Phiber Optik “Directly To Prison” Essay, Research Paper
The Prisoner: Phiber Optik Goes Directly to Jail
January 12, 1994
Phiber Optik went to prison that week and if you ask me
and a whole lot of other people think that’s just a shame.
To some folks, of course, it’s just desert. Talk to
phone-company executives, most computer-security experts, any
number of U.S. attorneys and law-enforcement agents, or Justice
Louis Stanton of the Southern District of New York (who handed
Phiber his year-and-a-day in the federal joint at Minorsville,
Pennsylvania), and they’ll tell you the sentence is nothing more than
what the young hacker had coming to him. They’ll tell you Phiber Optik is
a remorseless, malicious invader of other people’s computers, a
drain on the economic lifeblood of our national
telecommunications infrastructure, and/or a dangerous role model
for the technoliterate youth of today.
The rest of us will tell you he’s some kind of hero. Just ask.
Ask the people like me who have come to know this
21-year-old high-school dropout from Queens over the course of
his legal travails. We’ll describe a principled and gruffly
plain-talking spokesdude whose bravado, street-smart style, and
remarkably unmanipulative accessibility have made him the object of
more media attention than any hacker since Robert Morris nearly
brought down the Internet. Or ask the on-line civil libertarians
who felt that Phiber’s commitment to nondestructive hacking and
to dialogue with the straight world made him an ideal poster boy for
their campaign against the repressive excesses of the
government’s war on hackers. You might even ask the small subset
of government warriors who have arrived at a grudging respect for Phiber’s
expertise and the purity of his obsession with the workings of
the modern computerized phone system (a respect that has at times
bordered on parental concern as it grew clear that a 1991
conviction on state charges of computer trespass had failed to
curb Phiber’s reckless explorations of the system).
But for a truly convincing glimpse of the high regard in which
Phiber Optik is held in some quarters, you’d have to pay an
on-line visit to ECHO, the liberal-minded but hardly cyberpunk New
York bulletin-board system where Phiber has worked as resident
technical maven since last spring. Forsaking the glories of
phonephreaking for the workaday pleasures of hooking the system
up to the Internet and helping users navigate its intricacies, he
moved swiftly into the heart of ECHO’s virtual community (which
took to referring to him by the name his mother gave him — Mark
– as often as by his nom de hack). So that when he was indicted
again, this time on federal charges of unauthorized access to
phone-company computers and conspiracy to commit further computer
crimes, ECHO too was drawn into the nerve-racking drama of his case.
As the coconspirators named in the indictment (a
group of Phiber’s friends and government-friendly ex-friends)
pleaded guilty one by one, there remained brave smiles and high
hopes for Phiber’s jury trial in July. By the time the trial date
arrived, however, Phiber had made an agonizing calculus of risks
and decided to plead guilty to one count each of computer
intrusion and conspiracy. ECHO was left on tenterhooks waiting
for the day of the sentencing. Given Mark’s newfound enthusiasm
for more legitimate means of working with computers and his
undisputed insistence at the time of his plea that he had never
damaged or intended to damage any of the systems he broke into,
it seemed reasonable to wish for something lenient. A long
probation, maybe, or at worst a couple months’ jail time. After
all, the infamous Morris had done considerably greater harm, and
he got off with no jail time at all.
When the news arrived, therefore, of Phiber’s 12-month prison
sentence (plus three years’ probation and 600 hours of service),
it hit like a slap in the face, and ECHO responded with a massive
outburst of dismay and sympathy. ECHO’s director, Stacy Horn,
posted the information at 3 p.m. on November 3 in the system’s
main conference area, and within 24 hours the place was flooded
with over 100 messages offering condolences, advice on
penitentiary life, and curses on Judge Stanton. Not all the
messages were what you’d want to call articulate
read the first one in its entirety; quoth another:
nor was all the advice exactly comforting
a sincere and apparently quite prison-savvy Echoid
suggested; ;Skip the country, proposed one user who
connects from abroad, inviting Phiber to join him in sunny South
Africa). But the sentiment throughout was unmistakably heartfelt, and
when Phiber Optik finally checked in, his brief response was even more so
I just finished reading all this and…I’m speechless. I
couldn’t say enough to thank all of you.
