European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 06, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and striped computers tuesday december 6,1994 pirates on dangerous course some enthusiasts Are sailing into troubled seas by Adam s. Bauman los Angeles times in the Early hours of july 6, Jenny head of a software piracy ring based in the Pacific Northwest Pace impatiently in front of a rack of High Speed personal computers waiting for the phone Call that would make her a superstar in the pirate underground. It would come from an employee flu Casares entertainment co. In san Raphael Calif., who for $300 would Supply Jenny s pirate group with one of the most anticipated games of summer tie fighter based on the Sta wars movie trilogy and priced at about $60pcrcopy. At Lucas arts the employee attached a Small cellular Modem to the Back of his pc a technique that would keep any record of the Call off the company Telephone Bill and dialled. Within in few minutes the program had arrived in Jenny s computer lacking Only the code keys that would make it possible to play the game without an owner s manual. Jenny then dialled into the internet the global computer network and after taking several deliberate electronic detours she connected with a Small computer in Moscow. There programming Whiz who goes by the name Skipjack quickly cracked the codes and sent the program Back across the internet to Waves of Warez a Seattle bulletin Board popular with software pirates. Within 24 hours the fighter _ would be available to thousands of software pirates in major cities around the world Days before its official release Date of july 20. Welcome to the underside of the internet where stealing software has become highly sophisticated and hotly competitive pursued More for thrills than for Money. It s a world where pirate groups build alliances undertake mergers and sometimes launch All out Battles against rivals. ? and contrary to common stereotypes it is populated not Only by nerdy teen age misfits but by a curious Cross Section of computer enthusiasts looking for some dangerous fun. _ Jenny for example is a woman whose hobbies include motorcycles and collecting rare Birds. The head of a big East coast based ring is a commercial airline Pilot. Another group Leader is a Junior studying chemical engineering a Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Yet another is grandmother Leader of an elite group called no Kurnal trading Alliance. _ their activities Are of course illegal potential felonies in Many cases. Topmost denizens of cyberspace who use the internet for scientific research legitimate Commerce and Legal forms of entertainment the pirates Are common vandals at Best. Still a number of pirates agreed to allow a reporter to observe their operations both in person and via computer techniques that make it possible to Monitor computer activities is Alice Verbern remotely on the condition that their identities be concealed. The economic Impact of the pirates activities is ?. Difficult to measure. Electronic software theft via the internet and other on line services accounts for  about one third of the $2.2 billion Lostin the United states last year As a result of piracy according to the business software Alliance a Trade  who mass produce cd rom and floppy disks with stolen software pose a much bigger problem. But internet software theft is growing rapidly along with the global network itself. Even major mainstream software programs Tike the new version of ism s os2 operating system Are now routinely obtainable for free on the internet. A and the pirates activities have other consequences As Well. They sometimes invade and effectively disable .-,.computers being used for scientific 1" i research for example and Many in the information technology industries fear that software theft and other illegal activities Are giving the internet a bad name just when it is gaining unprecedented popularity. Yet stopping the pirates turns put Tobe a very difficult task. Law enforcement agencies software companies and even indignant individuals Are stepping up efforts to Hunt Down electronic Law Breakers but new methods of stealing an distributing stolen software Are developed every Day. By design the internet lacks any Central administrative authority and Security procedures aimed at thwarting pirates could interfere with the philosophy of free and open communications that is integral to the network. Some suggest the thievery on t be stopped until Bounty Hunters Are recruited from the pirates ranks and paid to Hunt their former cohorts. \ v it May be Small Comfort to the victims but most of the pirates interviewed for this Story insisted they were not in it for the Money. It was just for the thrill of getting free software or logging onto pirate bulletin boards that Normal people Don t know about said Mike from Seattle who says he has never earned anime in his role As a courier for a pirate group. During the interview conducted in tidy suburban Home that he shares with friends Mike uploaded a new program lode runner for windows by Sierra games to the internet from his custom built computer he then typed email messages to other courier notifying them of the new game and instructing them to copy it to various pirate Sites around the world. There appear to be about 20 major groups dedicated to software piracy a lengthy los Angeles times investigation has found with names such As razor 1911, tristan red sector inc. Tars pirates with attitude pea revolutionizing International piracy rip legend malice and anti tamers foundation Alf. The group vary in size from 20 to 100 members and most have a similar Hierarchy group leaders senior staff regional coordinators couriers and members. Sex chief of travel new York a Federal prosecutors Are expected to seek an embezzlement in indictment against the former chief of the White House travel office his attorney told the new York times. Billy r. Dale who became head of the travel office in 1982, maybe charged with stealing $69,000 that news organizations paid for presidential trips said his Law yer Steven c. Tabackman the newspaper reported monday t Dale began working at the White House in 1957, but the charges Are Likely to focus on the time Between 1988 and 1992, when he is accused of pocketing $14,000" am depositing $55,000 of travel office Money into his personal checking account to pay for vacation property and a boat the paper reported. " Tabackman said that Dale 57, will plead innocent and that his defense will Center on a careful Examina Tion of the White House travel office scandal of 1993, when seven staff members including Dale were fired for misuse of funds. Five of them were reinstated after it was revealed that the original complaints were levelled by Clinton supporters who sought a share of the business. Dale was not among those reinstated. The times said Dale s friends believe he s being made a Scapegoat by the White House to justify the Clinton administration s handling of the travel  to _. To. The Justice department which spent months in fruitless plea bargain negotiations with Dale declined to comment sunday. Tabackman said Dale believes that Jie could be cleared by Petty Cash ledgers which disappeared mysteriously after he was dismissed.7- -.-. _. Father denies Nicole Simpson predicted . Would kill her Tarrytown . A Nic Lebrown Simpson s father disputed a mag Azine report sunday that his slain Daugh Ter had written a letter predicting she would die at the  .  Magazine reports in its dec. 12 Issue out monday that Nicole Simpso wrote in May that if i am killed my Hus band . Simpson did , i m afraid not the victim s father Louis Brown said from his Home Indana Point Calif. I have an Advance copy of the Star Magazine you re talking about. There s no truth to  according to the Star Nicole Simpson addressed the three Page Handwritten letter to my family. To be opened in the event of my  i m in fear of Rhy life. That s Why i am writing this letter because Don to wan him to get away with it. Please take my letter and  in court Nicole Simp son wrote according to the tabloid based in Tarrytown. The former football Star who was divorced from his wife is charged with slay ing her and her Friend Ronald Goldman on june 12 in los Angeles. Selection for alternate jurors in the trial was to resume monday. Trish Whitehead a spokeswoman for the Star would not say How the Magazine got the letter or whether the information was paid for. _ we stand by our Story Whitehead said. The letter was handed Over to a lawyer along with a will about five weeks before the slayings the Magazine reported. The Magazine said the letter was Given to Nicole Simpson s parents about six weeks after her death but they Waite until late september to pass the document on to the los Angeles District at Torney s office. _ family members were afraid of . Simpson and thought he might fight the for custody of the Simpsons two children if they revealed the letter earlier the Sta said