==Phrack Magazine==
Volume Four, Issue Forty-Three, File 6 of 27
-:[ Phrack Prophile ]:-
This issue our prophile features a hacker who has been around forever, who's been there and done that, literally. His handle is Dr. Who. When almost everyone was still mystified by Telenet, Dr. Who was busily exploring Europe's PSN's like PSS and Datex-P. When the Internet was in its infancy, Dr. Who was there with an account on BBN. When the world was short of NUI's, Dr. Who discovered and perfected Pad-To-Pad. When the world still thought COSMOS was the end-all-be-all, Dr. Who was lurking on 1A's. One of the early LODers and one of the longest lasting. And to top it all off, a close personal friend. How elite can you get?
Personal Info:
Handle: Doctor Who (aka Skinny Puppy and Saint Cloud)
Call him: Bob
Date of Birth: February 5, 1967
Age: 26
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 160 lbs
Computers owned: in chronological order: Apple ][ series, Sinclair ZX81, Commodore TRS-80 models 4 and 16, Coco, Atari 512, Toshiba 2000sx. I am probably leaving out some.
How did you get your handle?
From the TV show, of course - I had a hard time defending it from other
people, so would sometimes add (413), my home area code, to identify
which one I was. Skinny Puppy was from the band of course,
and Saint Cloud was from the location of a system I was playing with,
in France.
How did you get started?
As a kid, I was a radio & electronics junkie. In 6th grade I wanted
one of those $99 "computer kits" you would see in the back of "Popular
Electronics" magazine, which had a hex keypad, and seven-segment LED
display, had 1K of ram, etc...But lusted after the TRS-80 model-I
when I used it at Radio Shack. I finally got a computer in 1981
when I was in 9th grade. I asked my parents for a Commodore,
but they went all out and got an Apple ][+. I took to programming
instantly, and within a few months had a reputation as the best
programmer in my school.
In a 1982 "Popular Communications" magazine article, I discovered
the world of loops and test tones and started playing with those.
I later tried to make free phone calls by using a tape recorder
as a red box but failed, looking back probably due to inadequate
volume. The seeds had been planted.
I wanted all sorts of software, but I had no money, and my parents
wouldn't buy very much. One computer-club meeting, someone brought
in about 15 disks of pirated software, and I had a chance to copy
about 4 disks. They guy told me about pirate BBSs, and people trading
software. In a few of the games I copied, there were numbers to
different BBSes, and when I was at a friends house on Cape Cod in the
summer of 1983, we used his 300 baud acoustic modem to call them.
I remember calling Pirate's Harbor in Boston, and I think we called
Pirate-80.
I wanted a modem badly, but they were too expensive. I convinced a
friend to split the cost with me, and on January 2, 1984 my
networker modem arrived. That month, in the process of getting warez
I ran up over $150 in phone bills as there were no local boards.
I was becoming obsessed with being on the modem, and on the computer
in general. I was never a good student, and my parents and teachers
found a way, they thought, to entice me to do my homework - hold
computer usage over my head. But this just succeeded in making me
sneak access when no one was looking - during lunch at school, or
when my parents went shopping at home. Soon they locked the computer
room (the den, really) when they left, but I used a ladder to get
in to the second story window until I had a copy of the key. To this
day I think if they let me indulge myself in my interest, I would have
become a much more normal computer geek, and done better in school.
Anyhow, I started learning about codez to appease the huge phone bills,
and started to learn more about phones & how they worked. The pirating
fell by the wayside as I became more involved with phreak/hack boards.
I was fascinated by communications (I always had been) and
phreaking/hacking opened up new frontiers. My inhibitions in breaking
the law melted away because it interfered with my enjoyment of
knowledge - had there been opportunities to pursue this avocation
without breaking the law, I probably would have done so.
A hacker was born.
What are your interests?
Women: Tall, thin, brainy, blue eyes. It seems as though I
attract all the psychos. Right now, I am FREE of
any relationships and haven't decided whether I am
enjoying it or not.
