his bitterness the poet rebuked her and said to her lovely fame even in the highways and the byways you have not forborne to laugh and shout and jest with worthless men
and i have toiled for you and dreamt of you and you mock me and pass me by and fame turned her back on him and walked away but in departing she looked over her shoulder and smiled at him as she had not smiled before
and umma speaking in a whisper said i will meet you in the graveyard at the back of the workhouse in a hundred years
that was the assignation by lord donsani read by eleanor elizabeth foreman
and we thank you so much for doing that it's uh 10 o'clock and live from new york this is wbai in new york city it's time for off the hook
the telephone keeps ringing so i ripped it off the wall i cut myself while shaving now i can't make a call
it couldn't get much worse but if they could they would
bond in the bomb for the best expect the worst
i hope that fun is good
bond in the boat
bond in the boat
bond in the boat
and a very good evening everybody the program is off the hook this is emmanuel goldstein here with
you on this wednesday night live for the first time in three weeks um last week we were preempted
for a minithon and the week before that uh well fiber you went to prison again wow i understand
i just heard rumors about this i understood that uh there wasn't an announcement made that it was
a repeat and uh i left specific instructions saying make sure you say that that's a repeat
that he's not going off to prison again and um i don't know if that actually happened if it didn't
happen i i apologize and i hope people didn't uh go crazy thinking that it was all happening again
well i'm i'm glad it didn't yeah imagine turning on the radio and hearing hearing your last show
before you go to prison wow that was uh taped in january of 1994 yes it was yes and uh hopefully
that uh that won't be uh reoccurring uh we may also be hearing from bernie s tonight uh actually i've
been away since um since i guess about three weeks ago uh in california las vegas places like that
las vegas is a vile town i just gotta say that it's it's so incredibly uh well it's hot for one
thing it's always about 120 degrees but uh apart from that it's just so phony you know plus i got
sick okay so if you're gonna be sick las vegas is not the town to be in because everybody's you know
so happy and jovial and and fake and there's lights flashing around you and it's you never
know if it's daytime or nighttime that's the idea when you walk through those casinos you never see
a window you never see a clock you never know what day or what time it is the idea is just to stay
there forever you gotta bear in mind that the town was basically put on the map by a gangster
well yeah i i could see that i could definitely see that although uh we flew over today in the airplane
and i was able to look down and actually see the building that i stayed in you know and because
they all have bizarre shapes one looks like a pyramid and it looked so tiny and insignificant
from the sky so that was that was a big comfort to me just knowing that did you remember the blue
box on the way back uh no i didn't play with the air phone at all because uh it was a very cramped
plane very cramped and uh the lady next to me was um was rather well endowed let's put it that way
for me to get to the phone would have made for positions i really didn't want to get into
so uh it just uh it wasn't it wasn't worth the attempt as far as i i can see but um i play with
it a lot uh on the way over uh i can hardly wait to see my phone bill and uh made all kinds of of
bizarre calls you know you can call information for free i've mentioned this before but from an
air phone you can call information for free and you know that's uh that's kind of a neat little trick
you could i suppose start a business where you get on an airplane with a list of numbers that
people want you to look up and you charge them 50 cents each and if you have enough of those you
can spend the whole time on the phone and it'll pay for your trip let's see if bernie s is here
bernie you there this is locktel you have a collect call from bernie s
to accept the call please dial nine now you do not please go ahead you are now connected
bernie s are you with us good evening how you doing i'm doing as well as one can in a federal
prison i suppose now i've fallen out of touch i was away in california and you know uh we we tried
having people around the phone to pick up at certain times but when you're in prison of course
you can never tell when you're going to be able to make a phone call very true so uh we pretty much
missed you 100 of the time so actually we don't have any idea what's been happening with you over
the past uh several weeks during your absence but it was unsuccessful so in any case uh i guess uh
you folks haven't been informed that my trial was rescheduled until uh september 8th wow so uh
from july 31st to september 8th that's quite a well uh we needed at least another week because the
government uh dropped several hundred additional pages of what's called discovery material or or
evidence they plan to use against me at the trial now have you had a chance to go through these i have
they dropped a lot of it at the on on me at the last minute uh... just just a couple of days before
july thirty first and obviously i needed more time to go over the stuff and figure out what what it all
meant so uh... we requested a one week delay the prosecutor said that uh... she would have to delay
it for two weeks she had a trial uh... the following week it would conflict with with mine and uh... judge in his
uh... infinite wisdom decided to schedule it on september 8th um... he also uh... the judge also
decided that uh... it would be appropriate for me to have another bail hearing and he uh... in his
wisdom scheduled that for september 7th oh wonderful
so you don't get a bail hearing until one day before your trial
exactly
that's crazy
well
september 7th huh
yes i wouldn't i wouldn't uh... presume to tell that to a judge that he was crazy but
that's uh... that's the decision the prosecutor has uh... has conceded that uh... uh... she no longer
feels that i'm uh... a danger to the community
and uh...
why do they have to wait three weeks to uh... to get you a bail hearing
it's up to a judge
uh... federal judges can pretty much decide what they
what they want to decide and
you know
if i want to appeal his decision i can delay things further
i guess so
you always have that option
so uh... i will have a bail hearing september 7th and uh... uh... a trial
uh... september 8th
so it'll be a busy couple of days for you then
yes
and the next uh... three weeks or so will be pretty busy uh... planning we have uh...
rounded up at least one expert witness and are trying to find uh... at least another one
um...
and gone over some of the technical materials that they're uh... they've submitted
the prosecution is submitted and uh... sometime in the next week or two i will actually have the
the opportunity to physically examine this evidence in person
uh... in philadelphia
they'll have to uh... u.s marshals will have to uh... put me in shackles and chains
and transport me by van from south jersey to
wow so you get a little field trip huh
yeah
get uh... transported in shackles to your hometown
and i'll actually be able to uh... look at this equipment that they're saying was uh...
uh... possibly could could be intended to
could could have been used with uh... intent to defraud
uh-huh
interesting
so uh... how is your mood holding up in there
well i have ups and downs today i'm uh... feeling reasonably good
the diet here has has caused me some health problems
um... and unfortunately the medical staff here doesn't seem to be
really up to par
well that's uh... that's a familiar story isn't it fiber
oh i didn't know you were there fiber
yeah hi how are you
oh
yeah i imagine you had uh... i imagine your uh...
