| ==Phrack Magazine== | |
| Volume Four, Issue Forty-Three, File 18 of 27 | |
| The LOD Communications Underground H/P BBS Message Base Project: | |
| Price Listing of Currently Available Message Bases and Order Form. | |
| Holdings List Version #1, 5/15/93 | |
| This file contains: | |
| - Background information on the project; | |
| - Currently completed message bases with prices; and, | |
| - Order form and stipulations. | |
| If you have already seen some of the background information contained in the | |
| following paragraphs, note that additional information has been added. The aim | |
| was to make this file as self-contained as possible. It is approximately seven | |
| pages in length (23K) and it should answer all of your questions. | |
| The Project: | |
| ------------ | |
| Throughout history, physical objects have been preserved for posterity for | |
| the benefit of the next generation of humans. Cyberspace, however, isn't very | |
| physical; data contained on floppy diskettes has a finite lifetime as does the | |
| technology to retrieve that data. The earliest underground hacker bulletin | |
| board systems operated at a time when TRS-80s, Commodore 64s, and Apple ][s | |
| were state-of-the-art. Today, it is difficult to find anyone who has one of | |
| these machines in operating condition, not to mention the brain cells left to | |
| recall how to operate them. :-( | |
| LOD Communications has created a historical library of the "dark" portion of | |
| Cyberspace. The project's goal is to acquire as much information as possible | |
| from underground Hack/Phreak (H/P) bulletin boards that were in operation | |
| during a decade long period, dating from the beginnings (in 1980/81 with 8BBS | |
| and MOM: Modem Over Manhattan) to the legendary OSUNY, Plover-NET, Legion of | |
| Doom!, Metal Shop, etc. up through the Phoenix Project circa 1989/90. | |
| Currently, messages from over 50 different BBSes have been retrieved, although | |
| very few message bases are 100% complete. However, not having a complete "set" | |
| does not diminish their value. | |
| Who Benefits From This Information?: | |
| ------------------------------------ | |
| - PARTICIPANTS who were on the various H/P BBSes may want to see their | |
| contribution to history or reminisce about the "golden era" of hacking; | |
| - ENTHUSIASTS who came into the "scene" after most of these boards were | |
| down may want to see what they missed; | |
| - COMPANIES who may want to see if their (or their competitors') phone | |
| systems, computers, or networks were compromised; | |
| - SECURITY PROFESSIONALS/LAW ENFORCEMENT who may want to see what | |
| techniques were used to subvert computer security systems; | |
| - SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES (including their libraries) who may want to use | |
| the information for research in sociology or computer science as well as | |
| for educational purposes in courses such as Computer Law, Computer | |
| Ethics, and Computer Security; | |
| - AUTHORS/PRESS who may want to finally get the facts straight about | |
| "hackers;" and, | |
| - THE CURIOUS PUBLIC who may want to sneak a peek into the inner realm of | |
| the Computer Underground, especially those Restricted Access BBSes and | |
| their Private sub-boards where only a small handful of "the best" | |
| resided. | |
| Were the individuals involved in the Computer Underground out to start World | |
| War III, selling secrets to the Soviets, working with organized crime, | |
| conspiring to do evil, or just a bunch of bored teenagers with nothing better | |
| to do? How much did they know, and how did they find it out? Did they have | |
| the capability to shut down phone service of Area Code portions? Could | |
| they ruin someone's credit? Could they "move satellites in the heavens?" | |
| Could they monitor packet switching network conversations or YOUR | |
| conversations? The answers lie within the messages themselves. | |
| Why is LODCOM Charging Money For The Message Bases?: | |
| ---------------------------------------------------- | |
| As happens with most projects, the effort and monetary investment turned out | |
| to be substantially more than originally anticipated. With all of the high- | |
| tech equipment available today, people sometimes forget that in the early | |
| 1980s, 14.4K baud modems and 250 MB hard drives were just a fantasy for the | |
| home computer user. Most messages Lodcom has recovered were downloaded at 300 | |
