In his bitterness, the poet rebuked her, and said to her,
Lovely Fame, even in the highways and the byways
You have not forborn to laugh and shout and jest
With worthless men, and I have toiled for you
And dreamt of you, and you mock me and pass me by.
And Fame turned her back on him and walked away,
But in departing, she looked over her shoulder
And smiled at him as she had not smiled before,
And almost speaking in a whisper, said,
I will meet you in the graveyard at the back of the workhouse
In a hundred years.
That was The Assignation by Lord Dunsany, read by Eleanor Elizabeth Forman.
And we thank you so much for doing that.
It's ten o'clock and live from New York, this is WBAI in New York City.
It's time for Off the Hook.
The telephone keeps ringing, so I ripped it off the wall.
I cut myself while shaving, now I can't make a call.
It couldn't get much worse, but if it could, it would.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Funding is bound for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
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And you charge them 50 cents each.
And if you have enough of those,
you can spend the whole time on the phone,
and it'll pay for your trip.
Let's see if Bernie S. is here.
Bernie, you there?
This is Locktel.
You have a collect call from...
Bernie S.
To accept the call, please dial 9 now.
You do not...
Please go ahead.
You are now connected.
Bernie S., are you with us?
Good evening.
How are you doing?
I'm doing as well as one can in a federal prison, I suppose.
Now, I've fallen out of touch.
I was away in California, and, you know,
we tried having people around the phone to pick up at certain times,
but when you're in prison, of course,
you can never tell when you're going to be able to make a phone call.
Very true.
So we pretty much missed you 100% of the time.
So, actually, we don't have any idea what's been happening with you
over the past several weeks.
During your absence, but it was unsuccessful.
So, in any case, I guess you folks haven't been informed
that my trial was rescheduled until September 8th.
Wow.
So...
From July 31st to September 8th.
That's quite a...
Well, we needed at least another week
because the government dropped several hundred additional pages
of what's called discovery material
or evidence they planned to use against me at the trial.
Now, have you had a chance to go through these pages?
I have.
They dropped a lot of it on me at the last minute,
just a couple of days before July 31st.
And, obviously, I needed more time to go over the stuff
and figure out what it all meant.
So we requested a one-week delay.
The prosecutor said that she would have to delay it for two weeks
because she had a trial the following week
that would conflict with mine.
And a judge, in his infinite wisdom,
decided to schedule it on September 8th.
The judge also decided that it would be appropriate for me
to have another bail hearing,
and he, in his wisdom, scheduled that for September 7th.
Oh, wonderful.
So you don't get a bail hearing until one day before your trial.
Exactly.
That's crazy.
September 7th, huh?
Yes.
I wouldn't presume to tell that to a judge.
It was crazy.
But that's the decision.
The prosecutor has conceded that she no longer feels
that I'm a danger to the community.
So why do they have to wait three weeks to get you a bail hearing?
It's up to a judge.
Federal judges can pretty much decide what they want to decide.
And, you know, if I want to appeal his decision,
I can delay things further.
I guess so.
You always have that option.
So I will have a bail hearing September 7th
and a trial September 8th.
So it will be a busy couple of days for you, then.
Yes.
And the next three weeks or so will be pretty busy planning.
We have rounded up at least one expert witness
and are trying to find at least another one
and gone over some of the technical materials that they've submitted,
the prosecution has submitted.
Sometime in the next week or two,
I will actually have the opportunity to physically examine this evidence in person
in Philadelphia.
The U.S. Marshals will have to put me in shackles and chains
and transport me by van from South Jersey.
Wow.
So you get a little field trip, huh?
Yeah.
Get transported in shackles to your hometown.
And I'll actually be able to look at this equipment that they're saying
could have been used with intent to defraud.
Uh-huh.
Interesting.
So how is your mood holding up in there?
Well, I have ups and downs.
Today I'm feeling reasonably good.
The diet here has caused me some health problems,
and unfortunately the medical staff here doesn't seem to be really up to par.
That's a familiar story, isn't it, Fiber?
Oh, I didn't know you were there, Fiber.
Yeah, hi.
How are you?
Oh, yeah, I imagine your GI system was thrown out of whack by what you were fed there.
Yeah, quite a bit.
I mean, like you said, it wasn't the best eating environment,
so we kind of had to make the best of it.
Yeah.
Yeah, I haven't been, as they say, regular for several weeks now.
I don't know if we need to do that.
I've always been an irregular kind of guy.
You don't happen to sleep next to a weightlifter, do you?
No, I'm fortunate to. . .
My celly, as prison slang goes, or roommate,
was just transported out of here this morning.
He was brought here about a month ago on conversion of government property charges.
He allegedly borrowed a tractor from a Navy base,
drove it around the block, and brought it back.
He was apprehended a couple days later when someone fingered him.
At least they didn't kill him like the guy who stole the tank in San Diego.
Yeah, I like that video clip where the police just pointed the gun down inside the tank
and blew the guy away.
That was an appropriate way of stopping a tank that was already stopped.
Yeah.
Couldn't move.
But this guy had been scheduled, my celly had been scheduled for cancer surgery.
He had rather advanced lymphoma cancer.
Scheduled for cancer surgery in Philadelphia the day after he was arrested,
and they delayed him getting surgery on this rapidly advancing cancer for nearly a month.
So this morning they transferred him to Rochester, Minnesota,
where there's another federal prison that happens to be next to the Mayo Clinic.
So at least he'll be getting some decent medical care at the Mayo Clinic.
I hope it's not too late for him.
I haven't gotten a new cellmate yet.
That'll probably happen tomorrow.
I've gone through six of them since I've been here.
You've got a single now, huh?
