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Mitnick Helps Bust Bomb Hoaxer

PhrostyMcByte writes "According to The Register/SecurityFocus: 'Ex-hacker Kevin Mitnick is a hero to the small town of River Rouge, Michigan, after using his tech skills to help officials nab the culprit behind a harrowing series of bomb threats.'" According to the piece, Detective Lt. John Keck "began searching the Internet for technical guidance, which led him to Kevin Mitnick, who'd earlier demonstrated a technique for spoofing Caller ID on the specialty cable network TechTV." Mitnick's comment on the bomb hoaxer? "He wasn't really hacking... he was really just being a jerk."

403 comments

  1. Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by FreemanPatrickHenry · · Score: 4, Funny

    "He wasn't really hacking... he was really just being a jerk."

    Wait... can't the exact same thing be said about Kevin Mitnick?

    --
    I have discovered a truly marvelous .sig which, unfortunately, this space is too small to contain.
    1. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by donnyspi · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yes, and I'm sure he'd admit to it.

    2. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by superpulpsicle · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I wasn't really robbing the bank. I was just testing the security. Here's my business card.

      Now you can pay us to do it all over again thru our security break-in firm.... blah blah.

    3. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by Kenja · · Score: 5, Insightful
      "Wait... can't the exact same thing be said about Kevin Mitnick?"

      Kevin was hacking, but he was also being a jerk. The two are not mutually exclusive.

      --

      "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    4. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by kfg · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sure, set a jerk to catch a jerk. Jerks who repent often spend their time in attonement.

      That doesn't mean we should ignore his having been a jerk, but neither should we hold that against his works of attonement.

      KFG

    5. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by dacarr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Evidently Kevin learned his lesson - he openly admits to having been a criminal it seems, and besides, what better to catch a criminal than with somebody who really knows how they think?

      --
      This sig no verb.
    6. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by SphericalCrusher · · Score: 1

      No. It can't.

      --
      "Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
    7. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by DebianRcksLindowsLie · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, Mitnick never caused harm or did anything destructive like this. Bomb threats are MUCH worse than being a jerk.

    8. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by Laebshade · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Reminds me of the movie, "Catch me if You Can" (based on a true story). I thought it would be a horrible movie because of Leonardo DeCaprio, but his acting was great. Tom Hanks was not slouch either.

      Anyways, the basic plot of the movie is that Leo is the world's most infamous check counterfeiter. Eventually he turns over to the "good guys" and joins Tom Hanks at the end of the movie. Today he provides most of the security to checks.

    9. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by A55M0NKEY · · Score: 1, Troll

      No they are not. They'll just get you in more trouble.

      --

      Eat at Joe's.

    10. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by jarich · · Score: 1
      They didn't actually detonate a bomb right?

      Mitnick didn't actually use the credit cards right?

      What was the difference again?

    11. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by dicepackage · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't know about more trouble. Mitnick was in prison for five years and spent a great deal of time in solitary confinement. According to the article this kid isn't even facing any jail time but he will likely be expelled from school.

    12. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mitnick wasn't 15 I don't think..

    13. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      silly people.
      actually get threatened by hoaxers
      bah

    14. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by dicepackage · · Score: 1

      Mitnick was 31 years old when he was caught.

    15. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but Kevin did his time - probably more than he should have. Any debt he owed to society has been paid in full.

    16. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by Eddie+the+Jedi · · Score: 4, Informative

      The book was much better than the movie, IMHO.

      --
      The dog ate my .sig quote.
    17. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Credit card abuse costs banks money, and people trouble. Bombs kill.

    18. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by fafaforza · · Score: 1

      You're comparing a first-offense High School kid to someone who was on the run from the feds for quite a while.

      I reckon a better comparison would be between Mitnick and Kaczynski, a.k.a the Unibomber. Both had a series of offenses, and elluded authorities.

    19. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by dicepackage · · Score: 1

      Did you read my post? I said exactly that. This kid is not looking at a sentence that is greater then Mitnicks. The only trouble he is even going to get in is with his school suspending or expelling him.

    20. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by pompousjerk · · Score: 1

      Atonement? Are you kidding? I'll let the Devil's Dictionary X say it:

      Mitnick, Kevin a lecturer who is paid handsomely by corporate executives to explain to their employees what the management apparently doesn't understand either, that people are gullible.

    21. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by mlrtime · · Score: 1



      When is this not the case? I hear this every time, has anyone ever said the movie was better than the book?

      Not a personal flame to you, just get irritated hearing this all the time.

    22. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by kfg · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No one ever said that being a jerk couldn't be profitable.

      KFG

    23. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IMHO, Indecent Proposal (the movie) was far better than the book. However, they're both trash -- merely differing levels of trash -- so it really doesn't matter.

    24. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hear The Passion of Christ, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Starship troopers, Star wars, The Hobbit, Of Mice and Men, Etc.. etc..

    25. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You meant inclusive.

    26. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Frank Abagnale does quite the business [sic] consulting with corporations, etc., about check fraud and how to prevent it.

      He's pretty dang cool to see in person.

      Kevin is pretty dull in comparison.

    27. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, he meant exclusive.

    28. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 1
      A much better example would be the classic Alfred Hitchcock: To Catch A Thief.

      In the movie Cary Grant plays the role of a former cat burglar, who the police implicate in a series of new robberies. He ends up using his cat burglar skills to catch the real culprit.

      Aside from being a classic, the movie is also notable for being Grace Kelly's last movie.

      --
      "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
      --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
    29. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by ComaVN · · Score: 1

      not abusing a credit card doesnt't cost money or trouble. Not using (or even having) a bomb does not kill. So what was the difference again?

      --
      Be wary of any facts that confirm your opinion.
    30. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by ta+bu+shi+da+yu · · Score: 0

      Not using logic results in syllogisms. Not using (or even having) brain power results in slashdot usage. So what was the difference again?

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    31. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by orcrist · · Score: 1

      And if emergency services respond to the "bomb" instead of 'just' a heart-attack victim?

      Diverting resources meant to save lives because of a hoax *can* be deadly. I'm sure there's plenty of further examples...

      -chris

      --
      San Francisco values: compassion, tolerance, respect, intelligence
    32. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by ComaVN · · Score: 1

      True, I'm just saying the effects of credit card fraud vs. bombing are irrelevant when neither crime is actually commited nor intended.

      The side effects (diverting of resources as you said ) are the problem in this, not the direct effects.

      --
      Be wary of any facts that confirm your opinion.
    33. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by orcrist · · Score: 1

      The side effects (diverting of resources as you said ) are the problem in this, not the direct effects.

      Well sure. But most people acknowledge a moral responsibility for predictable side-effects of their actions, and the law certainly sees a legal responsibility: If someone dies as the result of a felony, it can be considered murder (IANAL, etc.)

      So those side-effects are not merely relevant, they are what it's all about. This is exactly the reason that 'yelling "fire" in a crowded theater' example is always used as an example of a (justifiable) limit on free-speech; The almost inevitable consequence of you yelling "fire" will be panic where people get trampled. Yell "Thief" and you don't get anything like the same effect.

      -chris

      --
      San Francisco values: compassion, tolerance, respect, intelligence
    34. Re:Mitnick Speaks In Third Person by brainy+blond · · Score: 0

      Being a long time friend of Kevin's (before he was in/famous too) I would like to say that he is not a jerk and the least and is actually a very good friend and person. Thank you Brainy Blonde http://brainyblonde.com

  2. move along. by garcia · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...the hoaxes unnerved some residents of the Detroit suburb, which boasts a population in the high four digits.

    "It is kind of funny, I'll admit, but this is not the time for these kinds of games," says Keck.


    No, it wasn't kind of funny. It was stupid... Really stupid. It wasted a lot of people's time. The bomb threat is one thing. Diverting police cars, forcing evacuations, searching for false bombs, making someone research how to track telephone calls, and having a writer tell a sensationalized story was a huge waste of time.

    This had nothing to do with phone phreaking, hacking, or anything. It was a dumbass kid who made a call from a cell phone and someone doing their job and finding Mitnick (who of course was willing to look like the good-guy) to solve the problem.

    For once I don't recommend that you RTFA.

    1. Re:move along. by TedCheshireAcad · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What a dumbass. Phoning in a bomb threat to your school from your cell phone...how do you expect not to get caught?

    2. Re:move along. by Gr8Apes · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The only halfway notable incident in this story is that Mitnick did some "good". That's it, and only for passing on some basic info on how to trace a phone number. Silly really.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    3. Re:move along. by Xzzy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > Phoning in a bomb threat to your school from your
      > cell phone...how do you expect not to get caught?

      Actually, he got away with it. Several times.

      He fell prey to the number one rule of getting caught though; not stopping. If the kid had only done it once or twice, the officer would have never sought Mitnick, would have never figured out how to query the phone companies, and the kid would have made the perfect crime.

    4. Re:move along. by SphericalCrusher · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Don't continue to call over and over... Throw the cellphone away after using it. Also make sure that none of the info is registered under your name...

      --
      "Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
    5. Re:move along. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...the kid would have made the perfect crime.

      There is no such thing.

    6. Re:move along. by Unspecified+Chicken- · · Score: 0

      In Soviet Russia, schools bomb-threat you!

      --
      The password to this account is Coward. Same password for e-mail address. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    7. Re:move along. by dave+cutler · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think you missed the subject of "It is kind of funny." The young man called the bomb threat in FROM HIS CLASSROOM. Apparently he was in shop class on the cellphone dialing in a bomb threat. The fact that the childish misbehavior occurred under the noise of the school itself is the part that amused the Detective, and I would have to agree with him. It was funny.

    8. Re:move along. by cmstremi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is no such thing [as the perfect crime].

      I disagree. They just fly under the radar. Being undetected is requisite to being perfect.

    9. Re:move along. by mal3 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Sure there is:

      70 MPH in a 65MPH zone.

      Downloading music online.

      Thumping someone over the head with a block of ice while they're swimming.

      --
      Non gratis rodentus anus
    10. Re:move along. by rjelks · · Score: 1

      If the kid had been smart enough for that rule, he would have remembered the other: Don't use your own phone. I know all the kids have cell phones, but do they still know what those strange phone-looking boxes on the walls are for?

      /I'm not advocating prank calls with bomb threats.

    11. Re:move along. by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would have thought that call tracing would be automatic and available upon request to any law enforcement officer.

      To find out this isn't the case is the most enlightening part of this story.

      TV Cop shows for the last 30 years have been lying to us!

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    12. Re:move along. by viking099 · · Score: 1

      Many schools have removed payphones due to the saturation of cell phones, not to mention the large amount of abuse and prank calls occurred at those payphones.

      The kid should have "borrowed" someone elses phone, used it, and returned it ("Hey, you dropped your phone.")

    13. Re:move along. by pubjames · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I disagree. They just fly under the radar.

      Very true.

      When I worked in banking security my more experienced collegues told me that in the banking industry hundreds of millions of dollars go missing every year to organised criminals. You don't read about it in the papers because the banks don't want you to know about it.

      And I'm not talking about petty credit card fraud, I mean sophisticated hacking of the international banking networks to create false transactions and electronically move the money to countries where it can be quickly and anonymously removed from the system in cash or gold.

    14. Re:move along. by zerocool^ · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I've always thought that the perfect murder weapon would be an icicle.

      ~Will

      --
      sig?
    15. Re:move along. by krazo · · Score: 1

      He'd apparently made the calls, unnoticed, from class.

      From the article. . . You have to think he wasn't even trying not to get caught.

    16. Re:move along. by DR+SoB · · Score: 1

      Thank god he didn't realize that Pay-As-You-Go phones don't require you to give them any personal information, and accept cash..

      --
      Mod +5 Drunk
    17. Re:move along. by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      When I was a freshman in highschool I got in trouble durring gym class and was sent into the hall for punishment. Right before I was sent there someone used the pay-phone to call in a bomb threate to get out of a test or somethign and I got the blame for it. I guess they just dialed 0 for the operator and then said "things will go boom in a little bit if somethign wasn't done about this".

      This was 20 years or so ago and the operator said it wasn't my voice when they had me repeat a series of words on the phone to her. None the less I got a 10 day suspension from school and my parents were called to come and get me. Those strange looking things on the wall were used before. Maybe todays youth don't know how to use them but i'm at least glad the guy actually responsable got caught this time.

    18. Re:move along. by gid · · Score: 0, Redundant

      No, it wasn't kind of funny.

      I believe Keck meant funny strange, not funny haha. No one's argueing the bomb threats weren't a waste of everyone's time.

    19. Re:move along. by kunudo · · Score: 1

      Well, he did use his own phone... I would hardly call that a perfect crime... He should have stolen one. Not from a kid at his school or anything, but from a perfect stranger. He'd probably have a few hours before it was blocked. I mean, the friggin phone was registered in his own name... How dumb can you get?

    20. Re:move along. by golgotha007 · · Score: 1

      too bad his shop class teacher didn't tell him to "quit screwin' around'

    21. Re:move along. by gl4ss · · Score: 2, Funny

      wow, so this must be where this M'Botu who contacted me about transferring his money to Europe got his money!

      hmm.. but the money from those offers totales way much over several hundred millions. :)

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    22. Re:move along. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually call tracing is automatic only for cases worth it. Not for some dumb detective from a small unknown town owning only 3 squad cars.

      Today it is much worst than you think, feds are listening to your calls before you even comit a crime, just in case you give them a good reason to grab you. Be afraid, very afraid.

    23. Re:move along. by aynrandfan · · Score: 1

      That is scary and fascinating at the same time. Do you know of any books or papers that deal with this issue? Links? Thanks. :)

      --

      ----

      "Ours was a free culture. It is becoming much less so."-Lawrence Lessig

    24. Re:move along. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, the meaning of the MICR numbers on the bottom of your checks are well-documented. There is a particular number that, when changed, makes the check get routed to a different Fed bank. Back when Frank Abagnale was doing his thing, it often took a couple of weeks for the error to work itself out and someone to catch it, by that time, he was long gone with the goods or money.

    25. Re:move along. by Felinoid · · Score: 1

      He should have stolen one ... How dumb can you get?

      No he shouldn't.
      First basic psycology. Obveously spoofing phone calls and making fake bomb threats dosen't bother him but if petty theft dose he could panic and accadentally alert everyone something is wrong.

      I doupt he knows how to pick pockets. It's easy for someone who knows how. Just as installing Linux is easy if you know how. But I'm not going to expect the avrage kid to know how to pull off eather.

      --
      I don't actually exist.
    26. Re:move along. by Felinoid · · Score: 1

      Hinsight is 20/20.

      Aspiring villens take note. He did pritty well.

      1. Stick with what you know.
      A lot of people suggested stealing a phone but that would have gotten him cought FASTER. Instead he used the phone he already owned.

      He knew how to spoof caller ID so he is better off doing that instead.

      Yes he made phone calls IN CLASS. My guess on the matter is that this isn't an unusual activity amoung his peers and he had quite a bit of practace calling friends during class. So he probably mastered this little skill long before trying anything.

      He probably tested the caller ID hack extensively and perfected that as well before making his first fake bomb threat.

      2. People learn. DO NOT do it a second time.
      He got cought simply becouse he gave the police enough chances to catch up.
      The first time you'll catch em off guard.
      You might get a second swing if it's too complex for them to figure it out first time.
      Third time is dumb luck.
      Forth and your really out on a limb.

