Since the author also requests remuneration, we would ask these

W >> Winn Schwartau >> Since the author also requests remuneration, we would ask these

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"Americans come together in a crisis, and my fellow Americans, we
face a crisis. Let me tell you what my advisors tell me. They
tell me without taking immediate drastic steps to prevent further
destruction of America's information infrastructure, we face a
depression as great as the one of the 1930's.

"They tell me that every computer in the country, most in Canada,
a significant number in England and other countries, can expect
to be attacked in some manner within two years. That represents
over 70 million casualties!

"The international financial and monetary system will come to a
halt and collapse. Financial trading as we know it will cease
and wild speculative fluctuations will dominate the world curren-
cy markets. America is already feeling the change since the ATM
networks were removed from service.

"As we have seen, the transportation facilities of this country,
and indeed the world, are totally dependent on computers and
therefore vulnerable. That is why today we take so seriously the
threats against the airlines. There is no choice but success.
Together, the American people must stand up to this threat and
not succumb to its effects.

"While your government has the resources to develop solutions to
the problems, it has not been within our power to mandate their
use in the private sector.

"We will need unity as never before, for the battleground is in
our homes, our schools, our streets and our businesses. The
children of this great country will have as much opportunity to
contribute as their parents will, and as the leaders of business
will. As we all will and all must.

"In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, the very structure of our
country is in imminent danger of collapse, and it is up to us,
indeed it is within our power, to survive. The sacrifices we
will be called upon to make may be great, but the alternative is
unacceptable.

"Indeed, this is a time where the American spirit is called upon
to shine, and shine brightly. Thank you, and God Bless the
United States of America."

* * * * *

Sunday, January 24
Scarsdale, New York

"One fuckuva speech," Tyrone Duncan said to Scott Mason who was
downing the last of a Coors Light. "You should be proud of
yourself." They had watched the President's speech on Scott's
large screen TV.

"Ahhhh," grunted Scott. "It's almost anti-climatic."

"How the hell can you say that?" Tyrone objected. "Isn't this
what you've been trying to do? Get people to focus on the prob-
lem? Christ, you can't do much more than a Presidential speech."

"Oh, yeah," agreed Scott cynically. "Everyone knows, but not a
damn thing's gonna be done about it. Nothing. I don't care what
the President says, nothing's going to change."

"You have become one cynical bastard. Even Congress is behind
the President on this one. His post-speech popularity is over
70% according to CNN's Rapid Sample Poll."

"CNN. Bah, Humbug. Sensationalist news. And you think the
proposed computer crime bills will pass?" Scott asked doubtfully.

Tyrone hesitated. "Sure, I think so. And you don't?"

"No, I don't. At least not in any meaningful way. C'mon, you're
the constitutionalist not me. Sure, the original authors of the
bill will write something with punch, maybe even effective. But
by the time it gets committee'd to death, it'll be another piece
of meaningless watered down piece of shit legislation. And
that's before the states decide that computer crime is a state
problem and not an inter-state issue. They'll say Uncle Sam is
treading on their turf and put up one helluva stink." Scott
shook his head discouragingly. "I see nothing but headaches."

"I think you just feel left out, like your job's done and you
have nothing to do anymore. Post partum depression." Ty rose
from the comfortable leather reading chair to get a couple more
beers. "I kind of know how you feel."

Scott looked up at Tyrone in bewilderment. "You do? How?"

"I'm definitely leaving. We've made up my mind." Tyrone craned
his neck from the kitchen. "Arlene and I, that is." Tyrone came
back and threw a silver bullet at Scott. "This part of my life
is over and it's time I move on to something else."

"Computers and the Law I suppose?" Scott said drearily.

"Don't make it sound like the plague," Tyrone laughed. "I'm
doing it because I want to, and it's needed. In fact I would
expect a good amount of the work to be pioneering. Pro bono.
There's no case history; it'll be precedent setting law. I
figure someone's got to be there to keep it honest. And who
better than . . ." Tyrone spread his arms around the back of the
chair.

"You, I know. The great byte hope." Scott laughed at his own
joke which triggered a similar response from Tyrone. "Hey, man.
I wish you all the best, if that's what you really want."

A sudden beeping began. "What's that?" asked Tyrone.

"A computer begging for attention. Let me see who it is."
Tyrone followed Scott into his office, still astonished that
anyone could work in such a pig pen. And the rest of the house
was so neat.

<<<<<>>>>>

The computer screen held the image of the single word while
whoever was calling caused Scott's computer to beep incessantly.

"What the hell?" Scott said out loud as he pecked at the keyboard
standing rather than sitting at his desk.

wtfo

YOU'RE THERE. GOOD.

kirk?