| baud onto 143K disk drives, with each file usually no larger than 15K in size. | |
| One could not call a BBS and download the complete message base in 10 minutes | |
| and save it into one file. Literally hundreds of man-hours have been spent | |
| copying dusty Apple ][ disks, transferring them to IBM (or typing in hard copy | |
| versions when electronic versions were unavailable), organizing over one | |
| thousand individual files (thus far) according to what BBS the messages were | |
| originally posted on, and splicing the files together. Also, after consulting | |
| with the appropriate civil liberties organizations and our own legal counsel, | |
| a slight editing of the messages (restricted to long distance access codes, | |
| phone numbers, and computer passwords) had to be made to ensure that there is | |
| nothing illegal contained within the messages. Every effort was made to keep | |
| the messages in their pristine condition: 40 columns, ALL CAPS, spelling | |
| errors, offensive language, inaccuracies of various kinds, and ALL. | |
| Although a fairly comprehensive collection of the goings-on during a decade | |
| of public and private computer underground activity has been accomplished, | |
| there are more messages out there. It is our wish to continue to document the | |
| History of the Computer Underground. In order to do this, and in order to | |
| break even on what resources have already been expended (it is a LOT more than | |
| most people realize), a dollar value has been attached to each set of message | |
| bases. The dollar values were kept as low as possible and range from $1.00 to | |
| $8.00 for each H/P BBS Message Base Set. Without your understanding and | |
| support, this effort may not be able to sustain itself long enough to complete | |
| the project. A large portion of any profits will be recycled for two other | |
| projects in the works, whose aim is to provide additional historical background | |
| on the Computer Underground Community. That is, no one involved is quitting | |
| their day job :-) | |
| One additional note: For those who purchase the Metal Shop Private Message | |
| Base, 100% of the price ($4.00) will be donated to help pay for Craig Neidorf's | |
| (Knight Lightning) Legal Defense bills (due to his successful campaign to | |
| protect First Amendment rights for electronic publishing, i.e. the PHRACK/E911 | |
| case). | |
| How The Prices Were Determined: | |
| ------------------------------- | |
| Prices were determined based on the following considerations: | |
| - The number of years ago that the BBS operated (affected availability); | |
| - The total number of messages compiled (required more time to compile); | |
| - Its popularity and message content (anticipated demand); | |
| - Whether the BBS or portions thereof were deemed "elite" and, therefore, | |
| restricted access to a small number of users (affected availability); | |
| and, | |
| - An additional factor to account for overhead costs such as diskettes, | |
| diskette mailing containers, postage, time to fill orders, etc. | |
| What Each "Message Base File" Contains: | |
| --------------------------------------- | |
| - A two page general message explaining H/P BBS terminology and format. | |
| - The BBS Pro-Phile: A historical background and description of the BBS | |
| either written by the original system operator(s) or those who actually | |
| called the BBS when it was in operation (it took months to track the | |
| appropriate people down and get them to write these specifically for | |
| this project; lesser known BBSes may not contain a Pro-Phile); | |
| - Messages posted to the BBS (i.e. the Message Base); | |
| - Downloaded Userlists if available; and | |
| - Hacking tutorials a.k.a. "G-Philes" that were on-line if available. | |
| It is anticipated that most people who are interested in the message bases | |
| have never heard of a lot of the BBS names shown in the listing. If you have | |
| seen one set of messages, you have NOT seen them ALL. Each system had a unique | |
| personality, set of users, and each has something different to offer. If you | |
| decide to order the minimum, we recommend that you mix a high-priced base | |
| ($7.00 or above) with a couple of medium-priced bases ($4.00 to $6.00) and a | |
| few lower-priced bases ($1.00 to $3.00). This will provide you with a feel for | |
| what was happening over a broad range of years and message quality. Of course, | |
| nothing beats the full set (offered at a discount, see order form). | |