      Typical teenager.. thinks he'll never get cought simply becouse he wasn't cought the first time.

      --
      I don't actually exist.
    27. Re:move along. by goatan · · Score: 1
      and the kid would have made the perfect crime

      Couldn't resist. 1 Phone bomb threats to school 2 Stop before police get really intrested and ask the right questions 2 ????? 3 Perfect crime

      If only that worked reall bigies like Bank robbery

      --
      Saying Apple is better than MS is like saying Botulism is better than rabies.

    28. Re:move along. by goatan · · Score: 1
      1. Stick with what you know. A lot of people suggested stealing a phone but that would have gotten him cought FASTER. Instead he used the phone he already owned. He knew how to spoof caller ID so he is better off doing that instead. Yes he made phone calls IN CLASS. My guess on the matter is that this isn't an unusual activity amoung his peers and he had quite a bit of practace calling friends during class. So he probably mastered this little skill long before trying anything. He probably tested the caller ID hack extensively and perfected that as well before making his first fake bomb threat.

      2. People learn. DO NOT do it a second time. He got cought simply becouse he gave the police enough chances to catch up. The first time you'll catch em off guard. You might get a second swing if it's too complex for them to figure it out first time. Third time is dumb luck. Forth and your really out on a limb.

      Actually that idea works pretty well with getting away with anything. A Training book from WW2 about attack airfields stated that on your first (strafeing) run the Anti aircraft defences will be supprised on the second run they will be ready for you and by the third they have had some practise, the conclusion don't make more than one run.

      --
      Saying Apple is better than MS is like saying Botulism is better than rabies.

    29. Re:move along. by goatan · · Score: 1
      This was 20 years or so ago and the operator said it wasn't my voice when they had me repeat a series of words on the phone to her. None the less I got a 10 day suspension from school and my parents were called to come and get me.

      I think all education centers operate on the quilty until proven inocent idea

      --
      Saying Apple is better than MS is like saying Botulism is better than rabies.

    30. Re:move along. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's why Ashcroft's re-education centers will fit right in. Guilty until proven innocent, and soon, everything you know is wrong.

    31. Re:move along. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It depends on where you are in the US.

      I wouldn't suggest pulling this prank in any large city, the bigger call centers are fully digital and will log whatever information your phone sends (e.g. caller ID, and typically the *67 "block" only works on consumer equipment). They won't have to call the phone company unless you're hacking, just just need to call in some geeks to bring up the log after hanging up - if it's not already in front of the person you're talking to.

      Growing up in the Detroit area, there are truely some hick towns in there that simply haven't modernized. I wouldn't recommend pulling this prank within the city limits of anyplace that has major roads running through it and large motorized police force to patrol them - ticket revenues are a great income stream.

    32. Re:move along. by Smellz · · Score: 0

      "stop cutting up"?

    33. Re:move along. by brainy+blond · · Score: 0

      What's really sad is that law enforcement there didn't even know how to determine where he was calling from. It's quite scary to me at how behind the times so many crime units are... You'd think they were living in the stone ages... I understand there's a generation gap, but these people must be educated and brought up to date on modern technology because the crimes are only going to become more and more frequent.... My little geeky gal site

  3. SOMEONE SET US UP THE BOMB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sorry, had to be said.

    1. Re:SOMEONE SET US UP THE BOMB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Your grammar is poor. It's:

      Someone set up us the bomb.

    2. Re:SOMEONE SET US UP THE BOMB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, you guys are both a little off...

      "Somebody set up us the bomb"

    3. Re:SOMEONE SET US UP THE BOMB by LilMikey · · Score: 3, Funny

      This is modded informative?

      I'm f'n going home...

      --
      LilMikey.com... I'll stop doing it when you sto
    4. Re:SOMEONE SET US UP THE BOMB by raddan · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Ever notice how, said backward (assuming "proper grammar"), this is:

      "Bomb the US upset someone."

      My brother pointed that out the other day. How apropos.

    5. Re:SOMEONE SET US UP THE BOMB by Cybrr · · Score: 1

      All your database are belong to Bush now, too.

      *too lazy to give a link* "Total Information Awareness" might come up with something.

      --
      Why did GEAR crush RDP?
    6. Re:SOMEONE SET US UP THE BOMB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm afraid you and your brother are going to Guantanamo just for thinking about that.

  4. The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by RobertB-DC · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The detective is to be applauded for his creativity in finding the culprit. And let's also have some sympathy for him, 'cause you know this outcome has got him seeing red:

    The prankster confessed, and this week pleaded guilty to a single count of making bomb threats. He's not expected to spend any time incarcerated. "They're going to try to come up to some sentence that will put him on track to be more productive," says Keck.

    I'll bet five bucks the kid is in the "in crowd". Football season's over, and he's sitting in "gimme an 'A'!" shop class with the other jocks, figuring out what to do after they're done lifting the cheerleaders' skirts. "Hey, I know, let's call in a bomb threat. They'll strip search the geeks while we laugh our a$$ off!"

    Here in Texas, 15 year olds who aren't in the "in crowd" get sent to jail for life, and nobody even seems to care. And there are plenty of ridiculous examples of innocuous behavior being punished by schools.

    And this kid, a serial terrorist, is going to get off with a suspension -- probably because he's some bigwig's son, or else he's on "the team". What a load of crap.

    --
    Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
    1. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >And this kid, a serial terrorist, is going to get off with a suspension -- probably because he's some bigwig's son, or else he's on "the team". What a load of crap.

      ...and that is how the Darl McBride's of the world are created.

    2. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Tell me about it. at my school last year three jerks were accused of raping a girl in the year below them. They were let off with fines and immediately returned to school because there was doubt over whether it was rape or consensual. Why? because she'd once dated one of the guys involved for a month.

      Same school, same year, kid borrows a laptop from the school for a weekend as he'd done for months, but this time didn't sign out for it correctly. Suspended and grades withheld. There you go. Borrowing a laptop without proper authorisation is a worse crime than rape in School Land.

      (not to mention the ridiculousness of the logical conclusion that if you date one person you could be consenting to have forced violent sex with all their friends)

    3. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by jhines0042 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      More likely explanation, this is a small town, (article says about 4 digit population) and they don't want to send a kid to jail for being stupid. If he does it again though I'm sure that he'll be deported or maybe even defenistratred.

      --
      42 - So long and thanks for all the fish.
    4. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by ekstasy · · Score: 1

      Sounds like you were "stip searched" a lot for not being in the "in crowd."

    5. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Hatta · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Here in Texas, 15 year olds who aren't in the "in crowd" get sent to jail for life, and nobody even seems to care. And there are plenty of ridiculous examples of innocuous behavior being punished by schools.

      I read those articles, no one got sent to jail. Just suspended. And as far as I'm concerned that's the best thing that can happen. "What? No school for 2 weeks? WooHoo!" Though, perhaps in the second article they were trying to encourage the students, I sure would have.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    6. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by JohnnyCannuk · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Bob,

      You seem to have issues....

      Wow, talk about projection!

      BTW, I don't know about YOUR highschool, but at mine, the "in crowd" might have gotten A's in English or Calculus, but everyone of them would have flunked wood shop hard. I was following you until that line. And do you happen to know if anyone got a video of that kiss in Texas? Just curious.... ;)

      --
      Never by hatred has hatred been appeased, only by kindness - the Buddha
    7. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by gnu-generation-one · · Score: 1

      "And there are plenty of ridiculous examples of innocuous behavior being punished by schools."

      Never ?!?

    8. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by RobertB-DC · · Score: 1

      If he does it again though I'm sure that he'll be deported or maybe even defenistratred.

      Whoa, you're harsh! Sending him away is one thing, but making him run Linux? Damn!

      (Disclaimer: I'm trying to defenestrate, with limited success. I can run Frozen Bubble, at least.)

      --
      Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
    9. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Borrowing a laptop without proper authorisation is a worse crime than rape in School Land.

      The more I hear of the insane bureaucratic messups that are happening in schools, the more I realise that kids today who say "There's no use learning nuffing in school cos it don't apply to da real world" aren't being young naive and stupid... but damned insightful.

      Leave adulthood for kids to become jaded & cynical dammit, don't make them that at 15!

    10. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by RobertB-DC · · Score: 1

      Sounds like you were "stip searched" a lot for not being in the "in crowd."

      In the words of Beavis (or was it Butt-Head?): "Heh. Did I just score?"

      --
      Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
    11. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by TechniMyoko · · Score: 0

      I'll have to agree totally with your statement. The lack of profanity also makes you seem more intelligent than the average /.ranter

    12. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by SoCalChris · · Score: 1

      Damn, the lesbians at my high school never looked like this. They were all about 400lbs and lloked like football players.

    13. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Monkelectric · · Score: 4, Interesting
      yea its the same shit everywhere.

      Here in my little burg 3 football players beat the crap out of some kid after school and left him unconscious in the gutter. The school took it on themselves to punnish the kids -- they recieved a couple days suspension, oddly they would be back at school in time for the next game. (In this school district the penalty for being in a fight is immediate expulsion).

      --

      Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley

    14. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by stienman · · Score: 4, Informative

      The rape charges are brought by the state, not the school. The school cannot legally punish the kids for crimes not under their jurisdiction. If it happened on school grounds, then perhaps.

      The laptop signout could not have been prosecuted by the state, as no crime was committed. He broke school rules (accidently or not) and suffered the consequences.

      Nothing in your comment really gets to the point you are trying to make, that popular kids get slaps on the wrist and unpopular kids get leg irons. I don't doubt it happens, but pick more analogous circumstances if you really want to make a case.

      -Adam

    15. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by evilviper · · Score: 1
      If he does it again though I'm sure that he'll be deported

      They are going to kick a minor out of the country for making threats? I don't think so.
      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    16. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bitter... Mr. Bitter, party of one...your table's ready.

    17. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 1

      Well, I think it is a bit worse in the "real world".

      Don't copyright infringements net bigger fines and prison sentences than deliberate murder?

    18. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Cramer · · Score: 1, Informative

      Nobody said she was a lesbian. She was making a statement in favor of homosexuality as "part of an English assignment." (It's a good excuse, but they still merit the 2 days suspension.)

    19. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by pete-classic · · Score: 1

      I just skimmed the article and it is abundantly clear from the text (in addition to the photo) that she is not a lesbian.

      -Peter

    20. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I'll bet five bucks the kid is in the "in crowd". Football season's over, and he's sitting in "gimme an 'A'!" shop class with the other jocks, figuring out what to do after they're done lifting the cheerleaders' skirts. "Hey, I know, let's call in a bomb threat. They'll strip search the geeks while we laugh our a$$ off!" Here in Texas, 15 year olds who aren't in the "in crowd" get sent to jail for life, and nobody even seems to care. And there are plenty of ridiculous examples of innocuous behavior being punished by schools.
      Hey, JonKatz, welcome back, we missed ya!
    21. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by ad0gg · · Score: 4, Informative

      Umm unless the rape happened on school ground during school hours, it should be left up to the local police department and DA for final punishment. And even if this rape did happen on school ground and during school hours, this type of matter should be left up to the court room decide. I assume forgeting to checkout a computer is just a school violation, therefore its up for the school to decide.

      --

      Have you ever been to a turkish prison?

    22. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Any video evidence?

      Yeah, the kid was *definitely* carrying the laptop out the door.

      That is what you were wondering, right?

    23. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't worry, the dumb jocks will only be able to get a job doing manual labor in a factory somewhere and will eventually have his job outsourced to cheaper labor overseas or done by robotics or something while us geeks will be working in the IT field and... oh... wait... nevermind.

    24. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by enjo13 · · Score: 1, Interesting

      You haven't been to college yet, so I'll let you have some time to gain perspective.

      I was a fraternity guy in college (Sigma Nu), during my time in college (4 years) there where 62 rape allegations brought against members of my fraternity.

      Not a SINGLE one was even found to be true. Most where never prosecuted (the D.A. refused), some where thrown out of court, and the rest went to actual trial.

      I had personal knowledge of most of these, and they were always consensual (albeit drunken) sex that turned into rape the next morning. These girls would wake up and say 'oh my god, I slept with that guy last night... my boyfriends gonna kill me.' and then cry rape to cover their tracks. Never caring that they where literally trying to ruin lives.

      I say this because in your case you talk about three 'jerks' (showing your bias) being ACCUSED of rape. There is no case in which the accusation tends to be furthest from the truth than rape cases. It's likely (just based on personal experience) that in investigating/prosecuting the case they found that no rape had occured, and the fines stemmed from some lesser crime the teens had commited.

      Your whole premise is screwed up really.

      --
      Turn s60 photos into awesome videos with mScrapbook for all S60 3rd edition phones!
    25. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "Here in my little burg 3 football players beat the crap out of some kid after school and left him unconscious in the gutter."

      and still to this day people are suprised when that kid finally cracks and puts a couple of slugs in the back of each of those assholes...

      The problem will not go away until the schools officials pull their heads out of their asses.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    26. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Tim+Browse · · Score: 1

      Are you crazy? This sounds like exactly the kind of thing that applies to the real world!

      Or are you saying bureaucratic messups don't happen in the real world too? :-)

    27. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Mandomania · · Score: 3, Informative

      Ssshhhhhh!!!

      You keep talking about the "in crowd" and schools and stuff, and Jon Katz'll hear you and come back.

      Oh sweet Jesus, I've said his name. We're doomed. DOOMED!!

      --
      Mando

    28. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by emilymildew · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So you think you know a situation that you obviously know nothing about, based on this guy not knowing anything about the situation?

      I'm so fucking sick of people dismissing rape claims because there are those who cry wolf.

      (And here's a fucking novel idea - how about guys treat girls with respect and not as pieces of meat? Or how about girls get taught to respect themselves and not GO to frat parties and get trashed while wearing as little as possible?)

      Ugh.

    29. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by holt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This is completely ridiculous. Do you realize how hard it is for a woman to try to prosecute rape? Even the medical exam they have to go through is horribly degrading, but they have to do it to prove that sex happened.

      Maybe, *maybe* one in a hundred cases are falsified. The fact that your fraternity had 62 cases against it means that you are either incredibly unlucky, or you're a bunch of scumbags who got away with rape. I don't know which, but I've got a guess.

      Yes, I'm in a fraternity too (Alpha Kappa Lambda) and I enjoy sex. But only consensual sex. Rape is a horrible thing that scars the victim for the rest of their life. I'm pretty sure that when your fraternity brothers had sex with those women, they didn't care that they were ruining their lives, either.

    30. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by questamor · · Score: 3, Informative

      I don't believe that for a second

      Been raped, been there, done that, dragged to a house next door to the place I was visiting and held down while a filthbucket got off inside and all over me.

      His defense was we'd both been drinking and it was consensual, and that was enough for him to get off completely free.

      I hadn't had a drink. I'd never met the guy before he showed up. It's all too easy for the little boy's club who want to stick their dicks where they don't belong to make excuses for him.

    31. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I didn't think he was dismissing the claims. I think he was warning people not to jump on a bandwagon of blaming them as if they were guilty without knowing what was really going on.

      Being accused of a sex crime carries with it a stigma that can last for quite some time after being found innocent. If they did it, fine, nail them in court for it and send them to prison. When it's a situation where some idiot dresses like a streetwalker, gets drunk in an environment where things like this are more likely to happen, then wish they didn't do it after the fact...I don't think *ALL* the blame lay in the "victim".