uh... gi system was thrown out of whack by what you were fed there
yeah quite a bit i mean uh...
like you said it wasn't the best uh...
eating environment so we kind of had to make the best of it
yeah
um... yeah i haven't had uh...
i haven't been uh... as they say regular for uh... for several weeks now
well i don't know if we need to
probably been an irregular kind of guy but
uh-huh
you don't happen to sleep next to a weightlifter do you
no i'm fortunate to
my uh... my celly as prison slang goes
or roommate
uh... was just transported out of here this morning
uh... he was uh... brought here about a month ago
on uh...
on conversion of government property charges he allegedly borrowed a tractor from a
navy base drove it around the block and brought it back and uh... he was
apprehended a couple days later when someone uh... fingered him in any case
at least they didn't kill him like the guy who stole the tank in san diego
yeah i i i like that video clip where the police just
pointed the gun down inside the tank and blew the guy away that was that was an
inappropriate way of stopping a tank that was already stopped
yeah
couldn't move
uh... but uh... this guy had been scheduled by my celly had been scheduled for
cancer surgery he has uh... he had rather advanced lymphoma cancer
uh... scheduled for cancer surgery in philadelphia the day before
uh... or the day after he was arrested
and they delayed his uh... rapidly advancing uh... he delayed him getting
surgery on this
on this rapidly advancing cancer for nearly a month
uh... so this morning they they transferred him to
uh... rochester minnesota where there's another federal
uh... prison that happens to be next to the mayo clinic so at least he'll be
getting some
uh... some decent medical care at the mayo clinic
i hope it's not too late for him
i haven't gotten a new cellmate yet that'll probably happen tomorrow
i've gone through six of them since i've been here
you've got a single now huh
uh... yeah well i'll cherish it for all of 24 hours or so
uh... uh... you've been through six uh... cellmates
uh... actually this will be my uh... my seventh coming up tomorrow
uh... uh... two of them didn't speak any english
uh... one of them i uh... one of those two who was from the dominican republic
actually uh... uh... he was here for about two months and i uh... actually about a month
and a half and i taught him a fair amount of english so he was
reasonably conversational
so we we spent about an hour every night
uh...
learning the english language which is
which is a pretty difficult language to learn if you don't know it
that's that's certainly true
well now uh... to just recap for the sake of listeners that might not even know
what this is all about
uh... uh... you were arrested uh... when
i was arrested march 15th of this year
uh... almost exactly uh... five months ago
uh... i've been uh... prison since that time
on uh... what
developed into two federal charges
uh... both
statutes i'm charged with are
uh... were newly passed into law earlier this year
in fact just a few weeks before i was charged with them
these uh... these two statutes are passed into law
one of them is uh... possession of a modified telecommunications instrument
and the other is uh... possessing hardware or software
that could uh... facilitate the program
the alteration or modification of
telecommunications instruments
and this is something that uh... we should point out is extremely common to possess
and not necessarily for the purposes of committing a crime
uh... yes i imagine one could modify a telecommunication instrument with a screwdriver
absolutely
absolutely
but in this case we're talking about uh...
talking about uh... computer software in this case
uh... specifically computer software which
can enable someone to program a cellular telephone's
internal uh... uh... uh... memory
that that is memory which contains its
uh... unique electronic serial number and telephone number
which is what what makes every cellular telephone uh... uh...
identifiable to the to the system as being your phone and not someone else's
uh... the reason that uh...
i had the software is to it to enable other people to
uh... two or more cellular telephones
on the same telephone number as is
probably many religious or are aware
the telephone carrier cellular telephone carriers won't
allow you to have two phones in the same number they want you to
uh... have
to pay an additional
monthly access fee right
each additional phone
yeah because they're a phone company they they get away with things like that
sure
cellular phone company is no different from uh...
the land
line
the wire phone companies
whatever you call those things
wire line
yeah
so um...
it's it's uh...
it's an extreme case of uh...
overreaction i think and uh...
my uh... my attorney who's a who's a former federal prosecutor himself
spent four years in the philadelphia office
it seems pretty sharp i'm very fortunate to have
forgotten him uh... some friends
who uh... knew him uh...
put me up with him
he uh... he seems to
be of the opinion that the these two statutes uh...
cannot stand uh...
scrutiny in uh...
in a
higher federal court
he thinks there's
there are problems with the laws itself
regardless of
uh...
of any evidence in my case
that the laws themselves
just
are bogus
which you and i know
right
but uh...
from a legal standpoint there were some problems with it as well
well these are the laws that were snuck in last october
yes
under uh...
under heavy lobbying by uh...
communications industry lobbyists
and uh... i wasn't even aware of these two
these two statutes until i was charged with them
and uh... the secret service agent who
participated in my arrest
uh...
he didn't even have these statutes
in his book
when he started interrogating me
he didn't even have them
in his hands
he said these are so new i don't even have them in my book yet
amazing
now so uh...
so you continue to get mail
when uh... while you're in there
actually my mail has dropped off to almost nothing
okay well then uh...
folks hear that uh...
we need to send bernie s some mail
so that uh...
yes something to look forward to
to while away the days there
you want to give out the address
anything as simple as a
as a short letter
or of encouragement
or a postcard
or uh...
or even uh... magazines
uh... they don't need to be technical magazines
any any type of uh...
mental food would be
greatly appreciated
because it gets extremely monotonous here
and it uh...
you one almost goes out of their
mind
if you're
if you're the kind of person who
who
needs to have their brain stimulated all the time
this is the worst place to be
well yes
i would definitely imagine that
um... so what address can people write to you
uh... the address
uh... first it goes to
to
my name is the first line on the address
ed
cummings c-u-m-m-i-n-g-s
my number is
four eight nine one nine
dash zero six six
the second line in the address is
f-c-i
as as in federal correctional institution
fairton
that's f-a-i-r-t-o-n
uh...
