Bernie S. Sentencing
I believe that Ed was the first person to be sentenced under PA's new anti-toll fraud law which makes it illegal to build, distribute, or distribute plans for, or use "toll-fraud" devices which include EEPROM burners, cellular diagnostic equipment, etc. The Man couldn't put him away for any length of time for that, so they're trying another angle. ObCrypto: When they pass laws against "info-laundering"/"electronic identity hiding" tools, it'll probably go something like this. =========BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE========= Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 06:48:44 -0500 (EST) From: Emmanuel Goldstein <emmanuel@2600.COM> Subject: Bernie S. Sentencing Friday I just found out that Bernie S. will be sentenced this Friday morning at 9 am in Easton, PA for the crime of removing batteries from a tone dialer several years ago. This is defined as a victimless misdemeanor for which the judge in this small town (under considerable influence from the Secret Service) set bail at $250,000. He could get two years in prison at sentencing. Press attention could be very helpful in avoiding a sentence as irrational as the bail setting - right now the only influence these people are getting is from the Secret Service and they want to put Bernie S away for as long as they can. If you're not entirely up to date on this story, finger bernies@2600.com for all of the details. If you know of anyone who will cover this story, please get ahold of them right away so they can plan on being there. If anyone is interested in going, let me know so we can hopefully fill some cars from NYC. Sentencing is scheduled for Friday, January 26 at 9 am Courtroom 5 Northampton County Government Center 7th and Washington Street Easton, PA 18042-7492 (610) 559-3020 (district attorney) case # 2173-1993 The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs. Edward E. Cummings Misdemeanor 2 - tampering with physical evidence Please help spread the word. emmanuel@2600.com =========END FORWARDED MESSAGE=========
Before anyone complains of a lack of crypto relevance to this, Bernie S is the guy who brought Clipper phones & actual clipper chips which he convinced Mykrotronix to send him to the HOPE conference in NYC two years ago. These clipper phones added a new argument to the long list against clipper, and that was the phones barely worked, despite Bernie's efforts. He also gave away one of the two clippers that he brought, which was destroyed with a small explosive device, showing the truth of the old saw about there being few problems not solvable with a suitable application of high explosives. :) If any of our writers could be at his sentencing, a little press attention for the guy would be real helpful. Adam Dan Bailey wrote: | I believe that Ed was the first person to be sentenced under PA's new | anti-toll fraud law which makes it illegal to build, distribute, or | distribute plans for, or use "toll-fraud" devices which include EEPROM | burners, cellular diagnostic equipment, etc. The Man couldn't put him | away for any length of time for that, so they're trying another angle. | | ObCrypto: When they pass laws against "info-laundering"/"electronic | identity hiding" tools, it'll probably go something like this. | =========BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE========= | Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 06:48:44 -0500 (EST) | From: Emmanuel Goldstein <emmanuel@2600.COM> | Subject: Bernie S. Sentencing Friday | | I just found out that Bernie S. will be sentenced this Friday morning | at 9 am in Easton, PA for the crime of removing batteries from a tone | dialer several years ago. This is defined as a victimless misdemeanor | for which the judge in this small town (under considerable influence | from the Secret Service) set bail at $250,000. He could get two years | in prison at sentencing. Press attention could be very helpful in | avoiding a sentence as irrational as the bail setting - right now the | only influence these people are getting is from the Secret Service and | they want to put Bernie S away for as long as they can. If you're not | entirely up to date on this story, finger bernies@2600.com for all of | the details. | | If you know of anyone who will cover this story, please get ahold of | them right away so they can plan on being there. If anyone is | interested | in going, let me know so we can hopefully fill some cars from NYC. | | Sentencing is scheduled for Friday, January 26 at 9 am | Courtroom 5 | Northampton County Government Center | 7th and Washington Street | Easton, PA 18042-7492 | | (610) 559-3020 (district attorney) | | case # 2173-1993 | The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs. Edward E. Cummings | Misdemeanor 2 - tampering with physical evidence | | Please help spread the word. | | emmanuel@2600.com | | | | =========END FORWARDED MESSAGE========= | | -- "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -Hume
Adam Shostack writes:
Before anyone complains of a lack of crypto relevance to this, Bernie S is the guy who brought Clipper phones & actual clipper chips which he convinced Mykrotronix to send him to the HOPE conference in NYC two years ago.
Okay, but no one said that in the original message, and it still isn't clear how relevant this is. If someone like Tim or me were put in jail for, say, drunk driving, I'm not sure it would be proper news here. Perry
Adam Shostack writes:
Before anyone complains of a lack of crypto relevance to this, Bernie S is the guy who brought Clipper phones & actual clipper chips which he convinced Mykrotronix to send him to the HOPE conference in NYC two years ago.
