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CNN Interviews Kevin Mitnick
phantom writes to tell us that a couple of days ago Kevin Mitnick gave an interview to CNN further deconstructing his past exploits and discussing his current activities.
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Nothing to see here, please move along.
Damn, he's good.
Fr33 K3v1n!!!!
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
hahahahaha oh that's rich.
Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
Africus aut Europaeus?
Why is it that people get so worked up over Mitnick?
He was a dick to a bunch of people, he got in trouble, he spent some time in jail. Okay, that sucks for him, but why does everyone drool over him?
Woz was an electronic prankster, but he wasn't a jerk, and he *created things* instead of just making people unhappy. I could see being a Woz fan, but waving a "Kevin" flag is just weird.
Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
He was overheard muttering "I hacked the FBI and wiretapped NORAD."
There was a good interview of Kevin Mitnick in the third release by "The Broken".
He is a reasonable sounding guy, and I think in the interview with "The Broken" sort of dispells some of the myths that were started about him in the book "Cyberpunk" by Katie Hafner and John Markoff.
I read that book when I was in 6th grade and I was totally blow away. I got a modem and started war dialing and memorizing "at" commands just so I could try and be a badass like Kevin Mitnick.
Kevin was very personable, and has clearly given a lot of thought to his current phase in life as a security expert. As you might expect from his background, Kevin has a keen mind for remembering details, and observing human interaction. That's part of what I like about his books, as well as from his presentation at The Fifth Hope.
Truth is, Kevin Mitnick has become a poster boy for hackers, but he was by no means the most "dangerous" or the most skilled by any means. Most famous yes, most "powerful," no.
insert inflammatory anti-microsoft comment here
they did a phone interview with a guy who could whistle tones to blow up the world and make baby orphans die and stuff. they are lucky he didnt explode their brains with his telepathic powers!
I lost my concept of community when my community lost all concept of me.
He stole the code. He electronically hacked into systems and stole code. This is completely different than normal copyright infringement, where you legally have access to something and then copy it illegally. He obtained this source code illegally (hence, he stole it). See the difference?
There's a good article on Kevin Mitnick in the Rotten Library that discusses this.
- Someone breaks into your house and takes your tv
- Someone walks into your house (door was unlocked), reads your gay porno magazines, and leaves.
Do *you* see the difference?"See the difference?"
I saw a difference before your post, but now i'm just confused. That's a pretty crazy leap you made to get to your conclusion.
Lets try and make things simpler and see where we end up?
Copying is illegal?
No, distribution is illegal. Therefore it wasn't anything to do with copyright infringement, so both you and the GP are misguided.
Copying files after breaking into a network is stealing?
No that's just copying files after breaking into a network, a different crime i would imagine (it may be theft but not in the sense that your post makes it out to be).
Breaking into a network breaks various laws, copying files after breaking into a network *is* probably against some law or another but its not 'stealing' in a reasonable sense i.e you haven't taken something away from the victim. Although now that i think about it reasonable people will say that if someone copies some private file they have taken something (data) that's not theirs to take, so i guess as usual nothing is simple.
Could it be something else?
Unauthorised copying?
Unauthorised access?
Or perhaps copying data that you gain access to illegally is just a part of any overall legislation that deals with computer crime.
Conclusion
I really don't know.
But it's probably not so 'simple' as your post makes it out to be (in its roundabout way).
Copying files is not illegal in the copyright sense.
Copying files after breaking into a machine/network is undoubtably against the law in most countries.
It may be deemed theft, but not in the sense that you stole a cow or car. More like theft of trade secrets (is there such a thing?).
The End.
http://www.takedown.com/evidence/index.html
Voice mail messages to Tsutomu
Call to Mark Lottor
The attacker's on-line sessions
Sessions from other anklebiters (past and present)
Analysis of the machine state after the break-in
Photo from files stolen from Tsutomu
Netcom login records for gkremen (stolen account)
Fun are the live sessions.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Why would one need to admire him in order to be outraged by the rights he was denied?
I want certain rights for everyone, including people I hate.
granparent post was right, he's just a dick
Actually, I know Kevin and he is anything but a dick. He knows that he did some stupid things when he was younger, but it was ages ago. Talking to Kevin, he rarely brings up "those days". If you ask him about "those days", he simply says that he made mistakes, did his time and is getting on with his life. He owns a security company now, does lectures and is happy with his family (girlfriend/step-kid).
It is amazing how people who don't know him call him names and mock/criticize those who show interest in his past. If these people really cared as little as they try to portray, they wouldn't bother posting. It is most likely they are trying to hide a feeling of inferiority
Is there a bot on this site that posts stupid mindless two line replys to peoples posts?
It seems to be written something like this:
Perhaps if you actually read my post it I quite clearly made out my position on ILLEGALY breaking into a computer and copying its files. Doing so will see in a very real concrete and steel barred prison.
The crime you have committed isn't neccessarely theft in the traditional sense.
Either your going for the 'quick & witty' mod, or you're stupid, perhaps both?
Plus i dont have a social security number, so copying it would be a bit hard. But if i understand correctly it's not exactly hard to get anyway given the prevalence of its (mis)use in your country.