third line is
p-o-box
four two zero
four twenty
fourth line is
fairton
new jersey
zero eight
three
two
zero
oh and also on that second line
uh... after
where it says f-c-i
fairton
if you put the words
the letter a
and then the word left
a dash left
it will be uh... rooted to the proper
housing unit here
so i'll probably get it a couple days earlier
than
okay
there was
i ran across a uh...
uh...
uh... piece of paper on the compound
here the other day
that someone must have dropped
someone on the staff here
which had uh...
uh...
sort of an internal government telephone number
for this uh...
this particular institution
it's in the uh...
it uses a seven hundred area code
and uh...
i haven't been able to call that number
from the telephone system here
that that area code is blocked
but uh...
i wanted to find out
uh...
if any of your listeners would have any success
in calling this particular number
and seeing what they
what they got
this is actually listed on letterhead
well that wasn't a letterhead
it was a computer printout
that must have
blown out of someone's hand
interesting because usually seven hundred numbers require a specific carrier
isn't that uh... right fiber
uh...
uh... yeah
uh...
typically i mean uh...
if the seven hundred happens to be owned by at&t
you're not going to be called
be able to call it typically with another carrier
well uh... maybe someone who has access to
that particular uh...
carrier
what what are you saying
one one needs to dial
yeah you're free to use equal access
okay
you just have to know which
which carrier it is
okay i don't know
all right well give us a number and uh...
we'll find all the available carriers
and see which one uh...
gets gets through
right
this number is uh...
area code seven hundred
two nine eight
one one seven seven
i have to wonder why
would they have a number like this
those numbers are good for people that move around a lot
and i don't think that prison is going to be moving around
probably not
the prisoners here move around a lot
as far as getting transferred to
to places uh...
all over the country
it's strange
you'll you'll wake up in the morning
and then uh...
two or three people that you've made friends with uh...
have just disappeared
they never existed
you don't you don't know whatever happened to them
i'm probably you uh...
you probably experienced that uh...
fiber when you were actually no you were in it
you were designated by the time you were
incarcerated right
yeah but i mean people still come uh...
come and go quite a bit
yeah
yeah it's quite disconcerting
you get to know somebody and then
and then all of a sudden they vanish
and you don't know whatever happened to them
yeah they get trained
most most usually they get transferred
right right but oftentimes you don't know where they've been transferred to
or right and they don't know either
right they don't know until the moment the morning that they're
woken up by a guard saying
hey you're being moved
so it reminds me of these stories you hear about in south america
where people just sort of disappear
or never heard from
well it's the same basic idea
and they do get their training up here so
right
i imagine they just embellish upon it a little bit
so um...
good work
all right also i want to point out
uh... that uh... you can email bernie s through 2600
bernie s at 2600 dot com
and we will forward your message to him
if uh... you don't want to right swing down on a piece of paper
please write something because it's it's extremely important
it makes all the difference in the world
it really does help
um... by the way i got your envelope of uh...
of email that was mailed to me via snail mail
kind of an awkward way to get email but
it's true
i still got it so thank you very much
okay
all right every little bit helps
well bernie uh... best of luck to you
we'll probably hear from you again next week
yes i'll uh... keep you posted
we've got uh... three weeks to go
okay and keep calling us uh...
you know throughout the week too
because uh... we have things to update you on as well
great well um... good to hear your voice
uh... um... sorry i wasn't at uh... defcon
yeah well you have a good excuse
maybe next year
yeah we'll see
all right i've got to go
i have to hand this phone off to somebody else
there's a lot of prisoners waiting
okay
uh... take care take care fiber
take it easy
talk to you later
all right good luck
that's a lie from federal prison bernie s
uh... becoming a fixture on the program
boy it's unbelievable
do you ever think this would last this long
actually no
i mean it's it's
it's so kafka-ish you know
yeah
i mean it just never goes anywhere
day after day he's in the same position
never knowing what's going to happen
and what exactly is he being charged with
you know it's
i mean he should write a book
he really should
this is an incredible story
and um... again we really need help
as far as getting expert witnesses
that will uh... that will actually go
down and and say things
uh... to set the record straight
as far as what can be done with a cellular phone
what cannot be done with a cellular phone
and uh... just how dangerous
carrying around a red box
or a modified tone dialer really is
uh... is that something that
uh... that you would cause someone
to be locked away with no bail
seems kind of weird to me
so uh... getting back to uh...
to what's been going on over the past couple of weeks
anything new in your life
yeah actually
um... a couple of things
uh... in the uh...
the continuing isdn saga
there's um... there's there's a problem
that i was having
where i wanted a caller id
uh... for my isdn line
you've been wanting this for some time now
yeah and uh... ironically
you still don't have it do you
no actually i do
you have caller id now
yeah
well it's kind of ironic what happened in the end
but um...
it just so turns out that i actually had it
all along
in fact uh... after doing uh... some
some searching and finally
getting in touch with the right people
after going on this
this caller id crusade
from
from nine x
to motorola
to northern telecom
and uh... finally i found out from um
uh... finally people who are in the know at nine x
it turns out that caller id
is part of your basic isdn service
it's not an extra feature
really
you actually get caller id along with basic isdn service
so it's not something you have to order extra
that's interesting
yeah what actually happened was that the reason why i wasn't receiving
caller id on voice calls
was um...
actually uh...
an error on the part of the uh... developers that uh...
developed the firmware in the isdn hardware that i used
so has that been fixed or
it's uh... it's it's in the works currently right now
so you still don't have uh... you just don't have caller id do you
i can i can actually receive caller id on data calls
but i never received data calls
no
so that's that's kind of uh... useless for me
got a call from sprint tonight though didn't you
oh yeah
yeah
uh...
wanted you to change uh... long distance
wanted me to make the big switch
wow
well you know we figured out a good way to get around them
when they when they do that
you just say
you can help me
i'm trying to dial
and my
i just can't seem to dial anything
no matter what i dial the dial tone stays there
can you please help me with this
and
they they they say you know
well that's your local company
we don't deal with that
we deal with long distance
and just keep asking questions
as to how
to work your phone
and believe me
they
they want to get off the phone quicker
than you can imagine
when you when you try that
so um
so that that's a
neat little trick
yeah
to use on
on the people that
that do that
but you know
it's it's interesting
almost everybody i i visited
uh...