Yeah.
I'll cherish it for all of 24 hours or so.
You've been through six cellmates?
Actually, this will be my seventh coming up tomorrow.
Two of them didn't speak any English.
One of those two, who was from the Dominican Republic,
actually he was here for about two months, actually about a month and a half,
and I taught him a fair amount of English so he was reasonably conversational.
So we spent about an hour every night learning the English language,
which is a pretty difficult language to learn if you don't know it.
That's certainly true.
Well, now to just recap for the sake of listeners that might not even know what this is all about,
you were arrested when?
I was arrested March 15th of this year, almost exactly five months ago.
I've been in prison since that time on what developed into two federal charges.
Both statutes I'm charged with were newly passed into law earlier this year.
In fact, just a few weeks before I was charged with them,
these two statutes were passed into law.
One of them is possession of a modified telecommunications instrument,
and the other is possessing hardware or software that could facilitate
the alteration or modification of telecommunications instruments.
This is something that we should point out is extremely common to possess
and not necessarily for the purposes of committing a crime.
Yes, I imagine one could modify a telecommunications instrument with a screwdriver.
Absolutely, absolutely.
But in this case we're talking about?
We're talking about computer software in this case,
specifically computer software which can enable someone to program
a cellular telephone's internal memory.
That is, memory which contains its unique electronic serial number and telephone number,
which is what makes every cellular telephone identifiable to the system
as being your phone and not someone else's.
The reason that I had this software is to enable other people to have
two or more cellular telephones on the same telephone number.
As probably many of our listeners are aware,
cellular telephone carriers won't allow you to have two phones in the same number.
They want you to pay an additional monthly access fee for each additional phone.
Yes, because they're a phone company, they get away with things like that.
Cellular phone companies are no different from the land line.
The wire phone companies, whatever you call those things.
The wire line.
Yes.
So it's an extreme case of overreaction, I think.
My attorney, who's a former federal prosecutor himself,
spent four years in the Philadelphia office.
He seems pretty sharp.
I'm very fortunate to have gotten him.
Some friends who knew him hooked me up with him.
He seems to be of the opinion that these two statutes cannot stand scrutiny
in a higher federal court.
He thinks there are problems with the laws itself,
regardless of any evidence in my case,
that the laws themselves just are bogus, which you and I know.
But from a legal standpoint, there are some problems with it as well.
Yes, under heavy lobbying by communications industry lobbyists.
I wasn't even aware of these two statutes until I was charged with them.
The Secret Service agent who participated in my arrest,
he didn't even have these statutes in his book when he started interrogating me.
He didn't even have them in his hands.
He said, these are so new, I don't even have them in my book yet.
So you continue to get mail while you're in there.
Actually, my mail has dropped off to almost nothing.
Okay, well then folks here, we need to send Bernie S. some mail.
Yes, something to look forward to while away the days there.
You want to give out the address?
Anything as simple as a short letter of encouragement or a postcard,
or even magazines.
They don't need to be technical magazines.
Any type of mental food would be greatly appreciated
because it gets extremely monotonous here.
One almost goes out of their mind.
If you're the kind of person who needs to have their brain stimulated all the time,
this is the worst place to be.
Well, yes, I would definitely imagine that.
So what address can people write to you?
The address, first it goes to my name is the first line on the address,
Ed Cummings, C-U-M-M-I-N-G-S.
My number is 48919-066.
The second line in the address is F-C-I, as in Federal Correctional Institution,
Thereton, that's F-A-I-R-T-O-N.
Third line is P.O. Box 420, 420.
Fourth line is Thereton, New Jersey, 08320.
Oh, and also on that second line, after where it says F-C-I, Thereton,
if you put the letter A and then the word left, A-left,
it will be routed to the proper housing unit here,
so I'll probably get it a couple days earlier than otherwise.
I ran across a piece of paper on the compound here the other day
that someone must have dropped, someone on the staff here,
which had sort of an internal government telephone number for this particular institution.
It uses a 700-area code,
and I haven't been able to call that number from the telephone system here.
That area code is blocked.
But I wanted to find out if any of your listeners would have any success
in calling this particular number and seeing what they got.
This is actually listed on letterhead?
Well, that wasn't a letterhead.
It was a computer printout that must have blown out of someone's hand.
Interesting, because usually 700 numbers require a specific carrier.
Isn't that right, Fiber?
Yeah, typically.
I mean, if the 700 happens to be owned by AT&T,
you're not going to be able to call it typically with another carrier.
Well, maybe someone who has access to that particular carrier.
What are you saying?
Yeah, you're free to use Equal Access.
Okay.
You just have to know which carrier it is.
Okay, I don't know.
All right, well, give us a number, and we'll figure it out.
We'll try all the available carriers and see which one gets through.
Right.
This number is area code 700-298-1177.
I have to wonder, why would they have a number like this?
Those numbers are good for people that move around a lot,
and I don't think that prison is going to be moving around.
Probably not.
Prisoners here move around a lot as far as getting transferred to places all over the country.
It's strange.
You'll wake up in the morning,
and then two or three people that you've made friends with have just disappeared.
They never existed.
You don't know whatever happened to them.
I'm proud of you.
You probably experienced that, Fiber.
Actually, no, you were designated by the time you were incarcerated, right?
Yeah, but, I mean, people still come and go quite a bit.
Yeah, it's quite disconcerting.
You know somebody, and then all of a sudden they vanish,
and you don't know whatever happened to them.
Yeah, most usually they get transferred.
Right, right, but oftentimes you don't know where they've been transferred to.
Right, and they don't know either.
Right, they don't know until the morning that they're woken up by a guard saying,
hey, you're being moved.
