Freedom Downtime Page #3

just to f*** with the guy

And he got some cheap beer out of it too.

lf you go somewhere

you're not supposed to be...

and bring something back to show people...

that always struck me

as being a whole lot like a panty raid.

And you know, panty raids are really...

in the grandest tradition of this country

Try to make your way in there...

get the stuff, and get back out with it

without getting your head cut of.

What we're doing here is we're talking...

on McDonald's external speaker

for their drive-thru.

And what we're doing to do that...

is we have a modified ham radio...

meaning it transmits on frequencies

other than the ones it was intended to.

ln this case,

it's standard business band frequencies.

the standard McDonald's frequency

l'll take your order.

The blonde, would you please

kneel down for a second?

Could one of you take off your tops?

We'll give you the food for free.

You bastards, you better stop being smart.

-Here comes the manager.

-Really?

While corporateAmerica

would always be the playground of hackers...

it was mostly about fun and exploration,

not damage or profit.

But try telling that to corporateAmerica.

Kevin Mitnick had already paid

a heavy price for his curiosity.

He had served a year-and-a-half in 1988...

for logging into DEC computers

without authorization.

By simply looking

at the VMS operating system...

DEC claimed he caused

millions of dollars in damage...

and was sentenced as if he had caused

that amount of physical damage.

He was held without bail and was put

in solitary confinement for eight months...

He was held without bail and was put

in solitary confinement for eight months...

because they thought he could do

more damage from the prison payphone.

After his sentence, Kevin served

three years of supervised release...

reporting to authorities every month...

and being restricted in where he could go

and what he could do.

He only had days to go

when federal authorities decided...

he had violated the terms

of his supervised release...

by associating with Lewis DePayne...

and accessing someone's voice mail

without permission.

lt was nothing.

But it was enough.

Knowing howthe media

and the court system...

would crucify him over any offense...

because he could start World War lll

from a payphone...

Kevin decided to just walk away.

l was devastated.

We were never far away from each other.

And how was he living on his own...

without his family to share things with?

lt was horrible.

What kind of a life is this?

He is not streetwise.

He's a home person.

Kevin managed to avoid attention.

Then, on July 4, 1994, everything changed.

A front page story in the NewYork Times...

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