congress or admin! We wanna reach the
PEOPLE!
"And that feels right!"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Now for an opinion on the computer underground...Feel free to
respond.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Problem of "Widebanding" Information
by Anonymous
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information distribution has always been regarded highly by myself and I
enjoy making information available to others. Doing some research on a
particular subject or overpriced 'out of the hands of the masses' commercial
databases and publishing the results have always been a very rewarding and
worthwhile past-time. I would do research on certian subjects, publish my
findings, or distribute a standard that is very hard to come by, and
everyone would learn something, even myself. Of course, once printed
in a widely known publication, it is then handed to a few hundred security
personnel as well as federal, state, and local law enforcement agents.
I guess you have to look at why we do what we do. Is it to help out
security officials in their $20 - $40,000 a year career, or is it
to have an edge on technical society?
What I am basically getting at is information should be diseminated,
but not in magazines that feed security personel. When The Omega and
White Knight wrote that article on Information America, they did not
write it to notify Information America that they had been compromised
and should promptly look into the matter. But that is exactly what
happened. Not more than a few weeks after the article was widebanded out
over the internet, all access was cut. Now, information we once had access
to is lost, and it will be a hell of a job to get it back.
Widebanding information does not only benifit Governmental bodies, but also
criminal organizations that have no qualms about EXPLOITING these 'advantages'.
For example, it is widely known that some criminal organizations are massively
hacking on the Long Distance companies for calling card numbers. Because of
this exploitation, it brings the heat down on everyone else. Believe me, I
don't particularly use calling cards, I have other ways, or I pay for my calls
from MY home. There are also reports of Red Boxes being massively produced and
distributed, which had gotten Bellcore in a stink and dealing with Red-Box
fraud has been moved up the priority list. This may have gone on for many more
years due to the small amount of activity. But as soon as I see Joe dealer up
the street from me in using a radio shack RedBox on a payphone, it makes me
think how long will this last.
I believe this is what also happened with the blue box. But technical
improvements would have nulled its use as well. Well, not nulled it but made
it detectable. Also with the advance of out-of-band signaling, well.. you
know. That is another topic.
I believe in getting information out to those that want it. But I don't want
to hand feed the Feds our hard worked research on how to get into their
computer systems. This information is going to be very valuable in the NEAR
future. Being able to gain access to large commercial and federal databases
that is out of the reach of the individual is a nobel cause. The current
publishing and distrubting information onto the doorsteps of the fed and state
and local authorities has got to stop.
It wouldn't suprise me if there is a movement in the Fed right now to let the
real hackers alone and focus on the dimwit-codes kiddies. That way, we
continue to feed them info on the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of their
telecommuniations systems, billing computers/software, poor password
protection, all basically, FOR FREE.
One of the basic tactics of system compromization was ignorance on the
part of the system administrator. Then it came down to software
flaws, social engineering (which will continue to work, for a while
anyway). But if we keep feeding them all the info we discover for
personal fame and recognition, we are going to continue to lock
ourselves out of the very places we would like access to. We must
keep this information within the community and out of the hands of the
fed and organized crime. Let them do their own bloody research!
You could also put it this way. Here we are finding all these holes
in security and such, and then publishing it. Then Joe Mama working
for security operations at AT&T is being paid 40Grand a year to read
2600 and plug all the holes we find for free... gee.. we do all the
research and this buttplug just uses the information we provide freely
to get him another raise. Its a tradgedy!
I think you can see my point. Its time to wake up and crawl out of our
little idealogical cocoons. The information markets are deeply rooted into
the ground. Information is one of the hottest commodities. Do you really
think that people are going to just open up their databases for all to
access for free? Or that credit information handling will be shifted from
a commercial firm to the Federal government? Hell no. The buying and
selling of information at competive prices is here to stay. Public libraries
are going to suffer, and become an antiquated system, always second to the
commercial information archives.
Why give information away for free when you can make a buck?
That's the mode of thinking out there,sick but true. There's no fighting the
mighty dollar. One just has to 'work' with and around it. Bend the infra-
structure to your will. I will continue to publish technical articles
pertaining to communications systems in existance today, but, the holes found
will not be widebanded to all. Perhaps to some, and yes, eventually it will
leak out, but I won't be knocking on AT&T's Security Operation's manager's
door with a typed up, all fit for print article on how I just comprimised
their AUTOPLEX network and how you can too.
