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3 years later,
Mitnick awaits
his day in court
Fears of hacking prowess
complicate a complex case
By Mike Brunker
MSNBC
Being the most feared hacker in the land is all well and
good when you’re running free, but it has a decided
downside when you’re in jail. For Kevin Mitnick, it has
meant more than three years without access to what was
formerly the center of his existence — a computer.
AUTHORITIES HOLD Mitnick’s hacking
prowess in such high esteem that they have
convinced U.S. District Judge Mariana
Pfaelzer that he could compromise security at
the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los
Angeles if he was allowed to use a personal
computer — even one without a modem
connecting it to the outside world.
“Security interests are particularly
compelling in this case given Mitnick’s
history of criminal conduct involving
computers,” Assistant U.S. Attorney David
Schindler warned in papers urging the judge
to maintain the status quo when she considers
the issue at a hearing on March 16.
His colleague, Assistant U.S. Attorney
Christopher Painter, told MSNBC that “there
are things you can do with computers,” but
declined to elaborate on the nature of the
threat.
Mitnick’s attorney, Donald Randolph,
said his client poses no risk with an
isolated computer and maintains that he needs
a laptop to review the evidence against him —
a massive collection of computer files, phone
and credit card numbers and computer codes,
much of which exists only in electronic form.
TRIAL EXPECTED IN SEPTEMBER
Without it, Randolph said, Mitnick
will not be able to adequately participate in
preparations for his trial, expected to begin
in September, on 25 counts of wire and
computer fraud, possession of illegal
electronic access devices and interception of
electronic or wire communications.
While defendants are generally allowed
to examine evidence and help their lawyers
interpret it, no precedent has established
that the right extends to computer access,
said Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor
specializing in cyber law.
“The court could decide that there
might be some tricks that are so ingenious
that even an expert may not anticipate them,
and, given Mitnick’s prodigious skill in this
area, the wiser course might be to not give
him access,” Volokh sai.
Prosecutors also raised other concerns
in opposing the “unprecedented and
unreasonable” request, arguing in once
instance that giving computer access to
Mitnick would mean turning over the fruits of
a two-year crime spree — software under
copyright that he and co-defendant Lewis De
Payne allegedly stole from the networks of
such companies as Motorola, Sun Microsystems,
NEC and Novell.
DERISION FROM SOME QUARTERS
The prosecution’s no-quarter-given
stance has drawn derision from Mitnick’s
supporters, who say the government has vastly
overstated his crimes — alleging $80 million
in damages — and exaggerated his abilities.
‘The prosecutor “The prosecutor says this guy is so
says this guy is dangerous that we can’t even let him get on
so dangerous that the phone because he might dial up NORAD and
we can’t even let put the whole country on Defcon 1 (the
him get on the highest state of alert),” said Mike Godwin,
phone because he staff counsel for the Electronic Frontier
might dial up Foundation, an Internet advocacy group. “It’s
NORAD and put the ridiculous, because he’s not world-class (as
whole country on a hacker). What he sounds like is a bright
Defcon 1.’ guy with a knack for wheedling information
— MIKE GODWIN out of people and with some real boundary
Staff counsel for issues.”
the Electronic Whatever his hacking skills, Mitnick
Frontier has been propelled to near folk hero status
Foundation on the Internet, in large part because of the
widespread belief that he has received unfair
treatment by prosecutors and guards,
including a four-day stint in solitary
confinement last year for reasons that have
not been disclosed. His supporters, who
operate dozens of Web sites in several
languages and post the latest developments in
two news groups devoted to his case, are fond
of pointing out that Mitnick did not attempt
to profit from his hacking and did not damage
any of the systems he penetrated.
WEB SITES HACKED
He also has inspired other hackers to
make public statements of support, including
the defacement of Yahoo! and UNICEF Web sites
to demand his freedom — acts that Mitnick
termed unhelpful in a statement issued
through his attorney.
The 34-year-old subject of the
adulation and apprehension has been jailed
without bail since February 1995, when he was
arrested in North Carolina by FBI agents.
Computer security expert Tsutomu Shimomura
helped authorities track down the hacker
known as “Condor,” and the search and capture
were chronicled by New York Times reporter
John Markoff in “Takedown,” one of at least
three books on the rise and fall of Mitnick.
He pleaded guilty in June 1997 to
cellular phone fraud and violation of
probation stemming from a 1989 conviction for
hacking and was sentenced to 22 months in
prison. But the remaining charges could put
him on ice for many years.
The publicity surrounding Mitnick
makes him a particularly appealing target for
authorities hoping to strike fear into any
who would follow in his footsteps, his
supporters say.
AN APPEALING TARGET
“When people think of ‘hacker,’ they
think of him, and the way they’ve gone after
him doesn’t make sense any other way,” said
Roger D. Slates II, an attorney who is doing
pro-bono research on computer law for Mitnick
and visits him regularly in jail. “I’m sure
there have been murderers who have been
treated more kindly than Mr. Mitnick has.”
But Painter, the assistant U.S.
attorney, denied there was any attempt to
make an example of Mitnick.
“He is charged with stealing literally
millions and millions of dollars worth of
proprietary software, passwords, etc.,” he
said. “We don’t single people out. We pursue
people who break the law.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s
Godwin says he believes the Mitnick case will
mark a turning point in how authorities treat
hacking cases.
“I don’t think you’re ever going to
have another case like this,” he said. “What
happened was that Kevin Mitnick was part of a
social transformation on the part of law
enforcement. The problem is they had already
demonized him by the time they were smart
enough to know better. They’re not going to
say the guy we said could start World War III
is really just a maladjusted perpetual
teen-ager. They’re deeply invested in
persecuting this guy.”
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Received on Fri Mar 13 21:25:32 1998