phrack/issue42/3.txt

 
                                =Phrack Magazine=

                  Volume Four, Issue Forty Two, Phile 3 of 14

                              ==Phrack Pro-Phile==

_______________________________________________________________________________

     Phrack Pro-Phile was created to provide info to you, the users, about old
or highly important/controversial people.  This month, we introduce you
to an individual who has survived the underground for far too long,
the creator of Phantom Access and one of the co-sysops of Mindvox...

                                  Lord Digital
                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~
_______________________________________________________________________________

 Personal
 ~~~~~~~~
             Handle:  Lord Digital (for like.... fuck I'm old, 13 years now)
           Call him:  Patrick K. Kroupa
       Past handles:  M000hahahahahahahah!  You're kidding right?
      Handle origin:  It was given to me by this ancient wise man drinking
                      cheap Absolut by the side of the road...
      Date of Birth:  01/20/68
Age at current date:  24
             Height:  6'2"
             Weight:  185
          Eye color:  Green
         Hair Color:  Blonde/brunette/black (subject to change)
           Computer:  Apple ][+, Amiga 1000, Mac Plus (All in storage)
                      Apple //e, Amiga 500, NeXT, Various Suns (Not in storage)
  Sysop/Co-Sysop of:  MindVox ELItE!@#!!!@#!
        Net address:  digital@phantom.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

     If you look beneath the shiny surface of most things, and gaze way-way-way
deep down into the murky black festering heart of the human evolutionary
process, you are ultimately confronted with the revelation that has stood, nay,
LEAPT UP before the ancients since before the days of Atlantis:  Life is a lot
like NeW WaReZ.

     Anybody who tried to tell you something different, is obviously selling
you something.

     All things in this universe -- and many others -- can be attributed to New
WareZ.  The ebb and flow of WareZ is what keeps the very COSMOS from bursting
apart at the seams.  During periods of time when the flow of WareZ slows to a
trickle, times are tough, there is war, pestilence, death, disease, and many
rAg PhIleZ.  d()oDZ who were happily playing Ultima XXII Quest For Cash, are
soon busily hurling insults at each other and dialing the Secret Service.  Life
is grim, there is a bleak sense of desolation and emptiness . . . for when the
WareZ slow down . . . there is little left to live for and you begin to enter
withdrawal.  An ugly process that, thus far, has only been combatted
successfully by Wally Hills NeW WhErEZ Treatment center, where they slowly ween
you off the addiction of WareZ and introduce you to the REAL WORLD where you
can do things like smoke crack and play in a band.

     On the flipside, when there is a good steady flow of WaReZ, the universe
hums to itself in happiness and all wrongs are righted, perspectives
re-adjusted, and peace, love, and happiness spread throughout the land as the
COSMOS re-aligns itself and perfection sweeps the world.  This is a heady time,
but one that is sure to be brief, for before you know it some evil glimmer of
BADNESS will rise up and somebody will DOUBLE-RELEASE someone else, or a Ware
will CRASH when it tries to load . . . and then it's just all over.

     A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . . I was a founding member of
the Knights Of MysterIous keYboArdZ and the Ko0l/Ra{> alliance.  At present I
am President/Ce0 and Chairman of the b0red at Phantom Access
Technologies/Coleco ADAM design Studios, Inc.

     At the moment our group is working on a multi-tasking, multi-user,
CyberSpace environment where the participants can take part in a shared reality
that is based upon a cross-relational structure comprised of lots of 0's and
1's all strung together in big twisty chains and kept track of by an
Objective-COBOL X/Motif GUI sitting on an SQL dialed into the POWER COMPUTER in
Utah, at infinite baud (not to be confused with bps).

     In the near future I .plan to move to Pigs Knuckle Idaho and cross-breed
weasels with ferrets, while devoting the rest of my life to watching daytime
TV.

     It's just that type of thing.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Reality Break
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     It is very difficult, bordering on impossible, for me to remain serious
for longer than about 45 seconds, when discussing the "underground" and what it
was all about.

     I rarely bother to mediate or water-down most of my opinions, and there
are a lotta places out there in the real world, where anyone who cares can
readily access whatever I have to say.  There isn't a great deal left for me to
convey to anybody regarding my perceptions of the hack/phreak world's history
and what it has meant, and shall mean, in the cosmic scheme of things.

     The first time I came into direct contact with computers was during the
mid-late 70's.  I was around 6 or 7 and my father worked at NCAR during this
period of time, which is a futuristic looking series of buildings in Boulder
Colorado.  This one time I came in, there were all these weird cars driving
around in the parking lot, and since there were frequently a lotta strange
things moving around there, I never understood until much later that Woody