It reminds me of these stories you hear about in South America
where people just sort of disappear and are never heard from again.
Well, it's the same basic idea, and they do get their training up here.
I imagine they just embellish upon it a little bit.
Good work.
All right, also I want to point out that you can e-mail Bernie S. through 2600,
BernieS at 2600.com, and we will forward your message to him
if you don't want to write something down on a piece of paper.
But please, write something because it's extremely important.
It makes all the difference in the world.
It really does help.
By the way, I got your envelope of e-mail that was mailed to me via snail mail.
Kind of an awkward way to get e-mail, but I still got it, so thank you very much.
Okay, all right, every little bit helps.
Bernie, best of luck to you.
We'll probably hear from you again next week.
Yes, I'll keep you posted.
We've got three weeks to go.
Okay, and keep calling us throughout the week too
because we have things to update you on as well.
Great.
Well, good to hear your voice.
Sorry I wasn't at DEF CON.
Yeah, well, you have a good excuse.
Maybe next year.
Yeah, we'll see.
All right, I've got to go.
I have to hand this phone off to somebody else.
There's a lot of prisoners waiting.
Okay.
Take care.
Take care, Fiber.
Take it easy.
Good luck.
That's our live from federal prison, Bernie S.,
becoming a fixture on the program.
Boy, it's unbelievable.
Did you ever think this would last this long?
Actually, no.
I mean, it's so Kafka-ish, you know?
Yeah.
I mean, it just never goes anywhere.
Day after day, he's in the same position,
never knowing what's going to happen
and what exactly is he being charged with.
I mean, he should write a book.
He really should.
This is an incredible story.
And, again, we really need help
as far as getting expert witnesses
that will actually go down and say things
to set the record straight
as far as what can be done with a cellular phone,
what cannot be done with a cellular phone,
and just how dangerous carrying around a red box
or a modified tone dialer really is.
Is that something that you would cause someone
to be locked away with no bail?
Seems kind of weird to me.
So, getting back to what's been going on
over the past couple of weeks,
anything new in your life?
Yeah, actually, a couple of things.
In the continuing ISDN saga,
there was a problem that I was having
where I wanted a caller ID for my ISDN line.
You've been wanting this for some time now.
Yeah, and ironically...
You still don't have it, do you?
No, actually, I do.
You have caller ID now?
Yeah.
It's kind of ironic what happened in the end,
but it just so turns out
that I actually had it all along.
In fact, after doing some searching
and finally getting in touch with the right people
after going on this caller ID crusade
from 9X to Motorola to Northern Telecom,
and finally I found out
from finally people who were in the know at 9X
it turns out that caller ID
is part of your basic ISDN service.
It's not an extra feature.
Really?
You actually get caller ID
along with basic ISDN service,
so it's not something you have to order extra.
That's interesting.
Yeah, what actually happened
was that the reason why I wasn't receiving
caller ID on voice calls
was actually an error
on the part of the developers
that developed the firmware
and the ISDN hardware that I used.
So has that been fixed?
It's in the works currently right now.
So you still don't have caller ID, do you?
I can actually receive caller ID on data calls,
but I never receive data calls,
so that's kind of useless for me.
Got a call from Sprint tonight, though, didn't you?
Oh, yeah.
They wanted you to change long distance.
They wanted me to make the big switch.
Well, we figured out a good way to get around them
when they do that.
You just say, you can help me.
I'm trying to dial,
and I just can't seem to dial anything.
No matter what I dial, the dial tone stays there.
Can you please help me with this?
And they say, well, that's your local company.
We don't deal with that.
We deal with long distance.
And you just keep asking questions
as to how to work your phone.
And believe me,
they want to get off the phone quicker
than you can imagine when you try that.
So that's a neat little trick
to use on the people that do that.
But you know, it's interesting.
Almost everybody I visited
while I was over in California,
they get these phone calls
from all the long distance companies.
And you know, I see it on TV.
And I guess I don't realize
that this is really happening to people
because I put myself behind a veritable wall
where I only pick up the phone if I know who it is,
if I'm in the room,
if I happen to be around the phone.
I feel like talking to them in the first place.
There's no way a salesman can get me in the first place.
So I'm kind of leading a fantasy life, I guess.
You know what I mean?
You guys, you actually pick up your phone.
Someone calls your number and you pick it up.
It could be anyone.
Well, that's actually the first call
of that type I've gotten.
I haven't really been solicited
by any other long distance carriers.
Of course, you've only had your phone line
for about three days.
No, it's a couple of months.
Yeah, well, I mean,
that's a couple of months
to change your long distance company.
You know, you haven't gotten a bill yet
for a long distance company.
So I mean, it's kind of early to tell people
to consider changing.
So that's kind of interesting.
Speaking of manipulating telephone people,
this is something I learned in Las Vegas
through a friend of mine here in New York.
I was talking to him on the phone
and he said he was going to try
to leave me a message.
And so he left me a message.
He said, call in, get your message.
Now, first of all, first of all,
okay, this is something.
The hotel I stayed at was unbelievably insecure.
Unbelievably insecure.
They could pick up anyone's messages.
Anyone's messages at all.
It was so incredibly simple.
Maybe we'll demonstrate this.
I don't know.
Should we?
Sure, why not?
Okay, well, I don't have the phone number
for the hotel.
Huh.
Well, it should be listed, right?
Well, yeah, it should be listed.
That's true.
Well, we'll do it a little later.
So anyway, he left me a message.
I called in to get the message.
And basically, the message was simply
to call home.
And I'm like, wow, that's a really good message there.
I called him back and I said,
that's the message, call home.
And he said, that's not the message I left.