He didn’t have to thank anybody, of course. Motivated by
genuine fellow feeling as this electronic lovefest was, it was
also the last step in the long-running canonization of Phiber Optik
as the digital age’s first full-fledged outlaw hero, and making
somebody else a hero is not necessarily the most generous of
acts. For one thing, we tend to get more from our heroes than
they get from us, and for another, we tend to be heedless of
(when not morbidly fascinated by) the very high psychic overhead
often involved in becoming a hero — especially the outlaw kind.
To their credit, though, the Echoids proved themselves sensitive
to the weight of the burden Phiber had been asked to take on. As
one of them put it: ;Sorry Mark. You’ve obviously been made
a martyr for our generation.
There was some melodrama in that statement, to be sure, but
not too much exaggeration. For ironically enough, Judge Stanton
himself seemed to have endorsed its basic premise in his remarks
upon passing sentence. Not unmoved by the stacks of letters sent
him in support of Phiber Optik’s character and motivations, the
judge allowed as how a less celebrated Phiber Optik convicted of
the same crimes might not deserve the severity of the discipline
he was about to prescribe (and in Phiber’s case it could be
argued that 12 months locked up without a computer is severe
enough to rate as cruel and unusual). But since Phiber had made
of himself a very public advertisement for the ethic of the
digital underground, the judge insisted he would have to make of
the sentence an equally public countermessage. ;The defendant…stands as
a symbol here today, said Stanton, making it clear that the
defendant would therefore be punished as one too.
The judge did not make it clear when exactly it was that the
judicial system had abandoned the principle that the punishment
fits the crime and not the status of the criminal, though I
suppose that happened too long ago to be of much interest. More
frustratingly, he also didn’t go into much detail as to what it
was that Phiber Optik was to stand as a symbol of. In at
least one of his remarks, however, he did provide an ample enough
clue:
Hacking crimes, said Judge Stanton,constitute a real threat to the
expanding information highway.
That the real threat; bit was a nice dramatic touch,
but anyone well-versed in the issues of the case could see that
at this point the judge was speaking symbolically. For one thing,
even as practiced by the least scrupulous joyriders among Phiber
Optik’s subcultural peers, hacking represents about as much of a
threat to the newly rampant telecommunications juggernaut as shoplifting
does to the future of world capitalism. But more to the point, everybody
recognizes by now that all references to information highways, super
or otherwise, are increasingly just code for the corporate wet
dream of a pay-as-you-go telecom turnpike, owned by the same megabusinesses
that own our phone and cable systems today and off-limits to
anyone with a slender wallet or a bad credit rating. And that,
symbolically speaking, is what Phiber Optik’s transgressions
threaten.
For what did his crimes consist of after all? He picked the
locks on computers owned by large corporations, and he shared the
knowledge of how to do it with his friends (they had given themselves
the meaningless name MOD, more for the thrill of sounding like a
conspiracy than for the purpose of actually acting like one). In
themselves the offenses are trivial, but raised to the level of a
social principle, they do spell doom for the locks some people
want to put on our cyberspatial future. And I’m tempted,
therefore, to close with a rousing celebration of Phiber Optik as
the symbol of a spirit of anarchic resistance to the corporate
Haussmannization of our increasingly information-based lives, and
to cheer Phiber’s hero status in places like ECHO as a sign that
that spirit is thriving.
But I think I’ll pass for now. Phiber Optik has suffered
enough for having become a symbol, and in any case his symbolic
power will always be available to us, no matter where he is. Right
now, though, the man himself is going away for far too long, and
like I said, that’s nothing but a shame.
____________________________________________________________________________
The Personal side to Phiber
Handle:Phiber Optik
a.k.a.: Mark Abene
Claim to Fame:
As a founding member of the Masters of Deception, Phiber Optik inspired
thousands of teenagers around the country to “study” the internal workings
of our nation’s phone system. A federal judge attempted to “send a message”
to other hackers by sentencing Phiber to a year in federal prison, but the
message got garbled: Hundreds of well-wishers attended a welcome-home party
in Abene’s honor at an elite Manhattan Club. Soon after, New York magazine
dubbed him one of the city’s 100 smartest people.
