Freedom Downtime Page #4

turned Kevin Mitnick into a household word

all over again.

The evil-looking picture...

the mythical stories

about breaking into NORAD computers...

and controlling all the telephones

in California...

even the Security Pacific news release tale

was retold as fact.

Nobody could figure out howthe story

made it onto the front page ofThe Times...

since there was nothing new in the story

But the author was no stranger.

John Markoff...

who was quickly becoming a Mitnick expert

without ever having met him.

We looked at the story

as an amusement back then.

We were planning the first Hackers On

Planet Earth conference thatAugust.

The story had gotten so big that

we all walked around with Mitnick masks.

They came here to the Hotel Pennsylvania

by the hundreds.

These usually anonymous creatures

of the cyberworld...

better known as hackers,

were holding a convention.

Throughout that weekend,

Kevin called in several times to say hi.

We all wished he could be there.

But we knew why he was running.

One of the things Markoff

hadn't mentioned in his article...

was the eight months

of solitary confinement.

The guy was in solitary confinement

for eight months.

Think about it.

l mean, that would definitely change a man.

You would run.You wouldn't want that.

lt was eight months, not for anything he did,

but because the judge was scared.

And if you get someone

who is that unaware...

of actually what he can do

and thinks he can destroy the world.

lf you have someone

who has enough power...

to put you in solitary confinement

you will run.

lt makes perfect sense to me.

l think it's part hype...

part hysteria, part lack of understanding...

and part fear.

Solitary confinement means no books...

no pencil, no paper, no company.

Nothing to do...

but stare at these small four walls.

He would get out one hour a day..

and that's it.

You know, he might whistle up

some missile launch codes.

That's a big problem

with hackers nowadays.

They get a little pissed off

and they launch some nukes by whistling.

The fear factor is just insane.

Once or twice or maybe more,

l can't even remember...

they didn't even bring him down

to the visitors' room.

They took my daughter and l...

upstairs to a floor...

that wasn't occupied at that time.

We were the only ones there and the guard.

They were hovering over him...

as though he was an absolute monster

What could he possibly do, you know?

Could he make...

a computer out of the telephone?

l don't know what they were afraid of!

First of all, he had no desire to.

Secondly, it wouldn't have

accomplished anything.

Thirdly, he couldn't do it.

Kevin managed to elude the authorities

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