The message I left said,
come home right now and stop gambling.
Now, consider this.
You're in a gambling hotel.
Are they going to take that message
and pass it on to one of their clients?
I don't think so.
No, they're just going to, at best,
pass along that message that the person called.
But I don't think they could even
physically write down, stop gambling.
Because everything you do in that place,
they say, good luck.
You know, have a lucky day.
And not just in the hotel, in the whole town.
McDonald's, you get a Big Mac, good luck.
You know, I guess you'll need it.
I don't know.
But that's why that town drives me completely mad.
But enough said about that.
You see the net?
Actually, I know you saw the net
because there was an article in the newspaper
that was quoting you.
Right.
Saying the net was nonsense.
Yeah.
Well, as far as, I mean,
I don't know what exactly people are expecting.
But, I mean, it was a movie.
It was entertaining.
And, you know, above all, it was fiction.
I hope people aren't going to the movie
to expect to see, well, gosh,
that's what everyone's talking about.
Right.
You know, it's not real.
It's, you know.
I was really surprised by the slant
that they gave the article.
And then to quote the director.
Yeah, he was mad at you.
He was mad at you.
He was angry.
He said that he talked to some top officials.
They don't know what they're talking about.
Yeah.
He spoke to some top officials
with security consulting firms
and the FBI or something.
Right.
Who obviously say that.
Everything in the movie is perfectly feasible.
Erwin Winkler said that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, it tried.
It tried to present an interesting story.
But, you know, towards the end,
I think it just completely fell apart.
Remember that chase scene?
And if you haven't seen the film.
Which chase scene?
It doesn't matter.
Don't worry about it.
The whole movie is a chase scene.
Yeah, I know that.
The chase scene where she's with the fake FBI agent.
Right.
Okay.
And she just suddenly realizes
that he's a fake FBI agent
because he knew something
that he couldn't possibly know.
Right.
And then he gets that evil look on his face.
Yeah.
And then they crash.
Then, well, she grabs control of the wheel.
She hits the gas pedal.
Right.
And, of course, this is going on
for about 25 minutes
where she's hit the gas pedal.
Right.
And they're driving all over the city.
And then, all of a sudden,
they start skidding
and they crash into a car.
And the guy...
And the very car
that the person
that has been chasing her
from the beginning of the film
happens to be sitting in.
Right.
Now, what are the odds
of you crashing into a car
somewhere in the city
and it happens to be the one
with the person that's chasing you
in it parked?
That seems unlikely.
That was crazy.
That was absolutely absurd.
My complaint was
the only redeemable character,
Dennis Miller, they kill off.
Mm-hmm.
I didn't like that one bit.
Dennis Miller was good.
The thing was that
how do they kill him?
They give...
First of all, they get him sick.
And the way they get him sick is
you know that he has allergies.
You know that he's taking Seldane,
which is a major brand antihistamine,
prescription drug.
Okay.
Then, for purposes of,
I guess, visual effect,
they...
Obviously, the so-called hackers
misprescribe him penicillin,
which he's allergic to.
Mm-hmm.
And when he passes out
at the wheel driving his car,
they zoom in on the bottle of pills
and clearly marked,
it says penicillin.
Mm-hmm.
Now, if I was taking Seldane,
I think I would have noticed
when I picked up my pills
that it said penicillin on the bottle.
And even if I didn't,
Seldane pills look
extremely different
than any kind of penicillin
that you're ever going to take.
And if anyone has ever taken
any kind of antibiotic
like any kind of the penicillins,
they stink.
They smell moldy.
Okay.
Apart from all that, though,
you're probably being
in a major film and all.
But how does a pharmacy
get on the net in the first place?
Right.
Exactly.
Where people can get in
and change prescriptions.
That was the stupidest thing
I've ever heard.
That was the biggest misconception
that I pointed out in the interview
was that, I'm sorry,
but like every single computer
in the world
just simply isn't connected
to the Internet.
That's right.
As much as people
would like to think it is.
I mean, this was prime fodder
for the Unabomber people,
who distrust technology
at every juncture.
Yeah.
It can foster a lot of paranoia
because people see technology
creeping in, barcodes,
left and right, categorization,
and they're going to be
very, very afraid
and hostile to it.
Now, that's not to say
that's not a correct attitude
to have in certain situations.
Absolutely.
There's way too much information
being stored on us.
Well, caution is one thing,
but hostility is another.
But to think that somebody
could completely destroy your life,
completely dominate you,
become you,
that's kind of, you know...
It's a little far-fetched.
Yeah.
It leads you to lead
kind of a resigned life
that there's no hope
for the individual.
And I don't think that's true.
I wonder how many people
walked out of that movie theater
and became Luddites.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Exactly.
I guess that's what
the Praetorians were.
That strange group of people.
Yeah.
How could somebody live a life
and not be able to prove
who they were?
Yeah.
Never go out.
Never be recognized by neighbors.
What about school?
Didn't she go to school ever?
Wouldn't people remember her?
Distant relatives?
Yeah.
Somebody.
Anybody.
I mean, it's an interesting premise.
Yeah.
But...
It was a premise of convenience.
Yeah.
So that's our take on the net.
A bit preposterous,
a bit far-fetched.
Future people are going to watch films
and figure out what films they came from.
Yeah.
But based on what you're telling me,
I can narrow it down
to a combination of
Demolition Man,
The Fugitive...
Mm-hmm.
The Fugitive was a good film, though.
Oh, yeah.
It was definitely a good film.
They threw a little
Max Headroom into there.
Probably, yes.
And, of course,
I'm missing one thing.
Something else with the word
man in it.
Oh, um...
Lawnmower Man.