First encountered a computer:
Hanging out in the electronics department of the A&S department store in
Queens, N.Y., where his mother worked. There he was introduced to the Apple
II, the Timex Sinclair and the Commodore 64. The first
computer he owned was a Radio Shack TRS-80 (Trash-80).
Unusual tools:
Experimented by dialing patterns on a phone receiver. Abene used the
receiver so frequently that it had to be bandaged with black electrical tape
to keep its guts from falling out.
Little-known fact:
Phiber Optik’s favorite food: mashed potatoes from Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Not real mashed potatoes. Real ones have lumps in them.
____________________________________________________________________________
A quick interveiw before going to prison
PHIBER OPTIK
But you know what I would like to see? We did this last week. We
called up local information and we heard for the last time the NY
telephone recording. Now, lets see if they have, as they said they would
on Jan 1st, changed everything… I think it’s very important that we do
some checking up here. Ok, there is our trusty dial tone..and we are
going to..No we are not going to call anywhere cause I guess we didn’t
pay our touch-tone fee…Did we?…Now, ok, lets try another line…Hey!
No, we didn’t pay the touch-tone fee on any of our lines apparently…lets
try…there we go…(dials number) lets see what happens…
Operator: New York Telephone
Emmanuel: Oh I’m sorry I thought this was NYNEX..
Operator: OK
Emmanuel: OK..so long…well apparently she didn’t know either! Wow!
Nynex what’s that? It doesn’t work on Information yet..how bout that?
Lets try 0+ calls and see if that’s any better…(dials number) lets call
ourselves…oops (dials again)
Let’s see what happens (recording: New York Telephone) Oh what is
going on here?..I mean come on – I wrote the check out to NYNEX,
I’ve been complaining about NYNEX all week! I haven’t said a single
bad thing about NY Telephone since Jan 1 because they don’t exist
anymore. Now what do I see? I see NY telephone vans, I see NY
telephone tariffs and I see NY telephone on the phone. What is a person
to do?..well Phiber this is your last show.
Phiber: Yes it is.
Emmanuel: At least for the next well how long do we estimate that
they’ll lock you up for?
Phiber: Roughly 10 months or so…
Emmanuel: Well, that’s quite a time, that should bring us to October..of
this coming year..its been..pretty crazy and pretty hectic I would
imagine..the last couple of weeks..you are actually supposed to report
when? Friday?
Phiber: Yeah that’s right.
Emmanuel: At a place called schulkill PA. Where you will be spending
time and hopefully you will be writing to us at the radio station since
you won’t actually be able to be on the air.
Phiber: Yeah, I will certainly try to write at least.
Emmanuel: Any thoughts you wanta give…? By the way good article
in the village voice.
Phiber: Yeah I was really happy to read it…I thank Julian DeBell for
writing such a nice article.
Emmanuel: It’s the one with Beevis and Butthead on the cover?..no its
not Beevis and Butthead it’s Clinton and Bush?
Phiber: No it’s supposed to be our former and current mayor..no
actually its Mayor Koch…It’s Koch and Juliani.
Emmanuel: In the form of Beevis and Butthead, so pick up the Voice
and check out the article, nice picture too..I haven’t actually seen it yet I
am just going on what other people have said to me.
Phiber: Open the page why don’t you?
Emmanuel: What page is it on?
Phiber: I don’t know.
Emmanuel: This newspaper has about a thousand pages in it so I don’t
know which page to go too..
Phiber: Page 44
Emmanuel: I hope your not just saying that…oh look look, there you
are! The byteman of Alcatrazz they are calling you, “Phiber Optic goes
directly to jail”. Wow…well that’s something…so that’s this week in the
Village Voice..
____________________________________________________________________________
Mark “Phiber” may not seem so special unless you know how truly smart
somone must be to pull off something as he did. He was so smart he used the
oldest computer you could possibly use and he about got away with it. There
are still some people who have the best computers in the world and still cant
compete with Phiber.
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