                                Combat Arms
                              2869 Grove Way
                   Castro Valley, California 94546-6709
                         Telephone (415) 538-6544
                            BBS: (415) 537-1777
                             December 5, 1990


                The FBI Comes Rapping, Rapping At Your BBS
                                    by
                              Brock N. Meeks


          The dog-eared manila envelope spilled a coffee stained
     report onto my cluttered desk. The title, "The FBI and Your BBS"
     sounded a little too nefarious, even for this curmudgeon of the
     information age. But I figured the report was worth at least a
     quick read. After all, somebody had gone to the effort to track
     down my address and forward a copy of the report to me. That
     someone turns out to be the report's author, Glen L. Roberts,
     director of The FBI Project an organization which publishes a
     newsletter, Full Disclosure, under the self defined category
     "privacy/surveillance."

          The report is chilling, almost paranoid. And if more people
     had known about its existence, a lot of grief might have been
     saved. As I read I remembered an old, coffee-ringed file folder
     I'd squirreled away. I remembered something about it's containing
     information on what I'd off-handedly labeled "FBI Computer Hit
     Squad." When I found the file, Roberts' report didn't seem so
     paranoid and knew I was in for a long night of research and bunch
     of early morning wake up interviews.

     IF YOU DIG, YOU HIT DIRT

          In 1984 a short series of discreet advertisements, placed by
     the FBI, appeared in a few computer trade publications and in The
     Wall Street Journal. The message was simple, and went something
     like: "We're looking for computer literate persons to join the
     Bureau." There was no mention of any special task force; however,
     it was clear that the Bureau wanted to upgrade their high-tech
     prowess.

          Although the FBI won't confirm the existence of a
     computerized "hit squad," an FBI public relations officer did
     confirm that they "have made an extraordinary effort to recruit
     more technically oriented personnel" since 1984.

          If you dig hard enough, you'll find substantial evidence
     that the FBI is most definitely working overtime in its efforts
     to monitor the electronic community. "They are desperately wary
     of the way information flows so freely in this medium," says
     Roberts. Indeed, one has only to recall this past May when some
     150 Secret Service agents, assisted by local police (backed up
     with electronic "intelligence" gathered and provided by the FBI)
     served some 27 search warrants in a dozen cities across the U.S.

          The bust, code-named Operation Sun Devil, was patterned
     after the tactics used to take down suspected drug rings:
     simultaneous busts, synchronized arrests. All in an effort to
     preclude any "early warnings" reaching the West via grapevine
     information moving from the East.

          I was curious about all these high tech hit tactics and
     armed with my file folder and Roberts' report I called a number
     scrawled on the inside flap of my file folder. It was annotated
     "Former agent; possible source." I called the number, and got a
     story.

          "I was recruited in 1983 by the FBI for my computer skills,"
     the former agent told me. Because he still does some consulting
     for the Bureau, he asked not to be identified, but he laid out a
     very specific plan by the FBI to increase their knowledge of the
     electronic communications world. He confided, "During my time the
     Bureau's monitoring of BBSs was extremely limited; we just didn't
     know how." In those days, he said, the FBI drew on the expertise
     of a small band of high-tech freelance snoops to augment their
     staff, "while we all honed our own skills."

     TRADITION

          Certainly the FBI has a tradition of "investigating" groups
     of people it deems "unsavory" or threatening.

          In Roberts' The FBI and Your BBS, there's a brief history of
     the FBl's willingness to gather all known information on a target
     group. Pulling from the Final Report of the Select (Senate)
     Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to
     Intelligence Activities, Book IV, Supplementary Reports on
     Intelligence Activities, Roberts includes this excerpt:

          "Detectives were sent to local radical publishing houses to
     take their books. In addition, they were to find every private
     collection or library in the possession of any radical, and to
     make the arrangements for obtaining them in their entirety. Thus,
     when the GID (General Intelligence Division) discovered an
     obscure Italian born philosopher who had a unique collection of
     books on the theory of anarchism, his lodgings were raided by the
     Bureau and his valuable collection become one more involuntary
     contribution to the huge and ever-growing library of the GID.
     [pages 87-88]."

          Change "any radical" to "any BBS" and "book" to "disk" and
     quite suddenly the electronic landscape turns into a winter
     still-life.

     DATA COLLECTION

          Roberts, quoting from his report, says, "Unlike other
     communications media, information on a BBS does not get read by
     anyone before its instantaneous publication. Therefore, the FBI
     has much less of a possibility of intimidating the owner of a BBS
     into not publishing certain information. The FBI also acts as if
     BBSs have a monopoly on the distribution of so-called 'illegal
     information.' The FBI often uses this 'danger' as justification
     to monitor the activities on these systems. In reality, however,
     BBSs transfer much less 'illegal information' than the phone
     system."

