ted with investigators. He had voluntarily
handed over much of the evidence that had led to his own indictment.
He had already admitted in writing that he knew that the E911 Document
had been stolen before he had "published" it in Phrack--or, from the
prosecution's point of view, illegally transported stolen property by
wire in something purporting to be a "publication."

But even if the "publication" of the E911 Document was not held to be a
crime, that wouldn't let Neidorf off the hook. Neidorf had still
received the E911 Document when Prophet had transferred it to him from
Rich Andrews' Jolnet node. On that occasion, it certainly hadn't been
"published"--it was hacker booty, pure and simple, transported across
state lines.

The Chicago Task Force led a Chicago grand jury to indict Neidorf on a
set of charges that could have put him in jail for thirty years. When
some of these charges were successfully challenged before Neidorf
actually went to trial, the Chicago Task Force rearranged his
indictment so that he faced a possible jail term of over sixty years!
As a first offender, it was very unlikely that Neidorf would in fact
receive a sentence so drastic; but the Chicago Task Force clearly
intended to see Neidorf put in prison, and his conspiratorial
"magazine" put permanently out of commission. This was a federal case,
and Neidorf was charged with the fraudulent theft of property worth
almost eighty thousand dollars.

William Cook was a strong believer in high-profile prosecutions with
symbolic overtones. He often published articles on his work in the
security trade press, arguing that "a clear message had to be sent to
the public at large and the computer community in particular that
unauthorized attacks on computers and the theft of computerized
information would not be tolerated by the courts."

The issues were complex, the prosecution's tactics somewhat unorthodox,
but the Chicago Task Force had proved sure-footed to date.
"Shadowhawk" had been bagged on the wing in 1989 by the Task Force, and
sentenced to nine months in prison, and a $10,000 fine. The Shadowhawk
case involved charges under Section 1030, the "federal interest
computer" section.

Shadowhawk had not in fact been a devotee of "federal-interest"
computers per se. On the contrary, Shadowhawk, who owned an AT&T home
computer, seemed to cherish a special aggression toward AT&T. He had
bragged on the underground boards "Phreak Klass 2600"