| Formats the Message Base Files are Available in: | |
| ------------------------------------------------ | |
| Due to the large size of the Message Base Files, they will be compressed | |
| using the format of your choice. Please note that Lodcom does NOT include the | |
| compression/decompression program (PKZIP, PAK, etc.). ASCII (decompressed) | |
| files will be provided for $2.00 extra to cover additional diskette and | |
| shipping costs. The files are available for: | |
| - IBM (5.25 or 3.5 inch) | |
| - AMIGA (3.5 inch) | |
| - APPLE MACINTOSH (3.5 inch) | |
| - PAPER versions can be ordered but cost triple (due to increased shipping | |
| costs, time to print order, and messages being in 40 column format and | |
| therefore wasting lots of paper...save those trees!). Paper versions | |
| take twice the time to deliver but are laser printed. | |
| Orders are expected to arrive at the requesters' physical mail box in 2-4 | |
| weeks upon receipt of the order. | |
| FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions): | |
| ---------------------------------- | |
| QUESTION: How long will these Message Base Files be available? | |
| ANSWER: We cannot say for sure. This is an ongoing effort and your support | |
| will allow us to continue until we are satisfied with having | |
| recovered the last decent scraps of messages out there. Assuming | |
| there is a demand for these messages, all H/P BBSes of WORTH (i.e. | |
| NON-"codez" and NON-"warez" systems) are expected to be offered by | |
| the end of the Summer of 1993. A Guesstimate of what will be | |
| offered is 80 to 100 Message Bases, half of which will be rather | |
| partial. Orders are expected to be filled up until the end of 1993 | |
| although this may change. Regardless, we will send out | |
| notification well in advance of ceasing operations. | |
| QUESTION: "Can I help out? I have some old messages" (either on a C64, | |
| Apple, IBM [best for us], or printout). | |
| ANSWER: Contact us ASAP! We will work out an equitable agreement depending | |
| on the quantity, quality, format, and "ancientness" of the | |
| messages. Your contribution will not go unrecognized. | |
| QUESTION: Say if I purchase BBS "X" which has 100 messages and the next | |
| Version of your Price Listing shows BBS "X" now has 200 messages, | |
| do I have to pay the for the first 100 all over again if I want | |
| the other 100 messages? | |
| ANSWER: No. If a small number of additional messages are added, they will | |
| be sent for the price of a diskette and postage only, i.e. the | |
| information will be free. If a larger number such as 100 new | |
| messages are added, then if you previously purchased the message | |
| base, the additional messages will be discounted. Those who pay | |
| the Commercial Rate (corporations, government, etc.) will receive | |
| updates of the purchased Volume for FREE regardless of how many new | |
| messages there are, and LODCOM also pays for the postage and | |
| diskette(s). | |
| QUESTION: What if I purchase the minimum order now and, when the next | |
| Version of the price list is released, I want to get more Message | |
| Bases? Do I have to still pay the $20.00 minimum? | |
| ANSWER: No. If you are a previous customer, the minimum is cut in half, | |
| that is, $10.00. Commercial customers who bought Volume #1 (the | |
| current "Complete Set"), are obviously not obligated to purchase | |
| the added Message Bases (the next Volume). | |
| QUESTION: I would really like to get a feel for what one or two of the | |
| boards were like before I order them. Can I get more info? | |
| ANSWER: Yes. A Sample of Actual Messages is available by performing the | |
| following, so long as you have TELNET access to the Internet: | |
| Telnet to: 198.67.3.2 [IP Address for PHANTOM.COM] | |
| Type: mindvox [To enter the Mindvox system] | |
| login as: guest [To look around] | |
| At prompt: finger lodcom [To see our Sample Messages File] | |
| If you do not have TELNET access to the Internet, AND your host will NOT | |
| "bounce" a 50K file, Lodcom will send you the Sample Messages File if you | |
| specifically request it. | |
| The Price List: | |
| --------------- | |
| LOD Communications (c) 1993: Price List of Hack/Phreak BBS Message Bases | |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| BBS NAME A/C SYSOP(S) # MSGS DATES KBYTES PRICE | |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Alliance BBS 618 Phantom Phreaker 113 2/09/86 - 215 $ 3.00 B | |