As it stands, the free flow of information is costing us our access to
otherwise unaccessable information. The continued publishing of ACTUAL
techniques WILL nullify them, maybe not right away, maybe not ever,
but as soon as they are published they are seen by hacker and security groups
world-wide. The Security and Governmental agencies have gotten wind
of this and are exploiting it. The decision on what you feel should be
published in a widely known publication is up to you. Just keep in mind who
is reading it.
Thats the way it is. Plain and simple.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And now, from the "Slices of Life" department, and the "THIS could happen
to YOU!" department, we bring you...
A R R E S T E D !
by Justin Case
In late August 1992, 21 people were arrested in Tompkins Square
Park in New York for "violting the curfew". I was one of them.
-----> Background
Tompkins Square Park was the only (or one of the few) park in Manhattan
that didn't have a curfew, in the past. It became a home to an
increasing large number of homeless people, and a gathering place for
political types, punks, people interested in them, as well as local
people.
The park was closed in 1991 for renovations. It reopened in the week
the aformentioned people were arrested, with a newly imposed midnight
curfew.
All that week, protesters left the park slowly after midnight to protest
the new curfew.
-----> The Incident
I met up with my friend "Tim" and went to the park. As we walked down
Avenue A, we saw a bunch of cops standing around, in riot gear. That
made us slightly nervous.
When we got to the park, people were hanging around talking and some
were playing music. We stood by the ones playing music.
When it got closer to midnight, we saw a huge group of riot cops
assembled in the distance. We couldn't even count them, there were so
many. Also, a group of supervisors made a semicircle around the gathering
of people that were still in the park. We spotted some people that we
thought were civilians standing within the semicircle of cops. I asked one
of the other people in the "gathering" about them, and learned they were
plainclothes cops.
I asked that same person previously how the cops were responding to
people remaining in the park close to the curfew. That person told me
that the cops were just escorting them out of the park.
A Parks Department truck drove by the gathering. They may have been
making an announcement, but those of us standing by the musicians
couldn't hear.
The gathering started to move out of the park, walking towards the
7th. St./Ave. B exit. The musicians were still playing as everyone
walked. I was at the head of the gathering, and was about 10 ft. away
from the exit. That's when it happened.
Suddenly, people started running, and screaming and yelling. A line
of unformed cops completely blocked the exit. Undercover cops were
grabbing people. I couldn't find Tim and thought he may have been able
to get to the fence and jump it.
I turned and saw two plainclothes cops fighting with a man they had
against the fence. Then they pushed him to the ground, still
fighting. It was scary.
I turned and kept looking for Tim. I finally saw him, cuffed and
being led away by a plainclothes cop. The cop asked him, "Is THIS
your friend?" and Tim answered yes.
Another plainclothes cop came over to me and asked the one who had
Tim something like "what about him?" (indicating me) and was told,
"NO! HE'S IN TOO!" At that point, two more cops ran over and the *three*
of them grabbed me and cuffed me. The cops were using these thick plastic
strips instead of handcuffs, which they tied extremely tight around my
wrists. It hurt a lot.
We were taken to the 7th Precinct, which doesn't handle the area where
Tomkins Square Park is located. Apparently they use the special area we
were kept in as a place to bring "political" arrests. We were put in
two holding cells separating men and women.
What happened to most people arrested is that they were initially
arrested by plainclothes cops and passed over to uniformed cops who
brought us to the station.
So by that time, I learned that we could be let go that night, or
"put through the system" which meant being sent to Central Booking and
held 24-72 hours. People who were arrested before or who had weapons or
drugs on them would be sent to Central Booking.
Two separate people told me that there were 60 civilians still in
the park, but that the cops didn't want to bother arresting and processing
all of them. They only arrested 21 people. We were the "lucky" ones.
That's what the plainclothes cop who yelled "he's in too" meant. They
picked the ones they were going to arrest.
I later learned there were 100 riot cops there from a newspaper
article. I observed about 15-20 plainclothes cops, and 20 or more
supervisors.
I heard a few stories about how the cops treated the people who
were arrested. First there's my story of the extremely painful
plastic handcuffs (which also scratched my wrists). A woman told me
that she had an object with two spikes on her keychain and one of the
plainclothes cops took it off her and said "Oh she's a real tough bitch,
isn't she? Let's try these out on her!", but luckily didn't touch her.