Cars: Cars are the greatest things. I love them. Art,
Machine & House - The only possession I have that
encloses me. I got my license later than most people,
and have learned to enjoy the freedom wheels bring,
especially for someone who lives in a rural area.
Right now, I own two cars, one running (barely) and
entirely generic, the other one very unique, beautiful,
and broken. The story of my life!
Food: I hate fish & chicken, love hot food. Not a vegetarian
in the least. But don't eat much, I am too busy.
I survive on Coffee.
Music: I have been 'alternative' for a while now, kind of
Gothic, sometimes I dress that way, sometimes I don't.
Favorite bands: Joy Division, Skinny Puppy, old Cure,
but I have been starting to like Techno more and
also Classical. Go figure.
Favorite authors: Ayn Rand, Ann Rice, Robert Anton Wilson, George Orwell, Douglas Adams, J.G. Ballard Favorite Book: Atlas Shrugged Favorite Movies: Brazil, 1984, The Holy Grail, Heathers, Blade Runner, Max Headroom, Slacker, Subway, Drowning by Numbers, Dune Favorite TV: Doctor Who (of course), The Avengers, Miami Vice, Hawaii Five-O
What am I?
A slacker, a hacker, a writer, a romantic, a twenty-nothing, a lost
poet, a New Englander, an American in the truest sense of the word,
a girl-chaser, a connoisseur of cheap champagne & expensive beer,
a dilettante, a smoker of cloves, caffeine addict, an atheist,
a discordian, a libertarian of sorts, a cynic, a procrastinator,
a conversationalist, a fast driver, an oldest child, a criminal,
a watcher of fire & water, a lover of love, a believer in the unpure,
a trekkie, a whovian, an anglophile, still an undergraduate, jealous,
mischievous, a perfectionist, a believer in the essential
good in mankind, and probably a mortal.
What are some of your most memorable experiences?
The worst day of my life - 3/11/86 - getting busted, and not knowing
what for. My parents called up my high-school and left a message for
me to call home immediately. When I did, they informed me that the
Secret Service and TRW (Hi Mr. Braum) had been in our house and removed
everything. A nosy neighbor saw the whole incident, and within days our
entire town knew about the raid.
Some three and a half years later they pressed charges. So much for
due process and right to a speedy trial.
Good days:
5-91 - Being all fucked up in NYC with my girlfriend and Bill from RNOC;
10/9/84 - My first TAP meeting. Expecting to meet Mark Tabas but
meeting his father instead. Tabas had run away from home, and his
parents found some notes indicating that he might turn up in New York
at Eddie's for the TAP meeting. Tabas' dad hopped on a plane to NYC,
rented a car and staked out the meeting. Everyone inside, already
convinced that they were under surveillance, became very aware that
they were being watched by some guy in a suit and a rental car.
Eventually, he came inside and asked if anyone knew where Tabas was.
We said "Who wants to know?" To which he gave out his business card
letting us know he was Tabas' dad and just worried. Tabas was not
even in New York.
The whole summer of 1985 - staying at home, hacking and loving being
a computer geek. Four days straight on an Alliance Teleconference once,
being woken up each morning by blasts of touch-tone!
Philadelphia Cons, back in 86.
West 57th St. - a few seconds towards my 15 minutes of fame.
KP+914-042-1050+ST
Discovering Pad-to-Pad.
McD: Becoming an XRAY Technician. (Dr. Bubbnet)
MSK ../tdas
NET-LINE-20245614140000.
Wallpapering my room with Sprint Foncard printouts
Most of the rest of my most memorable experiences are in my love life,
which is none of your business!
Some People (and/or BBSes) To Mention:
My favorite BBS of all time was Farmers of Doom. Also memorable were
The Legion of Doom, Osuny, WOPR, Black Ice, and lots more.
My favorite boards were the ones where there was a lot of activity, and
a lot of trust between the users. While a board that doesn't crash
all the time is important, an expensive computer does not a good
board create.