| Doom Prophet G,P 6/30/86 | |
| Black Ice Private 703 The Highwayman 880 12/1/88 - 580 $ 7.00 B | |
| P,U 5/13/89 | |
| Broadway Show/ 718 Broadway Hacker 180 9/29/85 - 99 $ 3.00 B | |
| Radio Station BBS 12/27/85 | |
| CIA BBS 201 CIA Director 30 5/02/84 - 30 $ 1.00 | |
| 6/08/84 | |
| C.O.P.S. 305 Mr. Byte-Zap 227 11/5/83 - 196 $ 4.00 B | |
| The Mechanic G,R,U 7/16/84 | |
| Face To Face 713 Montressor 572 11/26/90 - 400 $ 2.00 B | |
| Doc Holiday * 12/26/90 | |
| Farmers Of Doom 303 Mark Tabas 41 2/20/85 - 124 $ 2.00 B | |
| G 3/01/85 | |
| Forgotten Realm 618 Crimson Death 166 3/08/88 - 163 $ 3.00 B | |
| 4/24/88 | |
| Legion Of Doom! 305 Lex Luthor 194 3/19/84 - 283 $ 6.00 B | |
| Paul Muad'Dib * G,P,U 11/24/84 | |
| Metal Shop Private 314 Taran King 520 4/03/86 - 380 $ 4.00 BD | |
| Knight Lightning P,R,U 5/06/87 | |
| OSUNY 914 Tom Tone 375 7/9/82 - 368 $ 8.00 B | |
| Milo Phonbil * G,U 4/9/83 | |
| Phoenix Project 512 The Mentor 1118 7/13/88 - 590 $ 4.00 B | |
| Erik Bloodaxe * G,R 2/07/90 | |
| Plover-NET 516 Quasi Moto 346 1/14/84 - 311 $ 5.00 B | |
| Lex Luthor * G 5/04/84 | |
| Safehouse 612 Apple Bandit 269 9/15/83 - 251 $ 4.00 B | |
| G,U 5/17/84 | |
| Sherwood Forest I 212 Magnetic Surfer 92 5/01/84 - 85 $ 2.00 B | |
| P,U 5/30/84 | |
| Sherwood Forest ][ 914 Creative Cracker 100 4/06/84 - 239 $ 3.00 B | |
| Bioc Agent 003 * G 7/02/84 | |
| Split Infinity 408 Blue Adept 52 12/21/83 - 36 $ 1.00 B | |
| 1/21/84 | |
| Twilight Phone ??? System Lord 17 9/21/82 - 24 $ 1.00 | |
| 1/09/83 | |
| Twilight Zone/ 203 The Marauder 108 2/06/85 - 186 $ 3.00 B | |
| Septic Tank Safe Cracker * G,U 7/24/86 | |
| WOPR 617 Terminal Man 307 5/15/84 - 266 $ 6.00 B | |
| The Minute Man * G,U 1/12/85 | |
| _____________________________________________________________________________ | |
| NOTES: In SYSOP(S) column, * indicates remote sysop. | |
| In #msgs column, P indicates that the BBS was Private, R indicates BBS | |
| was public but restricted access sub-board(s) are included, G indicates | |
| that SOME (or maybe all) of the G-files written by the sysop and/or | |
| files that were available on the BBS are included, U indicates that a | |
| BBS Userlist (typically undated) is included. | |
| DATES column shows the starting and ending dates for which messages | |
| were buffered (and therefore available) although there may be some gaps | |
| in the chronological order. | |
| KBYTES column shows size of complete file containing messages, g-files, | |
| userlist, etc. COST column indicates current cost of message base in | |
| U.S. Dollars, "B" indicates that a "BBS Pro-Phile" was written and is | |
| included, "D" indicates that 100% of all orders for that BBS (Metal | |
| Shop Private) will be donated to help pay for Craig Neidorf's (Knight | |
| Lightning) Legal Defense bills. | |
| LODCOM is currently organizing and splicing messages from over 30 more H/P | |
| BBSes [shown below] and, as the files are completed and/or as additional | |
| messages are procured for the above systems, updates of this listing will be | |
| released. Next release is expected some time in JUNE of 1993: Modem Over | |
| Manhattan (MOM), 8BBS (213), Mines of Moria (713), Pirates Cove (516) sysop: | |
| BlackBeard, Catch-22 (617) sysop: Silver Spy, Phreak Klass 2600 (806) sysop: | |
| The Egyptian Lover, Blottoland (216) sysop: King Blotto, Osuny 2 (a.k.a. The | |
| Crystal Palace) (914), The Hearing Aid, Split Infinity (408), (303) sysop: The | |
| ShadowMaster, ShadowSpawn (219) sysop: Psychic Warlord, IROC (817) sysop: The | |
| Silver Sabre, FreeWorld II (301) sysop: Major Havoc, Planet Earth, Ripco (312) | |
| sysop: Dr. Ripco, Hackers Heaven (217) sysop: Jedi Warrior, Demon Roach | |
| Underground (806) sysop: Swamp Ratte, Stronghold East Elite (516) sysop: Slave | |
| Driver, Pure Nihilism, 5th Amendment (713) sysop: Micron, Newsweek Elite (617) | |
| sysop: Micro Man, Lunatic Labs (415) sysop: The Mad Alchemist, Laser Beam | |
| (314), Hackers Den (718) sysop: Red Knight, The Freezer (305) sysop: Mr. Cool, | |
| The Boca Harbour (305) sysop: Boca Bandit, The Armoury (201) sysop: The Mace, | |
| Digital Logic's Data Center (305) sysop: Digital Logic, Asgard (201), The KGB, | |
| Planet Earth (714), PBS (702), Lost City of Atlantis sysop: The Lineman, and | |
| more. | |
| Hacking/Phreaking Tutorials a.k.a. "G-Philes": | |
| ---------------------------------------------- | |
| Along with the above H/P BBS Message Bases, LODCOM has collected many of the | |
