Sherwood Forest Shut Down by Secret Service ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An All Too Familar Story Yes, it's happened yet again. This time, two of the most prestigious computer hacker bulletin boards around, Sherwood Forest II and III, were raided by the government. The by now familiar scene of law enforcement types shutting down a bulletin board system because somebody didn't like what they'd been saying is no longer even newsworthy, judging from the complete lack of media coverage. That is probably the most worrisome ingredient here. On this occasion, it wasn't the FBI that carried out the raids, but the Secret Service. Why? According to William Corbett in the Washington public affairs office, the Secret Service became authorized to conduct these investigations after October 1984 under United States Codes 1030 (fraud by wire) and 1092 (credit card fraud). Because it's still an "active investigation," Corbett declined to give out any details on the case. Bioc Agent 003, a co-sysop on Sherwood Forest II, claims that warnings were posted all over the board concerning the posting of credit card numbers. "The management didn't have enough time to constantly look after the system," he said. He attributes the raids to "schmucks that posted numbers anyway." He also believes that posted information on credit firms (CBI and TRW) led to the seizures.