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Line Noiz Issue 05
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I S S U E - % D E C E M B E R 2 0 , 1 9 9 3
: File !
: Intro to Issue 4
: Billy Biggs <ae687@freenet.carleton.ca>
: File @
: Zine Review: Inquisitor
: Billy Biggs <ae687@freenet.carleton.ca>
: File #
: First Nation in Cyberspace: the Time magazine article and the Internet
: Billy Biggs <ae687@freenet.carleton.ca>
: File $
: Hacking your way in *NIX systems
: Silicon Johnny <anonymous>
: File %
: Science Fiction: Third Floor Garden of Eden
: Andrew Mays <maysa@knuth.mtsu.edu>
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File - !
Merry Christmas!!!!!!
Welcome to Line-Noiz Issue 5. I'm sorry this took so long to get out, but
I hit a wall without any articles. I would like to see more opinion articles.
If you want to write a column, or just one article, send it to me.
Please mail me if you don't like something in this issue.
Merry Christmas!!!!!!
Subscriptions can be obtained by sending mail to:
dodger@fubar.bk.psu.edu
With the words:
Subscription LineNoiz <your address>
In the body of the letter.
Back Issues can be recieved by sending mail to the same address with the
words BACK ISSUES in the subject.
--Da editor nerd, Billy Biggs
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File @
Z I N E R E V I E W
i n q u i s i t o r modus
------------------- informata
extrahere
T E C H * A R T * C U L T U R E
Gee, interesting cover. $5?? Pretty steep. Volume 1, Issue 1,
hmmm, what's in it??
"
Table of Contents:
3 data, errata informata, etcetera
vast resevoirs of unnecessary knowledge
4 editorial
the last word goes to the vermin
5 new york diary
real-life trauma
6 the tracts of my peers
i gotta hand it to ya...
8 apocalypso
the dance of death
16 iconography
oh my godzilla
18 networker
media-hyper-cyber-spiel
32 horrorscope
can you bear your fate?
"
"The Inquisitor is produced 100% electronically on a Macintosh
IIfx computer. Typefaces include the Sabon, Helvetica Compressed and Univers
families among others, as well as those created specifically for the
Inquisitor. All graphic images are from the public domain or as credited.
Software includes Quark Xpress, Microsoft Word, Adolbe Illustrator,
Typestyler, and Photoshop among others. No X-acto knife, no rubber cement
was used anywhere at any time."
"The Inquisitor does not endorse any eschatology of any religion
or ism, but rather exploits the possibilities of many. The Inquisitor is
concerned with secular armageddon."
My thoughts:
Well, it's pretty interesting. First of all, it's not in colour,
which makes it pretty bland. The format includes few dark lines to separate
articles, making it hard to read. I was personnaly unimpressed by the
articles dealing with religion. They were awfully anti-religious, although
Dany tells me he does not intend to be offensive. "I dont think that it is
irreverant or blasphemous in the sense that I feel a need to actively refute
God or deny God or denigrate God. [...] I was raised in Catholic
schools...my outlook is more one of just tongue in cheek humor. I find the
trappings of the church to be Highly Campy humor wise. [...] People can
decide for themselves who or what to worship, even if i don't worship at
all."
The articles themselves were pretty strange, which is either good
or bad. The article on Appocalypse is a good read if you're into that.
New York diary to me is kinda stupid. It's a humorous life of the author
in New York. Kinda dumb (sorry Dany). There is a little editorial,
entitled Cockroach Apocrypha. The first line is "God must be a cockroach".
You can guess the rest.
Iconography (good idea), about Godzilla. A big scanned picture
of toy Godzillas, interesting info about Godzilla and the line "monster
with a message".
Networker."Welcome to networker. A collaborative effort created
by those on the edge (cutting and otherwise) of reality (virtual and
otherwise). Completely devoted to getting beyond the hype of VR, AI,
hyperinteractivity and other forms of mega-multi-meta-media-spiel." Sort
of interesting stuff dealing with copyright, the trouble with Mondo and
otherwise. I just glanced, but it was short yet informative.
Then the tech article. Great stuff. The best thing in this issue.
how to build an "alternate interface". Generally, it's a card for your
computer that gives you 8 I/O connectors to add whatever you want to
your computer. It's up to you to think up something. I am planning to
build it but havent started looking for parts yet so I can't give you
advice yet. The article itself was fairly easy to understand, but I'm
not sure weather he should have given more info about how he intends people
to use it. Not many specifics on that side, but I'm still interested.