Allen was filming SLEEPER when this was going on.  On the same day, I was shown
some of the computer rooms, which had just taken shipment on one of the first
Crays to go out the door.  This left an impression.  It was neato . . .

     One thing led to another.  I played around with various things, mainly the
really old Commodore PET systems and a slew of heavy metal junk from IBM, until
I got an Apple ][+ in 1978.  I hung out with a group of people who were also
starting to get into computers, most of them comprising the main attendees of
the soon-to-be-defunct TAP meetings in NYC, a pretty eclectic collection of
dudes who have long since gone their separate ways to meet with whatever
destinies life had in store for them.  Around 1980 there was an Apple Fest that
we went to, and found even more people with Apples and, from this, formed the
Apple Mafia, which was, in our minds, really cool sounding and actually became
the first WAreZ gRoUP to exist for the Apple ][.

     Time passed, I picked up more hardware, went on the quest to assemble the
perfect Apple-Cat system -- consisting of the Cat, 212 card, BSR, firmware,
tone decoder chip, and all the m0dZ NOVATION eventually made to the boardZ --
and ultimately ended up with 3 of 'em, one of which still works (like wow).
This led to the first generation of Phantom Access programs which started to
seep into the moDeM WeRlD around 1983, with the final revisions being let loose
in 1987 or 1988, under the auspices of Dead Lord.  By this time I had long
since stopped working on them and had relatively little to do with their forms
of release.

     Over the years I've been in a seemingly-endless succession of groups and
gatherings under nearly 50 different pseudonyms which were frequently invented
and dropped, all around that one specific timeslice and reference-point.  There
were only two that I was ever "serious" about, which is to say I entered into
them honestly believing the ideals and reasons for the group's inception, to be
valid and worth upholding and being a part of.  In other words I was in my
mid-teens and my attitude wasn't one of "Yeah yeah, take 10; a buncha dudes are
gonna screw around, some of it will be fun, some of it will be silly, and a lot
of it will be bitchy and cranky, but hey, I'm only here to amuse myself, so
what the fuck . . ."  The two "serious" affiliations were Apple Mafia and the
Knights of Shadow.  KOS ceased to exist in mid-1984 and I dropped out of the AM
around 1985, although to my knowledge it kept going until '86 or '87 when the
last surviving members found better things to do with their time.  In 1987 I
was also "OfFphICiALlLY" inducted into the Fraternal Order of the Legion of
Doom, which was just gosh w0wz0.  Actually, it's much more fun in retrospect,
since most of us are pretty good friends at this point in time, which seemed an
unlikely event back in the early 80's <giGgLE!!@#>

     I ceased to be "active" sometime around 1985, having gained legal access
to almost anything I could possibly want to play with, as well as having made
friends with people working for NYNEX who de-mystified many things for me.  The
ultimate conclusion to all of this was that having THE POWER is cool -- and
using it to annoy people was absolutely hilarious -- but only led to two
possible destinations.

     You use it all as a learning experience and "grow up" realizing that
you're playing cops and robbers, and many of the things you have spent years
doing are now illegal and liable to get you into a lot of trouble.  You can't
go back in time (at least not yet).

     You could keep doing stupid things and end up in a legal dilemma over
something that isn't very important.  Because . . . it really isn't "THE
POWER," it's just a very limited form of "it" embodied by a phone system and
some computers.  And when you compare that to a piece of art, or a collection
of music, or a new series of programs that someone has created, you begin to
realize that all you're doing is fucking with things that other people made,
and you're wasting your time abusing . . .

     To cut short my rant, I have no moral judgements to pass upon anyone or
anything, because whatever it is that people do, it's some sort of learning
process leading towards their destination (whether they realize it or not).
The computer underground is just not a place where you can remain "active"
beyond a certain period of time that serves as a sort of "rite of passage"
towards that something else.  To hang around indefinitely and remain "active"
is to become a criminal.

     Almost everything I've done has taken place with a handful of friends who
played various roles in events that transpired -- primary among them Dead Lord
(Bruce Fancher), one of my closest friends for the better part of a decade, as
well as The Unspeakable One whose name cannot be mentioned for to do so causes
rifts within space/time, and a buncha dudes from NYC/NJ who for the most part
want to blip their personas off the face of Cyberspace and get on with their
lives without the specter of LaW EnForCEmEnT hanging over them for doing silly
things as teenagers.

     In 1986 I ceased calling anything and didn't access a computer that was
hooked into a modem until late 1990.  As of late 1992, I have been "retired"
for a little over 7 years.


Patrick's Favorite Things
