Underground: Hacking, madness and obsession on the electronic frontierDreyfus, Suelette
Science
Underground: Hacking, madness and obsession on the electronic frontier
Dreyfus, Suelette
Computer crimes -- Australia; Computer hackers -- Australia -- Biography; Computer security -- Australia
Most of his pranking needs are now met by commercial CDs--recordings
of other people's pranking sold through underground magazines and
American mail order catalogues. Once in a long while, he still rings
Mr McKenny in search of the missing shovel.
Anthrax felt aggrieved at the outcome of his written complaint to the
Office of the Ombudsman. In the complaint, Anthrax gave an account of
how he believed the AFP had behaved inappropriately throughout his
case. Specifically, he alleged that the AFP had pressured his mother
with threats and had harassed him, taken photographs of him without
his permission, given information to his university about his case
prior to the issue of a summons and the resolution of his case, and
made racist comments toward him during the raid.
In 1995-96, a total of 1157 complaints were filed against the AFP, 683
of which were investigated by the Commonwealth Ombudsman. Of the
complaint investigations completed and reviewed, only 6 per cent were
substantiated. Another 9 per cent were deemed to be `incapable of
determination', about 34 per cent were `unsubstantiated', and in more
than a quarter of all cases the Ombudsman either chose not to
investigate or not to continue to investigate a complaint.
The Office of the Ombudsman referred Anthrax's matter to the AFP's
Internal Investigations office. Although Anthrax and his mother both
gave statements to the investigating officers, there was no other
proof of Anthrax's allegations. In the end, it came down to Anthrax
and his mother's words against those of the police.
The AFP's internal investigation concluded that Anthrax's complaints
could either not be substantiated or not be determined, in part due to
the fact that almost two years had passed since the original raid. For
the most part, the Ombudsman backed the AFP's finding. No
recommendation was made for the disciplining of any officers.
Anthrax's only consolation was a concern voiced by the Ombudsman's
Office. Although the investigating officer agreed with the AFP
investigators that the complaint could not be substantiated, she
wrote, `I am concerned that your mother felt she was compelled to
pressure you into attending an interview based on a fear that she
would be charged because her phone was used to perpetrate the
offences'.
Anthrax remains angry and sceptical about his experience with the
police. He believes a lot of things need to be changed about the way
the police operate. Most of all, he believes that justice will never
be assured in a system where the police are allowed to investigate
themselves.
PAD AND GANDALF
After Pad and Gandalf were released from prison, they started up a
free security advisory service on the Internet. One reason they began
releasing 8lgm advisories, as they were known, was to help admins
secure their own systems. The other reason was to thumb their noses at
the conservatives in the security industry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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