tions crimes can now expect that their cooperation with
federal law enforcement will result in meaningful punishment.
Companies and the public at large must report computer-enhanced crimes
if they want prosecutors and the course to protect their rights to the
tangible and intangible property developed and stored on computers."

Cook had made it his business to construct this "new reality for
hackers." He'd also made it his business to police corporate property
rights to the intangible.

Had the Electronic Frontier Foundation been a "hacker defense fund" as
that term was generally understood, they presumably would have stood up
for Kyrie. Her 1990 sentence did indeed send a "message" that federal
heat was coming down on "hackers." But Kyrie found no defenders at
EFF, or anywhere else, for that matter. EFF was not a bail-out fund
for electronic crooks.

The Neidorf case paralleled the Shadowhawk case in certain ways. The
victim once again was allowed to set the value of the "stolen"
property. Once again Kluepfel was both investigator and technical
advisor. Once again no money had changed hands, but the "intent to
defraud" was central.

The prosecution's case showed signs of weakness early on. The Task
Force had originally hoped to prove Neidorf the center of a nationwide
Legion of Doom criminal conspiracy. The Phrack editors threw physical
get-togethers every summer, which attracted hackers from across the
country; generally two dozen or so of the magazine's favorite
contributors and readers. (Such conventions were common in the hacker
community; 2600 Magazine, for instance, held public meetings of hackers
in New York, every month.) LoD heavy-dudes were always a strong
presence at these Phrack-sponsored "Summercons."

In July 1988, an Arizona hacker named "Dictator" attended Summercon in
Neidorf's home town of St. Louis. Dictator was one of Gail Thackeray's
underground informants; Dictator's underground board in Phoenix was a
sting operation for the Secret Service. Dictator brought an undercover
crew of Secret Service agents to Summercon. The agents bored spyholes
through the wall of Dictator's hotel room in St Louis, and videotaped
the frolicking hackers through a one-way mirror. As it happened,
however, nothing illegal had occurred on videotape, other than the
guzzling of beer by a couple of minors. Summercons were social events,
not sinister cabals. The tapes showed fifteen hours of raucous
laughte