Global telecom. An article by Dany Drennan about telecommunications
and the globe (duh). A good read. 4 pages long.
Horrorscope. Good for a few laughs. Here's a sample:
"gemini: you will be trapped in an elevator with your new boss on
the first day at your new job. You are claustrophobic, have the
flu, and no kleenex."
Next Issue of the Inquisitor:
"In the next issue we will focus on people using microcontrollers
and the like in their artwork: I am REAL selective about this kind of
stuff so there will be no pseudo-Laurie Anderson imitators. There will be
an article on women online in terms of language; an article will look at
the current state of "interactivity" , written by the woman who put
together the Virtual Museum CDROM for Apple; We will be getting into
technomusic and computer based music with articles written by a rather
famous British musician whose name I cannot disclose at this point; he
will also be writing on sampling and the Fear of Creation; some articles
on copyright; on the marketing of pop culture; more New York Diary; and if
I can convince the guy an article going into the inner workings of the PXL
2000 kid vid camera by Fisher Price."
The INQUISITOR is available at a newsstand near you, or for $5.00 from:
Dany Drennan, Inquisitor, PO Box 132, NYNY 10024
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File #
* Opinion
* By: Billy Biggs
FFF I RRR SSS TTT N N AAA TTT I OOO N N I N N
F I R R S T NN N A A T I O O NN N I NN N
FF I RRR SSS T NNNN AAA T I O O NNNN I NNNN
F I RR S T N NN A A T I O O N NN I N NN
F I R R SSS T N N A A T I OOO N N I N N
CCC Y Y BBB EEE RRR SSS PPP AAA CCC EEE
C Y Y B B E R R S P P A A C E
C YYY BB EE RRR SSS PPP AAA C EE
C Y B B E RR S P A A C E
CCC Y BBB EEE R R SSS P A A CCC EEE
-- TIME magazine and the Internet --
"Twenty million strong and adding a million new users a month, the InterNet
is suddenly the place to be"
The Internet is growing like mad, people are getting connected by
the thousands, services are springing up everywhere and everybody is talking.
Unfortunately (fortunately??), the media is taking note. In the
December 6th issue of Time magazine they talk about the Internet as "the
mother of all networks", "an anarchistic electronic freeway that has spread
uncontrollably" and "the place to be". The Time magazine article tells
people about the Internet, how it is used and what it is used for. I
personally was impressed by the article; it was informative and facinating.
Yet it also wields a message. The Internet is being regarded as the new wave
of communications. The Internet is rapidly entering into the offices of
employees and the homes of teenagers across the globe. Soon it will be
tamed, domesticated and brought into the home.
The media attention is not only in Time. The InterNet has been
featured in many large newspapers, television documentaries and has even
spawned a few magazines. Internet World <@world.std.com>, a magazine devoted
to Internet users (and soon to be users), shows the extent of
comercialisation and the Internet. Companies are realizing the size and power
of the Internet, and getting connected. Big name modem services, like Prodigy,
America On-line and Delphi, are entering themselves into the network, because
that's where people want to go and what they are willing to pay for.
Of course, this changes the look of the Internet. What was once
an uncharted region of cyberspace is becoming a user-friendly land of
newbies and wannabes. It used to be more fun to have to scan through
hundreds of systems looking for obscure pieces of information. The Internet
hasn't lost that yet, but more and more, it is being catalogued, divided,
packaged and sold.
The once barren landscape of the computer network is beginning to be
mapped, and exploited. Is this commercialization and media-hype to be the
begining of a new form of communication, or the end of a once cherished
dream of a free frontier ?
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File $
/ | | |
\ | | | / /\ |\ | | /\ |\ |\ | |\ | | |
/ | | | \ \/ | \| \_/ \/ | | | \| | \| \ |
______________________________________/
P.S. You don;t remember my real name, and my internet address is:
sijohnny@???????.????????.???????.???
Got it?
Here it is:
******* Hacking your way in *NIX systems *******
Written by:
/ | | |
\ | | | / /\ |\ | | /\ |\ |\ | |\ | | |
/ | | | \ \/ | \| \_/ \/ | | | \| | \| \ |
______________________________________/
Chapter 1: Gaining access to accounts.