while i was over in california
they get these phone calls
you know from
from all the long distance companies
and you know i see it on tv
and i guess i don't realize
that this is really happening to people
because
i put myself behind
you know
a veritable wall
where
i only pick up the phone
if i know who it is
if i'm in the room
if i happen to be
you know around the phone
i feel like talking to them
in the first place
there is no way
a salesman can get me
in the first place
so
i'm kind of uh
leading a fantasy life i guess
you know i mean
you guys
you actually pick up your phone
someone calls your number
and you pick it up
it could be anyone
well that's actually
the first call of that type
i've gotten
yeah
i haven't really been solicited
by any other long distance carriers
of course you've only had
your phone line
for about three days
no
it's a couple of months
yeah well
i mean that's
that's a couple of months
to change your long distance company
you know
you haven't gotten a bill yet
for a long distance company
so i mean
it's kind of early
to tell people to
you know
consider
changing
so um
that's kind of interesting
uh speaking of
uh manipulating telephone people
do you know
this is something i learned
in las vegas
uh through a friend of mine
here in new york
um
i was talking to him
on the phone
and he said
he was going to try
to leave me a message
and so
he left me a message
and he said
call in
get your message
now first of all
first of all
okay
this is
this is something
the hotel i stayed at
was unbelievably insecure
unbelievably insecure
you could
pick up anyone's messages
anyone's messages at all
it was
it was so incredibly simple
um
maybe we'll demonstrate this
um
i don't know
should we
sure why not
okay
well i don't have the phone number
for the hotel
huh
but uh
it should be listed right
well yeah it should be listed
that's true
well we'll do it a little later
so anyway
um
he he left me a message
i called in to get the message
and basically the message was simply to
call home
and i'm like
wow that's a really good message there
what what what
you know i called him back
and i said that's the message
call home
and he said that's not the message i left
the message i left said uh
come home right now
and stop gambling
now consider this
you're in a gambling hotel
are they going to take that message
and pass it on to one of their clients
i don't think so
no they're just going to
at best
pass along that message
that the person called
but i don't think they could even physically write down
stop gambling
because everything you do in that place
they say good luck
you know
have a lucky day
and not just in the hotel
in the whole town
mcdonald's
you get a big mac
good luck
you know
i guess you'll need it
i don't know
but it's
that that's why that town
drives me completely mad
um
but uh
enough said about that
you see the net
actually i know you saw the net
because there was an article in the newspaper
that was quoting you
right
saying the net was nonsense
yeah
well as far as i mean
i don't know what exactly people are expecting
but i mean
it was a movie
it was entertaining
and you know
above all it was fiction
mhm
i hope people aren't going to the movie
to expect to see
well
well gosh
that's what everyone's talking about
right
you know
it's it's uh
it's not real
it's it's
you know
mhm
i was really surprised
by the slant
that they gave the article
as if to
and then
and then the quote
the uh
the uh
the director
yeah
he was mad at you
he was mad at you
he was angry
he said that
he talked to uh
some top officials
with uh
they don't know
what they're talking about
he spoke to some top officials
with uh
security consulting firms
and the fbi
or something
right
who obviously say that
everything in the movie
is perfectly feasible
erwin winkler said
yeah
yeah
well i mean
it it it tried
it it tried to present
an interesting story
but you know
towards the end
i think it just completely
fell apart
remember that chase scene
and if you haven't seen the film
which doesn't matter
just don't worry about it
um
the all right
the chase scene
yeah i know that
the chase scene
where she's with the fake fbi agent
right
okay
and
she just suddenly realizes
that he's a fake fbi agent
because
he he knew something
that he couldn't possibly know
right
and then he gets that evil look
on his face
yeah
and then they crash
then well
she grabs control of the wheel
she hits the the the gas pedal
right
and of course this is going on
for about 25 minutes
where she's hit the gas pedal
and they're driving all over the city
and then all of a sudden
they they start skidding
and they crash into a car
and the very car
that the person
that that has been chasing her
from the beginning of the film
happens to be sitting in
right
and what are the odds
of you crashing into a car
somewhere in the city
and it happens to be the one
with the person that's chasing you
in it parked
that seems unlikely
that was crazy
that was absolutely absurd
my complaint was
the only redeemable character
dennis miller
they kill off
i didn't like that one
dennis miller was good
oh yeah
and the thing was that
how do they kill him
they give
they first of all
they get him sick
and the way they get him sick
is you know that he has
allergies
you know that he's taking
celdane
which is a major brand
antihistamine
prescription drug
okay
then for purposes of
i guess visual effect
they
obviously the hacker
the so-called hackers
misprescribe him penicillin
which he's allergic to
and when he passes out
at the wheel
driving his car
they zoom in
on the bottle of pills
and clearly marked
it says penicillin
now
if i was taking celdane
i think i would have noticed
when i picked up my pills
that it said penicillin
on the bottle
and even if i didn't
celdane pills look
extremely different
than any kind of penicillin
that you're ever going to take
and if anyone has ever taken
any kind of antibiotic
like any kind of the penicillins
they stink
they smell moldy
okay apart from all that though
i mean he was preoccupied
being in a major film and all
but
how does a pharmacy
get on the net
in the first place
where people can get in
and change prescriptions
that was the stupidest thing
i've ever heard
that was the biggest misconception
that i that i pointed out
in the interview
was that
i'm sorry but like
every single computer
in the world
just simply isn't connected
to the internet
that's right
as much as people
would like to think it is
i mean this this was
was prime fodder
for the unabomber people
you know who um
you know who
distrust society
um technology
every uh
every juncture
yeah
uh
it can foster a lot of paranoia
because
you know people see
technology
creeping in
barcodes
uh
left and right
categorization
and
they're going to be
very very afraid
and hostile to it
now that's not to say
that's not
that's not a correct
attitude to have
in certain situations
absolutely
there's way too much
information being stored
on us
well caution is one thing
but hostility is another
but
to think that somebody
could completely
destroy your life
completely dominate you
become you
that's kind of uh
you know
a little far-fetched
yeah it's uh
it leads you to
to lead kind of a
resigned life
that there's no hope
for the individual
and i don't think
that's true
i wonder how many
people walked out of
that movie theater
and became luddites
yeah exactly
exactly
i guess that's what
the praetorians were
that strange group
of people
yeah
now how could
somebody live
a life
and not be able
to prove
who they were
never go out
never be recognized
by neighbors
what about school
didn't she go to
