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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Ivan Upton <uptoic@*****.CA>
Subject: >Re: [OT] Thought this was hallarious
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 11:59:06 -0600
At 1:44 PM -0400 on 10/15/1998, you wrote:
> At 12:12 PM 10/15/98 , you wrote:
>
> >You do realize, of course, that the US FBI considers -all- Role Playing
> >Games to be "Subversive Literature." Its one of the reasons that
SJGames
> >got hit a few years back.
>

the reason SJG got raided by the FBI was Their GURPS Cyberpunk book. Apparently (this is
second
hand info an i got it long ago) SJG were using real hackers as resources to make things
more
realistic, and the FBI thought that the book was meant to be a manual for hackers.....


> I thought it was becuase they had a game called Hackers that dealt with
> computer fraud and the FBI took it a little too seriously. Not that I don't
> think that the FBI wouldn't have a policy like that. Although that makes
> you wonder what they'll think about an RPG based on the X-Files...
>
> Sommers
> Homepage comming soon!


Aethelwulf
uptoic@*****.ca

"If your going to have delusions you might as well go for the really satisfying
ones" - Marcus
Cole, Babylon 5
Message no. 2
From: Steve Eley <sfeley@***.NET>
Subject: Re: >Re: [OT] Thought this was hallarious
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 14:10:34 -0400
Ivan Upton wrote:
>
> the reason SJG got raided by the FBI was Their GURPS Cyberpunk book. Apparently
(this is second
> hand info an i got it long ago) SJG were using real hackers as resources to make
things more
> realistic, and the FBI thought that the book was meant to be a manual for
hackers.....

It wasn't the FBI. It was the Secret Service, with their ill-fated
"Operation Sundevil" crackdown on computer crimes.

Steve Jackson Games wasn't the only public relations debacle the operation
had... They were hitting lots of other weird targets too. Lotus
apparently got a lot of heat on suspicion of having stolen a part of the
Macintosh ROM code. Why they thought this, I don't know.. What DOES
seem obvious is that the Secret Service people leading this project didn't
know a hell of a lot about computers.


Have Fun,
- Steve Eley
sfeley@***.net
Message no. 3
From: Shaun Gilroy <shaung@**********.NET>
Subject: Re: >Re: [OT] Thought this was hallarious
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 15:32:47 -0400
At 11:59 AM 10/15/98 -0600, you wrote:
>> At 12:12 PM 10/15/98 , you wrote:
>>
>> >You do realize, of course, that the US FBI considers -all- Role Playing
>> >Games to be "Subversive Literature." Its one of the reasons that=
SJGames
I said its ^^^^^ of the reasons
>> >got hit a few years back.
>>

However its second hand info from me. I'll attempt to dig up references to
post here.

gomen-

(>)noysh the spoonë bard
-> jack of all trades, master of none. <-
Message no. 4
From: Logan Graves <logan1@*****.INTERCOM.NET>
Subject: Re: >Re: [OT] Thought this was hallarious
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 20:39:57 -0400
In our last episode, Shaun Gilroy wrote:
>
> However its second hand info from me. I'll attempt to dig up
> references to post here.

One of the best references is by cyberpunk
writer extraordinairé, Bruce Sterling.
Title: "The Hacker Crackdown"
ISBN: 0-553-56370-X

This book is also available on-line (for free), but I was impressed with
the depth & scope, so much that I wrote Bruce & bought a paperback copy
for reference. Links to the freebies can be found on EFF's website:

http://www.eff.org/pub/Net_culture/Hackers/Hacker_Crackdown/

A few of us were on-line back then & remember logging time on some of
those infamous BBS's, before the guvmint stepped in (it).

--Fenris, the elder
_______________________________________________logan1@*****.intercom.net
(>) The Government says you can't have it.
We say you can. We're Ares Arms.
(>) Popular and long-running ad campaign from Ares Arms

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Thwap!