| old "philes" that were written and disseminated over the years. A list of all | |
| of them would take up too much space here, however, we can tell you that the | |
| majority are NOT files that were originally written for electronic newsletters | |
| such as Phrack, PHUN, ATI, etc. (with the perhaps obvious exception of the | |
| LOD/H Technical Journal). Those files/newsletters are readily available from | |
| other sources. This hodgepodge of files includes files from Bioc Agent 003, | |
| Legion of Doom members, and many others that somehow fell out of widespread | |
| circulation. A Table of Contents of the collection is included but the | |
| tutorials are all grouped together in four large files of approximately 250K | |
| each. This collection will have additions with each update of this file. See | |
| the order form for the price (price will go up as more files are added). | |
| The Order Form: | |
| --------------- | |
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - C U T - H E R E - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | |
| LOD Communications H/P BBS Message Base ORDER FORM | |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
| PERSONAL RATE: Due to the economics involved in diskettes, disk mailing | |
| containers, snail mail costs, and time to fill orders, a MINIMUM ORDER of | |
| $20.00 is required for all personal requests. If all 20 message bases are | |
| ordered (containing 5700+ messages), the cost is discounted to $39.00; if you | |
| order $20.00 worth (the minimum) or more, you get $5.00 worth in addition as a | |
| discount. That is, pay for $20.00 and get $25.00 worth of message bases. | |
| COMMERCIAL RATE: Corporations, Universities, Libraries, and Government | |
| Agencies must order the complete set (Volume #1) and pay a higher rate. For | |
| Price Listing Version #1 Released 5/15/93 (20 boards total), the price is | |
| $99.00 (note that new messages that surface for any BBS purchased will be sent | |
| completely FREE of ANY additional charge). | |
| H/P BBS Names: ____________________________________________________________ | |
| [Write: COMPLETE ____________________________________________________________ | |
| SET if you want | |
| all messages] ____________________________________________________________ | |
| "G-Phile" Collection Version #1 (Optional): $____________ ($10.00 Personal) | |
| ($25.00 Commercial) | |
| Disk Format/Type of Computer: _____________________________________ | |
| (Please be sure to specify diskette size [5.25" or 3.5"] and high/low density) | |
| File Archive Method (.ZIP [preferred], .ARJ, .LHZ, .Z, .TAR) ____________ | |
| (ASCII [Non-Compressed] add $2.00 to order) | |
| Texas Residents add 8% Sales Tax. | |
| If outside North America please add $5.00 for Shipping & Handling. | |
| Total Amount (In U.S. Dollars): $ ___________ | |
| Payment Method: Check or Money Order please. | |
| Absolutely NO Credit Cards, even if it's yours :-) | |
| By purchasing these works, the Purchaser agrees to abide by all applicable U.S. | |
| Copyright Laws to not distribute or reproduce, electronically or otherwise, in | |
| part or in whole, any part of the Work(s) without express written permission | |
| from LOD Communications. | |
| Send To: | |
| Name: _____________________________________ | |
| Organization: _____________________________________ (If applicable) | |
| Street: _____________________________________ | |
| City/State/Zip: _____________________________________ | |
| Country: _____________________________________ | |
| E-mail address: _____________________________________ (If applicable) | |
| PRIVACY NOTICE: The information provided to LOD Communications is used for | |
| sending orders and periodic updates to the H/P BBS Message Base Price List. | |
| It will NOT be given or sold to any other party. Period. | |
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - C U T - H E R E - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | |
| Remit To: LOD Communications | |
| 603 W. 13th | |
| Suite 1A-278 | |
| Austin, Texas USA 78701 | |
| Lodcom can also be contacted via E-mail: lodcom@mindvox.phantom.com | |
| Voice Mail: 512-448-5098 | |
| _____________________________________________________________________________ | |
| End Order File V.1 | |
| LOD Communications: Leaders in Engineering, Social and Otherwise ;) | |
| Email: lodcom@mindvox.phantom.com | |
| Voice Mail: 512-448-5098 | |
| Snail Mail: LOD Communications | |
| 603 W. 13th | |
| Suite 1A-278 | |
| Austin, Texas USA 78701 | |