Remember the Future
By the time you read this, something many of us would never have thought possible will be history. Kevin Mitnick will have been in prison for three years without even having gone to trial. Try to think of any criminal case anywhere where someone has been held for so long without either being released on bail or having their fate determined one way or another. One could easily say this is cruel and unusual punishment. And, when looking at the facts of the case which have been gone over time and again in these pages and in many other forums, it's hard to believe there aren't a few personal vendettas going on here, in much the same way that there were during Bernie S.' case. These kind of things just don't make sense to most of us and we want to find a reason why they're happening that doesn't throw our sense of values into disarray. This is a case where that may not be possible.
It isn't at all wrong to get a feeling of utter hopelessness as time continues to creep by. It really sometimes feels as if there's absolutely nothing we can do to put an end to this. And that is exactly how anyone would feel under the circumstances. That is the point. We are supposed to feel this way. We're never supposed to feel the way we did when Bernie S. finally was released, admittedly long after he should have been, but long before the authorities wanted his suffering to end. What we have to remember is that when things seem most hopeless, oftentimes that is when decisive action can be most effective.
Outside the walls, things have been changing. Voices are being raised in protest more and more frequently. Unfortunately, some of this has been of the unproductive sort - things like hacked web pages with threatening texts demanding Mitnick's immediate release to prevent mass destruction. It doesn't take much of an intellect to see how such statements can work against not only Mitnick, but the entire hacking community. Sure, we can see the absurdity of it and laugh at the inside jokes. But to the average person who knows nothing about us, we come off fitting whatever paranoid and wildly inaccurate portrait some self-centered prosecutor paints of us. And without the support of these "average" people, our situation will truly become hopeless.
But can we count on their support? Are people outside our proportionally small community even interested in a case such as Mitnick's? The answer is a very definite yes. When explained to people outside the hacker community, we find overwhelming interest and strong support for the simple goal of releasing Mitnick immediately and putting an end to this torture. Opinions vary as to whether or not he was guilty of a crime or if any prison time at all was called for. But even those who think he was "America's most dangerous hacker" seem to think that this has gone far enough. And this is what we must focus on: outrage at the current situation. Once that is resolved, we can move on to making sure it never happens again.
That is a sad fact we have to take seriously. This will happen again. And, because future cases will most likely not be as well publicized, this could become a way of life before we have a chance to even realize it. Imagine yourself facing charges, regardless of whether or not they're justified. What would you do, knowing what has transpired here? Do you think you just might be inclined to make a deal knowing that you could be locked away for three years without a trial and that nobody would consider that out of the ordinary? Of course you would. And every prosecutor knows this. Which is why we cannot allow them to get away with this travesty of justice.
One way or another, this case will decide the future for many of us. While some things may be inevitable, the bleakness it seems to be foreshadowing does not have to be one of them. We can make a significant difference if we believe we can and if we try. Despite all the rhetoric, we haven't been trying nearly hard enough. For instance, there have been cries for help over the Internet for Mitnick's defense fund. Yet, at the time we went to press, only one donation of $200 by one person has been made. If this is all we are capable of, then we might as well give up now. Obviously, we know we have the potential of so much more but we keep making the mistaken assumption that "someone else" will carry the load. That just isn't the case.
We hope our many readers will come through on this most important mission. Send a check, money order, or even cash for as much as you can afford so that Kevin will not be deprived of decent legal care. This fund is being organized by his grandmother (Reba Vartanian) and all checks should be made out to her, account number 672-190-1177. The address is:
Legal Defense Fund for Kevin Mitnick c/o Norwest Bank Nevada, N.A. Rainbow Ridge Office 672 3104 North Rainbow Blvd. Las Vegas, NV 89108We hope to be able to report a significant increase in this fund real soon. Please invest in the future and contribute what you can.
Distributor Update
Since our last issue, there have been some rather significant developments. Fine Print (our main distributor located in Austin, Texas) changed their status to Chapter 7 protection from Chapter 11 shortly after we stopped using them. We did this after they offered us $150 as a settlement for the $100,000 they owe us. This means that they are now out of business.
According to some rather interesting court documents filed by The Fine Print Distributors, Inc. Official Unsecured Creditors Committee, the United States Trustee's Office, and ANA Interests, Inc., it appears that there were some financial improprieties going on, almost to the very end. According to the documents, "During the last six to eight weeks, the Debtor also began to dispose of its hard assets in sales out of the ordinary course of business without permission of this Court. Many of these items appear to have been sold at below market value." Also, "Upon information received by the Committee beginning on December 2, 1997, the Committee also would show the Court that apparently the salary of Debtor's president was increased from $27,000 to $50,000 post-petition, and that of its Chief Financial Officer from $22,000 to $37,900 during the same period. Additionally, it appears that the Debtor enacted corporate policies post-petition to provide significant vacation and severance packages to employees that were not in existence prior to the pendency of the bankruptcy. The Debtor's bank account appears to have been completely decimated on Friday, December 4, 1997 for the payment of these 'benefits,' even though sizable other debts have arisen post-petition which remain unpaid?"
Neither Paula Brunson (President) nor Sharlette Lehnick (Chief Financial Officer) were reachable for comment and numerous phone calls made to them before Fine Print's phones were disconnected altogether were never returned.
If such allegations are proven to be true, we only hope criminal charges are filed. In our last issue we told you that we bore no animosity towards Fine Print. Perhaps we believed in them more than their own employees did.
We believed that supporting an independent distributor would help the independent zine community. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way and we must now look to more commercial distributors to get us back into the same stores. The real tragedy is that so many other zines don't have that option.
Obviously, since you're reading this, we managed to get this issue printed and sent out. If it's still winter by the time you see this, it means we really hauled ass and pulled off a minor miracle. The moral support we have received on this journey is more valuable than anything tangible could ever be. We'll always be indebted to our readers for that.
We'll be facing all kinds of challenges and hurdles in the months and years ahead that hopefully won't be so tied into our very survival. When these happen, we need to be able to stay focused on the issues and not be distracted by the mundane. Because if the present is any indication of what the future will be like, we will need as much strength as we can garner. We hope you're looking forward to it as much as we are.