A man told me that when the cops started grabbing people he was on one of the
park benches trying to wake up someone sleeping, and a few unformed cops
approached him. They didn't say a word to him, just stuck him in the chest
with a billy club and arrested him. Two men who were riding bicycles at the
time of the arrests were knocked off their bicycles. One of them had a
(previously injured) fingernail that fell off because he was shoved around.
Another man had his messenger bag cut off his shoulder by the cops.
For some reason (which I'll never know) some seargeant (or whatever he
was) took a dislike to me and approcahed me while I was standing by the
door of the holding cell. He got all in my face and told me I was in a
lot of trouble and that I could think about it while I was in Central
Booking and I would get out *Monday morning* (remember, it was Friday
night. This meant 2 1/2 days in jail).
Five minutes later, I was let out.
I was the second one let out. The others were let out soon after that,
one at a time. Two people were sent to Central Booking, one because he
had a (legally available) firecracker on him, which the cops consider to
be 1/2 (or maybe 1/4) stick of dynamite. Except the two sent to Central
Booking, we were given summonses and charged with the "violation of
curfew", a Parks Dept. regulation.
-----> The Court Appearance & Aftermath
We were all given the same date and place for our court appearance.
The well-known attorney William Kunstler sent one of his attorneys, Ron
Kuby to defend us.
Kuby told us he would make a motion that we all be given ACD's, which
is Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal. An ACD means that
if the defendant doensn't get arrested again within the following six months,
the case would be dismissed.
We were all brought up in front of the judge three at a time. The
judge granted us all ACD's. One man had his case dismissed outright
because the summons was done improperly.
I have been to the Tompkins Square area a few times since my arrest.
That area is handled by the 9th Precinct of the NYPD. Almost every
time I've been back in that area, cops have waved to me or pointed at me,
etc. One time, I was at a restaurant sitting with a bunch of people at
some outdoor tables. My back was to the street. Someone at my table told
me to turn around because the cops were looking at me. I turned around
to see two cops in a 9th Precinct car glaring at me. They stared for
a minute, then took off.
That's my story!
GROUND ZERO says:
Hey, I wrote a little ditty about the above story:
While strolling through the park one eve
When I was just about to leave,
I was taken by surprise
By 100 riot cops
While strolling through the park one eve!
Ok, so it doesn't completely rhyme. Sue me.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Partnership for a Free America July 24, 1992
Contact: Sameer Parekh 708-362-9659 For immediate release
LIBERTYVILLE HIGH SCHOOL GROUP TO WORK FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES
LIBERTYVILLE - A group of Libertyville High School students have formed
an organization in the Libertyville area to protect the civil liberties
of the people in the high school and community. The group, known as the
Partnership for a Free America, will educate the people about their
rights, provide a support resource for those people whose rights have
been violated, and abolish laws which the Partnership feels violate the
people's rights.
In order to protect the civil liberties of the people in the
community properly, the Partnership believes that it is necessary that
the people learn exactly what their rights are. Because of this, a
major facet of the Partnership's actions will be informing the people
about their rights. RThe government has been violating the peopleUs
rights, and the mass media have been telling them to accept it,S said
Partnership founder Sameer Parekh at the Cafe Kismet in Waukegan on July
24th.
The Partnership will provide a support resource for people who
feel they have been deprived of due process. RWhen the people are
united,S Parekh believes, Rit is more difficult to oppress them.S
The Partnership will also work to abolish the curfew laws in the
area because members believe that the government should not act as the
parents of the people, and that the laws violate the fourteenth
amendment to the Constitution. RThe only people who have a right to set
a childUs curfew are his or her parents. This law is almost as
discriminatory as the Jim Crow laws of the early 20th century,S said
Parekh.
Other laws which the Partnership will work to remove are the
drug laws. This countryUs drug problem, members of the Partnership
believe, is the result of the laws themselves, not because of the drugs.
RThe black market itself causes the Tdrug-relatedU violence and,
according to a study done by The Cato Insitute, 80 percent of
Tdrug-relatedU deaths. A clean, inexpensive, supply available at any
Osco Pharmacy would eliminate these problems,S Parekh said, commenting
upon this aspect of the Partnership's actions.
