Message Sent
We are experiencing a period of movement and transition. Yes, every spring a bunch of us put our stuff in order and move forward with renewed vigor. But this isn't a feeling of something fleeting. Things really are poised for great and dramatic change.
As many of us feared, nothing substantial has happened with regards to the Kevin Mitnick case. Since our last issue, the judge has announced that she has no intention of granting Kevin bail. "We're never in the world going to do that," U.S. District Court Judge (((Mariana Pfaelzer))) said, a full week before the motion was to be filed. This, after more than three years in prison and no charges of violence, financial gain, or even vandalism. Kevin's major crime would appear to have been simply not giving up when he was supposed to and having a front page New York Times article written about how he was eluding capture. (The author of the piece, along with others, would go on to make a small fortune writing about the exploits of Kevin Mitnick. Kevin, however, has yet to make a dime from either his story or his talents. In all likelihood he will be forever prevented from using either to his benefit.)
In addition, Kevin was forbidden from using a computer to access the 9.75 gigabytes of evidence the government is using against him. If this were to be printed out, it would most likely fill an entire room, if not more. To not allow him access to the evidence is a gross miscarriage of justice, perpetuated by a monumental lack of education in the judicial system on the subject of computers. They really believe, as they did in 1989 when they locked him in solitary confinement for months, that any contact he has with any form of technology would be an invitation to catastrophe. This ignorance has plagued this case from the beginning - the massive attention paid to his arrest as if he were some kind of terrorist mastermind, the harsh and uncompromising conditions of his imprisonment which usually is reserved only for the most hardened and dangerous criminals, and the refusal of the prosecution and the judge to allow Kevin to adequately defend himself.
We should point out that the prosecution has offered to allow Kevin and his attorney access to a computer under their watchful eyes - an unacceptable proposal as it would allow the prosecution the opportunity to see exactly what evidence was looked at and for how long. In other words, a free look at the defense strategy. The court has pretty much endorsed this plan of the prosecution with the stipulation that Kevin not be allowed access to the evidence more than three times a month! We wouldn't want him to become too familiar with the evidence, would we?
And so it drags on even more. The trial originally set for April now seems certain to be held closer to September, possibly even later. But we started out talking about change. There certainly doesn't seem to be much of that here. However, one need only venture outside the courtroom to realize that people have indeed finally started to wake up and do something about this.
The real turning point came after these court developments. There was a fair amount of media coverage and, judging from the opinion polls on major web sites such as MSNBC and Ziff Davis, people almost unanimously believe this has gone on long enough. It's clear the government is playing some sort of sick game with Kevin and his future. But everything they do to him is meant as a message to the rest of the hackers - a warning that any one of us could be next. But intimidation tactics rarely remain effective for very long.
The winds have changed. People are angry and they're starting to really talk about this. The defense fund is approaching the $1,000 mark at press time thanks to our readers and people who visit the Mitnick web sites. (Look for the address to contribute to in this issue.) "Free Kevin" bumper stickers are showing up on cars and other objects around the world. And as every day goes by, our voices grow louder. It was their hope that we would forget about this and get on with our lives. We will not forget. And we will keep pushing, as hard as we must, to end this nightmare. We demand his immediate release and an end to the selective prosecution our federal agencies are becoming famous for.
Those who want to help, and we know there are an awful lot of you, can be most constructive by getting the word out. When people see a "Free Kevin" sticker, they will ask who the hell Kevin is. Tell them. Tell them the whole story. And see what side the newly informed wind up on. It's time for public officials and executives to begin speaking out on this. Help us get "on the record" statements from such people. We're building something massive here and those ingredients will really add up in a big way.
Our biggest advantage right now is the fact that those who oppose us think we are doomed. A bunch of hackers and individual spirits versus the iron fist of federal law? No chance. Well, we beg to differ. Our spirit is exactly what we need to pull through this and make a difference.
New laws are being written faster than we can keep up with them, designed to put more people in prison for crimes that are almost impossible not to commit. We have more non-violent prisoners than ever before and the projections for the future are nothing short of terrifying. Federal prisons, through such programs as UNICOR, are the breeding grounds for modern day slave labor. Today's prisons are seen as a source of jobs and even pride in their communities. Private industry has even taken an interest, actually taking control of some prison operations and "hiring" inmates to do such jobs as telemarketing for pennies a day. What is happening to Kevin is merely a prelude to what could be one of the most ominous periods of our history.
A lot of us know Kevin as an individual and are working to free him with that in mind. We don't ask others to accept this because we say so. What we do ask is that people look at the facts in this case and question everything they are told. We believe the facts, coupled with the threatening mood of the future, will lead to their support of this movement, if only for the symbolic victory of one individual.
Our Financial State
We are nearly out of the woods in what has been a real disaster thanks to our bankrupt distributor. We've managed to get back into all of the stores we were cut off from when Fine Print went under. But recently we started to face troubles of a different sort when huge numbers of the Autumn issue wound up being destroyed before being put on the stands.
There were a number of theories as to why this happened. One rather disturbing possibility was that the stores (primarily B. Dalton and Barnes & Noble, both owned by the same company) were dumping the issues because they contained letters that revealed some details about their computer system. This has been flatly denied by their corporate office, despite our hearing from two separate employees we had called randomly that there was a memo circulating that advised stores to take the issues off the stands. Another possible reason given for this unfortunate event was a mix-up between the old distributor and the new one. Some stores may have thought the Autumn issue had been sent out by the bankrupt Fine Print and therefore cleared it off the shelves in error.
Whatever the reason, it screws us over again at the worst possible time. More than 10,000 copies were lost because of this - and we take 100 percent of the loss, plus the cost of delivery to the distributor plus the cost of delivery to the stores. Even though it would be a catastrophic screw-up of unprecedented proportions which was completely not our fault and totally our loss, that would be preferable to the possibility that this was content-related. We support Barnes & Noble/B. Dalton as they increase their distribution of independent zines and alternative voices. We back them completely in their fights against neighborhood censors who try to shut them down because they don't like the pictures in a book or the ideas in a magazine. And we want our readers to support them as well, not just for our sake, but because any semblance of literacy and thought that manages to pop up in our shopping malls deserves to prosper. But it is vital that those of us fighting for this kind of thing not take on the tactics of our enemies when the subject matter hits close to home. It's not hard to see the hypocrisy in such a move. Which is why we have two more letters in this issue concerning the same subject. Maybe we will be hurt severely by doing this. But if we refrained from printing them because we thought it might adversely affect us, we'd be just as hypocritical as anyone who removed it from the shelves.
We are, always have been, and hopefully always will be, about freedom of information and satisfying our curiosity. In the fights for freedom and justice that we always seem to be in the midst of, we must never forget who we are and what we stand for. The second we do, we've lost the battle.
Check our web site (www.2600.com) for a full list of all stores worldwide that carry 2600. If you don't have web access, write to us (2600, PO Box 752, Middle Island, NY 11953 USA), enclose $2, and we'll send you a full printout.