Irresponsible Journalism

ZDnet's Kevin Poulsen would have you believe that Justin is someone
when he's not

By Justin Petersen April 22, 1999

Up until now, I have been unable to reveal all the details of the
events between 1991 and 1995. As many people know, I worked as an
undercover FBI informant for two years. It is of little surprise that
some people would want to get even for my snitching. In retaliation,
two of these individuals have made overwhelming efforts to let everyone
know the details of this saga. All this in an effort to try to prevent
me from making any money from my exploits. It is not typically my style
to involve myself in pissing contests. However, I am forced to reveal
the details of why I ratted on my friends.

The two former friends I speak of are Ron Austin and Kevin Poulsen.
Personally, I would just assume forget their entire existence.
Unfortunately, they have made this impossible. To this day, they
continue to publicize what I did. As a public figure, I feel I must
speak out and defend my actions.

Poulsen and Austin would have you believe that I "ratted out my
friends". That I am a "scorpion that stings friends and foes alike".
However, the fact is nothing could be farther from the truth. The truth
is I had to rat them out or I would have got up to 6 months home
detention. It's classic hacker mentality nonsense. No one wants to lose
but it bothers me to see Kevin Poulsen get so much attention. Well I'm
sorry to rain on their parade, but here are the facts.

One of the misconceptions the public has is that Poulsen, Austin, and I
were friends. This is factually incorrect. We were partners in crime. I
did not go to clubs with them, because they said my club friends were
losers. I did not go to the movies with them, and I did not go to
parties with them because they never invited me. Some friends, huh?

Ronald Austin

During 1989 and 90, Austin hung around with Poulsen and I. I was
peripherally involved in their hacking exploits. Austin created a rift
between Poulsen and I. Austin was worried that I would turn in Poulsen
the way I had to with some former drug buddies. Austin played double
agent between Poulsen and I, frequently telling each of us different
secrets about each other. Poulsen grew to understand that I was not to
be trusted. Austin also played this game with my girlfriend at the
time, Frecia, who had a crush on him. He attempted to break us apart,
and she later tried to pick up on him. Austin even went as far as to
watch a tape I proudly showed him of a previous girlfriend and I had
made of us having sex. Then he said, "Hey, how come you only have one
leg" as if he didn't know I lost it while drunk driving on my
motorcycle. The prick bastard deserved that I ratted him out for that
comment alone. On several other occasions, I discovered Austin spying
on me. He thought I was just paranoid. I privately noted Austin's
behavior. Had it not been for a major FBI investigation regarding their
activities, I would launched my own countersurveillance operation with
my CIA friends.

In a conversation I recorded for the FBI , I asked Austin if he would
cooperate against Poulsen if he were ever threatened with espionage
charges. He confided that "he didn't want to be put in a position where
he'd again have to take the fall." What does that tell you? Given that
Austin was supposedly a good friend to Poulsen, it led me to conclude
that he would likely do the same to me if he found out I was taping
him.

So given Austin's two faced behavior in giving me only the inferior
hacking tools and our lack of true friendship, my decision to inform on
him was the only logical decision. I mean I had already informed on
him and as I said, I was already taping him, but his comments on tape
told me I made the right decision. In retrospect, it was a good one
being that once arrested he did in fact cooperate against Poulsen.
Austin told the FBI everything I'd already told them about Poulsen. My
ratting him out caught Austin totally off guard. I had not let him know
that I was already in jail for auto theft and credit card fraud when I
phoned the feds and offered them a deal. When interviewed for the
novel, "The Watchman", his feeling that he was betrayed by his "friend"
was conveyed to the author. The book now incorrectly reflects the
position that I betrayed his friendship, quite the contrary.

Austin is in fact extremely jealous of the women I date. He calls
them "hookers" just because of their liberal lifestyle. His actions of
late have been comical. He has even gone as far as to build an entire
web site to see me captured two more times after I ratted him out. On
several occasions he has spread rumors about me being in poor health.
Let me state for the record that I am fine and have no communicable
diseases that you can catch through casual contact. heh

As far as "friends" go, Austin went on to become an informant against
me and my friends. He turned the tables on me and created additional
problems for me. He also built a case on an embezzler friend of mine.
In the process, he got his girlfriend's best friend out of trouble with
the FBI for some minor trouble while getting my embezzler friend in
real trouble. Ironic huh? Troubled by legal problems, and addicted to
drugs, the embezzler eventually took his own life. Austin was also
responsible for the capture of my friend John who was a fugitive drug
dealer. I used to sell John information from the DMV about people who
didn't pay him off. One of them wound up dead. My drug dealer friend
is now serving a ten year sentence. Austin better watch his ass.