The Partnership for a Free America qualifies under tax code
section 509(a)(2), and is thus tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3). The
Partnership is working to formalize this status. One-year memberships
are available for $15 to adults and $10 to students. This includes a
subscription to the Partnership's newsletter The Free Journal and a 10%
discount on promotional products. For more information, contact Sameer
Parekh at 708-362-9659.
---------------------------
The Partnership for a Free America
Membership/Mailing List Form
Name_____________________________________________________________________
Address__________________________________________________________________
City________________________________________State______Zip________-______
Phone Number (___) ____- ______ E-mail address___________________________
Membership benefits
* Guaranteed subscription to _The Free Journal_
* Notification of rallies, other action (whether sponsored by the
Partnership or not)
* 10% discount on all sales of promotional products
* Spiffy-looking membership card
* The knowledge that you are doing something to preserve the
country's freedom
* Priority access to the PartnershipUs information archive
(Nonmembers will have access, of course, but members have
priority in the event that copies are unavailable)
Mailing list benefits
* Subscription to _The Free Journal_
* Notification of rallies, etc.
> (Mailing list benefits depend upon the monetary resources of
the Partnership--if the Partnership does not have enough money,
then mailing list benefits will be suspended.)
( ) Mailing list (No fee) ( ) Student membership ($10) ( ) Adult membership
($15)
Sustaining Memberships:
( ) Patron ($25) ( ) Sponsor ($50) ( ) True Freedom Fighter ($100)
Sustaining members will receive recognition in the _Journal_ if they desire.
If you are a sustaining member and would like recognition, please mark here.
RECOGNITION:... (_)
Any additional donations would be welcomed
I enclose....................................................$_______._____
Send to:
The Partnership for a Free America
c/o Sameer Parekh
829 Paddock Lane
Libertyville, IL 60048-3743
Make check or money order payable to "Sameer Parekh"
How, or from whom did you learn about the Partnership for a Free America?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
--
Sameer_Parekh zane@ddsw1.MCS.COM zane@infopls.chi.il.us
PFA related mail to pfa@ddsw1.MCS.COM | Specialization is for insects
Anonymous mail to ap.2363@cupid.sai.com | - Robert A. Heinlein
Thu Jul 30 01:20:45 1992 US Debt: $4,001,820,545,051 Per capita: $15,687
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NEW ARCHIVE SITE!
Yup, ATI has a new ftp site. It's:
ftp.css.itd.umich.edu
That site has a lot of other cool political articles. You can
even submit articles there. So check it out today. The indivdual
running that site also gave us the following info - how to ftp by email,
for those of us who don't have full net access. Read on!
How to get your ftp documents from the site via email
DEC offers a public service of sending ftp documents through
the mail. It takes about a day to process, and is
unforgiving of errors, but it definitely works, and can
easily be used by people without shell access or proper
types of connectivity.
If you want the full instruction sheet, do this:
mail ftpmail@pa.dec.com
subject: <return>
help<ret>
quit<ret>
<end message>
To actually get a document from this site, do this:
mail ftpmail@pa.dec.com
subject: <any--server ignores subject>
reply <your@address.here>
connect ftp.css.itd.umich.edu<ret> <-- assumes anonymous
ascii<ret>
chdir /poli/<directory you want here>
get <filename> <-- you can request up to ten files
quit<ret>
<end message>
To get an index of articles on the site, do this:
mail ftpmail@pa.dec.com
subject: <any>
reply <your@address.here>
connect ftp.css.itd.umich.edu<ret>
ascii<ret>
chdir /poli<ret>
get _index<ret>
quit<ret>
<end message>
That's all. You will get three messages back--one will be a
confirmation of your order. The second will be the
document[s] you requested. The third will be a transcript
of your session. The server will automatically divide all
documents into 50k chunks. If your mail system needs
smaller chunks, obtain the "help" instructions to learn more
commands. NOTE: All documents in /poli are ASCII text.
If you have problems with the service, contact:
ftpmail-request@pa.dec.com, and DO NOT send mail to the DEC
postmaster. And do not send it to me.
Thanks.
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Whew! That was a long issue. Hope you liked it. Watch
for ATI62 s00n! Be k00l!
ATI, changing the way people read for over 4 years.
ATI, a freedom paper.
ATI, a way of life.
ATI, more than just a newspaper, it's the rag read round the world.