      *I'M* sick of hearing people put all the blame on everyone else for what happens to them...they should take some responsibility for the role they played in events as well. It's not bloody rocket science here folks...play in the road long enough, you're going to get hit by a car...

    32. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dont blame the schools or anybody else for fucked up kids shooting people. its just not justified.

      yeah discipline the kids more, thats obvious. but stupidass reject kids going off and shooting people is not acceptable by anyone's standards.

    33. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      You are right and you are wrong.

      About the laptop signout, I completely agree with what you are saying.

      About the rape charges, this is a legal grey area. While you are correct about the rape charges being the jurisdiction of the state. But you are wrong in saying that the school can not legally punish the kids for this crime. What brings the case under the jurisdicition of the school, is the fact that the rape allegations are between several male students and one female student from the same school. If the students were all from different schools, then the school would have absolutely no jurisidiction. The fact that the students are from the same school does change this though.

      If a kid is caught smoking pot in the privacy of this home. The school would have no jurisdiction. Assuming of course, he is not an athelete, as most schools have some student athelete agreement which essentially becomes a legal contract.

    34. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by abb3w · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I had personal knowledge of most of these, and they were always consensual (albeit drunken) sex that turned into rape the next morning.

      IAmNotALawyer. From what I recall of the general nature of rape laws, the key is the ability for both participants to be able to give informed consent. Thus, statutory rape is illegal based on the idea that below a certain age, the person lacks the legal capacity to make the informed decision. In the case of intoxication (be it ethanol or flunitrazepam), the person is considered legally impaired and unable to give consent. In the state where I went to college, that was codified in the date-rape law.

      Of course, there was one stupid part to the law. In theory, if both the guy and girl had drinks before they met, they met up and went off to a bedroom, then when they woke up the next morning ("Aiiigh! Coyote woman/guy!") they could BOTH file rape charges under the law as written. For some reason, it really pissed people off when I pointed this out. (It made a fun test to distinguish feminists versus feminazis; the former looked thoughtful, the latter started screaming at me.)

      Speaking from a personal ethical standpoint, I would say that if you knowingly choose to take a drug (like ethanol), you are morally responsible for anything you choose to do while your judgement is impaired by it. So, if the girl goes out and gets drunk, and decides to screw a guy, she should be considered responsible... in that she freely choose to enter the state of impaired judgement. This, however, is not how the law reads. Choosing to have sex is the ONLY thing you can get out from legal responsibility for when you choose to become intoxicated... which is stupid.

      So (at least where I went to college), if she knew there was grain in the punch, it was legally rape, even if morally it wasn't. On the other hand, if you don't check that she knows the punch is spiked when you hand her that first glass, it may be rape on ALL accounts.

      --
      //Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
    35. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm so fucking sick of people dismissing

      unproven

      rape claims because there are those who cry wolf.

      SO, demand proff before you cry "Rapist!"

      Oh... that's what the Courts are supposed to do.

    36. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by abb3w · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or how about girls get taught to respect themselves and not GO to frat parties and get trashed while wearing as little as possible

      Speaking as a guy, girls should be able to wear as little as they want to the frat party, and still beat the guys off with nothing more than saying "no": how they dress is NO excuse for a guy acting as anything other than a gentleman. (Remember, even if she's wandering around naked, you have to ask politely "Do you mind if I grope your tits?" before trying it.)

      On the other hand, if they choose to drink or do drugs, they should do so willing to accept responsibility for anything they do while under the influence, whether it's spraypainting their name on a wall, driving their car into a wall, or screwing some random stranger.

      How about guys treat girls with respect and not as pieces of meat?

      Assholes get attention; they may be slapped more often, but if they don't have a specific target for their pickup attempts, they have good chance of getting laid, too.
      Nice guys don't get slapped, but they not only don't get laid, they also don't get much in the way of moderate freindly attention from either specific or general targets as encouragement either-- they mostly get ignored.

      Ergo, agressive behavior by guys is more socially rewarding in the near term, and civilized behavior is extensively under-rewarded.

      Behavior that is rewarded is more often repeated; behavior that is unrewarded is less often repeated. Do the math, and you get both the "nice guys finish last" and the "guys treat girls like pieces of meat" conditions. The corollaries of how this can be changed are left as an exercise for the student.

      --
      //Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
    37. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
      Maybe, *maybe* one in a hundred cases are falsified.

      Where's you get this figure? Thin air?

      More informative, therefore, are the resultsof a focused study of the false allegation question undertaken by a teamheaded by Charles P McDowell (McDowell & Hibler, 1985) of the U.S. Air ForceSpecial Studies Division....
      300 authenticated [rape] cases of which 220 were judged to be truthful and 80, or 27%, were judged as false.In his report Charles McDowell stated that extra rigor was applied to the
      investigation of potentially false allegations. To be considered false one or more of the following criteria had to be met: the victim unequivocally admitted to false allegation, indicated deception in a polygraph test, and
      provided a plausible recantation. Even by these strict standards, slightly more than one out of four rape charges were judged to be false.



      'Even by these strict standards, slightly more than 1/4 were judged to be false.'

      25% is a LOT higher than "Maybe, *maybe* one in a hundred".
    38. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Been raped, been there, done that, dragged to a house next door to the place I was visiting and held down while a filthbucket got off inside and all over me.

      If you are not just a troll, you have my sympathy.

      His defense was we'd both been drinking and it was consensual, and that was enough for him to get off completely free.

      I hadn't had a drink.


      A fact that would have been extremely easy to prove to the cops- breathalizer or blood test. Then, once he is established as lying on that point, it would be easy to have him arrested for rape.

    39. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by .com+b4+.storm · · Score: 1

      or maybe even defenistratred

      Wait, he doesn't have to use Windows anymore? I wouldn't consider that much of a punishment. :)

      --
      "Wow, you're like some kind of superhero able to ward off happiness and success at every turn."
      -- Ryan Stiles
    40. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      And here's a fucking novel idea - how about guys treat girls with respect and not as pieces of meat?

      That's fucking hilarious. It's pretty obvious YOU don't get any pussy. Women want to be treated as pieces of meat. Women don't want a "nice guy."

    41. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Speaking from a personal ethical standpoint, I would say that if you knowingly choose to take a drug (like ethanol), you are morally responsible for anything you choose to do while your judgement is impaired by it.

      Hear, hear!!

      Mod parent up, please.

    42. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by RobertB-DC · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'll have to agree totally with your statement. The lack of profanity also makes you seem more intelligent than the average /. ranter

      Don't give me too much credit. My first thought when I read your message was to think, "wow, no s#it!"

      --
      Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
    43. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by sLaSh_N_bUrN_(.Y.) · · Score: 1

      I guess the Coach did not teach your shop class.

    44. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Allison+Geode · · Score: 1

      thats because she's not a lesbian: she's an attention whore.

    45. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by crucini · · Score: 1

      If you haven't, I recommend reading Our Guys a book about a similar situation. Rape, I mean, not unauthorized notebook borrowing.

      The author makes a good case for the complicity of the school authorities in the rape by their prior encouragement of bad behavior in the ruling clique of athletes.

    46. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Dwarfgoat · · Score: 1

      Yah, I gotta agree with you Johnny.

      In my HS, the "in" crowd also were all good students, taking honors and AP classes. Now, being smart didn't make one part of that crowd. Proficiency in athletics was the other requirement. Believe you me, no one who ever took woodshop, industrial arts, or got less than a C in any class for a marking period would ever have been accepted to that crowd.

      Of course, while mine was a public school, it still was pretty snobby (I'd estimate 35% or more got Bimmers on their 16th b'day). We had a fairly sizable farmer contingent, but they mostly kept to themselves (in woodshop, hehe). Then there were the usual other circles: stoners, goth kids, band geeks, etc.

      Believe it or not, football players weren't the "in" jocks, either. One had to be a soccer or lacrosse player to be one of the elite.

      I kinda surfed the edges of all the cliques. I was an honor student, and a starter on the soccer team...but was also in the marching band, which tempered my popularity quite a bit. Oh well, I still had a good time.

      --
      That? That was a pigeon.
    47. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's just a kid who wanted to meet Mitnick! Hey, I'd like to do that too! I think I'll take my cell phone to school today.

    48. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If only that would actually happen, vs. shooting random innocents.

    49. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 1
      First point: If I gave you $10.00 on Friday, does that give you the right to rob me on Thursday? Is there any question of consent there?

      Second point (and ignoring the first). Let's say there's some question of consent WRT the one guy that dated the girl. What about the other two guys? Did they present evidince of local orgies too?

      --
      Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
    50. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "The corollaries of how this can be changed are left as an exercise for the student."

      Do you have to talk like that?!

    51. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too much info. Don't defile us with this.

    52. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 1
      Most girls don't want to get treated like meat. They're as much in the minority as guys who like to treat women as meat... Those two may tend to gravitate to each other, and that's fine with me -- except when that leaves these guys thinking that all (or most) girls are like that.

      As for the drunken girls at a frat party, that may be a special case. On the other hand -- where a sloshed girl got (seriously) pressured into sex after she was drunk, or she just got fucked after she passed out, it might be rather hard to prove that it wasn't consentual sex if you don't have ripped clothing and bruises to show for it.

      This doesn't mean that there wasn't rape. There's a big difference between "take me home, I'm horny", and "whaddh are you dooooinnng???" Fucking a passed-out frat chick would end you up in jail if there was a video to back up the charge -- but absent a video or an independent witness, the rape is unlikely to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt (which is very different than 'on the balance of the probabilities').

      For a clear example of this, consider the OJ Simpson case.

      --
      Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
    53. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Jardine · · Score: 1

      Speaking as a guy, girls should be able to wear as little as they want to the frat party, and still beat the guys off

      Uh, "beat the guys off"? You might want to rephrase that.

    54. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      girls should be able to wear as little as they want to the frat party, and still beat the guys off with nothing more than saying "no"

      Sure.... in a PERFECT world, that'd be how it works.

      In reality, how WOMEN (not "girls") dress has an effect, and they are stupid if they do not factor that effect in to their decisions.

    55. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      Ahem, so it's not justified for a woman that is beaten every night to kill her husband?

      why is it wrong for a kid that is tormented horribly to do what he can to end his torment after the school refuses to end it properly?

      Until the schools and police do their job we will have kids that are backed into a corner to the point they think that killing their tormenter is the only answer.

      you are the fricking problem. YOU should be looking for the jocks out of control and make sure that they are punished severly and PUBLICALLY by being forced to do community service as well as pay for their crime.

      You sir are what causes kids to freak out and blow someone's head off. and I really hope that you pull your head out of your ass and see reality that the "boys acting like boys" is bullcrap lies to allow the "in kids" to run amok.

      That stupid-ass reject kid will be tommorow's scientists, philosiphers and college professors.. while the football team usually ends up wanting to know if you "want fries with that" or that drunk asshole that beats his kids down the block.

      I blame the schools for the worthless leadership and no balls to kick their "star players" out forever because they commit horrible crimes in the name of "being cool".

      and it's obvious you were one of them, not having the balls to post with your real account.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    56. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by holt · · Score: 1

      We had a couple speakers come in to talk to us about rape prevention and education as part of our fraternity's effort to fight sexual assault. I remember them saying that the number was closer to what I said than your source.

      Also, isn't it pretty well known that the Air Force (and the US Armed Forces) has a problem with covering up sexual assaults as a matter of course? That was my impression, anyway, and it certainly makes me discount your source. But, I could be wrong.

      Still, that means that of the 62 rape cases the original poster said were actually false, only 15 or so really were. One rape is enough to make me think there is a problem, so 45 or so is incredibly bad. Even if the true statistic IS 27%, there is a serious problem.

    57. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Speaking as a guy, girls should be able to wear as little as they want to the frat party, and still beat the guys off with nothing more than saying "no":

      Do you know how dumb you sound? Especially when there is alcohol involved. I doubt that you would let your teenage daughter go to a frat party wearing a next to nothing. "Sure pumpkin, you wear that thong, afterall no-one will find it in the least enticing, especially drunken frat boys."

      Have you ever seen a drunk teenage girl at one of these parties? So many flirt flirt flirt, show them some flesh, and wonder why guys can't keep their hands off. Its kinda like giving your dog a bone, then saying "no" when his mouth is an inch from it.

    58. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by shadowbearer · · Score: 1

      I'd be curious to know why the parents of that kid didn't press for assault charges against those assholes. I would have. If they beat him that badly they could just as easily have killed him - and they seriously needed to be slapped, hard.

      SB

      --
      It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
    59. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Alric · · Score: 1

      Yeah, this is a lesson that takes a long time for most people to learn and one that I like to deny.

      I respect humans, regardless of how thoughtlessly they may behave, and therefore I don't enjoy being the asshole guy.

      However, in college I did have one acquaintance who became one of those guys when he drank excessively. By observing him, I learned that unfortunately the jerks have a strange advantage. On the average night, he might orally accost 30 women, and 29 would walk past him or otherwise reject him. However, one would usually be drunk or especially horny that night and stop to talk to him. And I realized that he only had to be successful once to accomplish his goal.

      Of course, he lost a little of my respect every time he made a cat-call, and after a while, I dropped him as a friend. I guess my point is that if you make your goals similar to the goals of the jerks, then you will often be disappointed, because jerks get what they want. If you have morals or whatever and cannot be an arrogant ass, then you should probably not try to compete on the same field with them. Look for qualities in women that the typical "jerky chauvinist" wouldn't be able to appreciate, such as individuality or intelligence.

      Plus you have to remember that the asshole might have sex, sometimes with really physically beautiful women, and that can be frustrating. However, the girls that are falling prey to them are not the type of girls that are fun for more than a night anyway. At least, that's my opinion. Hang out with smart chicks, keep yourself in decent physical shape, and you will find a cool, decently attractive female.

      Peace.

    60. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Monkelectric · · Score: 1

      I don't really know... some parents protested outside the school but it went away quitely. This is the same valley that just a few years earlier had the INFAMOUS randy brown sex deal ... Quickly: a high school coach was forcing football students to sleep with his wife or he'd bench them. It was national news for a whole month, every tabloid, every news outlet, every newspaper, it was a eeding frenzy. I suspect the school administrators having seen what happened just 10 miles away (there are two school districts in the valley), just wanted everything to go away. Oddly enough I looked for documentation and coudln't find ANYTHING on the web. Would probably have to get microfiche from the era.

      --

      Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley

    61. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm so sorry that this happened to you. I know how easy it is to get setup by a friend and raped. Being afraid of being kicked out of the house and hurting my best friend because her cousin did this to me,and being a virgin with no experience what so ever, I never told anyone until I was 30.

    62. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by handslikesnakes · · Score: 0

      Of course it's not justified or acceptable, but you're damn right I'm going to lay part of the blame at the feet of the people that drove the kid to it.

      (obvious September 11 2001 tie-in omitted)

    63. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Women must alter their behaviour because men "just can't control themselves"? Men convicted of rape need to get castrated.

    64. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by JohnnyCannuk · · Score: 1

      No, oddly enough he taugh phys-ed. ;)

      BTW, I was one of the very few who got 80's and 90's in Physics, Calculus, Chemistry, etc, was a starter on the football and basket ball teams and got top marks in Welding class. But of course, I went to a small rural public county high school (900 to 1100 students, depending on the year) up here in Canada where I could do all those things without being looked at funny.

      --
      Never by hatred has hatred been appeased, only by kindness - the Buddha
    65. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by abb3w · · Score: 1


      Especially when there is alcohol involved. I doubt that you would let your teenage daughter go to a frat party wearing a next to nothing.

