Cyanide Anarchist a Hacker, Too?
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   Declan McCullagh 
   04.09.02 | 2:00 AM

   A 25-year-old anarchist who goes by the moniker "Dr. Chaos" is not only
   accused of being a potential cyanide-terrorist. The FBI also believes
   that Joseph Konopka, charged with illegally possessing sodium cyanide
   and potassium cyanide, is a nefarious computer hacker with ties to 2600
   magazine.

   On Friday, about nine FBI agents swooped down on a public gathering
   of hackers loosely associated with 2600 and interrogated attendees
   about subway tunnels in Chicago, Illinois, where Konopka allegedly
   stashed over a pound of poison.

   "He had met with members of this group once or more than once in the
   past," Ross Rice, a spokesman for the Chicago FBI office, said on
   Monday.

   On the first Friday of every month, self-described hackers in scores of
   cities convene for 2600 meetings -- events that are part social
   gathering, part tech-tip swapping and sometimes a recruitment
   opportunity for local Internet firms.

   Around 6 p.m. last Friday, FBI agents surrounded the roughly 15
   attendees at the Chicago-area 2600 gathering, held in the Great Hall at
   Union Station. Attendees said that the agents showed them a photo of
   Konopka and asked questions about chemical agents, explosives, and
   tours of the subway system.

   "They were asking me questions, if anyone had been offering tours of
   underground tunnels, anyone talking about chemicals or explosives,
   things like that," said Robert Sheehy, a 26-year-old 2600 attendee.
   "They asked me what my nickname was on IRC. They seemed shocked that I
   wasn't on IRC."

   Sheehy said he didn't recognize the photo of Konopka but someone else
   reported they had seen it in local news coverage.

   FBI spokesman Rice wouldn't say what, if anything, the bureau learned
   during the agents' 20-minute interview session: "I can't characterize
   what was said or what was asked. People who are talked to in those
   circumstances, the results of the interviews are confidential."

   University of Illinois at Chicago police arrested Konopka on March 9
   for trespassing in the campus' underground steam tunnels. He had been
   wanted by police in Wisconsin for allegedly vandalizing utility
   systems.

   Police say a 15-year-old boy who was arrested with Konopka led them to
   the stash of cyanide secreted in a Chicago Transit Authority subway
   tunnel.

   An affidavit by FBI agent Leslie Lahr said Konopka admitted to using a
   laptop computer hidden with the chemicals for "'war driving,' which is
   a way to access to networks without permission using a wireless modem."
   Lahr said Konopka confessed to being part of an anarchist group called
   Realm of Chaos, "the purpose of which was to take personal
   entertainment" out of destroying public utility, water, sewage, and
   telecommunication systems.

   Last month, a federal magistrate judge ordered that Konopka be held
   without bail because he presented "an extreme danger."

   This isn't the first time that a 2600 gathering has been targeted by
   federal agents.

   In 1992, Secret Service agents raided a 2600 gathering at the
   Pentagon City mall in Virginia. The agents seized property and recorded
   names of attendees.

   That altercation led to a court case brought by the Electronic
   Privacy Information Center. An affidavit filed by Secret Service
   agent William Burch in that case said the raid had to do with "long
   distance telephone toll fraud."

   William Knowles, a Chicago security analyst who occasionally attends
   2600 meetings, said he was surprised to hear the news.

   "Chicago meetings are pretty tame," Knowles said. "When I was going, it
   was various subjects, what everyone else was up to. They're not exactly
   the hotbeds of computer anarchy that federal agents might expect."