Lawnmower Man,
which I never saw.
Yeah, Lawnmower Man.
Which people told me
was vile.
No, it was a good movie.
Was it?
I liked it, yeah.
Okay.
I thought it was good.
Now, there was some news
concerning the upcoming
Hackers film,
which is coming out
in September.
Yeah, there was, actually.
Why don't you tell us
what happened here,
because it's kind of
an interesting story.
Yeah, actually,
I received an email note.
Did you do it?
No.
Okay.
I received an email note
that apparently
there was a report
in California
that a particular website
that was put up
on behalf of
MGM United Artists
for the upcoming
Hacker film
was vandalized.
So, I took a look
at the URL.
I connected to the site,
and lo and behold,
the site was apparently
modified in a joking manner.
And what was apparently
done was,
there was a picture,
a GIF picture,
of two of the main
characters in the film,
which was graffitied on,
kind of like scribbled.
Spray-paint?
Yeah,
it was a picture
of two of the main
characters in the film,
which was graffitied on,
kind of like scribbled.
Spray-paint?
Yeah, it was a picture
of two of the main
characters in the film,
which was graffitied on,
kind of like scribbled.
Spray-paint?
Yeah, it was almost
as if it was spray-painted.
Okay.
And the text of the page
was changed around.
Surprisingly,
there was,
it was a goof.
It was a good goof, yes.
Surprisingly,
there was no profanity,
which struck me
as extremely odd.
That does seem
kind of strange.
The only thing profane
that I saw on the page
was a claim
in flashing letters
saying that the writer
of the film
should die.
That's not exactly profane.
No, well,
it's,
it was a nasty thing.
Yeah, it's a nasty thing.
Yeah,
because everything else
on there
was generally poking fun
at the movie
and just like,
you know,
changing around the wording
of the page
and so on.
So do you think
this is a big publicity stunt?
See,
originally,
I thought that
it might have been
a stunt pulled
by MGM
or by MGM.
It's a good stunt.
Yeah,
getting someone to do this,
the fact that the movie
is coming out next month.
The things that didn't
make any sense
is their mention
of,
of,
what's it called?
DEF CON.
The DEF CON conference.
Yeah,
that didn't make sense.
They said it was
a DEF CON production.
Yeah.
It's like they're
throwing out a word.
Yeah,
they said that
and they had a link
to the DEF CON page.
They had a link
to your homepage,
FRAC's homepage
and then at the very end
they claimed to be
the Praetorians
from the movie
and put the little
pie symbol
and said,
don't,
don't see this movie,
go see The Net,
which GM definitely
wouldn't do.
They wouldn't go out
and say,
see this other film
by another company.
Yeah,
right.
But I,
well,
we pieced together
a couple of clues anyway
is that a picture
that they used
of a bunch of people
standing around
in what looked
like a public place.
Right,
right.
Yeah,
it turned out
that by viewing
the source
of the homepage
that the name
of this particular
GIF file
was called Blarney
Blarney Rock.
Blarney Rock.
Which is a,
a reasonable facsimile
of Blarney's bones.
That's the bar
that everybody
hung out in
after Hope.
Yeah.
Night after night
and got totally trashed.
And what we did notice
is that someone
in a picture,
in this picture
and a picture
on your site
were wearing
the exact same T-shirt.
Yeah,
so it was taken
at that time.
Yeah,
it was taken.
I don't know
what it had to do
with this particular event.
No,
no,
no,
no,
no,
no,
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I heard it was, like, GTE, the phone company.
Uh, I think it's called Alascom? Is that correct?
Yeah, so that's one of the companies up there.
Yeah, and there are two companies.
GTE might serve also up there.
Yeah, it's pretty primitive.
The thing is, uh...
I heard rumors that you could actually dial Alaska Direct and break it with, uh,
$2,600 and box off of that.
I'd be getting that all over the net.
Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?
Yeah.
Whee!
Alright, I'll see you later.
Okay.
I mean, whistling down a phone line couldn't be a crime, could it?
No, of course not.
Missed day and age?
Not missed day and age, but what is that, area code 907?
907, yeah.
Yeah.
Hmm.
Hey, I was in a lot of area codes.
I was in, uh, 310.
Yeah.
Soon to be 562.
310, that's the other half of 213.
That's the other half of 213, and, uh, remember 818 used to be part of 213 as well?
Yeah.
I mean, those area codes are splitting off faster than you can count them.
It's like mitosis.
Yeah, it's like a virus is what it is.
Out of control.
Good evening, you're on.
Good evening.
Um, let's see.
Two, uh, points.
Uh, as, uh, since, uh, Mr., um, uh, Emmanuel, uh, I'm sorry, I keep forgetting your last
name.
Uh, hang on.
Goldman.
Goldman.
No, uh.
Goldman.
Goldstein.
Goldstein.
Yeah.
Alright.
Okay.
Thank you.
Since you are a, um, uh, AT&T True Connection subscriber, presumably you got the recent
notice, um, that several, well, over a dozen, all very, mostly very small and obscure countries
plus one high population, uh, country, Pakistan, have been taken off of the list of most of
the, um, well, of all the USA Direct, uh, countries.
Those that are in USA Direct.
So they misbehaved and they got taken off the list.
They got taken off the list.
And did you happen to find out why?
I know the answer, but I'm just curious as to.
No, I don't.
Well, I imagine somebody was making phone calls to those countries without the intention
of paying for them.
Not exactly.
It's a little, okay, here's what it was.
I happened to see in the, um, New York edition of the New York Times, which is the one that
gets onto microfilm and is distributed in the Northeastern Puerto Rico only with regular
mail subscriptions.
