23 June 1997: New twist/ Feds Recant on Mitnick's Fugitive Status Back in 1994, a supposedly fleeing Kevin Mitnick told anyone who would listen he really wasn't a fugitive from justice. He claimed to be just a paranoid hacker who didn't want to stick around once his probation was up. As it turns out, he may have been telling me the truth. In a federal court in Los Angeles, the government admitted it had made a mistake in saying that Mitnick was on the lam. The admission may put an entirely different twist on the case. If Mitnick wasn't really a fugitive, a couple of probation violations mistakenly escalated into one the biggest manhunts in cyberspace. Petty offenses by Mitnick -- probably punishable by an extension of his probation -- spun into a nationwide cat-and-mouse game that drew a frenzy of media hype. Along the way, Mitnick, who may have been no more than a scofflaw, instead became the notorious criminal mastermind the authorities apparently wanted him to be. ---------- Full report: http://jya.com/kmtwist.txt Crypto news: S.F. Judge Likely to Uphold Encryption Ruling EEMA/ EEMA Slams UK Government Over Encryption Restrictions Two reports on prospects for the McCain/Kerrey bill Two reports on the import of the DES crack http://jya.com/cn062397.txt