school ever
you know
wouldn't people
have remembered her
distant relatives
somebody
anybody
i mean it's an
interesting premise
yeah
but
it was a premise
of convenience
yeah
so that's uh
that's our
our take on the net
a bit uh
a bit preposterous
a bit
future people
are going to
watch films
and figure out
what films
they came from
yeah
but based on
what you're telling
me i can
i can narrow it
down to a
combination of
demolition man
the fugitive
the fugitive
was a good film
though
oh yeah
it was definitely
a good film
they threw a
little max headroom
into there
probably yes
and uh
and of course
uh
i'm missing one
thing
something else
with the word
man in it
oh um
lawnmower man
which i never saw
yeah
lawnmower man
people told me
it was vile
it was uh
no it was a good
movie
i liked it
yeah
okay
i thought it was good
now there was
some news
concerning the
upcoming hackers
film which is
coming out in
september
yeah there was
actually
why don't you
tell us what
happened here
because it's
kind of an
interesting story
yeah actually
um i uh
received an
email note
did you do
it
uh no
okay
no i received
i received an
email note
that uh
apparently um
there was a
report in
california that
a particular
website that
was um put
up on behalf
of mgm united
artists for the
upcoming hacker
film was
vandalized
so um i uh
i uh took a
look at the
url i connected
to the site
and uh lo and
behold um the
site was uh
apparently modified
uh in a in a
joking manner and
uh what was
apparently done
was uh there
was a picture a
gif picture of
uh two of the
main characters in
the film which
was uh graffitied
on kind of like
spray paint
yeah it was
almost as if it
was spray painted
okay and uh
the text of the
page was uh
changed around
surprisingly there
was uh it was a
goof it was a
good goof yes
surprisingly there
was no uh no
profanity which
struck me as
extremely odd
that does seem
kind of strange
the only the
only thing
profane that i
saw on the
page was uh
a claim in uh
in flashing
letters saying
that the writer
of the film
should die
that's not
exactly profane
no well it's uh
it was a nasty
thing yeah it's
a nasty thing
yeah because
everything else
on there was
generally poking
fun at the
movie and just
like you know
changing around
the wording of
the page and so
on and so
do you think
this is a big
publicity stunt
see originally i
thought that uh
it might have
been a stunt
pulled by on uh
by mgm or by
mgm it's a good
stunt yeah getting
someone to do
this the fact that
the movie's coming
out next month the
things that didn't
make any sense is
um their mention
of uh of um um
what's it called
defcon the defcon
conference yeah that
didn't make sense
they said it was a
defcon production
yeah it's like they
were throwing out a
word yeah they said
that they had a link
to the defcon page
they had a link to
your home page
frac's home page
and then at the
very end they
claimed to be the
praetorians from the
movie and put the
little pie symbol and
said don't don't see
this movie go see the
net which made even
less sense yeah it's
almost as if they were
hired by well that's
something mgm definitely
wouldn't do they
wouldn't go out and
say see this other
film yeah right
another company but um
i uh well we we
pieced together a
couple of clues anyway
is that a picture that
they used of a bunch
of people standing
around in uh what
looked like a public
place right right
yeah it turned out
that uh by viewing the
source of the home
page that the name of
that this particular
gift file was called
blarney and uh if
anyone out there is
familiar with uh
blarney stone chain
of uh bar hangouts
this is not it this
is not it no this is
the blarney rock
blarney rock which is
a uh a reasonable
facsimile of uh
blarney stone that's
the bar that everybody
hung out in after hope
yeah uh night after
night and got totally
trashed and what we
did notice is that uh
someone in a picture
in this picture and a
picture on your site
were wearing the exact
same t-shirt yeah so
it was taken at that
time yeah i don't know
what it had to do with
this particular event
no i have no idea
either it just had a
bunch of people on but
you notice something
today that their eyes
got covered up today
somebody apparently
blacked out their eyes
which wasn't like that
as as recently as
yesterday so something
corporate's going on
here i think yeah and
and the most surprising
thing is that mgm claim
that they thought this
was uh curious and
unique and they
decided to leave it up
as it was now how
does something like
this happen how do
you get into a web page
uh well actually i i
did uh some checking
some people i was
talking with last night
because i was i was
highly suspicious but
they claim that the
particular site in
question was in fact
insecure so it was
definitely possible that
somebody got into the
site and did do this
uh-huh but um it's uh
it was running on a
unix machine it would
require someone to uh
you know get into the
machine it is on the
net and uh obtain uh
super user privileges or
whatever privileges would
have been necessary
webmaster yeah whatever
the case may be and
um whoever the owner of
the web server is and
so on and uh in effect
what they had to do
was um for example to
graffiti up that picture
that's a file it was a
gif image they uh
simply could have
downloaded the file onto
their uh pc or mac loaded
it up into um into some
uh paint program and uh
proceeded to uh scribble
all over it and then
upload it back and then
uh the text they could
have edited right then and
there online it's just
straight text ascii text
and uh and presto the
website is now modified
it's kind of cool isn't
it well yeah it is i mean
you know you have all
these websites popping up
everywhere and now you
can uh you know if
they're if they're silly
enough to be insecure you
can actually change their
message which is all
they're trying to get out
is you know some sort of
uh pr it's kind of like
being able to change a
giant billboard on the
top of a building yeah
exactly without having to
cross anything out
imagine if we had access
to that how much mci is
saving at&t thing that's
all over the place boy
i'd have a field day with
that one yeah so you
could have a countdown
the savings yeah there
was one moving backwards
really yes i heard about
it a couple years ago
there was one moving
backwards but uh never
mind that well okay
that's uh that's
interesting if anyone has
any more information on
uh on that kind of thing
please let us know about
it because it's uh it's
all interesting stuff our
phone number is 279-3400
area code 212 we're going
to take some phone calls
and um share some other
experiences what do you
want to bet this first
call is you know who
hi eric yeah i it's got
to be him it's got to be
him but you know every
time i say that it's not
yeah if i don't say it it
is if i okay it's not him
okay good evening you're on
hello emmanuel see see hi
how you doing all right
uh some very interesting
news uh concerning lbds
metro media can you speak up
of it oh let me let me kill
this uh switch here yeah
kill that switch oh that's
much better all right uh
concerning lbds now it's
called lbds worldcom right
i've i had uh just uh we
called switch my long
distance uh service to
them and a pretty linear
10 cents a minute 20 cents
from a pay phone with their
card they bought out
will tell yes they did when
did this happen uh this
happened a while ago it was
at least a month just about
a month ago i think i thought
will tell was buying things
out now it's when will tell
got bought oh boy now uh
we go now i have lbds my
numbers probably going to be