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Women:  Delia!  Gorgeous, Intelligent, Wonderful, & able to deal with me.
        Men:  Bwooooce.
       Cars:  928s4, Hyundai, Edsel.
      Foods:  Italian, red meat, SuPeR Hi PER Pr0tE!n, anything with SPAM.
      Music:  Any band with the word "LORD" in it (Lords of the New Church,
              House of Lords, Lords of Acid, Lords of Chaos, Traci Lords).
    Authors:  Michael Moorcock, Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, Hans Horbiger, Dr. Seuss.
      Books:  Play of Consciousness, The Book of PAT.
 Performers:  Bill the Cat, Sting, Perry Farrell, GuNz N RoSeZ, plus anybody
              who has sold out to the mahnnnnnn fo' $$$$$$$ in a biiiiiig way.


Most Memorable Experiences
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Most memorable things are unmentionable and destined to stay that way for
a while.  Those who played the games know the stories; those who didn't
eventually will -- but like, who cares.  Everybody should live their own
stories, life's an interesting game . . . go play.


Some People to Mention
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dead Lord         - The one who is not and can never be, yet exists.  Solely an
                    infinite layering of the possibilities inherent within
                    personal transmigration and biotechnology?  Or alive, with
                    flesh, blood, bone and an adornment of k0dEz & warEZ?  You
                    must not be blinded by sight, nor fooled by what things
                    appear to be when they are not, for what is a man when he
                    has not the latest, nor possesses the abilities to acquire
                    same?  This is a question perhaps best left to the wise men
                    who roam the meadows of the ozone, forever catching the
                    edge and surfing the waves cresting upon the seas of
                    thought and what is, was, and shall always be.

The               - I know who you are, so tell me who I am, and let's just
   Unspeakable      get on with it okay?  Because otherwise, TV is likely to
              One   drop the entire facility dead.  Anyone of normal caliber
                    can see that to be entirely obvious to thee of the id'ness
                    of pole-cats watching Star Wars.  8+ KlUb ElYtE.

Terminus          - A good friend over many years who, as most people know, has
                    recently gone through a lot.  The future looks bright, and
                    I look forward to looking back on all this with you in
                    another ten years.  [Look, look, looking] (haga!)

Magnetic Surfer   - Neato guy who knew me way-back-when, and used to give me
                    gNu Apple wArEz on cassette tape which he had downloaded at
                    the lightning speed of 300 baud.  Also provided a means to
                    meeting many of my friends, via Sherwood Forest, when it
                    first existed and hosted Inner Circle and later KOS.

The Phantom      - See above, also gave me a full set of TAP copies in 1983,
                   which I never returned to him.

The Plague        - A cool guy, close friend before his fatal accident when
                    the truck went off the road near Poker Flats, just 5 miles
                    north of Pig's Knuckle, ID.  Tragic, hope he's happy in
                    his new home, far, far underground, running the world's
                    first afterlife/subterranean BBS.

ApPul HeyD! \       The elYtE peARz of Scepter/InterCHAT who went on to form
SuperNigger  >    - DPAK, an entity SO ELITE that it required FOUR letters for
Sharp Rem0b /       its acronym & brought the world Lex Luthor on HBO!

SuperNigger       - Because he is 2 elyTe to be encompassed in merely one
                    line and requires at least two.

Lord_foul         - Ahhhh do0d....  Well we all have our roles 2 play.  Catch
                    ya in tha outback.  (cha mod pla foul sl=999 mi=99,mh=99)

Ninja NYC         - One of the few people I have ever met who seems to have
                    mastered the art of being happy wherever he is, doing
                    whatever he happens to be doing.  An exceptionally nice
                    human being.

Elven Wizard  \     A collection of compatriots, cohorts, and all around dudEz
The Infiltrator\    with whom I had an inordinate amount of fun, first ro0l!ng
The Gunslinger  > - the WhEReZ world, then changing our handles (well except
The Bishop     /    for Jeff) & dismantling eliteness and its tarnished allure,
The Gonif     /     along with its cadre of false prophets (namely ourselves
                    under half a dozen other handles).

Andrew \            "I doan' wannnnnnnnnt any money, I want to be left alone,
Chase   >         - tell them to go 'way."  May Sutekh look upon our worldly
Asif   /            endeavors and bless us all, everyone.  !nse<t01dZ ro()l!!@

Paul Muad'Dib     - A lotta fun, although he never did have any new wares
                    (unless you count source code).  In any case, I guess it's
                    not too relative any more.

Tuc               - I think it's a requirement to mention Scott; far be it from
                    me to break with tradition.  Hi Tuc!  Thanks for the ride!

Captain Avatar    - He had 'em Ahllll!  ALL of them... MORE THAN all of 'em....