YUP. WANNA GO TO A DEBATE?

Excuse me?

YOU WATCH THE PRESIDENT?

Of course. I have a mild interest in the subject.

SO DID I AND EVERY OTHER PHREAK IN THE COUNTRY, AND THEY'RE NOT
HAPPY.

Why?

SEE FOR YOURSELF. THE CONVERSATION PIT AT NEMO IS BRIMMING. I
GOT YOU AN INVITE.

I have a guest.

FRIEND OR FOE

friend. definitely.

REMEMBER HOW TO USE MIRAGE?

I can fake it.

To Tyrone's amazement, Scott seemed to know what he was doing at
the computer. Scott sat down, put his electronic conversation
with Kirk on hold, and called up another program as the colorful
screen split into two.

I got you on the bottom window.

YOU'LL SEE THE PIT ON THE TOP. JOIN IN WHEN YOU WANT.

Maybe I'll just listen.

WHATEVER. I'M LOGGING ON.

The top window on Scott's computer screen blinked off momentarily
and then was filled with a the words from the dissident phreaks.

CONVERSATION PIT: KIRK, RAMBO, PHASER, FON MAN, POLTERGEIST,

AND WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? <>

B THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT IS JUST TRYING TO TAKE OVER. THE BILL
OF RIGHTS IS GOING RIGHT DOWN THE SHITTER <>

I AGREE. THEY LOOK FOR ANY EXCUSE TO TAKE AWAY ANY FREEDOM WE
MAY HAVE LEFT AND THEY TOOK THIS HOMOSOTO THING AND BLEW IT RIGHT
OUT OF PROPORTION. JUST LIKE VIETNAM. <>

YOU DON'T BELIEVE THAT, DO YOU? <>

YOU BET YOUR SWEET ASS I DO. SINCE WHEN HAS THE GOVERNMENT GIVEN
A SHIT ABOUT US? ONLY SINCE THEY REALIZED WE HAVE POWER WITHOUT
THEM. THEY'RE NO LONGER IN CONTROL AND THEY'LL DO ANYTHING THEY
HAVE TO TO GET IT BACK. <>

I DON'T THINK THAT IT'LL BE THAT BAD <>

YOU BEEN HANGING OUT WITH THAT MASON GUY TOO MUCH <>

CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY. HE'S LISTENING <>

ALL THE BETTER. HE'S AS BAD AS THE FEDS. <>

May I say something?

WHY DID YOU WAIT SO LONG?

I must beg to differ with Phaser with a question.

IT'S YOUR DIME. <>

Believe me, I understand that you guys have a point, about hack-
ing and the free flow of information. But who's in control now?
From my viewpoint, it's not you and it's not the government. It's
Homosoto.

SO? <>

So, if freedom is the issue as you say, I assume that you want to
keep your electronic freedom at all costs.

RIGHT! <>

THAT'S THE POINT <>

Therefore, regardless of your opinions, you must realize that the
government will do everything it thinks it needs to do to protect
the country.

MAKE YOUR POINT. <>

It seems to me that the best way for you to keep the electronic
freedom you crave, might be to help fight Homosoto and the vi-
ruses and all. Minimize the damage, help defend the Global
Network.

HE MAKES A POINT. I'VE HELPED. <>

THEN WE FALL INTO THEIR TRAP. SAVE IT ALL AND THEN THEY CLOSE
DOWN THE NETWORK. I CAN'T PLAY INTO THEIR DECEIT AND TREACHERY.
<>

DO YOU THINK THE FREEDOM LEAGUE IS DOING GOOD? <>

OF COURSE NOT. <>

That's Homosoto. Thousands of viruses. NEMO already helped.

ONLY THOSE THAT AGREE. WE ARE NOT A DEMOCRACY. <>

SO YOU DON'T WANT TO FIGHT THE VIRUSES? <>

NOT YOU, TOO? <>

IT'S A MATTER OF RIGHT AND WRONG. ELECTRONIC FREEDOM, ANARCHY IS
ONE THING. BUT WE DO NOT ABUSE. WE LIVE BY THE CODE AND WANT TO
KEEP THE NETWORK OPEN. HOMOSOTO WANTS TO CLOSE THE NETWORK DOWN.
BY SCARE TACTICS. <>

THAT DOESN'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT WILL
TAKE EVERYTHING AWAY. <>

Only if they have to. Wouldn't you rather help and keep that
from happening?

IF I TRUSTED THE GOVERNMENT. <>

Can I introduce you to someone? His handle is FBI.