      If she's teenaged, and there's alcohol, I'd object to the drinking underage, not because of what she's wearing. I have the fashion sense of a plaid suit with paisley tie, so fashion advice is Not In My Job Description. If she's at a frat party, I'd question her taste also, but that's why you try to teach some values while they're growing up. (There's nothing quite like hearing a snide "Barbie is a bimbo" from a five-year old girl.)

      --
      //Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
    66. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by holt · · Score: 1

      Sorry, the correct figure is 2%. I got ahold of the speaker who came to our fraternity and he also said that 2% is the same rate at which most other crimes are falsely reported (like robbery, assault, etc.).

      So I was wrong with my "maybe 1%", but 2% is pretty close. And that means that out of those 62 cases in the original poster's fraternity, statistically one or two might have been false. So as I said, either those Sigma Nus are either incredibly unlucky (to have so many girls falsely accuse them) or they've ruined around 60 lives over those four years. Pretty sick.

    67. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by syukton · · Score: 1

      The school cannot legally punish the kids for crimes not under their jurisdiction.

      Cannot legally, but it can and does happen. (and it happened to me, in Washington state and not Texas. Junior High was t3h sux0r.)

      --
      Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
    68. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by syukton · · Score: 1

      It doesn't stop at the school officials; everyone in a position of leadership has their head up their ass these days. That's why they're so self-centered; all they can see is themselves....

      --
      Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
    69. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by stephanruby · · Score: 1
      Same school, same year, kid borrows a laptop from the school for a weekend as he'd done for months, but this time didn't sign out for it correctly. Suspended and grades withheld. There you go. Borrowing a laptop without proper authorisation is a worse crime than rape in School Land.

      No, you're comparing apples to oranges. In this case of yours, rape didn't seem to be proven, at best only sex was proven. If a school wants to contradict the verdict of a State court, the school better have some damn good lawyers or it better have a clear written policy in which it states that kids who have sex with each other will be kicked out automatically.

      Even in the case of the laptop, if the parents had hired a good lawyer. Things probably would have blown over, and for all we know, this laptop-thing might have been settled quietly one or two months after the incident.

    70. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by stephanruby · · Score: 1
      I also belonged to a fraternity. As far as I know, there was never even one allegation of rape against mine. I can believe there was one false allegation of rape against your fraternity. Yeah. Two false allegations of rape. Yeah, may be. Sixty two *false* allegations of rape. You've got to be kidding me!

      Either this brotherly love is blinding you, or you're making this up and you never even belonged to such a fraternity.

    71. Re:The "in crowd" gets slap-on-wrist by Spazzz · · Score: 1

      Amen! The aftermath of Columbine sickened me because everybody wanted to play the blame game instead of addressing the real problem.

      I don't think that what happened at Columbine was right, but the kids felt as though they had exhausted all other resources they had available to resolve the issue.

      But of course this wasn't the problem: it was MTV, it was Marilyn Manson, it was the NRA and private gun owners, it was THE INTERNET...it certainly couldn't be our star football players and highly trained guidance counselors!

      It saddens me that all of those people died at Columbine and people still don't get it.

      --J

  5. Heh by Erwos · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I guess some criminals _can_ be rehabilitated. Nice to see our system isn't _totally_ broken.

    -Erwos

    --
    Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
    1. Re:Heh by FooGoo · · Score: 1

      Don't worry we'll get him eventually. Somone that stupid won't go unnoticed for long.

      --
      People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them
    2. Re:Heh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or perhaps our system is putting people in prison who didn't have a serious problem to begin with, and letting people go who do have serious problems?

    3. Re:Heh by necro2607 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I doubt it's a matter of the system not being broken. I'd say it's just more likely that Kevin is a decent guy at heart, and that's what allows/allowed him to learn from his unwise choices.

      One other thing - breaking the law doesn't exactly make a person a "criminal"; they aren't suddenly some evil hateful person who only does bad things and so on. Defining a person by their actions is easy to do and is considered "reasonable" but usually results in inaccurately classifying someone's whole personality and overlooking other aspects of his or her personality and behaviour.

    4. Re:Heh by whoda · · Score: 1

      One other thing - breaking the law doesn't exactly make a person a "criminal"; they aren't suddenly some evil hateful person who only does bad things and so on. Defining a person by their actions is easy to do and is considered "reasonable" but usually results in inaccurately classifying someone's whole personality and overlooking other aspects of his or her personality and behaviour.


      The RIAA and Congress disagree.

    5. Re:Heh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      You're right. If you break the civil code, you aren't a criminal. If you break the criminal code, you are.

      But regardless, Mitnick is a dumb fuck. He is a criminal and not a decent guy. He's a loser.

  6. Here we go again... by MysticalMatt517 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To the media, what's the difference? Anyone who commits a crime involving a computer is considered a hacker to them...

    1. Re:Here we go again... by lukewarmfusion · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Calling in a bomb threat != hacking.

      It's only "hacker news" because it involves Mitnick. A kid's cell phone doesn't usually count as a computer.

    2. Re:Here we go again... by JabberWokky · · Score: 1
      And hacking doesn't always involve computers. A good example of a hack is resting a laser pointer so it shines at a reflective windchime for a handsfree cat toy. The essence of a hack is the "ah ha!" idea of how to do something with available tools in a new and/or elegant way.

      And if you're referring to hacking in the form of cracking, or breaking into computers, most of Mitnick's work involved talking to people rather than actually using computers.

      --
      Evan

      --
      "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
    3. Re:Here we go again... by Cruciform · · Score: 1

      An even better hack is putting a swimsuit poster in the window with one of those laster pointers beaming light through a nipple. When the local peeping tom pulls out his binoculars the lenses focus the laser beam even more and burn a hole through his head. Voila! :)

      Yes mods, totally off topic.

    4. Re:Here we go again... by lukewarmfusion · · Score: 1

      I was responding to a parent post - where he claims that the press labels any crime involving a computer as a "hack."

      1. They didn't call it a hack.
      2. The kid wasn't hacking (in any sense of the word).

      I know what I hack is - and calling in a bomb threat on your cell phone doesn't qualify.

    5. Re:Here we go again... by JabberWokky · · Score: 1
      Sorry, just replying to the assertion (which appears to not have been made in your case, but is all too common) that a hack requires a computer being involved.

      --
      Evan "Mea Culpa"

      --
      "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
  7. uh.... by sxtxixtxcxh · · Score: 5, Funny
    He'd apparently made the calls, unnoticed, from class. "It is kind of funny, I'll admit, but this is not the time for these kinds of games," says Keck.
    br uh... exactly when is the RIGHT time for calling in bomb threats from class....?
    --
    for a minute there, i lost myself...
    1. Re:uh.... by Kenja · · Score: 5, Funny
      "exactly when is the RIGHT time for calling in bomb threats from class....?"

      When there's a test you didn't study for?

      --

      "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    2. Re:uh.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well of course these sort of things are to be done between classes.

    3. Re:uh.... by shawn(at)fsu · · Score: 1

      Southpark quote:

      There is a time and a place for everything, it's called college.

      --
      500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
    4. Re:uh.... by evilviper · · Score: 1
      br uh... exactly when is the RIGHT time for calling in bomb threats from class....?

      If you had read the article, you would know that it was "not the time" because it was near the anniversary of the Columbine shooting.

      So, the right time would be anytime more than a month before/after the anniversary.
      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    5. Re:uh.... by shane_rimmer · · Score: 1

      I don't know about that. I can imagine the news reports about the threats being phoned in within a month of the aniversary of the Columbine shootings, or even within six months.

      Some people just like to paint conspiracies anywhere they can find them.

    6. Re:uh.... by DR+SoB · · Score: 1

      Anywhere between 2 and 4 AM.

      --
      Mod +5 Drunk
    7. Re:uh.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because you were on an ill-advised comedic Road Trip?

      Todd Phillips is that you?

    8. Re:uh.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When there is a bomb? (Ok obvious I guess, but if you have a bomb in the first place you are in trouble).

    9. Re:uh.... by syukton · · Score: 1

      You got modded funny but I bet that was the reason; either he didn't finish his homework or he didn't study for the test. Or he was hungover from the party last night and couldn't -take- the test. heh.

      --
      Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
  8. A good example? by david_reese · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I'd have to say that it's good we can show a clear example of a "good hacker"... and what's best is this is a local effort. Good will for white-hats will be best done at the grassroots level.

    You can make a difference by doing good hackerly things and at the same time denouncing the draconian measures.

  9. re: move along by ed.han · · Score: 5, Interesting

    OTOH, mitnick did say it wasn't to him that people ought to be grateful but rather to shimomura. to me, that says something about mitnick.

    but i agree the keck saying it was "kind of funny" is stupid.

    ed

  10. New TV show: Hax0r Doo by Aslan72 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Said by the kid when captured "I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling haxors and your dog!"

    1. Re:New TV show: Hax0r Doo by Java+Pimp · · Score: 1

      Perhaps they can get Matthew Lillard to star since he has had prior experience!

      --
      Ascalante: Your bride is over 3,000 years old.
      Kull: She told me she was 19!
  11. Re:And the world wanted to see him as evil by BigBir3d · · Score: 2, Insightful

    All he did was advise the cops to use the same tracking techniques that got him caught. Not exactly brain surgery.

  12. sorry, but... by Chuck+Bucket · · Score: 0, Redundant

    somebody set us up the bomb!

    CBV

    1. Re:sorry, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      - Sorry for the offtopic... -

      Are you the same Chuck Bucket that plays Q2 WOD?

      I'm Chuck U. Farley!

      Just Curious?

    2. Re:sorry, but... by Chuck+Bucket · · Score: 1

      Hey there! Nice to hear from you, wow, it's funny when I hear from old co-horts. I haven't played Q2 in a bit, last year was into RTCW, but that waned a bit. I've got two kids now to spend my time with, and I couldn't be happier. Still, Q2 (for my money) was the best online, well, best computer game, I've ever played. And that WOD mod just added to the fun. Seeing the same folks on the servers just built a little community, it was a good time. Feel free to drop by my latest online addiction http://lefttochance.com/ Hope all is well with you, and please, keep it real.

      Bucket out...

  13. im guessing you were not popular in high school by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    and now have an angry grudge

    well I was also not popular in high school, but I got over it.

    you dont need to pre-judge like that...

    (p.s. your website is dixiechicks.com... just making sure you know that)

    1. Re:im guessing you were not popular in high school by RobertB-DC · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      and now have an angry grudge

      Well, duh. This is Slashdot, after all...

      (p.s. your website is dixiechicks.com... just making sure you know that)

      No, it's not. It's dixie dash chicks dot com. Big difference, at least to us not- popular- in- high- school types.

      --
      Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
  14. Hi-tech means to cover his tracks. by Fubar411 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The dead-end led Keck to suspect that the caller was employing some hi-tech means to cover his tracks. *67?

    1. Re:Hi-tech means to cover his tracks. by MyDixieWrecked · · Score: 2, Informative

      parent not offtopic. *67 is the code for blocking caller-id (displays "PRIVATE" on receiving end). too bad my high school blocked any incoming private calls, or my friend and I could have both called out from my house. *shrug*

      --



      ...spike
      Ewwwwww, coconut...
    2. Re:Hi-tech means to cover his tracks. by Cramer · · Score: 2, Informative

      True. However, nothing will stop the generation of Call Detail Records from every switch through which the call traverses. It's only a matter of time before the CDRs can be chained together to find the (likely) source of the call. In this case, they waited for him to do it again to catch him in the act.

      (Note: it can take several days to fetch all the CDRs required to trace a offline call -- an active call can be traced in seconds (w/appropriate telco cooperation.) The more telcos involved, the bigger the pain.)

  15. hacker... by millahtime · · Score: 4, Informative

    To the media, what's the difference? Anyone who commits a crime involving a computer is considered a hacker to them...

    hacker

    n 1: someone who plays golf poorly 2: a programmer for whom computing is its own reward; may enjoy the challenge of breaking into other computers 3: one who works hard at boring tasks

    Straight from Dictionary.com

    1. Re:hacker... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (a) You can't rely on a single source to give you complete information, beit on the internet or otherwise. (b) Words change meaning over time, acquire new ways of use, etc. In the current media, "hacker" does mean someone who commits a crime involving computers. Here are other definitions from m-w.com:

      Main Entry: hacker
      Pronunciation: 'ha-k&r
      Function: noun
      1 : one that hacks
      2 : a person who is inexperienced or unskilled at a particular activity
      3 : an expert at programming and solving problems with a computer
      4 : a person who illegally gains access to and sometimes tampers with information in a computer system

    2. Re:hacker... by 6Yankee · · Score: 1

      Fine, but would anyone in the media these days know what to do with a dictionary, .com or otherwise?

    3. Re:hacker... by Frnknstn · · Score: 1

      Dictionary.com. DICTIONARY.COM! Wow, it must be correct, it has the word DICTIONARY right there in the URL! Everywhere else must be wrong, because it's not DICTIONARY.COM!

      Now I am off to get me some sex from sex.com. I used to have a girlfriend, but we couldn't have been having sex, because we weren't logged on to SEX.COM!

      No, this isn't flamebait, it's a straight flame. Except it doesn't come from flame.com.

      --
      If it's in you sig, it's in your post.
    4. Re:hacker... by DunbarTheInept · · Score: 1

      Dictionary.com is a search engine into the databases of several very 'official' dictionary companies, like Websters. It returns results no more or less reliable than using the big dead-tree kind of dictionary - it's coming from the same exact source.

      --

      Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.

    5. Re:hacker... by Frnknstn · · Score: 1

      Several dictionaries? The only worthwhile, partly-valid, dead-tree dictionary it searches is Webster's. Check it out:

      http://dictionary.reference.com/help/about.html

      It does have a couple of other worthwhile texts in it, like The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, but that isn't a real dictionary.

      --
      If it's in you sig, it's in your post.
    6. Re:hacker... by DunbarTheInept · · Score: 1

      Your silly predjudice is noted.
      Your point is ignored.

      --

      Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.

    7. Re:hacker... by Frnknstn · · Score: 1

      You didn't even check, did you? Of the sites listed, only 5 have the word 'dictionary' in their titles. Of those, two are Bible dictionaries, one is that computer dictionary, one is a medical dictionary, and one is not any kind of paper publication. That leaves just Webster's.

      Unless you think the On-line Medical Dictionary is a great book for common usage word-use.

      --
      If it's in you sig, it's in your post.
    8. Re:hacker... by DunbarTheInept · · Score: 1

      Had you been merely claiming that Websters is the only full paper dictionary there, your claim would have been true. But you also made the implication that this wasn't good enough to trust it, and that's where I tuned out and said, "this guy's got some kind of stupid predjudice about Websters."

      --

      Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.

    9. Re:hacker... by Chuu · · Score: 1

      You know what, I am sick of people quoting dictionary or webster or whatever every time the word hacker is used by someone in a way they deem inapproiate. Do you really think the general public thinks (2) when they hear the word hacker, or something more like what the parent describes? Guess what, if you answered correct, then the dictionary needs to be changed, not the general public view. That's the way the english language works. Get over it already.

  16. Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by DAldredge · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Case in point. Longview, Texas (where a very large portion of the senior class can not read at 8th grade level) is paying over 500,000 to have artificial turf installed on the damn football field.

    They might not be able to read, but they have a kickass football stadium.

    1. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by The+Ape+With+No+Name · · Score: 5, Funny

      Schools in texas are ran by idiots.