          Roberts statements are worth noting in light of the
     government's increased interest in the marriage of criminal
     activity and electronic communications.

          A 455-page report issued by the President's Commission on
     Organized Crime, dealing with drug abuse and trafficking cites
     that fact that crime has moved into the high-tech arena. The
     report states "To the extent that law enforcement agencies'
     capabilities and equipment are inferior to those of drug
     traffickers, immediate steps should be taken to rectify the
     situation." The report then recommends that data-gathering
     efforts of several agencies (including the FBI) should be tied
     together in one "all-source intelligence and operations center."

     ANY PROBLEM HERE?

          There are no laws prohibiting the FBI (or other agencies)
     from monitoring the public message traffic on a BBS; the
     Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 protects private
     messages and privately stored files only. But what about an FBI
     agent monitoring a BBS solely for the purpose of gathering
     information on the board's users? Any problem here?

          The former FBI agent I spoke with raised the concern that
     such casual monitoring might be a violation of the 1968 Wiretap
     Act. "In order for a wire tap, you have to get a court order. Now
     if an FBI agent is monitoring a BBS to gather information, that
     becomes an interesting question, because there are very specific
     federal rules about a wire tap. My question to you about a BBS
     [being monitored] is: "At what point does monitoring turn into a
     wiretap-like act?"

          Good point. The reality is, however, that there are no
     rules. Unless that agent is asking for private message traffic,
     he can, without impunity, monitor, store, and otherwise
     manipulate your public messages as he sees fit.

          Roberts points out that a BBS with public access is fair
     game for any kind of governmental snooping. But there is a way to
     make such casual snooping by a federal agent a crime.

          "If you want your BBS readily accessible to the public but
     want to protect against unwarranted monitoring, you have to
     provide a warning to prospective users," says Roberts. "It should
     read: 'This BBS is a private system. Only private citizens who
     are not involved in government or law enforcement activities are
     authorized to use it. The users are not authorized to divulge any
     information gained from this system to any government or law
     enforcement agency or employee."'

          This does two things. It makes the entire board "private."
     Second, it makes any kind of monitoring by the FBl (or other
     agencies, such as the Secret Service) a criminal offense (because
     they are would be guilty of unauthorized access; it also forces
     them to use the established guidelines of gaining information via
     a court ordered search warrant. The warning also protects you in
     another way: it stops "freelancers" from doing the Bureau's work.

     GET REAL

          How real is the possibility of the FBI monitoring your BBS?
     Much more than I'd like to believe. Although details of Operation
     Sun Devil are still sketchy, it's clear that the FBI, working in
     tandem with the Secret Service, is monitoring several hundred
     "suspected" boards across the electronic landscape. What kind of
     board is a potential monitoring target? "Any board that advocates
     hacking," said a Secret Service spokesman. Yet when I asked for a
     definition of hacking, all I was told was "illegal activity."

          The information provided here bears out, if nothing else, an
     increased interest by the FBI in the hard ball practice of going
     after electronic criminals. But are the "good guys" getting
     caught up with the bad?

          How extensive is the FBl's actual fact gathering by
     monitoring BBSs? No one knows really knows. However, given the
     history of Bureau, and the hard facts that crime in the
     information age makes full use of all the technology it can get
     its hands on, it's a small leap to believe that at least specific
     monitoring, of certain target groups, is taking place.

          Where does that leave you and me in all this? Back to square
     one, watching carefully what we say online. If you're a member of
     a "controversial" BBS, you might pass the concerns of Roberts on
     to your sysop. If you are a sysop, you might want to consider
     adding a bit of protection to the board . . . for the rest of us.

          Brock Meeks is a Washington, D.C. based columnist whose
     articles have appeared in several publications including Byte
     Magazine. His favorite radical BBS is ... well...private.



         -= RESPONSE FROM MUSTANG SOFTWARE REGARDING THIS ISSUE =-

Msg #: 107   Area: Wildcat_BBS     Sent: 30 Nov 90  07:39:29
 From: Rick Heming <Mustang Software>
   To: All
Topic: Policy Statement - Mustang Software, Inc.

This text is available in the file POLICY2.TXT on the Mustang Software,
Inc. HQ BBS for registered WILDCAT! sysops.

                      -------------------------------

             SOFTWARE COPYRIGHT, PIRACY, AND THE BBS COMMUNITY
                     Mustang Software, Inc. - 11/29/90

          Recently several computer trade publications have published
     reports of computer software piracy through the use of bulletin
     board systems. The articles in question briefly outline the
     confiscation of computer hardware from several BBS system
     operators as a result of a year-long investigation by the FBI.
     This investigation solicited support from several software
     developers, including Novell, Inc. and Mustang Software, Inc.
     This policy statement is designed to clarify the activities and
     position of Mustang Software, Inc. in these activities.

