Pro-Mitnick Demos in US, Russia
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   by Polly Sprenger 
   3:00 a.m.  5.Jun.99.PDT


   In 15 American cities and Moscow, demonstrators staged protests Friday
   against  the  continued  imprisonment  of  Kevin Mitnick, jailed after
   pleading guilty to seven counts of wire and computer fraud.

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   "Just  don't  call  him  a  'celebrity  cracker,'"  growled Macki, the
   Webmaster  for  2600, the hacker group and magazine that organized
   the events.
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   Armed   with  yellow  "Free  Kevin"  stickers  and  flyers  describing
   Mitnick's  case,  Macki and nearly 20 other Mitnick supporters battled
   the miserable San Francisco wind to fight for the cause.

   "We're   getting   the   word   out  to  the  worldwide  and  national
   consciousness  about  [Mitnick's]  sentencing,"  said  Marc  Powell, a
   pink-haired member of the local hacker collective New Hack City.

   Clad in an "I [Heart] Feds" T-shirt, Powell said that although his own
   cyber-tomfoolery has been strictly within the law, he sympathized with
   Mitnick's imprisonment.

   As far as protests go, Mitnick's demonstration was relatively low-key.
   The  attendees  cheered  as  a  low-flying airplane went by trailing a
   banner  that said "Free Kevin Mitnick -- www.freekevin.com," but after
   seven or eight more passes, the enthusiasm waned.

   Some  in  the  group had followed Mitnick's plight from the beginning,
   but  others  were just there to be part of an anti-government staging.
   Robin,  a  self-proclaimed  anarchist and network administrator with a
   partially  shaved  head  and  a  plethora of piercings, said he was in
   attendance because it was a strike back at the government.

   But  others,  like  Perry  McNulty,  said Mitnick was a study in civil
   rights.  "It's  not  just  a  hacker  in  jail," said McNulty, who has
   followed  Mitnick's case for about a year. "A lot of civil rights have
   been violated. It could happen to any one of us."