      Res loquitur ipsa.

      --
      Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
    2. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by plasm4 · · Score: 1

      I think morans would be a more precise term than idiots.

    3. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by rjelks · · Score: 1

      "I think morans would be a more precise term than idiots."

      Did you spell "moron" wrong on purpose?

    4. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by pyros · · Score: 1

      browse a photoshop thread on fark.com some time. ;)

    5. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by plasm4 · · Score: 1

      http://www.shockingelk.com/pictures/misc/moran.jpg

      This picture has been spreading around the internet recently, and it was a play on that.

      So yes, I did spell it wrong intentionally.

    6. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by TXGB324 · · Score: 3, Funny

      *blows wistle*
      Illegal use of FARK cliché!
      10 yard penalty; first down.

    7. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      RES IPSA LOQUITUR - Lat. "the thing speaks for itself." Refers to situations when it's assumed that a person's injury was caused by the negligent action of another party because the accident was the sort that wouldn't occur unless someone was negligent.

    8. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by Azghoul · · Score: 1

      Kind of a shame that a community with different standards and priorities as you gets mocked. I suppose in ancient Athens you'd be the philosopher goofing on the Spartans.

      Ayup, them thar Texans is just stoopid, I reckon...

    9. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by DAldredge · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I was born in Texas and I live in Texas.

      I take it that you are OK with them spending such a large amount of money for outdoor carpet while they are graduating people that can not read?

    10. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by LilMikey · · Score: 1

      I'm usually all for poking fun at the prejudice guy but I'm not seeing it. 500gs on a stadium when the seniors can't read... that sounds stoopid to me.

      --
      LilMikey.com... I'll stop doing it when you sto
    11. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by xkenny13 · · Score: 1

      • "I think morans would be a more precise term than idiots."

        Did you spell "moron" wrong on purpose?

      Do a GIS on "morans" and you'll find the infamous picture ... though it's far more a Fark cliche than a Slashdot one.
    12. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by rjelks · · Score: 1

      Sorry, I'm familiar with the picture and I think it's funny as fark. I didn't mean for that to sound jerky like it probably came off.

    13. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apparently they don't teach verb conjugation in Texas schools either.

    14. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by DAldredge · · Score: 1

      I live in the area. :->

    15. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by devbone · · Score: 1

      Damn Lawyers... Im sure that what the Romans meant when they uttered these words in the SPQR.

      --
      Devon in Denver
    16. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just wait until he makes a kitten, Admiral Ackbar, or squirrel with giant testicles reference. Hilarity will ensue :-)

    17. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Here's my solution to high school's football worship/geek neglect: speak with your wallet. Contribute to your high school's fund drives, and give specifically to the math team. Send them a check for $250 and a letter saying "I hear your Science Olympiad team won Regionals - congratulations!" Talk to your old outcast friends, see if you can collectively get a few grand together all at once - "Here's $3000 from the drama club class of '92-'93".


      That's how the jocks do it. The football kids may be jerks at age 16, but some of them grow up to be extremely loyal and attentive alumni.


      It's a good cause in any case, and doing it this way may help change some attitudes.

    18. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by nfsilkey · · Score: 1

      Tsk tsk. In Victoria, TX, we had Coke pay us $1M to whore their sugar products in our high schools exclusively. _THEN_ we popped for the cool mil for the fake grass for our jocks.

    19. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by DAldredge · · Score: 1

      You mean corn syrup. Sugar is too expensive in the USA for use in sodas (except for areas with a large Jewish population and then only during Passover).

      I have seen some graphs that appear to show that the fat people problem really took off when a large number of products switched from sugar to corn syrup.

    20. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by Megane · · Score: 1

      You forgot about the part where they keep whining for more tax money "for education", when they've been throwing more and more money at it for years and things aren't getting any better. Of course we can't cut spending on something else, that just can't be done.

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
    21. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by Azghoul · · Score: 1

      I am, actually, okay with that if their elected officials (school boards are elected here in the east. Forgive me if they're not out there) do what they're asked to do.

      Some parts of the country produce more scientists, some produce the warriors. I'd rather have a 500k carpet that ends up turning out some men who'll protect my skinny butt rather than turn the nation into a bunch of wimps.

      Local priorities are different. I fail to see the harm in having folks who aren't as educated as you and I, if that's what they've chosen for themselves.

    22. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by anagama · · Score: 1

      Problem is, they let these guys vote too.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    23. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by goatan · · Score: 1
      I'm usually all for poking fun at the prejudice guy but I'm not seeing it. 500gs on a stadium when the seniors can't read... that sounds stoopid to me.

      Sort of an education catch 22 those at the top are stupid ensuring that those below become stupid, because of stupid decisions in there education. This ensurs the next generation are well an truly screwed education wise.

      Finally why o why Astroturf it has to be the nastiest surface to play on and it isn't even low maintenance and presumambly this is for American Football there are going to be some nasty carpet burns on that pitch

      --
      Saying Apple is better than MS is like saying Botulism is better than rabies.

    24. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by laddhebert · · Score: 1
      I wouldn't worry about that since it only took Bush around 25% of the population's votes to get him in the white house.

      -L

      --
      Don't Panic.
    25. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by pyrrhonist · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I'd rather have a 500k carpet that ends up turning out some men who'll protect my skinny butt rather than turn the nation into a bunch of wimps.

      Astroturf does not build character. More expensive equipment does not make you better players. Case in point: When I was in highschool, our track team was the best in the county even though we had the worst track (it was cinder, everyone else had rubberized). Since they've gotten the new track facility, they haven't done as well.

      I fail to see the harm in having folks who aren't as educated as you and I, if that's what they've chosen for themselves.

      These kids didn't choose it. A bunch of adults told them that it wasn't important to know how to read, but it is important to have astroturf.

      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
    26. Re:Schools in texas are ran by idiots. by SmurfBoy04 · · Score: 1

      Yup, this is Texas, where the Southern Baptists worship at the alter of the pigskin on Friday nights.

      Hence why the local news devotes half of it's entire nightly segment for high school football whenever it is even close to football season. They will probably start that up again in a couple more weeks...

      --

      I didn't spend all that time playing Dungeons and Dragons and not learn a little something about courage.
  17. Re:And the world wanted to see him as evil by pottymouth · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hardly, however it is nice to see that he's using what skills he has (which aren't exactly steller) for good rather than just getting himself in trouble.

    My hats off to him and I hope he keeps it up.

  18. Hackers1 - Crackers 0 by carvalhao · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wether people like it or not, there will always be someone that will misuse technology and its loopholes.

    Isn't it nice that there are some people that KNOW those loopholes and that don't misuse them? How can we defend ourselves against something we don't know?

    These kinds of actions bring the focus right to the differences between hacking and cracking most society is led to believe don't exist. Let me add that the good publicity comes in handy :)

    1. Re:Hackers1 - Crackers 0 by Lovedumplingx · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Come off it man. Why do you think Mitnick spent 4 years in jail? He was abusing his knowledge. And from all accounts that I've heard and read about...he wasn't even that good. Some coder in Israel was giving him the code and he was making the exploits! He was a glorified script-kiddy. I don't want to take away from Mitnick because he does have obvious genious traits (i.e. not getting caught for so long and understanding the ideas behind the code and usage) but he did use those loopholes for a long while before this change of heart.

  19. You know... by Poster+Nutbag · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't think this is an issue of technology as much as it is an issue of teachers needing to pay attention to their damn students.

    1. Re:You know... by BCW2 · · Score: 1

      AMEN

      --
      Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
    2. Re:You know... by Cramer · · Score: 1

      Have you ever been in a shop class? Have you ever been a teacher?

      You cannot keep your eyes glued to ~30 students for the entire class. It only takes a minute or two to call in a bomb threat. It can take longer than that to hand out assignments, or break the call into groups. And in a shop class, it's noisy and the students spend a fair amount of time working independently (i.e. without a teacher standing over their shoulder the whole time.) For that matter, the kid could've phone the threat in from the bathroom and then returned to class before the fuzz nabbed him.

    3. Re:You know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what is the fuzz? I'm asuming its 5.0. but whats the background. Did a quick google and wikipedia with no results.

    4. Re:You know... by Cramer · · Score: 1

      "the fuzz" is american slang for the police.

    5. Re:You know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, and when you get picked up by the fuzz, it hurts like hell.

  20. pay it forward. by itsdave · · Score: 2, Insightful

    reminds me of that movie "pay it forward" applied to criminal justice.

  21. who is this? by MORTAR_COMBAT! · · Score: 5, Funny
    Imagine you have just cracked your way into a UNIX login. Looking around a bit, you soon get a msg:

    Message from kmitnick@localhost on pts/1 at 13:31 ...
    Um... dude... you picked the wrong freaking box to hack into today...


    That's when you log off and unplug your computer from the net, maybe move, get a different ISP, change MAC addresses... etc...
    --
    MORTAR COMBAT!
    1. Re:who is this? by FlashBac · · Score: 1

      Imagine you have just cracked your way into a UNIX login.
      Ehhh... if you cracked Mitnicks UNIX box, by accident, it would be more than Uncle Kev that would like to have a word with you I'd say.

      --
      "Thats right buddy, the large print giveth, and the small print taketh away."
    2. Re:who is this? by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 1
      Message from kmitnick@localhost on pts/1 at 13:31 ...
      Um... dude... you picked the wrong freaking box to hack into today...

      Besides the fact that Mr. Mitnick is still on the Federally mandated no-Internet plan, I question if some "dude" is going to be able to hack his "freaking box".

      --
      "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
    3. Re:who is this? by GoofyBoy · · Score: 1

      Why would I care about someone named Kmitnic? Is his last name starting with K suppose to be special?

      --
      The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
    4. Re:who is this? by evilviper · · Score: 4, Insightful
      That's when you log off and unplug your computer from the net, maybe move, get a different ISP, change MAC addresses... etc...

      Kevin may have gained a lot of fame for being so successful, but it's not as if he's the most technically proficient hacker of all time.

      I wouldn't run away and hide, or anything like that, I'd just be very paranoid when my bank phones me up and says they need my SS# and CC# because their records have been lost...
      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    5. Re:who is this? by Short+Circuit · · Score: 3, Informative

      Uh, he's been able to use the Internet for over a year now.

    6. Re:who is this? by An+ominous+Cow+art · · Score: 1

      That, and I don't think many phreaking boxes run an OS.

    7. Re:who is this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      K{evin}mitnic, you know first initial, first 7 letters of last name?

    8. Re:who is this? by 3)+profit!!! · · Score: 1

      1) useradd kmitnick; su kmitnick 2) ??? 3) Profit!!!

    9. Re:who is this? by Graphyx · · Score: 1

      Yeah! Didn't you hear?

      Kmitnic is the new automated hacking utility for KDE.

  22. Humm.... by eww · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It sounds like the phone companies were not that interested in helping the police out. Instead the police had to ask someone else to help them out. Other wise the police wouldn't have know which information to request on the warrents.

    I wounder if the phone companies would have been more helpfull if there actually was a bomb that exploded?

    Typical big biz...

    1. Re:Humm.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Speaking from experiance......it would help if.

      1.) They knew what they wanted.
      2.) Asked for what they wanted.
      3.) Indicated why they wanted it so we could figure oute 1&2.
      4.) Don't complain when I ship them a 650meg Cd with details because they couldn't do 1-3, because There is too much information to find what they wanted.

      If the police officer needed help to figure out to ask for all the call details for that day with that dialed number, he should most likely start looking for his next job.

      Fluff.

    2. Re:Humm.... by Cramer · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's very likely the police didn't ask the right people the right questions. If I called up Bellsouth to complain about prank calls, the usual operators that man the "main line" cannot do much to help -- they can put in a request to enable "detailed billing" to collect the numbers to then be blocked. HOWEVER, any police department should know to ask for the telco's fraud department or whomever would be handling court ordered phone taps -- as per CALEA, every telco is required to have a single point-of-contact for phone tap requests (that can be a tree of people to address vacations and such...) These are the people who know what to do, and usually the only people with access to all the puzzle pieces (i.e. contacts at other telcos to continue the trace.)

      [While I've never been part of a "fraud department", I have worked along side them. I was part of the "committee" (if 4 people count as a committee) drafting the guidelines for handling law enforcement requests: CSRs are to transfer calls from LEAs to the fraud department the instant they know they aren't asking about their own phone service; do not log or discuss calls from LEAs.]

    3. Re:Humm.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I'm glad that the phone company wasn't falling over itself to help. Strict procedures in these cases support civil liberties.

    4. Re:Humm.... by fourharpoon · · Score: 0

      I wounder if the phone companies would have been more helpfull if there actually was a bomb that exploded? ...or perhaps, they will be more helpful when bomb was actually targetting them.

  23. Why not simply watch a cop show? by manganese4 · · Score: 4, Funny

    What I do not understand was why they just did not watch one of the many cop shows on TV to find out how to call the phone company to get a trace placed on the call?

    --
    I make my face look like this and concerned words come out.
    1. Re:Why not simply watch a cop show? by __aafutm5472 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, they'd even triangulate the position of the cell phone for them, and have it display on their workstation with a purdy map of the town, and a blinking red dot that made beeping noises.

      It's, like, so easy!

  24. What is strange... by 0xC0FFEE · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Mitnick didn't do much, he just taught the police officer what kind of information to ask the TelCo. What I find particularly disturbing is why the TelCo people weren't more involved. I mean:

    What happened: Officer: I need this TelCo: Searching... Nothing.. Try Again...

    instead of what should have happened: Officer: We need to catch this haxor TelCo: Ok, ..., there it is!

    1. Re:What is strange... by Phurd+Phlegm · · Score: 2, Funny
      Mitnick didn't do much, he just taught the police officer what kind of information to ask the TelCo. What I find particularly disturbing is why the TelCo people weren't more involved.

      You must never have called the phone company for service before. I imagine it was more like this.

      Offisah P: I need a trace on a line to locate a bomb threat.

      Operator: I'm sorry sir, but first we need to verify that the bomb threat isn't originating in your local wiring.

      Offisah P: Huh? Of course it isn't....

      Operator: First I'll ask you to unplug your phone for sixty seconds. I'll stay on the line while you do that.

      Offisah P: Okay. [time passes] Hello? . . . Hello? . . .

      Telephone: [reorder tone]

      Offisah P: Dammit!

      I'm going to have to get Mitnick's number. It will probably be a lot faster to get my local service back in order by calling him than by calling Qwest....

    2. Re:What is strange... by svallarian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What they were missing was the judicious use of

      "Terrorist"

      as in,

      "We need to catch this Terrorist."

      Steven V.

      --
      I patented screwing your mom. But it got revoked for "prior art."
    3. Re:What is strange... by daehrednud · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      That's because most of the TelCo people are morons. Those that had brains were either let go or retired. What Mitnick knows about telecommunications technology would probably be a mountain to an anthill compared to the summed knowledge of 50 random telco employees.

    4. Re:What is strange... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sadly, you're right. Bomb threats are the closest thing to terrorism that I've seen in a while.

      After all, there's a chance the threat might be real.

      Thnk about it

  25. This can't be good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...the hoaxes unnerved some residents of the Detroit suburb, which boasts a population in the high four digits.

    They rounding up everyone with a slashdot id from 5000-9999 and placing them in a Detroit suburb? That's not good.