showing up all over the
place now because of the
caller id nationwide caller
id of will tell yeah i've
heard that uh sprint and
mci also have nationwide
caller id in effect now
uh-huh what about at&t not
as of yet but you know as
of the end of the year as
of december i think it's
going to be mandated
nationwide so it doesn't
matter what company you
have but now with this
uh nationwide caller id
will there also be uh
nationwide anonymous call
rejection uh there should
be there should be blocking
there should be call
rejection all that kind of
thing yeah uh originally
the the the law they had in
place was not very friendly
to the consumer
uh yeah it was basically uh
the the consumer had to
have um uh their line not
block you know it would it
would default to not blocking
and now you can change that
you can you can have it
block if you want to
that's after pressure from
consumer groups yeah to my
knowledge they're supposed
they're supposed to support
the star 67 star 82 pair
nationwide for enabling and
and uh disabling caller id
being transmitted another
thing i hear that alaska is
still using r1 signaling uh i
don't know for sure if that's
true but i do know that they
do not have at&t up there
it's like i heard it was like
gte the phone company uh i
think it's called alascom is
that is that correct yeah
that's well that's one of the
companies yeah and there's
there are two companies
he might serve also up there
yeah it's pretty primitive
the thing is uh the rumor is
that you could actually dial
alaska direct and break it
with uh 2600 and box off of
that i'd be getting that all
over the net well there's only
one way to find out isn't
there yeah i'll see you later
okay i mean whistling down a
phone line couldn't be a crime
could it no of course not in
this day and age but what is
that area code 907 907 yeah
yeah yeah hey i was in a lot
of area codes i was in uh 310
yeah soon to be 562
310 that's the other half of
213 that's the other half 213
and uh remember 818 used to be
far 213 as well yeah i mean
those area codes are splitting
off faster than then you can
count them it's it's like
mitosis it's yeah it's like a
virus is what it is out of
control good evening you're on
good evening um let's see two
uh points uh as uh since uh
mr um uh emmanuel i'm sorry i
keep forgetting your last name
uh hang on gold no uh goldman
goldstein goldstein yeah okay
thank you since you are a um uh
at&t true connection subscriber
presumably you got the recent
notice um that several well over a
dozen all very mostly very small and
obscure countries plus one high
population uh country pakistan have
been taken off of the list of most
of the um well of all the usa direct
uh countries those that are in usa
direct so they misbehaved and they
got taken off the list they got
taken off the list and did you
happen to find out why i know the
answer but i'm just curious as to
no i don't well i imagine somebody
was making phone calls to those
countries without the intention of
paying for them not exactly it's a
little okay here's what it was i
happened to see in the um new york
edition of the new york times which
is the one that gets on the
microfilm and is distributed in the
northeast and puerto rico only with
regular mail subscriptions and and uh
i don't think they would have paid
for it in the national edition copies
but anyway or excuse me there's
eighteen t it's not nine act sure
they they might have been in the
national edition too anyway so legal
notice and it listed all these
countries and i thought that was very
curious i didn't know the little mail
notice well i the mail notice didn't
actually explain it at all so i called
up and the regular customer service
representative on you know like um
800 att 1500 or whatever um press 4
uh said that people it it all has to do
with these erotic chat lines where now
you um call overseas countries including
dominican republican 809 and so forth
right get another way to get around 900
blocking and things like that
okay that all amounted to and
apparently they are i think uh the guy
couldn't be too specific but apparently
people were a lot of them may be taking
advantage of the thing where you can run
up one big bill one smaller one big bill
and then get it written off as long as
you don't do it more than once because
you're that way you can be claiming it
was a someone else in your household and
you really didn't know what was going on
and so forth i so anyway that's why all
these countries were taken off item number
two turning to item number two the uh phone
number seven hundred two nine eight one
one seven seven you've already checked this
out okay what do you got well um it does
not work via the um uh secondary carrier
five digit carrier codes to soon become seven
digit codes of at&t either one of mcis that
is one oh two two two or one oh eight eight
eight either one of sprints one oh three
three three or one oh seven one ospr uh the
one of long distance wholesale club or
whatever it is one oh two nine seven
western union one oh two two oh uh cable and
wireless one oh two two three um and
finally just for good measure i not only
tried one oh nyt when you know it's not
supposed to go out to the five um carter
counties right and this is fairton is down
in south jersey um and for totally just to
say be able to say i've done it one oh njb
which of course is only usable from new
jersey right but i tried them all anyway
even though i'm in new york i also tried my
own carriers secondary carrier code in
addition to just trying as a dial one
call without any secondary so i was running
out of all the secondary carrier codes i know and
it doesn't work on any of those uh upwards of a
dozen or whatever in any case well it sounds
like somebody in in new jersey if they want
to try well no if they try one oh njb then
that's only to go to the five bars in new
york city so that's true maybe just uh trying
a default of one seven hundred within new
jersey might uh might result in something
strange i didn't think of just trying it
plain oh no i did okay i did via my carrier
with no secondary code though as i say i'm
in new york i tried plain one seven hundred
okay we will get to the bottom of this
let's hope bye bye thanks for all the info
and uh the investigation and all that kind
of thing i don't know what do you think
you think there's some sort of military
thing no i don't know he didn't happen
to mention all net did he uh 10444 i doubt
it's all net you know well it wouldn't
hurt to try do will tell 10555 uh i don't
think did he mention that i don't know i
don't remember well any event um you know
if anybody figures out what's the number
again you have there yeah it's uh 298 1177
area code 700 yeah okay i wonder if it
could be some sort of internal thing i don't
know as a 700 prison number
wow well we'll certainly look if you get
through just let us know because we're
curious that's the only reason we're doing
this we're not trying to dismantle the
federal prison system we're not trying to
overthrow the government we're not trying
to uh you know do nasty things we are just
curious i guess that is kind of nasty in
this day and age 279 3400 area code 212
good evening you're on hi two brief
questions uh first of all you mentioned you
were in las vegas yes i did i don't know if
you're aware of this but is it true in most
major hotels any phone calls you place from
your room are either recorded or monitored is
that true well it wouldn't surprise me but i
know that's done in atlantic city but i
don't know like they really should tell you
if they do that i don't know if they just