1: Starting in a system you already have access to.
This is perhaps the best and easiest way to get started. There
are many ways to gain access other than yours. The easiest way is to
search for unpassworded accounts on your system. With an unpassworded
account, you are free to experiment without a direct link to you.
The way to do this is quite simple: Passwords, account names,
uid (User ID), gid (Group ID), finger information, home directory,
and home/default shell are stored in a file containing everyone's. This
file is located in the /etc directory. The file is simply "passwd". Some
/etc/passwd files are written in standard form, other with yp (Yellow
Pages) form. Yellow Page form is often used on systems with large
numbers of users.
In order to search for an unpassworded account, let's look at
how the infomation is stored in the /etc/passwd file:
User Name:Encrypted Passwd:UID:GID:Finger info:Home dir:Home Shell
A typical entry would look as follows:
Joe_Fubar:yTHe28(e+&e:32:13:Joe Fubar,5551212,5551213:/u/fubarj:/bin/csh
Now, an unpassworded account would look as follows:
Joe_Stupid::33:13:Joe Stupid,5551214,5551215:/u/stupidj:/bin/csh
^^
Note the "::". This is what we search for. Depending on how
the /etc/passwwd file is stored (yp or normal) depend on the search
used. To search for a unpassworded account, simply go to the /etc
directory and type:
cat passwd | grep "::" <-- For normal passwd storage -OR-
ypcat passwd | grep "::" <-- For yp'ed passwd storage
The grep command pulls out all lines containing what's in the
quotes. The quotes are optional on most machines, however, so you could
just put " grep :: " instead of the " grep "::" " part. This command
will give you account ids that are unpassworded and that you can log in
as without needing a password.
2. Gaining access on a system that you don't have access
This part is a little more tricky than the first part. This
involves either:
1. Default account/password hacking.
2. Knowledge of an account/password so that you can look for
unpassworded accounts.
3. Backdoors.
Number two is not much of a challenge, and numbers one and three
require knowledge about the particular system. Number three is vastly
difficult and requires great knowledge about TCP/IP, *NIXs, et cetera.
We will concentrate on number one here.
Default accounts: (Listed in order of preference of access)
root
daemon
field
UUCP
guest
visitor
other misc. accounts.
These accounts are often found on all *NIXs. Default passwords
are usually the acount name.
-------------------------------********-------------------------------------
That's all for this installment. In the next, we'll talk about shadow
passwords, what to do when you get an account, and how to cover up your
tracks.
L8r,
Silicon Johnny!
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File %
***********************************
Third Floor Garden of Eden
1993. Andrew Mays
It was a technologically controlled garden; complete with automated
climate control and artificially intelligent walls that manufactured rain, wind,
clouds and sun. Yet it was the closest thing to nature that we had, hidden
safely on the third floor; tucked away between the gaming area and the food
court. And what a wonderful little slice of man-made nature it was! Reportedly
modeled after President Medjiama's South Tennessee Estates, it came complete
with a fish stocked lake and with hundreds of species that were supposed to be
extinct. Word had it that the Medjiama Corporation had investigated the globe
for decades, searching for DNA samples so they could give birth to colonies of
such animals. Somewhere is a well guarded compound was Medjiama's Ark, a
stockpile of thousands of animal furs and parts, mixing both natural and
BioEngeniered pelts to create the largest gene pool of DNA strands known to man.
I remember in Medjiama's early days as a politician, his promises to
repopulate the barren earth with Bioengineered animals and with an unnatural
kind of man made nature. He made it all the way to the president of the United
States, had his proposals fly through congress and approved; soon on their way
to the House when the assassination occurred. I remember sitting there
watching the news as the events unfolded around me. The crowd bumped and
shoved around me and passed ghostly through my coffee table, to clutter there
around the terminal. His body was there, still plugged into a small black box,
eyes burned open in a frantic twitching of searching, pain and realization.
It had been the first neural assassination of a president, the first time
anyone's conscience had been separated from their body. The news said that the
Barniods did it, had trapped his consciousness in an undisclosed location of
netspace, and left it there to rot.