  26. Inherent problem with RBOCs? by PornMaster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is there a reason there isn't a standardized procedure with the phone company whereby the cops say "there was a bomb threat made at 1pm to this number" and the phone company says "these were the incoming calls and where they came from"?

    Seems ridiculous that the cops in Podunk need to know how to request the info specifically.

    Before anyone jumps on me about privacy issues and overzealous cops with warrants, in cases where the customer (the school in this case) agrees to have their call records searched, this wouldn't really be an issue.

    -PM

  27. Yea!!! Kevin... by GeneralEmergency · · Score: 4, Funny

    Kevin once demonstrated this caller id spoofing technique to me personally while I was working with him on his KFI 640AM radio talk show "The Dark Side of the INternet".

    Believe me, it is extremely creepy to look at your ringing cell phone and see that you are calling yourself!

    Kevin, bud...Great work!

    --
    "A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
    GeneralEmergency
    1. Re:Yea!!! Kevin... by DarthBart · · Score: 1

      Bleah. Not all that hard to do. I did it with an Asterisk box and an iconnecthere.com account.

      The neat trick to that is that some people have their cell phone voicemail set so that if they call it from their phone, they don't have to enter their passcode.

      I can set CallerID to my cell phone number & call my cell phone and get immediately dumped into the "play messages" part of my voicemail.

    2. Re:Yea!!! Kevin... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Is there a HOWTO on this anywhere? This is /. afterall.

  28. How long until this story morphs? by Chairboy · · Score: 5, Funny

    River Rouge, MI (AP)- Notorious hacking mastermind Kevin Mitnick has been spotted by Michigan law enforcement teaching people how to circumvent security protocols. His peripheral involvement in a series of bomb threats has been noted by officer Keck and is being investigated.

    "...showed me how...hack...phones", said Keck (extraneous text removed for clarity).

    Mitnick, known for his evil attacks against such pillars of the community as Sprint and AT&T, may also have been seen eating a puppy. - AP

    1. Re:How long until this story morphs? by SquadBoy · · Score: 1

      A California Cheeseburger. I'm sure it was a California Cheeseburger.

      http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=c al ifornia+cheeseburger

      --

      Cypherpunks: Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics. Those who live by the sword die by the arrow.
  29. Mitnick knew the magic hacker words! by MikeD83 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Armed with Mitnick's advice, Keck went back to SBC and demanded a "terminating number search" for any calls made to the high school's lines on the dates of the bomb threats."

    So really all Kevin did was point out how unhelpful SBC is to law enforcement? SBC could help but wasn't asked in the right way. How is our government expected to tackle matters of national security when the major communications companies are unwilling to help unless you say the "magic words."

    1. Re:Mitnick knew the magic hacker words! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      major communications companies are unwilling to help unless you say the "magic words."
      They should have just tried "ba ram ewe".
    2. Re:Mitnick knew the magic hacker words! by roror · · Score: 1

      I am not sure I'd blame the telephone company for not telling me something if I didn't ask it in a way they understand. After all if I need some help, it'd be my responsibility to make the other party understand what exactly I want.

    3. Re:Mitnick knew the magic hacker words! by donford74 · · Score: 1

      There is a Federal law relating to Privacy of Communication. It is illegal for "The Phone Company" or it's personnel to even state that a call occured without consent of both parties or an appropriate court order.

  30. Are we sure that this isn't somebody's novel? by afeeney · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Of course, Markoff's book was written to sensationalize hackers and crackers, much the same as Mitnick's is to present hackers as generally benign and himself as a victim of a witchhunt (almost the same way that Cyberpunk protrayed Robert Morris as a victim) and somebody with no heroic aspects, just a venal brutality.

    So it's almost too good to be true to see Mitnick in a scenario where he's the hero who saves the innocent villagers but shows no animosity towards the perpetrator, just a good helping of world-weary contempt for somebody who thinks he's an anti-hero (hacker) but isn't. He also, in the same epic tradition, shows respect for the abilities of the man who brought him down in the first place.

    1. Re:Are we sure that this isn't somebody's novel? by shadowcabbit · · Score: 1

      Fact or fiction, I still thought Markoff/Shimomura's book was a good read. I didn't really care for the vilification of Mitnick, but neither do I believe that, at the time, he was "doing it for the people".

      Likewise, it's good for Kevin to be working with the good guys, but neither do I believe he's totally on the straight and narrow and that he can be let loose on just any computer system in the world.

      If any of you folks haven't had the chance to read "Takedown", I suggest you do so-- but take it with a grain of salt; take into account the attitudes towards computer crime at the time and the nebulous definition of "hacker" the mass media uses. I also suggest you read Kevin's books and (if and when he can write it) his counterpoint to the events of Takedown.

      Sometimes real life makes for good novels. Occasionally one of them is accurate, but more likely you have to read several of them to re-create what really happened.

      --
      "Why Subscribe?" Good question...
  31. After Lunch by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    Who wants a bomb threat to interrupt lunch? Better to have it later in the afternoon; you might get out of the rest of class for the rest of the day.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:After Lunch by coolerthanmilk · · Score: 2, Funny

      Speaking from related experience, this is true. Interrupting lunch is a very bad idea.

      On the first day of grade 1 way back in the day, my class and I were standing in line to go into the mostly full cafeteria. The kid next to me said "Hey, pull that" and pointed at the fire alarm. "What is it?" I asked. "It's cool" he replied, or something to that effect. After a bit of coaxing, I did indeed pull the fire alarm. For the rest of the year, I was not known as the kid who got everyone out of the evil exam, but the one who pulled the alarm DURING LUNCH on the first day of school. The principal didn't believe that I didn't know what it was, which was in fact the case. My eyes were opened to many important realities of life through that little experience.

      And now I'm doomed to wander the earth and repeat the story to all who will listen.

      Now about this albatross around my neck...

    2. Re:After Lunch by anagama · · Score: 1

      Dang it! I already posted, but you deserve a +5 hilarious!

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
  32. Re:Broken man by GeneralEmergency · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Having worked with him personally, I can tell you that Kevin **knows** what he did was wrong. He has never made any statements to the contrary. He has complained about the abuses of the Justice system that occured in his case, but he would never use those abuses to justify criminal activity.

    --
    "A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
    GeneralEmergency
  33. Re:And the world wanted to see him as evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How many hats do you have?

  34. Social Engineering by whoda · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mitnick wasn't rehabilitated.

    He has just used his super-powerful skills of social engineering to make people 'think' he has been rehabilitated.

    1. Re:Social Engineering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The key is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made!

  35. the phone company couldn't help? by mboedick · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What did Mitnick do exactly? He told the police what to ask for from the phone company?

    I would think if the police went to the phone company and asked them "we need to find out where these calls are coming from", the phone company would know what needs to be done to find out.

    I hope everything Mitnick knows is also known by someone at the phone company. It seems the cooperation of the phone company would preclude the necessity of involving an "expert" like Mitnick.

    1. Re:the phone company couldn't help? by bhima · · Score: 1
      Hmm... I work in R&D in a *very* large medical devices (and pharma) company. It takes a very long time for the people that talk to "customers" to figure out that they have no idea about arcane inner workings of our devices and after a fair amount of frustration on their part it occurs to them to ask the people who developed it.(you know the people that wrote the specs, coded it up, tested it, and then crossed themselves and declared it ready).

      It really doesn't surprise me that any telecommunications company was simply unable to respond with anything other than "I'll have to look in to that" for weeks!

      Having said all of that it is nice that Kevin has decided to join the rest of us and be a positive part of society!

      --
      Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
    2. Re:the phone company couldn't help? by __aafutm5472 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I would think if the police went to the phone company and asked them "we need to find out where these calls are coming from", the phone company would know what needs to be done to find out.

      Man, you must've never dealt with one of the large telecom companies. They'll dance around the issue, and give you loads of crap until you ask for the exact thing that it says on their screen, word for word. Not to mention you have to figure out which of ten phone numbers to call to get to the right place, and they'll have to talk to five other "technicians" to figure out what needs doing.

      Now, contrast this with a small local phone company that, while they can't handle the load and expansion of a large company, end up solving your problem with one person and one phone call. Simply put, the large phone companies are too large to get anything done in any reasonable amount of time.

      It gets more fun when one large phone company has to coordinate with another one.

    3. Re:the phone company couldn't help? by abb3w · · Score: 1

      The big places usually have one Guru level tech hiding away amidst the competents hiding in the herd of incompetents, and for some problems, you're screwed unless you find him. The small phone companies seldom have even the one... but if he's there, he's easier to find in the smaller herd.

      If you are very lucky, you will figure out who he is. If you are very, very lucky, and impress him as a not-stupid yourself, he will let you know how to make sure your requests for service get routed away from the incompetents in the future.

      --
      //Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
    4. Re:the phone company couldn't help? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      After dealing with the phone company over services like T1's, DSL and dry pairs, all I can say is don't expect the phone company to know anything.

  36. l33t detectivez! by mabu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The sad part of this is that the detective couldn't figure out what to ask for, or that SBC refused to cooperate fully. I think it's great that Mitnick gets some positive press and furthers the idea of white hat operations, but the more disturbing thing this story illuminates is how totally inept law enforcement is when it comes to tech issues.

    The boy didn't even employ anything creative or hacker-like. He just dialed a number on his phone, and the authorities needed an ex-con hacker to help them with this?

    I think stories like this call attention to the fact that there is a *desperate* need for more training of law enforcement people in tech issues.

    1. Re:l33t detectivez! by cowscows · · Score: 4, Interesting

      actually, this all sounds pretty decent to me. It's a small town, they can't be expected to hire a hundred specialists, and so someone at the department asks for help from someone who knows more about it. And they catch the guy. What's the problem here? Sounds to me like the detective was acting like, well...a detective.

      Was Mitnick the only person who could've helped them, due to his ex-con hacker status? Doubtful. Could the phone companies have been better about it? Probably. If something similar happens again, will the cops know better how to deal with it? They should.

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

    2. Re:l33t detectivez! by bloggins02 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The sad part of this is that the detective couldn't figure out what to ask for

      Wait, the police detective was supposed to just know that he had to ask for a "terminating number"? I don't think so. (OTOH, you're correct for calling out SBC for requiring these "magic words" in the first place).

      I look at this detective and see a guy who didn't know what to do, ADMITTED he didn't know what to do, and then found the right person to ask who DID know what to do. The guy seems pretty resourceful to me. I'll give him props, even if he didn't know what a "terminating number" is.

    3. Re:l33t detectivez! by Tenebrious1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The boy didn't even employ anything creative or hacker-like. He just dialed a number on his phone, and the authorities needed an ex-con hacker to help them with this?

      My guess is that the local PD knew it was a local kid, and knew it was a hoax. Of course, they had to treat each call as if it were real, but not worth calling up the State Police, Sheriff, FBI... don't want to run the risk of putting some town bigwig's kid in the fed pen. So the local PD kept the investigation local, used other means to keep the crime and punishment in their own jurisdiction. And wouldn't you know, the accused will not be facing jail time.

      --
      -- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
    4. Re:l33t detectivez! by curtisk · · Score: 2, Insightful
      ...and the authorities needed an ex-con hacker to help them with this?

      YEAH!!! Why doesn't anyone throw Tsutomu Shimomura a bone once in a while? Its always Mitnick,Mitnick,Mitnick!!!!! sheesh!

      --

      Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!

    5. Re:l33t detectivez! by mabu · · Score: 1

      actually, this all sounds pretty decent to me. It's a small town, they can't be expected to hire a hundred specialists, and so someone at the department asks for help from someone who knows more about it.

      It's a REAL SAD DAY when detectives don't know how to track down the source of a telephone call. They need a "specialist" for that?? Wouldn't this technique be taught in remedial detective work 0101?

      Don't get me wrong. I applaud the detective for being innovative enough to query Mitnick for help, but surely this isn't some amazingly complex investigative issue.

    6. Re:l33t detectivez! by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 1

      Because his book with John Markoff is self-aggrandizing bullshit. I don't know if that's his fault or Markoff's, but it still smells.

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
    7. Re:l33t detectivez! by Felinoid · · Score: 1

      Knowing how to track down someone who DOSE NOT spoof his caller ID.. Yeah peace of cake.
      Knowing how to track down someone who spoofs his caller ID.. Not so simple.

      For over a decade now police could rely on caller ID to deliver accurate results and this kid knew how to change that. It's not remedial detective work 101 anymore...

      --
      I don't actually exist.
    8. Re:l33t detectivez! by Felinoid · · Score: 1

      It's not every day I get to tell myself to RTFA.

      The page says he used caller ID spoofing in fact he didn't.
      SBC wasn't working with the police and that's pritty unexpected.

      --
      I don't actually exist.
    9. Re:l33t detectivez! by curtisk · · Score: 1
      Because his book with John Markoff is self-aggrandizing bullshit. I don't know if that's his fault or Markoff's, but it still smells.

      No arguement there! I was just imagining Tsutomu Shimomura whining like Jan Brady, "its always Marcia,Marcia,Marcia!!!"

      --

      Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!

    10. Re:l33t detectivez! by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 1

      btw, Google says it's "Driver, why have we stopped here? This is not the Howard Johnson's!"

      I certainly don't remember for sure.

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
    11. Re:l33t detectivez! by curtisk · · Score: 1
      LOL, sure enough it does, thanks

      Remembering in your own brain is hard! :)

      Google take note, gMemories could be your next big thing after gMail

      --

      Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!

  37. Re:Broken man by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Maybe thats what you call rehabilitation?

  38. Re: move along by Short+Circuit · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I thought it clear that Keck didn't mean it was humerous. He meant that Keck thought it ironic, almost silly, that classmates and/or his teacher didn't see him or turn him in.

  39. Re:Broken man by orion41us · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Agreed, what was done to Mitnick was wrong. But that does not justify the actions of the prank caller. I applaud Mitnick for making that distinction.

  40. Re:Broken man by Lord+Kano · · Score: 1

    He has complained about the abuses of the Justice system that occured in his case,

    And yet, he's willing to help put another person at the mercy of that same justice system.

    LK

    --
    "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
  41. Grumble grumble by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 3, Informative
    It wasn't the crime of the century, but taking place barely two weeks ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Columbine massacre, the hoaxes unnerved some residents of the Detroit suburb, which boasts a population in the high four digits. "I don't put anything past these kids now days, I really don't," says Keck.
    Well, don't put anything past anyone. But it's not "these kids" that we need to worry about, it's people that are complete fucking psychopaths. Eric Harris was hateful and paranoid. So sure, he thought everyone at school was out to get him. He thought everyone everywhere was out to get him. Check out his journals and make up your own mind. He lied for fun and idolized mass murderers. He wasn't targetting the people he hated specifically, he wanted to kill everyone at the school. The only reason they didn't succeed was that they were bad at making bombs, and the bombs didn't go off when they planned. In the cafeteria. At lunch time.

    And psychopaths like this always think they're being bullied. That's because they're fucking paranoid and crazy. It's certainly not that kids are inherently paranoid and crazy. Yes, we need to pay more attention to children, but not because they're a threat.

    Ugh. I hope that's just the cop mentality speaking. I hope most people don't actually think like that "Keck" guy.
    --

    There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
    1. Re:Grumble grumble by jcuervo · · Score: 1
      And psychopaths like this always think they're being bullied. That's because they're fucking paranoid and crazy.
      Maybe they're paranoid and crazy because they've been getting bullied.
      --
      Assume I was drunk when I posted this.
    2. Re:Grumble grumble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, Harris didn't exactly think everyone was out to get him. That's the spin the media put onto everything but Harris displayed the exact characteristics of a serial killer. If you really take some time to read what he wrote, he really has contempt for everybody around him. He knew exactly what he was doing -- but he didn't attach any feeling to it.