KIRK, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, GIVING US AWAY? <>

THEY'RE TIED IN ON MIRAGE. THEY CAN PLAY BUT THERE'S NO REDIAL.
<>

Gentlemen, this is the FBI. Let me tell you something. I don't
agree with hacking, theft of service and the like. But I also am
pragmatic. I recognize the difference between the lesser of two
evils. And as of today, based upon what I know, you guys are a
pain the ass, but not a threat to national security. That is why
Washington has taken little interest in your activities. But at
the same time, you are part of an underground that has access to
the electronic jungle in which we find ourselves. We would like
your help.

OFFICIALLY? <>

No, unofficially. I am law enforcement, associated with ECCO, if
you've ever heard of them.

ECCO. YOU GUYS FIGHT THE REAL COMPUTER JERKS, DON'T YOU? LIKE
ROBERT MORRIS AND PUNJAB. DID YOU EVER CATCH THE GUY WHO STOPPED
THE SHUTTLE FLIGHT? <>

Sadly, no. I am talking to you as a friend of Scott's. And I
will tell you, that anything I learn I will use to fight Homoso-
to's attack. But frankly, you are little fish. I don't know who
you are, nor do I really care. In all honesty, neither does
Washington, the NSA or anyone else. You're merely an underground
protest group. If anything, you help keep us honest. But even
protestors should have their limits.

MINE HAS BEEN REACHED. <>

AND MINE. <>

There is a big difference between freedom of speech and insurrec-
tion and invasion.

WHAT ABOUT PRIVACY? <>

THERE IS NONE, AND YOU KNOW IT. <>

THAT'S THE POINT. WE HAVE TO STOP THE MILITARISTIC WAR MONGERS
FROM PRYING INTO OUR LIVES. THEY KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT US, AND
MORE. I WANT TO SEE THAT STOPPED. NOW. <>

This is Mason. At the expense of true freedom? Freedom of
choice? By your logic, you may end up with no Compuserve. No
electronic mail boxes. No networks. Or, they'll be so restricted
that you'll never get on them.

IT'LL HAPPEN ANYWAY. <>

And you'll just speed up the process. What do you have to lose
by helping out?

I WANT TO CONTINUE HELPING. MY FREEDOM TO HACK RESPONSIBLY IS IN
DANGER BY ONE MAN, AND I AIM ON KEEPING MY FREEDOM. <>

It may be the only way to keep the digital highways open, I'm
sorry to say.

IS THAT A THREAT? <>

Merely an observation.

I NEED TO THINK. <>

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW? <>

A lot. We need a complete list of phone numbers for every Free-
dom BBS. They provide wide distribution of infected software.

WE KNOW. BFD. <>

This is FBI. We want to shut them down.

HOW? <>

We have our means.

SEE WHAT I MEAN! THEY'RE ALL PIGS. THEY TAKE, TAKE, TAKE. BUT
IF YOU ASK SOMETHING THEY CLAM UP. <>

All right. If it works you'll find out anyway. There are a
number of underused laws, and we want to keep this on a Federal
level. USC 1029, 1030, 2134 - they're a bunch of them including
racketeering. Then there are a number of Federal laws against
doing anything injurious to the United States.

WHICH GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO PROSECUTE ANYONE YOU DAMN WELL
PLEASE WHENEVER YOU DAMN WELL WANT. <>

As a lawyer, I could make that case.

I AM A LAWYER, TOO. I PHREAK FOR PHREEDOM. <>

Then you also know, that you have to really be on someone's shit
list to get the FBI after you. Right now, Homosoto and his gang
are on our shit list big time.

THEN WHEN YOU'RE THROUGH WITH THEM, IT'S US NEXT. THEN WHO'S
LEFT? <>

RIGHT. <>

We can argue forever. All I'm saying is we could use whatever
help you can give us. And I honestly don't care who you are.
Unless of course you're on my shit list.

FBI HUMOR. <>

WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED? <>

As many signatures as possible. We figure that there are thou-
sands of you out there, and you can probably do a better job than
any government security group punching in at nine and out at
five. You have more people, no bureaucracy and a bigger sample
of the software population.

SIGNATURES? NO QUESTIONS ASKED? <>

None. Also, rumors.

WHAT KIND OF RUMORS? <>

Like who might want to disrupt the Air Reservations System.

YOU'RE KIDDING? <>

I wish I was. You see, we are up against the wall.

THAT COULD REALLY FUCK THINGS UP. <>

REALLY! <>

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD? <>

Worse.

MAYBE I'LL THINK ABOUT IT. <>

ME TOO. <>

MASON. I'M GOING TO CUT YOU OFF. <>

It won't be the first time.