keep a record of who you call of course
actually e-stripping listening on the call
of course they keep a record who you call
and they probably yeah they keep a record
of every number you dial so if you enter a
calling card that goes on their little
itemization too because i'm thinking like
if you want to call like for some female
company or something which you would
rather not get out it might be used or
might show up in some unsavory manner
that's certainly true um the second thing
is this goes back to when i was a kid
and maybe you can tell me about this how
it works why it worked if it still works
um the friends of mine they would like
coming to my apartment they would like
press certain numbers on the touchtone
phone hang up and like five seconds later
the phone would ring but no one would
answer there was like a trick all the
kids knew could you like explain the what
that was all about no it's a secret we
can't tell you all right now we'll we'll
we'll we'll let him in on it too what
do you say yeah i don't know i'll hang
up and listen but okay could you just
try zero and have the operator try their
700 number um that work well no i think
that's what he's been trying it wouldn't
make much of a difference no i don't go
through uh actually no zero won't be
able to do it yeah i'll hang up and
listen to the answer about that yeah but
i'm calling from my at&t 210 phone are
you familiar with that one um no no not
off the top of my head mickey mass phone
okay i was just wondering if the
connection between at&t and and disney
since like i'm sure they had a license
you know the um caricature of mickey mass
to use on the phone i mean disney now is
getting so big they might be the next um
target for people in your field to go
after but i'll hang up now and listen to
your stuff bye okay thanks uh yeah we
have printed frequencies for uh disneyland
disney world but it's it's always kind
of hard to take on mickey mouse and look
triumphant but i don't know so okay let's
explain the secret thing here of how to
make your phone ring well first we can't
believe people still get excited over this
we didn't teach him the secret handshake
though i don't know if we should mail him
that yeah okay but um well if he's
claiming that he did this when he was a
kid what he most likely was doing if he
was in uh new york city was dialing the
old-fashioned way just six six zero it
could have been a kid two years ago yeah
that's true right but um assume things
that our listeners okay well in any case
it's six six oh something right but um in in
that case if it was on a crossbar or a
step-by-step switch it uh would have been
six six zero which would have returned a
dial tone and um usually at least uh when
uh ones and one eight esss started popping
up they would actually connected uh they
would connect the crossbars on an adjunct
connection to a one or a one eight esss and
the particular line that was that it was
adjuncted into had speed calling what they
would usually do is they would program in a
speed calling number to um to call up a
test number that actually did ring back okay
so that in essence what you were doing is if
you had a rotary phone you would dial six six
so and wait for a dial tone and then dial
one one two now did you know that you could
actually program those speed numbers yourself
actually i'm probably the only person i know
that discovered that initially oh i know
other people have done it but yeah maybe
you're the one that discovered it i don't
know well the easiest thing to do is to
deprogram ring back you can just uh you
know program two to do something else
that's invalid and was there limitations to
where it could call yeah it uh a lot of
them couldn't call anywhere some of them
could only call certain exchanges the most
useful thing that i ever found it that i
was able to do when i was still on crossbar
was um to be able to uh dial uh six six oh
and then use a carrier access codes that
give you a carrier on their network like
for example you could dial six six oh and
then dial one oh four eight eight pound okay
when it was uh when it used to be itt and
you get a dial tone from itt and nowadays if
you're still on or a one or a one or a one
a ess where you can still do that gets dial
six six oh and immediately get the dial
tone and um you might try dialing uh playing
around with carrier access codes but uh you'd
be able to actually make an ani free call
uh-huh by going through six six oh and
doing for example the equivalent of a one
oh four eight eight pound or a carrier that
will give you a dial tone on their network
that can be useful sometimes yeah having
that pesky ani following you around um okay
so basically uh six six oh plus uh back in
the old days six six oh and nothing just uh
six six oh alone and then dialing some some
extra digits after that or six six oh plus
last four digits six six oh plus last seven
yeah on a dms 100 it's six six oh and the
entire phone numbers all seven digits
five ess it's six six oh and the last four
digits right then you flash the receiver
hang up and uh and hang up again yes for
people that are curious on the ones one a's
and uh five ess's and also on the cross
bars after you uh flash the switch hook the
final time or the only time when you're
getting ready to hang up to um to uh to have
the phone ring back what you could do is um
at that uh second dial tone you can actually
dial in every touch tone in sequence and
it'll beep twice to actually confirm that all
the touch tones are in tune although you know i
broke the order sometimes and it still beep
twice yeah it's confusable it's very
confusable yeah let's go back to the phones
good evening you're on off the hook yes
first of all could you tell me um with ed
cummings uh what is the story is he still uh
in trouble uh he's still in prison his trial
date has been set for september 8th with a
bail hearing for the day before okay um my
second question is this uh i've tried to
reach you guys i've offered to uh you know
supply some extra help if you maybe you need
like a messenger a legal messenger or somebody
to uh sit in the trial okay you've you've
left your number with us i've done it a
couple times it never gets through it's not
if you've left if you've left it with us we
have it and we will call you if we need
something hello yeah we will be calling you if
we need something of that nature you said
that uh you're available to do messenger
type things um yeah listen when you hang up
don't hang up just give give somebody a phone and
i'll um you know when you go on to the next call i'll
give you my number maybe i can give it over this
phone actually our phone system isn't set up that
way we don't have we don't have an actual phone
attached to this one minute has ended one minute
has ended went through okay signal went through
well signal signal them however you want to
signal them uh what does that mean anyway
signal went through uh it means usually hang
up say hey i'm through yeah they very often hang up on
you yeah 607 area code uh that's uh that's
rochester yeah rochester new york yeah it's
delaware county where as far as i was concerned
delaware county new york pulling from uh from uh
hamilton not hamilton uh i was calling to
deposit new york uh i think it's like 20 miles away
from hancock new york the village of hancock
town is called deposit the pay phone right the pay
phones are uh you cannot put coins into them until
the call has gone through and the operator sits on
the phone call until she hears the call is completed
really yeah i mean has gone through and then