And, and, uh, I don't think they would have paid for it in the national edition copies,
but anyway.
Oh, excuse me.
There's AT&T.
It's not NYNEX.
Sure.
They might've been in the national edition too anyway.
It's a legal notice and it listed all these countries.
And I thought that was very curious.
I didn't know the little mail notice.
Well, I, the mail notice didn't actually explain it at all.
So I called up and the regular customer service representative on, you know, like, um, 800
ATT 1500 or whatever, um, press for, uh, said that people, it, it all has to do with these
erotic chat lines where now you, um, call overseas countries, including Dominican Republic
and 809 and so forth.
Right.
Yeah.
It's yet another way to get around 900 blocking and things like that.
Okay.
So that's what that all amounted to.
And apparently they are, I think, uh, the guy couldn't be too specific, but apparently
people were, a lot of them may be taking advantage of the thing where you can run up one big
bill, one small or one big bill and then get it written off as long as you don't do it
more than once, because you're that way you can be claiming it was someone else in your
household and you really didn't know what was going on and so forth.
So anyway, that's why all these countries were taken off.
Item number two, turning to item number two, the, uh, phone number 700-298-1177.
You've already checked this out.
Okay.
What do you got?
Well, um, it does not work via the, um, uh, secondary carrier, five digit carrier codes
to soon become seven digit codes of AT&T, either one of MCIs, that is 102-22 or 108-88,
either one of sprints, 103-33 or 107-10SPR, uh, the one of long distance wholesale club
or whatever it is, 102-97, Western Union, 102-20, uh, cable and wireless, 102-23.
Um, and finally, just for good measure, I not only tried 10NYT, which, you know, it's
not supposed to go after the five, um, corridor counties, right?
Right.
And this is Ferryton is down in South Jersey.
Um, and for totally, just to say, be able to say I'd done it 10NJB, which of course
is only usable from New Jersey.
Right.
But I tried them all anyway, even though I'm in New York.
I also tried my own carriers, secondary carrier code, in addition to just trying as a dial
one call without any secondary.
So I was running out of all the, uh, secondary carrier codes I know, and it doesn't work
on any of those, uh, upwards of a dozen or whatever in any case.
Well, it sounds like somebody in New Jersey, if they want to try, well, no, if they try
10NJB, then that's only to go to the five bars in New York City.
So.
Maybe just, uh, trying a default of one 700 within New Jersey might, uh, might result
in something strange.
I didn't think of just trying it plain.
Oh no, I did.
Okay.
I did via my carrier with no secondary code, though.
As I say, I'm in New York.
I tried plain one 700.
Okay.
We will get to the bottom of this.
Let's hope.
Bye bye.
Thanks for all the info and the investigation and all that kind of thing.
I don't know.
What do you think?
You think there's some sort of military thing?
No, I don't know.
He didn't happen to mention a walnut, did he?
Uh, one Oh four, four, four.
Yeah.
I doubt it's all in that, you know?
Well, it wouldn't hurt to try.
They do will tell one Oh five, five, five.
Uh, I don't think he, did he mention that?
I don't know.
I don't remember.
Well, any event, um, you know, if anybody figures out what's the number again, you have
it there?
Yeah.
It's a two nine, eight, 1177.
Area code 700.
Yeah.
Okay.
I wonder if it could be some sort of internal thing.
I don't know.
Internal prison number.
Hmm.
Wow.
Well, we'll certainly look.
If you get through, just let us know because we're curious.
That's the only reason we're doing this.
We're not trying to dismantle the federal prison system.
We're not trying to overthrow the government.
We're not trying to, uh, you know, do nasty things.
We are just curious.
I guess that is kind of nasty in this day and age.
Two seven nine three 400 area code two one two.
Good evening.
You're on.
Hi.
Two brief questions.
Uh, first of all, you mentioned you were in Las Vegas.
Yes, I did.
I don't know if you're aware of this, but is it true?
In most major hotels, any phone calls you place from your room are either
recorded or monitored.
Is that true?
Well, it wouldn't surprise me, but.
I know that's done in Atlantic City, but I don't know like.
They really should tell you if they do that.
I don't know if they just keep a record of who you call.
Of course.
If they're actually eavesdropping, listening on the call.
Of course they keep a record of who you call.
Well, hotels do that.
Yeah, they keep a record of every number you dial.
So if you enter a calling card, that goes on their little itemization too.
Because I'm thinking like if you want to call like for some female company or
something which you would rather not get out, it might be used or it might show
up in some unsavory manner.
That's certainly true.
Um, the second thing is this goes back to when I was a kid and maybe you can
tell me about this, how it works, why it worked, if it still works.
Um, a friend of mine, they would like come into my apartment.
They would like press certain numbers on a touch-tone phone, hang up, and like
five seconds later the phone would ring but no one would answer.
That was like a trick all the kids knew.
Could you like explain what that was all about?
No, it's a secret.
We can't tell you.
All right.
No, we'll let him in on it too.
What do you think?
Yeah, I don't know.
I'll hang up and listen.
Okay.
But could you just try zero and have the operator try their 700 number?
Um.
That work?
No, I think that's what he's been trying.
It wouldn't make much of a difference.
Actually, no, zero won't be able to do it.
Okay, I'll hang up and listen to the answer about that trick.
But I'm calling from my AT&T 210 phone.
Are you familiar with that one?
Um, no.
Not off the top of my head.
Mickey Mouse phone.
Okay.
I was just wondering the connection between AT&T and Disney since like I'm
sure they had a license, you know, the caricature of Mickey Mouse to use on
the phone.
I mean, Disney now is getting so big they might be the next target for
people in your field to go after.
But I'll hang up now and listen to your stuff.