Okay, but no one said that in the original message, and it still isn't clear how relevant this is. If someone like Tim or me were put in jail for, say, drunk driving, I'm not sure it would be proper news here.
I just heard that Perry and Tim were picked up last night for public intoxication, after a hard night of partying and crypto-brainstorming. OBCrypto: The arresting officer found in Perry's jacket pocket, a matchbook with what looked like mathematical symbols on it. He didn't know what the symbols were, so he turned it over to the DP department. I hear a couple of hours later, two "suits" showed up at the jail, asked to see the matchbook, took one look, turned pale, and spirited Perry and Tim out the back door of the jail. The police profess no knowledge of the whereabouts of Tim or Perry - they say they never heard of them. The arrest report has also apparantly disappeared. The last thing one of the "suits" said was something like "they know about the hole in RSA we found with the quantum computer" - or that's what was reportedly said. Something like that. -- Ed Carp, N7EKG Ed.Carp@linux.org, ecarp@netcom.com 214/993-3935 voicemail/digital pager 800/558-3408 SkyPager Finger ecarp@netcom.com for PGP 2.5 public key an88744@anon.penet.fi "Past the wounds of childhood, past the fallen dreams and the broken families, through the hurt and the loss and the agony only the night ever hears, is a waiting soul. Patient, permanent, abundant, it opens its infinite heart and asks only one thing of you ... 'Remember who it is you really are.'" -- "Losing Your Mind", Karen Alexander and Rick Boyes
On Thu, 25 Jan 1996, Ed Carp, KHIJOL SysAdmin wrote: (snip)
The last thing one of the "suits" said was something like "they know about the hole in RSA we found with the quantum computer" - or that's what was reportedly said. Something like that.
The AP line came down that the matchbook contained the algorithm for easily factoring large primes. Apparently the drunken stupor that Tim and Perry were in dislodged a blocking mechanism in each others brains and the answer appeared to them. Perry, being the wit he is, quickly jotted down the relevant material. The suits were reportedly affiliated with a little known group called "CypherDietyPunks". Matt
-- Ed Carp, N7EKG Ed.Carp@linux.org, ecarp@netcom.com 214/993-3935 voicemail/digital pager 800/558-3408 SkyPager Finger ecarp@netcom.com for PGP 2.5 public key an88744@anon.penet.fi
"Past the wounds of childhood, past the fallen dreams and the broken families, through the hurt and the loss and the agony only the night ever hears, is a waiting soul. Patient, permanent, abundant, it opens its infinite heart and asks only one thing of you ... 'Remember who it is you really are.'"
-- "Losing Your Mind", Karen Alexander and Rick Boyes
On Thu, 25 Jan 1996, Adam Shostack wrote:
He also gave away one of the two clippers that he brought, which was destroyed with a small explosive device, showing the truth of the old saw about there being few problems not solvable with a suitable application of high explosives. :)
Just like to point out that it was me that blew the thing up. I'am still looking for anyone that took photos of it. Aleph One / aleph1@dfw.net http://underground.org/ KeyID 1024/948FD6B5 Fingerprint EE C9 E8 AA CB AF 09 61 8C 39 EA 47 A8 6A B8 01
Dan Bailey writes:
I believe that Ed was the first person to be sentenced under PA's new anti-toll fraud law which makes it illegal to build, distribute, or distribute plans for, or use "toll-fraud" devices which include EEPROM burners, cellular diagnostic equipment, etc. The Man couldn't put him away for any length of time for that, so they're trying another angle.
Quite seriously, this is not "Evil Hacker D00DZ" punks. Can we cut the posts on that topic? Perry
Excerpts from internet.cypherpunks: 25-Jan-96 Bernie S. Sentencing by Dan Bailey@milliways.org
I just found out that Bernie S. will be sentenced this Friday morning at 9 am in Easton, PA for the crime of removing batteries from a tone dialer several years ago. This is defined as a victimless misdemeanor for which the judge in this small town (under considerable influence from the Secret Service) set bail at $250,000. He could get two years in prison at sentencing. Press attention could be very helpful in avoiding a sentence as irrational as the bail setting - right now the only influence these people are getting is from the Secret Service and they want to put Bernie S away for as long as they can. If you're not entirely up to date on this story, finger bernies@2600.com for all of the details.
I've contacted an editor I know at the Allentown Morning Call (the major newspaper in the Easton, PA area) and a staffwriter I know at the Philadelphia Inquirer. No word from the Inquirer yet, but the Morning Call seems interested -- email me for the editor's email address/phone number. Other folks can probably give better background than I can. -Declan
participants (7)
-
Adam Shostack -
Aleph One -
dan＠milliways.org -
Declan B. McCullagh -
Ed Carp, KHIJOL SysAdmin -
Matt Miszewski -
Perry E. Metzger