     1.   In the fall of 1989 Mustang Software was approached by the
          FBI regarding an investigation they were conducting into the
          activities of several bulletin boards in the Nashville area.
          The agents indicated that they were in contact with Novell,
          Inc. as a part of their investigation and requested
          information on how BBS were operated in general. Our contact
          with the agents consisted of verbal telephone contacts on
          several occasions throughout the following year, during
          which we offered technical support and inquired as to the
          progress of the investigation.

     2.   At no time during the FBI's independent investigation did
          anyone connected with Mustang Software initiate or receive
          any BBS or modem-related calls for investigative purposes.
          We made absolutely no calls to any other BBS, WILDCAT! or
          otherwise, other than test calls requested by registered
          sysops of our technical support staff. Furthermore, Mustang
          Software was not involved in any verbal contacts or
          telephone call to any sysops with regard to this activity.

     3.   According to affidavits filed with the U.S. Attorney's
          Office in Nashville, the FBI gained access to the BBSs in
          question through paid memberships and by convincing the
          sysops that they were interested in exchanging copyrighted
          material. Access to the BBS systems involved was not gained
          using a back-door, trojan program, or a security breach. The
          WILDCAT! BBS has never incorporated code to allow access
          through a "back door", nor would such a provision be added
          for investigative purposes in the future. As a matter of
          record, the BBS software in operation on the systems in
          question was not WILDCAT! when the "sting" was conducted.
          Mustang Software, Inc. has every intention of continuing to
          strengthen our position as the fastest growing BBS in the
          world. To do so, we must rely heavily on our reputation in
          the international BBS community. We would not compromise
          that reputation for anything. You can continue to trust that
          WILDCAT!'s source code has no undocumented features which
          would compromise the security aspects of our product.

          The above statements are presented to provide factual
     information regarding Mustang Software's physical activities
     during the period of the FBI's investigation. Apart from our
     participation, it is also important to understand our company
     position on the matter of software copyright, piracy, and the BBS
     community.

          BBS systems have many potential applications, most of which
     are legitimate endeavors. We realize however that there are some
     uses which may be looked upon as questionable, and others which
     are clearly illegal. Mustang Software does not believe it is not
     our function to concern ourselves with the use to which our
     product is placed, nor will we ever become involved in gathering
     this information from system operators. We do however adhere to
     the principals and guidelines of Software Publishers Association
     (SPA) regarding software piracy, and cannot condone this type of
     activity when it is brought to our attention. Our cooperation
     with the FBI investigation is an example of our response when
     such activity becomes apparent. Should such an investigation
     request information beyond simple conversation and technical
     support in the future, we will provide it in response to a proper
     legal request. The FBI investigation represents the possible
     consequences when a BBS operator openly engages in activities of
     questionable legality, and does so over a long period of time.

          A more common situation is one which arises almost monthly
     at Mustang Software. We are often advised by sysops that WILDCAT!
     is being used without proper registration, or that a particular
     BBS has made the registered release of our product available for
     download. Our response is always a simple phone call to the
     system operator bringing the matter to his attention. This call
     is all that is needed 98% of the time, and others are cleared-up
     with a standard form letter. We have never had to resort to legal
     action when handling a copyright issue with any BBS operator or
     other individual. This cooperation by responsible sysops is in
     direct contrast to the blatant pirating of a wide range of titles
     alleged in the FBI affidavit.

          Mustang Software, Inc. has invested a great deal of time
     during the past 2 years in an attempt to integrate BBS Software
     and communications software to the level of other applications
     such as database software, word processing software, or
     spreadsheet software. This effort was undertaken to help move
     away from the common misconception that BBSs are primarily
     operated by individuals not a part of the mainstream. We believe
     this representation of sysops as roguish computer hackers is
     inaccurate, and does not lend credibility to the
     telecommunications aspect of the PC marketplace. The BBS
     community has made great strides in this regard during the past
     year. Many software and hardware manufacturers have implemented
     BBS support systems, major corporations are installing BBSs for
     employee support and communication, and retailers such as
     Software Etc. now carry BBS software on store shelves nationwide.

          Software piracy using BBSs hurts us all. We firmly believe
     that the vast majority of system operators try to operate their
     BBS in a responsible manner, and avoid activities which violate
     the rights of others. In order to prevent encroachment and
     limitation of our telecommunication activities, we must make it
     clear that the activities of a small minority of BBS operators do
     NOT represent those of the masses. One of the best ways to
     accomplish this is to stand united against software piracy and to
     let the press know that BBS operators in general do not engage in
     this activity.

          We appreciate your time in reviewing this policy statement,
     and hope it has answered any questions on your mind.

     Sincerely,


     Mustang Software, Inc.
     P.O. Box 2264
     Bakersfield, CA 93303