and you can put your coins in uh-huh there's some
co-carts like that too uh-huh that uh that require you to
put in money after you connect uh-huh so um
can i leave my number with somebody um you've left it on
the 2600 answer machine right have you picked it up if if you left it there we
have it and if we need something we will definitely be contacting you and uh we
should point out other people if they want to volunteer in any way to help out
whatever their abilities please leave information on 516-751-2600 uh if we
don't get back to you right away it's because we're swamped with all kinds of
calls and putting out a magazine and and trying to get mail through and things
like that you're an editor right uh yeah that's what they tell me just uh just one
more thing yes i do have some experience with the legal system myself you know maybe
i would love to be able to give my advice uh through one of you guys or uh-huh i would
love to have a conversation with mr ed cummings if i could get him to call me
collect somehow uh-huh well um this is somebody if you know you know my name is
phil and i'm right well we can uh we can pass that information on to bernie s and if
he's able to you know maybe he'll do that um and we we can also give you the uh the
legal person's name to contact over there as well yeah i'd rather not talk to the
lawyer till i talk to you guys first okay all right i understand okay listen we're
out of time all right you're gonna get in a lot of trouble there if you don't deal
with that situation you have so uh i'll let him deal with that he better signal
that he's through he better signal they'll be signaling for him they're
signaling for us we're out of time it's uh practically 11 o'clock so another uh week
has gone by we'll be back again next week live i believe right sure yeah why not and
we'll have updates on this story and others a few things we didn't get to this
week but we'll get to it next week till then this is emmanuel goldstein saying
good night stay awake play with your phones and uh let us know what happens
when you do stay tuned for the wbai evening news good night
the telephone keeps ringing so i ripped it off the wall i cut myself while shaving
now i can't make a cough it couldn't get much worse but if they could they would
good evening in the news tonight still no answers
as to why gulf war vets continue to have health problems reactions to newt gingrich both in his
home district and in the district of columbia in new york an indian lesbian and gay organization
and groups that support it are banned from the indian day parade and a talk with stanley cohen
attorney for the hamas political leader detained in new york with these and other stories i'm amy
goodman in new york with verna avery brown in washington and this is the news for wednesday
august 16th 1995 first to the pacifica network news columbia's president has decided to declare
a state of emergency according to the caracol radio network among the measures to be imposed
stiffer prison sentences for kidnappers and the suspension of legal rights for already imprisoned
leftist guerrillas yesterday columbia's defense minister was arrested on charges he knew about the
alleged financing of the president's election campaign with drug dollars in south tome the
military coup leaders say they will accept angolan mediation and resolution will be in hand in 24
hours state department spokesperson david johnson told reporters what the coup means in terms of the
three hundred thousand dollars in u.s. aid it's going to be suspended yeah in accordance with u.s. law
the coup leaders say they plan to form a transitional government that will rule the african nation for
one year senator bill bradley of new jersey today announced he will not run for a fourth term the
democrat called the nation's political system broken and criticized both republicans and democrats
bradley says he will not leave public life but was not specific about his future plans
unnamed sources reportedly say the plans do not include a challenge to president clinton
bradley is the sixth democrat to retire from the u.s. senate the new york times calls it one of the
luscious settlements of a plant closing dispute ever in west virginia maytag closed the doors of
its west virginia plant where coca-cola vending machines were made in 1991 the work moved to south
carolina where workers received about half the west virginia wages yesterday a judge approved a
preliminary agreement settling what became a class action lawsuit from the west virginia workers
pacifica's laura eyama reports maytag will be shelling out eleven and a half million dollars to
eight hundred workers for closing down its plant in west virginia jane lang a partner in the
washington and minneapolis law firm of springer and lang reached the settlement with maytag's
attorney on the third day of the trial in a cemetery in charlestown west virginia lang says the
workers had been promised consistently for two years before the plant's closure that their jobs were
secure and then in 1991 their jobs were gone these folks were put out on the street unceremoniously
and many of them have never recovered their lives as a result so as one of them put it this has been
a victory for the little guys maytag maintains it did nothing wrong but agreed to the settlement as a
matter of risk avoidance attorney lang believes maytag could have avoided the lawsuit had it given the
workers the same severance package as its management lang says because the actual management package had
not been raised yet in the trial she could not reveal it however it's uh not uncommon management
uh generally to provide anything from six months to three years of uh pay to um people at who have had
some significant tenure at a company and who are at a managerial level can you tell us what the workers
got the workers got nothing the workers got zip lang says she hopes the multi-million dollar settlement
will send companies the message be as fair to all your employees as to your top ranking management
laura iama pacifica network news washington in zimbabwe president robert mugabe warned should gay rights
activists come to his country they will be thrown in jail the zimbabwe leader also called for an
international campaign to oppose those who support homosexuality this is the third public criticism
of homosexuals since zimbabwe banned a gay rights exhibit at a book fair this month after one day delay
due to hurricane felix bermudans are going to the polls to decide whether or not to end their status
as a british colony at least 15 000 would have to vote for independence for bermuda to close out its
386 year history as a colony of britain and those are the stories topping the news
the president's advisory panel on gulf war veterans illnesses wrapped up its introductory hearings
yesterday the committee met just two weeks after the department of defense released the results of
its own research the pentagon claims there's no evidence of a single so-called gulf war syndrome
but some critics charged the dod is covering up the severity of the problem like they did with agent
orange and vietnam war veterans and even the institute of medicine has disputed the pentagon's findings
mark bevis reports the president's advisory committee was formed last may the 12-member panel
consists of doctors lawyers academics a general and a union health and safety officer and they had
their first two-day meeting earlier this week during which the members heard from cabinet officers and
and other high government officials