Bye.
Okay.
Thanks.
Yeah, we have printed frequencies for Disneyland and Disney World.
But it's always kind of hard to take on Mickey Mouse and look triumphant.
But I don't know.
So, okay, let's explain the secret thing here of how to make your phone
ring.
Well, first, we didn't.
I can't believe people still get excited over this.
We didn't teach him the secret handshake, though.
I don't know if we should do that.
We'll mail him that.
Yeah, okay.
But if he's claiming that he did this when he was a kid, what he most
likely was doing if he was in New York City, he was dialing the old-fashioned
way, just 660.
He could have been a kid two years ago.
Yeah, that's true.
All right.
Can't assume things with our listeners.
Okay.
Well, in any case, it's 660 something.
Right.
But in that case, if it was on a crossbar or a step-by-step switch, it
would have been 660, which would have returned a dial tone.
And usually, at least when 1s and 1a ESSs started popping up, they would
actually connect the crossbars on an adjunct connection to a 1 or a 1a ESS.
And the particular line that it was adjuncted into had speed calling.
What they would usually do is they would program in a speed calling number
to call up a test number that actually did ringback.
Okay.
So that, in essence, what you were doing is if you had a rotary phone, you
would dial 660 and wait for a dial tone and then dial 112.
Now, did you know that you could actually program those speed numbers
yourself?
Oh, yeah.
Actually, I'm probably the only person I know that discovered that
initially.
Oh, I know other people that have done it, but maybe you're the one that
discovered it.
I don't know.
Well, the easiest thing to do is to deprogram ringback.
You can just program two to do something else that isn't valid.
And was there limitations to where it could call?
Yeah.
A lot of them couldn't call anywhere.
Some of them could only call certain exchanges.
The most useful thing that I ever found that I was able to do when I was
still on Crossbar was to be able to dial 660 and then use carrier access
codes that give you a carrier on their network.
Like, for example, you could dial 660 and then dial 10488 pound when it
used to be ITT.
And you'd get a dial tone?
And you'd get a dial tone from ITT.
And nowadays, if you're still on a 101A ESS where you can still do that,
dial 660 and immediately get the dial tone.
And you might try dialing, playing around with carrier access codes.
But you'd be able to actually make an ANI free call by going through 660
and doing, for example, the equivalent of 10488 pound or a carrier that
will give you a dial tone on their network.
That can be useful sometimes.
Yeah.
Having that pesky ANI following you around.
Okay.
So, basically, 660 plus back in the old days, 660 and nothing.
Yeah, 660 alone.
And then dialing some extra digits after that.
Or 660 plus last four digits, 660 plus last seven digits.
Yeah.
On a DMS-100, it's 660 and the entire phone number, all seven digits.
On 5ESS, it's 660 and the last four digits.
Right.
And you flash the receiver, hang up, and hang up again, and it works.
Yeah.
For people that are curious on the 1s, 1As, and 5ESSs, and also on the
crossbars, after you flash the switch hook the final time or the only time
when you're getting ready to hang up to have the phone ring back,
what you could do is at that second dial tone, you can actually dial in
every touch tone in sequence, and it'll beep twice to actually confirm
that all the touch tones are in tune.
Although, you know, I broke the order sometimes and it still beeped twice.
Yeah, it's confusable.
It's very confusable.
Yeah.
Let's go back to the phones.
Good evening.
You're on off the hook.
Yes.
First of all, could you tell me, with Ed Cummings, what is his story?
Is he still in trouble?
He's still in prison.
His trial date has been set for September 8th with a bail hearing for the
day before.
Okay.
My second question is this.
I've tried to reach you guys.
I've offered to, you know, supply some extra help if maybe you need, like,
a messenger, a legal messenger, or somebody to sit in the trial.
Okay.
You've left your number with us?
I've done it a couple times.
It never gets through.
If you've left it with us, we have it, and we will call you if we need something.
Hello?
Yeah.
We'll be calling you if we need something of that nature.
You said that you're available to do messenger-type things?
Yeah.
Listen, when you hang up, don't hang up.
Just give somebody your phone, and I'll, you know, when you go on to the next
call, I'll give you my number.
Maybe I can give it over this phone.
Actually, our phone system isn't set up that way.
We don't have an actual phone attached to this.
One minute has ended.
Ooh, one minute has ended.
Signal went through.
Okay.
Signal went through.
Well, signal them however you want to signal them.
What does that mean, anyway, signal went through?
It means usually hang up.
Say, hey, I'm through.
They very often hang up on you.
Yeah.
By the way, 607 area code, that's...
That's Rochester.
Yeah.
Rochester, New York.
Yeah, it's Delaware County, where, as far as I was concerned...
Delaware County, New York?
...calling from Hamilton.
I was calling to Deposit, New York.
I think it's like 20 miles away from Hancock, New York, the village of Hancock.
The town is called Deposit.
The pay phones, right?
You cannot put coins into them until the call has gone through
and the operator sits on the phone call until she hears the call is completed.
Really?
I mean, has gone through, and then you can put your coins in.
Uh-huh.
There's some co-cots like that, too.
Uh-huh.
That require you to put in money after you connect.
Uh-huh.
So...
Can I leave my number with somebody?
You've left it on the 2600 answer machine, right?
Have you picked it up?
If you left it there, we have it.
And if we need something, we will definitely be contacting you.
And we should point out other people, if they want to volunteer in any way to help out,
whatever their abilities, please leave information on 516-751-2600.
If we don't get back to you right away, it's because we're swamped with all kinds of calls
and putting out a magazine and trying to get mail through and things like that.
You're an editor, right?
Yeah.
That's what they tell me.
Just one more thing.