<<<<<>>>>>

Tyrone stretched his limbs searching for a bare place to sit
down. Leaning over Scott's shoulders for the slow paced computer
conversation stiffened his muscles. Scott motioned to slide
whatever was in the way, out of the way, to which Tyrone com-
plied.

"Dedicated mother fuckers. Misguided, but dedicated." Ty sat
back in thought. "What do you think they'll do?"

"I don't think, I know," said Scott confidently. "Most of them
will help, but they won't admit it. They openly distrust you,
Washington and me. But they value their freedom, and instinc-
tively they will protect that. Kirk will be the conduit. I'm not
worried."

"And what will they do?"

"Once they get around to it, they'll commandeer every hacker in
the country and at least stop the viruses. Or some of them. I
think that we need to elicit their trust, and I can do that by
giving them more than they give me."

"Can you do that?"

"Just watch. If they play their cards right, they can be
heroes."

****************************************************************

Chapter 29
Monday, January 25
The White House

We had a pretty good handle on parts of it," said Marvin Jacobs
glibly.

Phil Musgrave, Martin Royce, Henry Kennedy and Quinton Chambers
joined Marvin in one of the private White House conference rooms
at 5 A.M. Jacobs had called all members of the inner circle,
personally, early that morning. He had received word that last
evening's computer conversations between Scott Mason and the
Spook had been intercepted and the preliminary analysis was
ready.

Scott Mason's computer screens had been read by the NSA's remote
electromagnetic receivers while he prepared his article for the
following day. The actual article had also been transmitted to
the White House, prior to publication, as agreed.

"And Mason seems to be living up to his part of the bargain,"
Jacobs continued. "He only edits out the bullshit, pardon my
French. Gives the public their money's worth."

"You said we were close. How close?" Musgrave tended to run
these meetings; it was one of the perks of being the President's
Number One.

"His organization was a lot more comprehensive than we thought,"
Henry Kennedy said. "We underestimated his capabilities, but we
caught the essence of his weapons by good guessing."

"If we could get our hands on this Spook character," sighed
Martin Royce. He was thinking of the perennial problems associ-
ated with identifying the exact location of someone who doesn't
want to be found.

"That's not the problem," said Chief of Staff Phil Musgrave. "We
know who the Spook is, but we can't prove it. It's only hearsay,
even with Mason's testimony, and it's a pretty damn safe bet he
won't be inclined to testify. But Marv has given us a ton on
him. After all, he is Marv's fault."

"You guys sort that out on your own time," yawned Phil. "For
now, though we need to know what we're up against."

"If the President hadn't gone on television last night, we might
have been able to keep this quiet and give the press some answers
in a few days." Marv said.

"Dream on," Phil said emphatically. "Mason broke the story and
we were caught with our pants down. The President did not, and I
repeat, did not, want to be associated with any cover up . . ."

"I didn't say cover up . . ."

"He wants to take his lumps and fix it. He will not lie to the
American people."

"If we shut Mason up." Marv suggested.

"We need him right where he is," Henry Kennedy said about Scott
to stem the escalating argument.

"The subject is closed." Phil's comment silenced the room.
After all was said and done, Musgrave was the closet thing to the
President in the room. As with the President, the discussion was
over, the policy set, now let's get on with it. "So, Marv? What
are we up against."

The seasoned professional in Marvin Jacobs took over, conflicting
opinions in the past, and he handed out a series of TOP SECRET
briefing folders.

"You've got to be kidding," laughed Martin Royce holding up his
file. "This stuff will be in today's morning paper and you
classify it?"

"There are guidelines for classification," Marvin insisted. "We
follow them to the letter."

"And every letter gets classified." muttered Royce under his
breath. The pragmatist in him saw the lunacy of the classifica-
tion process, but the civil servant in him recognized the impos-
sibility of changing it. Marv ignored the comment and opened his
folder.

"Thanks, Phil," began Marv. "Well, I'll give it to him, Foster
that is. If what he says is accurate, we have our work cut out
for us, and in many cases all we can do is board up our windows
before the hurricane hits."

"For purposes of this discussion, assume, as we will, that the
Spook, Foster, is telling the truth. Do we have any reason to
disbelieve him?"

"Other than attacking his own country? No, no reason at all."
Marvin showed total disdain for Foster. His vehemence quieted
the room, so he picked up where he left off.

"The first thing he did was establish a communications network,
courtesy of AT&T. If Foster is right, then his boys have more
doors and windows in and out of the phone company computers than
AT&T knows exist. For all intents and purposes, they can do
anything with the phone system that they want.