      There's a couple articles about this if you do a Google search. Very interesting and, I believe, a true analysis.

    3. Re:Grumble grumble by Restil · · Score: 1

      I hope most people don't actually think like that "Keck" guy.

      How is that exactly? Taking a bomb threat seriously because based on past experience he knows that some kids really do have it within themselves to carry out such a thing. Maybe the kid just wanted attention. Fine. He has it now.

      -Restil

      --
      Play with my webcams and lights here
    4. Re:Grumble grumble by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 1

      You're right. I just hope his thought process is "some kids hope to be mass murderers, thus some kids are actually this dangerous" rather than "some kids hope to be mass murderers, thus all kids are actually this dangerous."

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
  42. SBC doesn't know its own system??? by Sowbug · · Score: 4, Insightful

    First the detective tries this: "When the detective served a search warrant on SBC Ameritech for the source of the calls, the phone company came up dry."

    Then after he talks to Mitnick and gives a more specific request: "This time, SBC tracked the calls as far as cell phone carrier Sprint PCS, and identified the specific trunks on which the calls entered the local phone network."

    Why does SBC need the help of an ex-hacker to come up with the right terminology to search its own system for evidence of crime? Do phone companies treat law enforcement with the same dull contempt that they do their regular customers?

    I can just imagine: "Thank you for calling SBC Ameritech's search warrant compliance department. Please listen carefully to the following options, as they have recently changed. Press 1 if you are tracking an obscene phone caller. Press 2 if you are tracking a bomber. beep Thank you. Please press 1 if the bomber is threatening a commercial address. Press 2 if the bomber is threatening a residential address. beep...."

    1. Re:SBC doesn't know its own system??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sad as it is YES they did need someone to show them how. More than likely the people who made the systems were 'retired' a few years ago in a cost cutting round. So all you have left are people who knew better than to stay involved in a high profile project or are somewhat new and know better than to change anything.

      Also the officer did not know what to ask for. He knew what he wanted. But just not how to ask. He was making all sorts of wild assumptions about hacking and the like. Mr. Mitnick showed him that there was no hacking involved and then proceded to show him HOW to ask the phone company.

      Think about it from a standpoint we here probably understand. I go to my local computer store and want to get some memory. I ask like ths 'I need some pc133 256 meg cl2'. Now lets say my parents wanted to ask for the same thing. They go in the store 'I need some of that memory thing for my cpu my son said we need some'. We are both asking for the same thing. Yet who will get done in the fastest amount of time? I talk the lingo. Or in the cop vs phone company terms the cop didnt speak the lingo as it were. We each in our own industries have our own lingos.

  43. Or... (was Re:You know...) by janbjurstrom · · Score: 1

    I don't think this is an issue of technology as much as it is an issue of students needing to pay attention to their damn teachers.

    --
    668.5
  44. Re:Who's driving the boat? by SoCalChris · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    You do realize that after a story is accepted, it sits in a que for a while before making it to the main page, right? So even though the story was posted after your submission, it was probably accepted before you submitted yours. Or maybe your summary sucked and the editors liked this one better.

    Calm down though, it's just a /. submission, not something important.

  45. When? by Aqua_Geek · · Score: 1

    Anytime during Calculus.

    --
    Disclaimer: This comment was generated by a Flock of Trained Microsoft Programmers for Aqua_Geek.
  46. Bleached hat. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

    I'd have to say that it's good we can show a clear example of a "good hacker"... and what's best is this is a local effort. Good will for white-hats will be best done at the grassroots level.

    The concept of Mitnick as a "white hat" will probably have a significant number of white hats foaming at the mouth.

    If Mitnick is truly reforming, kudos to him. But his hat WAS a darker shade in the past.

    Perhaps "bleached hats" would be appropriate for reformed black hats. With the implication that they might come out white, grey, or dingy yellow - which seems appropriate.

    Reformed criminals come in at least three flavors - those who truly reform by internalizing the intent to do the right thing even when it's inconvenient and to make up for any wrong they had done previously, those who put on an appearance of reforming while continuing their activities in hiding, playing both sides of the fence, and those who would go back to the dark side in a flash but for fear of being caught again.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  47. Sounds more like police incompetence to me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let me get this straight..

    Rosco, Enos, and Cooter don't know to conduct a proper phone record search, and instead of turning to the state's BCI, closest FBI office, etc., they solicit help from Mitnick? Sounds pretty goofy to me.

    Note to self: Cooter was the mechanic, you dolt!

    1. Re:Sounds more like police incompetence to me by sparty · · Score: 1

      Hey now, you leave Enos out of this...he's probably off in the city, otherwise he would've sweet-talked the switchboard operator into letting him know who made the calls.

    2. Re:Sounds more like police incompetence to me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mitnick sucks, helping the people that busted him.

      I perosnally wouldnt give a cop the time of day if

      they done something like that to me.

  48. Re:i love kevin by WTFmonkey · · Score: 4, Funny
    Let's follow this thread a little bit. If Kevin impregnated his mother (as you suggest), then his (half-)brother would also be his son.

    Now, the definition of "uncle" is "parent's brother" so Kevin would, in fact, be his own uncle. Along those same lines, the kid (other than possibly having flippers) would be his own cousin. I think.

    If you had his babies, you would be the mother of Kevin's children, as well as his... um, mother-in-law? That's not quite right, since they're not married, but that's the general idea.

    Kevin's father, then, would be the grandfather of kevin's child as well as the (step-?)father.

    Ow, my brain hurts now.

  49. Whoa! Detroit is a real city?!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I always thought it was just a joke city, you know, the kind they talk about on the Simpsons or Friends or something. I didn't know people actually live there.

    You're kidding, right? Detroit doesn't exist. Ha ha, had me going there for a moment.

    1. Re:Whoa! Detroit is a real city?!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      "I always thought it was just a joke city..."
      Nope. That's Cleveland.
  50. what I would've done by WormholeFiend · · Score: 3, Funny

    I would've used the Trace-Buster-Buster-Buster-Buster-Buster.

  51. The 2 rules of modern America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1) You are innocent until proven broke. 2) Your punishment has more to do with your social class than your crime.

  52. Now replace "Mitnick" with "Carnivore" by mi · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And see the /. reaction change tone...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  53. I, on the other hand, am heartened. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What I find particularly disturbing is why the TelCo people weren't more involved. I mean:

    What happened: Officer: I need this TelCo: Searching... Nothing.. Try Again...

    Instead of what should have happened: Officer: We need to catch this haxor TelCo: Ok, ..., there it is!


    I, on the other hand, am glad that the telephone company is not being randomly helpful, but insisting that the police go through proper channels before handing out call trace information.

    Perhaps they could have told him what to ask for. But I prefer that they err on the side of citizen privacy and let the police learn to do their job through their own methods (as this officer did), rather than spending their resources (and raising customer bills) leading every nosy cop through the procedure by hand, thus encouraging its constant use for ever smaller issues and possibly giving them incorrect legal advice in the process.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
    1. Re:I, on the other hand, am heartened. by MoneyT · · Score: 1

      Er... it's not like they changed the procedures or anything, from the way I read it, the police called one day:

      "We need XX information."

      They didn't get anything, so they called another day:

      "We need you to get XX information by doing YY"

      Not exactly much difference. I'm sure if the police were calling the telco on the issue, they already had the proper authorization.

      --
      T Money
      World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
    2. Re:I, on the other hand, am heartened. by evilviper · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I, on the other hand, am glad that the telephone company is not being randomly helpful, but insisting that the police go through proper channels before handing out call trace information.

      That is ridiculous. He HAD A SEARCH WARRANT, and the telco, instead of giving him the information he had a right to recieve, they said: We don't know who placed the call, have a nice day. In other words, a cop had a warrant, and they told him to fuck off. They could EASILY have said: It came from this other provider, ask them.

      rather than spending their resources (and raising customer bills) leading every nosy cop through the procedure by hand

      They do not need to teach anybody the ups and downs of POTS, they just need to write down a couple lines of info, such as the telco originating the call, and tell him he needs to go elsewhere.

      and possibly giving them incorrect legal advice in the process.

      How in the hell does telling a cop where a call came from, constitute legal advice. It seems you are very very confused about something.
      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    3. Re:I, on the other hand, am heartened. by rpj1288 · · Score: 1

      But the detective DID have a warrent for the information. It was just that he didn't know the right questions.

      --
      Marvin knew: "Think of a number, any number..."
    4. Re:I, on the other hand, am heartened. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is more of a matter that the officer did not know the 'lingo' as it were. I need you to do xyz to phone abc. Like most 'help desks' if you know how to ask you can get through the tape. Such as a friendly 'hows it going? Rough day man? Lot of calls today?' It is amazing how nice people on the other end become. But go instantly into 'fix it now or Ill hurt you' mode gets nothing done. In this case he need to be able to tell the person on the other end of the phone what buttons to push to get the computers to spit out the right answer. This wasnt a 'unhelpfull' phone company. It was a matter of a poorly trained tech (what else is new?).

  54. That's it, blame the teachers. by Nintendork · · Score: 1
    I doubt the kid was using his theater voice in front of the entire classroom to place these calls. Teachers are there to teach, not to babysit and devote their attention to looking for suspicious activity. It's not their job to keep a watchful eye over every student 100% of the time.

    -Lucas

  55. It's a legal issue. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

    Is there a reason there isn't a standardized procedure with the phone company whereby the cops say "there was a bomb threat made at 1pm to this number" and the phone company says "these were the incoming calls and where they came from"?

    Yes there is. It involves search warrants. And that means asking for the right stuff. Getting call trace information is an invasion of privacy, not just of the caller but of others who might have called at around the same time. So you need an overriding reason to perform such a search. And you need probable cause that a specific crime has been committed and evidence will likely be obtained by perfroming the search, to get the warrant allowing the search.

    It's the job of the police and prosecutors to know how to do this, not of the telephone companies to teach them.

    I'm sure that once you think about it in terms of some policeman who doesn't like your looks tracing all your calls and harassing all your friends, on the basis of an anonymous tip (phoned in by his buddy at the next desk), you'll appreciate why safeguards are in place.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
    1. Re:It's a legal issue. by Cramer · · Score: 2, Informative

      Indeed.... CALEA It's been around long enough that no police force should be unaware of the proper means for requesting call records. If you want CDRs, you don't call Bob down at the CO. (who isn't likely to know how to trace an active call much less fetch the records for calls from last week.)

  56. This is bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    I got a year of probation and a two week suspension back when I was a 8th grader for writing an anti-school letter which was misintrepreted as a bomb threat. But this kid actually called in several bomb threats and he isn't even getting a punishment. I am definitely going to petition that this kid gets sent to a logging camp for a year.

    I should of got off with "advertising without the school's permission ($700 fine)", and "inciting the students to riot (a week suspension). Instead I had to pay over two thousand in lawyer bills/court costs. My old highschool won't be getting any donations from me.

    (It was before they started bending over for kids with unusual physical disabilities. My right hand had structural/nerve problems so I couldn't write at a decent rate and thus hated school with a passion.)

  57. Actually... by gumpish · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    It's:

    Somebody set up us the bomb.

    See for yourself.

  58. /. fail English? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's unpossible!

    1. Re:/. fail English? by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 1

      That's unpossible!

      Hey, that's my line!

      --
      Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
  59. Re:And the world wanted to see him as evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe you should focus on developing your own "stellar" skills in english.

  60. Woah by FuzzyBad-Mofo · · Score: 1

    Did anybody else read that headline as "Mitnick Helps Bust Bomb Haxxor"?

  61. Beating Caller ID by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Taken from here.

    To start off with - 15 Ways to beat Caller ID

    (0) This doesn't count as a way to beat CID, but there's a general
    principle to consider when contemplating ways to beat CID.
    Generally, the CID signal your target sees corresponds to the owner
    of the dial tone you call him from. If you call direct, you dial
    from your own dial tone and your line is identified. If you call a
    third party, and by whatever means manage to acquire his dial tone,
    and from there dial out, it is the number associated with that
    second dial tone that your target sees. Some of the ideas following
    this were developed with this basic idea in mind.

    (0.5) This also doesn't count, but remember that beating Caller ID as
    such is only the first layer of your protection. If your calling is
    sufficiently annoying or criminal, there is *always* a paper trail
    (ANI data, billing data, trouble reports, *57 traces, etc) leading
    back to the phone you first called from. That trail is not always
    easy or worthwhile to track you down with. Whether or not the trail
    is followed depends entirely upon how pissed off your target is and
    how much co-operation he can get from the phone company, law
    enforcement, etc.

    (1) Use *67. It will cause the called party's Caller ID unit to
    display "Private" or "Blocked" or "Unavailable" depending on the
    manufacturer. It is probably already available on your line, and if
    it isn't, your local phone company will (most likely - please ask
    them) set it up for free. This is the simplest method, it's 100
    percent legal, and it works. But just remember you will not be
    invisible to business customers with real time ANI (like on
    corporate toll free lines), or to 911, or to the mechanism that *57
    triggers.

    (2) Use a pay phone. Not very convenient, costs 25 or 35 cents
    depending, but it cannot be traced back to your house in any way,
    not even by *57. Not even if the person who you call has Mulder and
    Scully hanging over your shoulder trying to get an FBI trace (sic).
    Janet Reno himself couldn't subpoena your identity. It's not your
    phone, not your problem, AND it will get past "block the blocker"
    services. So it's not a totally useless suggestion, even if you
    have already thought of it.

    (3) Go through an operator. This is a more expensive way of doing it
    ($1.25-$2.00 per call), you can still be traced, and the person
    you're calling WILL be suspicious when the operator first asks for
    them, if you have already tried other Caller ID suppression methods
    on them.

    (4) Use a prepaid calling card. This costs whatever the per-minute
    charge on the card is, as they don't recognize local calls. A lot
    of private investigators use these. A *57 trace will fail but you
    could still be tracked down with an intensive investigation (read:
    subpoena the card company). The Caller ID will show the outdial
    number of the Card issuer.

    (5) Go through a PBX or WATS extender. Getting a dial tone on a PBX is
    fairly easy to social engineer, but beyond the scope of this file.
    This is a well-known and well-loved way of charging phone calls to
    someone else but it can also be used to hide your identity from a
    Caller ID box, since the PBX's number is what appears. You can even
    appear to be in a different city if the PBX you are using is! This
    isn't very legal at all.

    (6) I don't have proof of this, but I *think* that a teleconference
    (Alliance teleconferencing, etc.) that lets you call out to the
    participants will not send your number in Caller ID. In other
    words, I am pretty sure the dial tone is not your own.

    (7) Speaking of

    1. Re:Beating Caller ID by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A minor technicality: *Janet* Reno is female.

    2. Re:Beating Caller ID by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *Janet* Reno is female.

      Debatable.

    3. Re:Beating Caller ID by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or just use somebody else's line. Outside of most houses and businesses where the phone line goes in, there's a box there that has a "test" jack. Most of these boxes are not locked even though there is a way to lock them. Take a screwdriver and a cheap phone to a place where you can open the box and plug in to the jack without being seen. Make your call and it can't be traced to you.