There are a lot of people who I would like to mention that have helped
me greatly and who I have known for a very long time:
Lex Luthor - Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean people
AREN'T out get you.
Mark Tabas - He really does look like Tom Petty.
Bill from RNOC - Should sell used cars.
RC Modeler - I hold you wholly responsible for the Clashmaster incident :)
Tuc - Well, he's just Tuc. What else can you say?
X-Man - Is he an FBI agent yet?
Karl Marx - Only person I know with his own dictionary entry.
Next: the social register.
Mr. Bigchip - Who is that? (I'm sure you are all asking)
The Videosmith - (see entry for Luthor, L.)
Parmaster - Should have followed Lex's advice.
Kerrang Kahn - His accent is finally gone.
Terminal Man - So long and thanks for all the codes. (This man
knew The Condor?)
The Marauder - Has taken up permanent residence on IRC.
Shatter, Pad, Gandalf - PSS Junkies. What those guys wouldn't
do for an NUI.
New York - Don't Mess With Texas
Everyone Else - Sorry I couldn't think of anything clever to say.
One I would like single out is Erik Bloodaxe, who I have known over the
phone for 9 years now, but will meet for the first time at this year's
Summercon, if I get there. [Ed: He didn't make it]
Also: for you hackers that have disappeared from my life, you who had
my number, my parents' number has never changed, you can contact me
through them if you like, I would love to hear from you.
How do you see the future of the Underground?
It's not going to go away. There will always be new challenges. There
are always new toys for curious minds. There may be a split into
several different, only partially interlocking 'undergrounds' involving
different types of technological playing. In spite of Caller-ID and
advanced security functions of the new digital switches, there will
still be many ways to phreak around the phone system: taking advantage
of the old Crossbars in remote areas, and by finding some of the
'pheatures' in new switches.
Hacking on the Internet will always be around despite who controls the
net, though I am sure there would be a lot more destructive hacking if
the mega-corporations take it over. Security of systems is more a social
problem than a technological one, there is always a segment of the
population that is gullible, stupid, or corrupt. There will always be
some smartass out there making trouble for the Organization. Constantly
evolving systems and brand new systems will present security holes forever,
though they may be harder to understand as the systems grow more complex.
With more computers networked there will be a lot more to play with.
Socially, I am worried about the huge wars that have developed,
LOD v. MOD, etc. While hackers have always been contentious, as well
they should be, the ferocity of attacks has me somewhat stunned. I will
leave out blames and suggestions here, but I will just make the
observation that as any community grows large in size, the intimacy
that it enjoys will be diminished.
When the underground was small, isolated, and revered as black magicians
by outsiders, it was as though we were all part of some guild. Now that
there are many more people who have knowledge of, and access to, the
hacker community, there is little cohesiveness. I see this getting
worse. The solution may be tighter knit groups. But an outbreak of
wars between mega-gangs could be a real catastrophe.
The cyberpunk aesthetic seems to have captivated the underground.
Some people have to be aware that the community was here before William
Gibson was patron saint, and that most of us still can't successfully
"rustle credit" - which means this is a hobby, not a profession.
Will this change? Slowly, I imagine. The trendies will get tired and
find something else to pretend to be, (maybe dinosaurs, given
the current popularity of Jurassic Park), and only the hard-core hackers
will be left. Some of us may, in time, turn into computer criminals,
to which I am indifferent, as it won't be me. The current cyber-hysteria
has attracted a whole bunch of trendy fakes, and is distracting us from
what originally brought us, most of us anyway, to hacking/phreaking in
the first place - the insatiable curiosity, the dance of the mind
unbounded.
Will the hype die? Time will tell. Sometimes I get so sick of the crap
I see on IRC that I wish someone would give me back an apple IIe and
an applecat 212, and set me back down in 1984. Just call me
over the hill.
Any end comments?
Hacking is the art of esoteric quests, of priceless and worthless
secrets. Odd bits of raw data from smashed machinery of intelligence
and slavery reassembled in a mosaic both hilarious in its absurdity
and frightening in its power.
-----------=?> Doctor Who