Yes.
I do have some experience with the legal system myself.
Maybe I would love to be able to give my advice through one of you guys.
Uh-huh.
I would love to have a conversation with Mr. Ed Cummings,
if I could get him to call me collect somehow.
Uh-huh.
Well...
If somebody...
You know my name is Phil.
Right.
Well, we can pass that information on to Bernie Asin if he's able to.
Maybe he'll do that.
Yeah.
And we can also give you the legal person's name to contact over there as well.
Yeah.
I'd rather not talk to a lawyer until I talk to you guys first.
Okay.
All right, I understand.
Okay, listen.
We're out of time.
All right.
You're going to get in a lot of trouble there if you don't deal with that situation you have.
So I'll let him deal with that.
He better signal that he's through.
He better signal.
They'll be signaling for him.
They're signaling for us.
We're out of time.
It's practically 11 o'clock.
So another week has gone by.
We'll be back again next week.
Live, I believe, right?
Sure.
Yeah, why not?
And we'll have updates on this story and others.
There's a few things we didn't get to this week, but we'll get to it next week.
Until then, this is Emanuel Goldstein saying good night, stay awake, play with your phones,
and let us know what happens when you do.
Stay tuned for the WBAI Evening News.
Good night.
Good night.
Good night.
Good evening.
In the news tonight, still no answers as to why Gulf War vets continue to have health problems.
Reactions to Newt Gingrich, both in his home district and in the District of Columbia.
In New York, an Indian lesbian and gay organization and groups that support it are banned from the Indian Day Parade.
In a talk with Stanley Cohen, attorney for the Hamas political leader detained in New York.
With these and other stories, I'm Amy Goodman in New York with Verna Avery Brown in Washington,
and this is the news for Wednesday, August 16, 1995.
First to the Pacifica Network News.
Columbia's president has decided to declare a state of emergency, according to the Caracol Radio Network.
Among the measures to be imposed, stiffer prison sentences for kidnappers
and the suspension of legal rights for already imprisoned leftist guerrillas.
Yesterday, Columbia's defense minister was arrested on charges he knew about the alleged financing
of the president's election campaign with drug dollars.
In Sao Tomé, the military coup leaders say they will accept Angolan mediation
and a resolution will be in hand in 24 hours.
State Department spokesperson David Johnson told reporters what the coup means
in terms of the $300,000 in U.S. aid.
It's going to be suspended.
It is?
Yeah, in accordance with U.S. law, yeah.
The coup leaders say they plan to form a transitional government that will rule the African nation for one year.
Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey today announced he will not run for a fourth term.
The Democrat called the nation's political system broken and criticized both Republicans and Democrats.
Bradley says he will not leave public life but was not specific about his future plans.
Unnamed sources reportedly say the plans do not include a challenge to President Clinton.
Bradley is the sixth Democrat to retire from the U.S. Senate.
The New York Times calls it one of the luscious settlements of a plant-closing dispute ever.
In West Virginia, Maytag closed the doors of its West Virginia plant
where Coca-Cola vending machines were made in 1991.
The work moved to South Carolina where workers received about half the West Virginia wages.
Yesterday, a judge approved a preliminary agreement
settling what became a class-action lawsuit from the West Virginia workers.
Pacifica's Laura Iyama reports.
Maytag will be shelling out $11.5 million to 800 workers for closing down its plant in West Virginia.
Jane Lange, a partner in the Washington and Minneapolis law firm of Springer and Lange,
reached the settlement with Maytag's attorney on the third day of the trial
in a cemetery in Charlestown, West Virginia.
Lange says the workers had been promised consistently for two years before the plant's closure
that their jobs were secure and then, in 1991, their jobs were gone.
These folks were put out on the street unceremoniously
and many of them have never recovered their lives as a result.
So as one of them put it, this has been a victory for the little guys.
Maytag maintains it did nothing wrong but agreed to the settlement as a matter of risk avoidance.
Attorney Lange believes Maytag could have avoided the lawsuit
had it given the workers the same severance package as its management.
Lange says because the actual management package had not been raised yet in the trial,
she could not reveal it, however.
It's not uncommon management, generally,
to provide anything from six months to three years of pay
to people who have had some significant tenure at a company and who are at a managerial level.
Can you tell us what the workers got?
The workers got nothing. The workers got zip.
Lange says she hopes the multimillion-dollar settlement will send companies the message.
Be as fair to all your employees as to your top-ranking management.
Laura Iyama, Pacifica Network News, Washington.
In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe warned
should gay rights activists come to his country, they will be thrown in jail.
The Zimbabwe leader also called for an international campaign
to oppose those who support homosexuality.
This is the third public criticism of homosexuals
since Zimbabwe banned a gay rights exhibit at a book fair this month.
After a one-day delay due to Hurricane Felix,
Bermudans are going to the polls to decide whether or not to end their status as a British colony.
At least 15,000 would have to vote for independence for Bermuda
to close out its 386-year history as a colony of Britain.
And those are the stories topping the news.
The President's Advisory Panel on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses
wrapped up its introductory hearings yesterday.
The committee met just two weeks after the Department of Defense
released the results of its own research.
The Pentagon claims there's no evidence of a single so-called Gulf War syndrome.
But some critics charge the DOD is covering up the severity of the problem,
like they did with Agent Orange and Vietnam War veterans.
And even the Institute of Medicine has disputed the Pentagon's findings.
Mark Bevis reports.
The President's Advisory Committee was formed last May.
The 12-member panel consists of doctors, lawyers, academics,
a general, and a union health and safety officer.
And they had their first two-day meeting earlier this week,
during which the members heard from cabinet officers
and other high government officials.