    4. Re:Beating Caller ID by steveorama · · Score: 1



      "(2) Use a pay phone. Not very convenient, costs 25 or 35 cents depending, but it cannot be traced back to your house in any way, not even by *57. Not even if the person who you call has Mulder and Scully hanging over your shoulder trying to get an FBI trace (sic). Janet Reno himself couldn't subpoena your identity.


      I loved that part. ;-)

    5. Re:Beating Caller ID by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's why it's humorous, dipshit.

  62. The technique used by the prankster by Powercntrl · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you RTFA, it's easy to figure out what how the prankster was blocking his caller ID.

    With SprintPCS, you can call your voice mail and one of the options is to place a call. When you place a call using this method, your caller ID information isn't sent. Of course, Sprint still has logs of who you're calling so the only evil deed it's really good for is calling an ex-girlfriend and telling her you think she's fat and no good in bed. ;)

    Back in my day, kids that called bomb threats into the school used payphones... And they didn't get caught.

    --

    ---
    DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
    1. Re:The technique used by the prankster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When I was in high school the kid that called in a bomb threat from a payphone failed to notice the camera pointing directly at him from a nearby gas station. Last I heard he was really making a name for himself at KFC.

  63. I've seen River Rouge by kev0153 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I don't think you would be able to tell if a bomb went of in RR Michigan. It looks pretty destroyed right now.

  64. Hackers - The Movie by kyoko21 · · Score: 1

    This story reminds me of the line that was said by Zerocool from the movie "Hackers."

    Mess with the best,
    Die like the rest.

    Apparently this is also a motto of the U.S. Marines. Though at least that is what google comes up with. :-/

  65. Or, in other words... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Hax0r busts hoaxer.

  66. message to law enforcement by novakane007 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And you guys locked him up for years! Imagine what he could have done for you if his sentence was to contract for the FBI or the NSA!

    --

    WURD!!
    1. Re:message to law enforcement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah great idea. Give a guy who basically proved he's totally untrustworthy and a deviant (not that there is anything inherently wrong with those qualities) and who makes a game out of breaking into networks and computer systems, _trusted_ access to the world's most important computer systems!

      You must be either very naive, very stupid, or both.

  67. Actually - he told the cops how to think like cops by JimmytheGeek · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They didn't have the telephony-fu to ask the phone company for what they needed. The phone company, in the manner of bureaucratic twits everywhere, answered the question that was asked, not the one that needed asking.

    Now, that is probably good in a subpoena situation. But if a properly identified law enforcement officer was tracking a bomb threat, I'd tell them what they needed to ask for, wait while they got the corrected subpoena, and provide the info. That is, if I worked for the phone company.

    I probably shouldn't get involved until such time as I am.

    If this had been more serious than a prank,

  68. Just to let you all know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This stuff happens all the time in detroit

  69. re: move along by ed.han · · Score: 1

    now that's interesting. you'd think that these sorts of losses would show up on annual reports though, or otherwise somehow be identifiable?

    ed

  70. Most rapes are NOT falsely reported by amcox · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, rape has the exact same rate of flase reporting as any other violent crime, according to the FBI. And, when combined with the huge numbers of people who do not report rapes that do happen, you are dead wrong. The vast majority of rape allegations are true.

    Furthermore, the situations you described with your frat could very well have been rapes. In most, if not all, states, intoxicated individuals can't give consent to have sex, and thus having sex with them is rape. The fact that the DAs didn't end up bringing charges means next to nothing. The level of proof that is needed to get a conviction in a rape case is enormous; a survivor usually has to have some kind of physical evidence. Many times, this will be washed away by the time she decides to go to the police, leaving only the opposing statements of the rapist and his victem.

    Regardless of all that, please remeber that one of the most damaging things that you can do to a survivor of rape or sexual assault who discloses to you is to not believe them. Our culture already puts tons of shame and guilt them, so it's a huge deal to come out and admit to being a survivor. They are, in the vast majority of the time, telling the truth. And even if they're not, that's for the police to decide. You should just be supportive. Or just shut up and say nothing.

    1. Re:Most rapes are NOT falsely reported by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Furthermore, the situations you described with your frat could very well have been rapes. In most, if not all, states, intoxicated individuals can't give consent to have sex, and thus having sex with them is rape

      Yeah- all those MEN (who were also at those parties, also drinking!) should charge the women with rape.

      Or is it only rape if the WOMAN is drunk??

    2. Re:Most rapes are NOT falsely reported by amcox · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It depends on the state. Laws vary, as do interpretations of those laws. But I believe that most sensible law enformenct officials and sexual assualt counselors, at least the ones I've talked to, point to the initiating partner as the one at fault. So, yes, if the woman initiated it, she might be the rapist. Other people say that the drunker one is the victim. Everyone, though, knows that the law is there to protect people, not to get them in trouble. But the vast majority of rapists are men, a fact we as guys have to accept.

      Think about you comment, too. Where's the outrage for the rapes that happened in the frat? I'm positive (and I'm at college, too) that out of 62 allegations, even with the most generous leeway for your brothers, at least a few were actual rapes. Why no concern for those women who's lives were shattered? Your attitude is exactly why so many women are afraid to come forward after being sexually assaulted.

    3. Re:Most rapes are NOT falsely reported by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...the initiating partner as the one at fault.

      Who initiated? It comes down to 'he said, she said'.

      Other people say that the drunker one is the victim."

      Who was drunker? It comes down to 'he said, she said'.

      But the vast majority of rapists are men,

      Only because the way we define rape. To be quite honest, there are lots of time a guy might not want to have sex, but guys who aren't ... agressive... sexually 1)are considered wimps, 2) don't get any ewven when they want some. So there is pressure put on guys to 'perform', even if they might not want to, for whatever reason.

    4. Re:Most rapes are NOT falsely reported by Monkelectric · · Score: 1
      ast the ones I've talked to, point to the initiating partner as the one at fault. So, yes, if the woman initiated it, she might be the rapist.

      I don't disbelieve you, but you do realize that is fucking insanity don't you?

      --

      Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley

    5. Re:Most rapes are NOT falsely reported by Felinoid · · Score: 1

      I don't disbelieve you, but you do realize that is fucking insanity don't you?
      Not in the way you mean it.

      Alcahol screws up a persons thought process so a person who is waisted can end up agreeing to vertually anything.
      In short it's kinda like having sex with an insain person.

      This is the #2 reason why you should always have a sober friend with you when you get drunk.

      --
      I don't actually exist.
    6. Re:Most rapes are NOT falsely reported by randyest · · Score: 1

      Actually, rape has the exact same rate of flase reporting as any other violent crime, according to the FBI.

      Not agreeing or disagreeing with anyone or anything here; just wondering how they know, with any real certainty, the "false reporting" rate of any crime? Wouldn't you have to know, with certainty better than that provided by trial by jury in some (most?) cases, truth from falsehood, guilt from innocence, with some predictable certainty?

      I guess maybe they use "false reports" that are later recanted or proven to be false somehow, but that probably leaves some (many?) cases where no solid proof exists, yet both parties stick to their (opposing) claims.

      Just wondering.

      --
      everything in moderation
  71. River Rouge? If only you could see it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The poor, blue-collar Detroit suburb of River Rouge could use a new high school. Maybe the kid was onto something...

    How do you throw away a trash can?

  72. Re: move along by pubjames · · Score: 3, Interesting

    you'd think that these sorts of losses would show up on annual reports though

    I was told in one instance a big very well known bank lost several hundred million dollars in a single fraud - what must be one of the biggest bank robberies ever - and it never appeared in their annual report or anywhere else. The big banks really want to be see as safe - huge sums of money just disappearing into thin air doesn't look good!

  73. Dept. Tag? by That_Guy_Again · · Score: 1
    from the you-go-girl dept.

    err... its was *Kevin*, no?

    --
    One of life's lessons: Its always easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
  74. Mitnick clones? by GatorMan · · Score: 1

    Does the RIAA/MPAA consult Mitnick for every demand for information from the ISPs? So a police department has to jump through hoops for this sort of information, but the **AA just has to phone up Comcast?

    Ow...my head

  75. Stupid kid. by Capt_Troy · · Score: 1, Funny

    The stupid kid made the calls from his own cell phone? If only terrorists were this stupid :(

  76. Career benefit from criminal activity. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I always thought doing time was bad thing to have on your resume, but Mitnick seems to be doing fine by it. Better than the rest of us unemployed with squeaky clean records anyway. Publicity, even bad publicity, doesn't hurt.

  77. Re: move along by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Banks can write those losses anywhere. They do a ton of investing, and when an investment tanks, they lose money. So they just write it up as money lost in a bad investment, and its there, but you have to know what to look for to find it.

    --
    ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
  78. Re:Broken man by Lord+Kano · · Score: 1

    The injustices that I have faced at the hands of "law enforcement" are nothing compared to Kevin's, and as a result of that treatment I wouldn't turn in anyone for an offense short of a rape/murder/kiddy porn traffic.

    LK

    --
    "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
  79. Terrorists are that stupid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    That's how they've been catching some of them. Now if the wireless carriers would start ringing cell phones at random (especially when they are near places terrorists like to target) and when the phone is turned on, terrorists would quickly get out of the habit of using cell phones as remote detonators.

  80. Re: move along by lunartik · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Cue Websters:

    -------
    Main Entry: 1funny
    Pronunciation: 'f&-nE
    Function: adjective
    Inflected Form(s): funnier; -est
    1 a : affording light mirth and laughter : AMUSING b : seeking or intended to amuse : FACETIOUS
    2 : differing from the ordinary in a suspicious, perplexing, quaint, or eccentric way : PECULIAR -- often used as a sentence modifier (funny, things didn't turn out the way we planned)
    3 : involving trickery or deception (told his prisoner not to try anything funny)
    ------

    It was funny.

  81. Re:Mitnick Bomb Hoax by rustamb · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This article gets even more interesting. Notice who wrote this article!!!

  82. Re: move along by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it's called insurance. they have it, and it covers a lot more than you might expect.

  83. And what did YOU do about it? by TheTwoBest · · Score: 1

    No, its not the same shit everywhere.

    Why didn't you make your own inquires to the school as to how the matter was handled. Yes, schools (like everyone else) will often choose the path of least resistance and whatever they feel will make them look the best. In this case, the school decided that it would be better for them to allow the football players get away with this, then it would be to loose their upcomming football game.

    How can you change this?

    If suddenly there are more people in the community (who vote on school budgets, etc.) who are complaining about these kids getting away with crap, then there are people complaining about a 'poor football team', you will see changes.

  84. Re:i love kevin by reboot246 · · Score: 1

    Well, if Ray Stevens can be his own Grandpa, I guess anything is possible.

  85. Re:Actually - he told the cops how to think like c by Hektor_Troy · · Score: 1

    Sure .. sounds like a plan.

    Remind me to claim to be chasing a bomb threat the next time I need to know stuff :-)

    --
    We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
  86. Re: move along by Penguin · · Score: 1

    You actually looked up "funny" to determine whether something was funny or not?

    That's fucking funny! (I think - I haven't looked it up)

    --
    - Peter Brodersen; professional nerd
  87. Exactly by retendo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    According to his book, much of Kevin's skills lie in Social Engineering, a.k.a. convincing people to tell you exactly what your looking for. He makes a bit point of saying that it's much easier to convince people to tell you their password than to crack into their computer.

  88. if you show up with a proper warrant... by JimmytheGeek · · Score: 1

    I'm not too worried.

    maybe folks can social-engineer judges, but the risk is low compared to the alternative.

    Which is what, exactly? Being unhelpful to an investigating officer?

    1. Re:if you show up with a proper warrant... by stephanruby · · Score: 1
      I'm not too worried. maybe folks can social-engineer judges, but the risk is low compared to the alternative.

      You should be worried. If you get successfully scammed by a subpoena, it won't be because a judge was "socially engineered", it will be because one of his staff was fooled or it will be because one of your staff was fooled by what looked like an official subpoena.

      Have you trained your low level staff in security issues? Because that's what you should be worried about. Con men won't go to you, they'll go directly after your temporary employees, your janitors, you new employees, and your interns.

  89. And to thank Mitnick: Jail time. by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 1

    Hopefully some overzealous Yahoo isn't going to decide that this is somehow against Mitnick's (rather onerous) bail conditions.

    --
    Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
  90. Four Words: Lord of the Rings. by Behrooz · · Score: 1

    The movies *were* even better than the books.

    --
    "We have to go forth and crush every world view that doesn't believe in tolerance and free speech." - David Brin
  91. Re:Broken man by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Scenario:
    Dude! Someone hacked in and took down the servers at xyz.mil You're the only one I know that could pull that off. Now c'mon, it was you right?

    This is how KM got himself the rap in the first place. You know the rest.

    from the prison pay phone call archive to be published soon

  92. bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mitnick did all kinds of damage breaking in to commercial vendors' networks and stealing source code to find available vulnerabilities.

  93. Re:Consent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think the whole consent thing is bullshit as it is written. If you don't want someone doing something to you, you say no. If you didn't say no, shut the fuck up. You have no sympathy from me.

    Personally, I got accused of rape when i lost my virginity. Bitch made out with me and spread her legs when I climbed in between them. When she put them down i asked her if she was ok, said that there was no pressure, and stopped. I never actually said "Do you want to have sex?" Who fucking says that? No one. Especially if they're as nervous as I was.

    Then 4 hours later she decides she feels like a slut cause she's been bangin so many guys, and I'm a rapist cause I didn't ask her. I get my head kicked in by ppl who know nothing about what's going on, and almost get charged before someone talked some sense into her. And you know what? Legally, that makes me a rapist. I woulda went to jail. 3 months later she wants to be my girlfriend, that's how bad a guy I am....

    Rape laws are a joke. A woman can decide after the fact that she didn't want to have sex with you and your life is over. Just like that. Or she can accuse you of saying she has nice tits and there goes your career. Seen that happen to lots of ppl. Don't give me that "it doesn't happen" bullshit. It happens again and again and again.

    But lets all dump sympathy on the poor women whose lips are sewn shut, I mean we all know that men are violent selfish assholes anyways, right?

  94. 10xxxxx Canadian numbers by phorm · · Score: 1

    Actually, if this is what you are talking about, then Canada does have 10xxxxx numbers.

  95. Sorry,, I'm wrong... by Felinoid · · Score: 1

    And he didn't spoof his phone ID Baka

    --
    I don't actually exist.
  96. Kind of funny indeed by Pan+T.+Hose · · Score: 1

    "It is kind of funny, I'll admit, but this is not the time for these kinds of games," says Keck.

    Am I the only one who thinks that it is "kind of funny" that the name of Detective Lt. John Keck is Keck, the same as one of old nicknames of Kevin Mitnick, an abbreviation of his name, Kevin Mitnick, the first and last two letters of his name, i.e. Keck? Is this really a coincidence? Is there anyone here who can prove that he personally knows this supposed "Detective"? I do not want to be paranoid, but I find it certainly intriguing.

    --
    Sincerely,
    Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
    "Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
  97. That is like: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Original: Someone is put in jail after a fair trial.

    Replace "after" with "without". OMG!!! Now everybody is upset. WTF???

    Dumbass.

    1. Re:That is like: by mi · · Score: 1
      Replace "after [trial]" with "without [trial]".

      How is using a human expert worse than a recording device? Next time Mitnick may be invited to hunt an anti-something activist.

      The question is much bigger -- is universal, 100% law enforcement desired?

      Dumbass.

      Why post as an AC, if you are signing your name anyway?

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.