Napoleon Bonaparte- Nappy ran Securityland.  I called it, it was cool.  It made
                    me smile.  I guess it made the FBI smile too.

Mr. Xerox         - Mike was usually witty, sarcastic, annoying, egotistical,
                    obnoxious, and almost always late.  We got along great
                    and I really miss the guy sometimes.  Hullo Mike, wherever
                    you may roam.

Taran King        - BesideZ DeYd L0rD & Sn, the El1teZt Pers0[\] eYe EveR meT!
                    StaY sP!fpHY [>o()d!

Phantom Phreaker  - Here's to shifting focus and finding something far more
                    interesting to play with than phones & computers 8-).  It's
                    an amazing universe, huh . . .

Lex Luthor        - After a ten year period during which we typed to each other
                    once in a while and seemed situated at antipodean sides of
                    the m0dUm Yo0n!veRsE, I finally met with Lex in the very
                    near past.  It's shocking to find that he's actually one of
                    the most gracious, funny, and pleasant guys I've ever had
                    an opportunity to meet.  Best wishes in whatever you may
                    end up doing!

Erik Bloodaxe     - A keg of Sandoz, a Vat of pig's blood, T&C and thee.

Sigmund!@31!@!!!  - As the UFOs said, they know who you are, they know where
                    you are.  Seriously, hey, it was entertaining.  Good luck
                    man.


unReAl PeOpUL 2 MenShun
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
StJude  -  For everything.  It's good to know you . . . love, light, and a
           lotta deep-fried giri with ciphers thrown in.

Siva    -  Look, polygons or voxels, Gibsonian or Post-modern, by Risc or by
           Cisc with Objective C++ running Smalltalk under Windows NT over the
           underpass and around the bend; it's gonna happen, and we're gonna be
           there having a party.  Smile, as I think you've mentioned on more
           than one occasion; it's an interesting time to be alive 8-).

Bruce   -  Quite possibly the coolest grown-up I have ever met 8-).  Which is
Sterling   saying a lot.  The world would be a much better place if Bruce
           could be cloned and then placed inside a tornado, hooked into a
           net, fitted with an adamantium exoskeleton, and then dropped into
           the de-criminalized zone with a BigMac and a holographic tape
           recorder.

Jim     -  Hey so, are you doing more things at once or am I?  I bet I can
Thomas     watch TV, listen to music, have three phone conversations, and
           write an article with 25% greater coherence than Chuck has while
           eating and watching TV.  On the other hand, writing two books,
           teaching, reading, running CUD, having a life, and still finding
           time to hang out are at least level 15 -- haven't hit that yet,
           but I'm working on it!

Andy    -  Hey man.  I enjoy what you're doing, keep the faith, ignore the
Hawks      assholes, take inspiration from the inspired, and retain belief
           in your dreams.  Oh okay, gotta go, time to sell out, ignore what I
           just said 8-).

3Jane   -  Models/actresses/sex cadets united for a better tomorrow, under
           Unix with named_pipes and justice for some of us.


Memorable Phreak/Hack BBSes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8BBS - Long ago, I didn't understand it, or what I was typing, but it was fun.
MOM - Long ago, although by now I did understand it and had slightly less fun.
Pirate's Harbor - Before Norman figured out he could make a killing on TIMECOR.
Pirate's Chest - 6 line 80 meg board circa 1983.  Totally Cool.
Adventurer's Tavern - Last bastion of tremendous on-line fun & anarchy.  RIP.
Securityland - Nappy's Board.
Pirate's Phunhouse -> Cat's Cavern - The Tempest's system(s).
Dark Side of the Moon - Through many long and strange phases.  Still running.
RACS III - w()wZ0 blargel blumpfk0l SwillY sw()nk!@!#!@!!!!!
OSUNY (3 cycles) - Some more fun than others.
Sherwood Forest I, II, III - Liked all three, although 1 was the coolest.
Plovernet - Two phases.  Both great.
The (urse - WarEZ do()d & eLIteNEsS Galore!@#!@#!@#!@#
LOD - The Start in 1984, and intermittently thereafter.
COPS - Cool Florida board.
Shadowland - Cool Colorado board.
SpecELITE - So overwhelmingly awful, that it was wonderfully fun.
WOPR - Lotta fun for a while, then he threw everyone off & went 1200only wareZ.
Pirate-80 - It was very effervescent with a touch of jello.
Everything Sir Knight ever ran - Too many names (Tele-Apa, HackNet, NewsNet...)
World of Cryton - WOC!  JAMES!  ELITENESS!
The Safehouse - Apple Bandit's.  Hey, I want my Diskfer ][ dude!
Farmers of Doom - Blo0p.
Pirates of Puget Sound - Nice softwareZ.  Lotta fun.


A few things Lord Digital would like to say:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BELIEVE EVERYTHING THAT YOU HEAR.  KNOW EVERYTHING YOU SEE. UNDERSTAND
EVERYTHING YOU DO NOT COMPREHEND.  BE AT ONE WITH THE STILLNESS OF THE
REVOLVING HAMSTER WHEEL AND FLOSS BETWEEN MEALS.

As far as the future of the hack/phreak world and telecommunications in general
is concerned, the PhrAck World is absolutely spiffy and I believe that ISDN
will change EVERYTHING and make it rounder, taller, bigger, more stable, and
also give later generations something to look back upon and sneer at with
contempt.