Kevin Poulsen

Unlike so many computer hackers, Poulsen has reformed himself and is
now a successful writer. He thinks I am incessantly paranoid. This,
along with Austin's double agent tactics, incorrectly caused him to
believe that I was out to maliciously hack the PacBell computer systems
he had benignly hacked into. In a last ditch effort to stop me, I
thought Poulsen called the police on me while I was breaking into a
PacBell switching center. I narrowly hobbled out of that one. Within
minutes, the building was surrounded by sixty-eight police cars and an
Bell-Huey attack chopper.

I eventually found out it wasn't Poulsen who called the police that
day, I just tripped the alarm. Again, I kept this knowledge to myself
because I was embarassed at the time. These were some bad ass hackers
and I was just a petty con man - why was I in all this trouble because
of them? The best I could do was distance myself from him and Austin
by doing some mail theft in another state. I stole a car from a guy in
a parking lot and drove to Texas. Eight months later I was arrested
again, and I told them the supermarket Kevin Poulsen shopped at as a
show of good faith and they arrested him. Then I turned in Austin and
tried to catch Mitnick but, unlike Austin, Mitnick smelled a rat, so to
speak, so that investigation was blown. But they all deserved it.

Poulsen has gone on to become a successful writer for the popular web
site, ZDnet. He has routinely abused his position by writing about me.
Even if what he says is true, I don't think if he was involved he
should be able to write about me. This article would be a classic
example of why journalist should not be permitted to write about
stories they are entertwined in. I should at least get to put whatever
spin I want on things after having done my own time in jail. And for
those of you that heard what happened to me in jail, no, my ass is fine
now.

My True Friends

In an effort to protect my friends and not jeopardize my relationship
with the FBI, I have not revealed a few facts. One being that even
though I told them everything about my friend Grant and my former
employer, the Private Investigator, nothing happened to those guys. So
it's like they didn't get ratted out at all. The FBI undoubtedly would
have prosecuted them had I not ratted out so many others. Now that I am
free of all government control, and the statue of limitations has run
out, I can talk about this. If there is any question to the
authenticity of my statements and my sincerity, I would ask that you
question either the U.S. Attorney, David Schindler, or FBI Special
Agents Ornalles, Teppar, and McGuire. Ask them how I failed the lie
detector test twice when I mixed up who I was informing on.   Or when I
broke in to tears when I had to talk about the P.I. and Grant. I know
that my mother is still my friend and I'm immensely loyal to her (as
long as she walks the striaght and narrow). Just kidding, but I
actually do have alot of friends - people like me. Forgive me if I
rolled on everyone else but they all deserved it.

Jessie aka Drunkfux

While acting as an informant I was flown to a hacker convention in St.
Louis. Discretely I said this to my hacker friend Jessie. "I can't tell
you too much right now, but since you've figured out that I'm an
informant, keep your mouth shut. I don't want it to get out so I'll let
you off the hook". A little drunk at the time, I don't think he heard
me. Ultimately, he was never brought to trial, because I put it down
that he was "small potatos" in my report. Several years later in a
telephone conversation, after reading about my informant status, he
said, "I knew at the time you were a rat, but you didn't rat me out, so
you are A-OK!".

Selling Out

A few in the hacker community accuse me of selling out by working for
the Feds. They also accuse me of going after one of my own. Let me
address that by saying in order to sell out I had to be "in" in the
first place. I never felt like a part of the "hacker community". I had
no hacking skills.   Frankly, I think the term "hacker community" is an
oxymoron. By any description I am a "grifter" not a hacker. So by my
own admission I was never one of them. I am a more of a garden variety
criminal. I just happen to love rip off mail and credit cards.

As far as Mitnick goes, I was misled by the FBI. They informed me that
they would be paying me more than the $3000 per month I was getting. I
may be a criminal but I am patriotic. At the time I felt I was serving
my country (and what's wrong with making a buck on the side?) by
helping to build a case against him.

Overall, the FBI is not interested in prosecuting traditional hackers.
Their primary interest is in the malicious or profit motivated ones. In
that regard, with the mail and credit card rip offs , I think my record
speaks for itself.

During my two year involvement as an paid informant the FBI routinely
passed over dozens of harmless hackers. I did not know Mitnick or his
partner, Depayne, prior to ratting them out. In my mind, which is all
that really counts, I was acting strictly as a bounty hunter. Mitnick
is not a harmless hacker, he did in fact profit in many ways from his
crimes. So he deserved it too.

Conclusion

Perhaps you can see why I was reluctant to publicly discuss all of
this. I really don't like to sling mud but my hand has been forced.
It's everyone's fault but my own. I was dragged into this whole
computer scene. It's all just sour grapes. I'll take a nice chianti
and Lobster dinner at the Rainbow (if I can find a good credit card to use).
heh