But Medjiama was never one to just give up, and the next the thing the
government knew Medjiama's consciousness showed up on disk, asking to be
reconnected to his body. The Government had already held the termination of
biological functions though, they'd already burned the empty shell of a body
and spread the ashes across Silicon Valley; so Medjiama was given a fiber-
optic driveway, a supercomputer home and a CD/ROM storage facility that would
store twice as much information as the old Library of Congress could store on
it's shelves. So Medjiama was given freedom from the physical, and allowed to
explore cyberspace at his leisure.
That's when he got the idea for this complex I'm in, The University of
Hiako Medjiama. He decided that everyone should have the ability to choose
freedom in the net and he built this enormous block of brick and steel and
chrome and opened the gates to eternity. Those who wanted a NeuralSeperation
were welcomed in and then killed so that they could live freely in the net.
However, Medjiama saw the need to allow people to explore the net
freely, without having the NeuralSeperation and so he renovated this mile long,
stories high fortress into what it is today. That's when Medjiama installed
this wing of the complex, with this wonderful little third floor garden of eden
in it. I come here often to think or to relax, as if I'm drawn here by some
strange magnetism in my soul. My mother tells me that this is the place where
the first met my father, twenty years ago next September. I know that this is
true because I've watched the security tape of September 04, 2012 over and over
and over again. Yet, every time I see the two of them together here I notice
something new. My mother is always in the typical red jumpsuit of the
System Operators Division and my father is in a white shirt and black pants
that are ironed to a sharp crispness. His eyes are full of life and I like
these moments best in his life because he looks so young and alive and caring.
My father went digital about three years ago. Said he was sick of the
IV tubes and machines that monitored his brain and heart and so he went to see
the NeuralSeperationist. We got a note that flashed across the VR viewer. He
said he loved us, that he'd stop in and visit often and that he'd be watching.
He does watch, I can feel his green eyes on me often in school, or while I
sleep in here on this soft green grass, and sometimes I hear his voice blowing
softly across the cool wind. He whispers to me from within the matrix,
his voice as full of compassion as it ever was, his words kissing my ears with
caring.
"I love you," he says.
"I love you too, Dad." I reply.
Dad and I have chatted before on the network, but since I'm not
old enough to get a neural web installed we can't do the real time Virtual
Reality interface. The neural web was invented back at the turn of the
century by some scientist by the name of Williams. Gained her almost
instant fame and riches, but those were the days of low res VR graphics
and helmets and gloves; so such a radical development in the hardware
revolutionized what people could do. The network exploded with new users
who wanted to led virtual lives that were better then their own. A few
were burned or flatlined in VR Constructs that teen hacs had built as
games or jokes. That sort of thing was common though supposed to be
illegal, but no one really paid much attention to the law until the
government set up NetProtect. NetProtect was a bunch of vigilantes with
neural webs and a deadly arsenal of programs designed to fry the hacs that
broke the law. When the Government heard about NetProtect they followed
them all over the net, monitored their actions and then took them in as a
division of the Federal Bureau of Investigations. My dad works with the
local division of NetProtect as an information retrieval specialist; he
tells me all about his work and the dangers of the net.
I've been assured a job with NetProtect if I should decide to go
digital, and my dad told me that the government would pay for my
NeuralSeperation. That's a free surgery and a ticket to eternity; but this
garden is what is keeping me here though. I've decided that it is to special
for me, and so leaving it behind for a virtual representation would be a
bad decision. Mom told me that if I kept my grades up she could probably get
me a job in the Systems Operations Division of the university. A job which
would not be bad for my future, but perhaps boring all the same. It is
my hopes that I can enroll in the Bioengineering courses here at the university
and after graduation apply for a job here in the BioGarden. That way I could
remain close to what is important to me here in this glow of sun and snow and
sparrows.
Yes, I think I'd like to stay here in this little third floor garden of
eden; from now untill eternity.
********************************************
I have other work as well if you'd be interested in seeing it.
One foot in the future,
-Andrew Mays
maysa@knuth.mtsu.edu
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>> Next Issue too be out Jan. 1 <<
Anybody wanna write a 'Year in Review' article??
I'm still looking for a review of Virtual Light.
Or any other book or CD review (relating to CyberPunk).
Till next issue.
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END LINE_NOIZ.5
--
Billy Biggs Ottawa, Canada "When all else fails,
ae687@Freenet.carleton.ca read the instructions"