"They assign their own numbers, tap into digital transmissions,
reprogram the main switches, create drop-dead billings, keep
unlimited access lines and Operator Control. If we do locate a
conversation, they're using a very sophisticated encryption
scheme to disguise their communications. They're using the same
bag of tricks we tried to classify over 20 years ago, and if
anyone had listened . . ."

"We get the point, Marv," Phil said just before Henry was about
to say the same thing.

"We can triangulate the cell phone location, but it takes time.
Perhaps the smartest thing Foster did was recognize the need for
an efficient distribution system. In order for his plan to work,
he had to insure that every computer in the country was
infected."

"Thus the dGraph situation?" Quinton Chambers finally began to
look awake.

"And the Lotus Viruses, and the Freedom software," Henry said.
"What about FTS-2000?" He was asking about the new multi-billion
dollar voice and data communications network. FTS stands for
Federal Telecommunications System.

"I have no doubt that it's in the same boat," suggested Marv.
"But we have no sure data yet. We should ask Scott to ask Fos-
ter."

"What could happen?"

"Worst case? The government shuts down for lack of interest and
no dial tone."

"And these viruses?"

"According to Foster, they designed over 8,000 viruses and he
assumes that all or most of them have been released over the last
several years," Marv said to a room full of raised eyebrows.

"How bad is that?" asked Chambers.

"Let's put it this way," said Marv. "In the last 14 years, of
the viruses that have been confirmed, the longest gestation
period, from release to detonation . . .was eight months. And
that one was discovered a couple of weeks after they were re-
leased. What Foster counted on was the fact that if software
behaved normally, it wouldn't be suspect. And if it became
popular, it was automatically above suspicion. He was right."

"I've heard that every computer is infected?"

"At the minimum, yes." Jacobs turned the pages of his dossier.
"To continue, one of Foster's most important tools was the con-
struction of road maps."

"Road maps?" questioned Phil.

"Connections, how it all ties together. How MILNET ties to
INTERNET to DARPANET to DockMaster, then to the Universities."
Marv wove a complex picture of how millions of computers are all
interconnected. "Foster knew what he was doing. He called this
group Mappers. The maps included the private nets, CompuServe,
The Source, Gemini, Prodigy . . .BBS's to Tymenet . . .the lists
go on forever. The road maps, according to Foster, were very
detailed. The kind of computer, the operating system, what kind
of security if any. They apparently raked through the hacker
bulletin boards and complied massive lists of passwords for
computers . . ."

"Including ours?" asked Quinton Chambers.

"Quite definitely. They kept files on the back doors, the trap
doors and the system holes so they could enter computers unde-
tected, or infect the files or erase them . . .take a look at
Social Security and the IRS. Martin?"

Treasury Secretary Royce nodded in strong agreement. "We got hit
but good. We still have no idea how many hundreds of thousands
of tax records are gone forever, if they were ever there. So far
it's been kept under wraps, but I don't know how long that can
continue. The CDN has been nothing but trouble. We're actually
worse off with it than without it."

"How can one person do all of that?" Chambers had little knowl-
edge of computers, but he was getting a pretty good feel for the
potential political fallout.

"One person! Ha!" exclaimed Jacobs. "Look at Page 16." He
pointed at his copy of the Secret documents. "According to
Foster he told Homosoto he needed hundreds of full time mappers
to draw an accurate and worthwhile picture of the communications
and networks in the U.S.."

"That's a lot of money right there," added Royce.

"It's obvious that money wasn't a consideration." Phil spouted
the current political party line as well as it was understood.
"Retaliation against the United States was the motivation, and to
hell with the cost."

"Homosoto obviously took Foster's advice when it came to Propa-
ganda," Marv continued. "The FBI, I believe, saw the results of
a concentrated effort at creating distrust in computers. We've
got a team working on just finding the blackmailers. Their
version of a disinformation campaign was to spread the truth, the
secret undeniable truths of those who most want to keep their
secrets a secret."

"That's also where the banks got hit so hard," offered Henry
Kennedy. "Tens of thousands of credit card numbers were spirited
away from bank computers everywhere. You can imagine the shock
when tens of millions of dollars of purchases were contested by
the legitimate credit card holders."

"It's bad," agreed Royce.

"And we haven't even seen the beginning yet, if we believe Fos-
ter. There were other groups. Some specialized in Tempest-Bust-
ing . . ."

"Excuse me?" asked Quinton Chambers.

"Reading the signals broadcast by computers," Marv said with some
derision. The Secretary of State should know better, he thought.
"It's a classified Defense program." He paused while Chambers
made a note. "Others used stolen EMP-T bomb technology to blow
up the Stock Exchange and they even had antennas to focus
HERF . . ."