Freedom Downtime Page #7

lt's not Kevin's fault.

Free Kevin. Kevin has nothing to do with it.

The broad quit me

'cause l was an alcoholic...

and l wasn't making no money.

l was broke, that's why she quit me.

The reason l don't have a girlfriend

is l don't have no money.

Oh, wow.

He seems like a nice guy.

Why would you want to do anything to him?

You think his girlfriend's gonna quit him

or something?

lt was time to go.

We was peeling potatoes

Back in World War Two

And we was playing that rock and roll

After school for you know who

Hidden from the public

lt was behind the scenes

There was a relic

They called the purple hair

With Kevin Mitnick locked away...

the phone companies of the world

felt safe from intruders.

But the fact remained,

many people were exploring all the time...

online and off.

Allied SignalAerospace...

Sprint PCS up there...

lnformix,

Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems....

You're scaring me.

lt's like this flat area where there's no trees

or anything, just industry

Oklahoma, the state that created Hanson.

People kept telling us our sound guy

looked like one of the Hanson brothers.

Since we were going through

their hometown, Tulsa...

we figured we'd go

to one of Tulsa's bustling malls...

and turn the Free Kevin campaign

into a Hanson campaign.

We could use the publicity..

and if we could confuse some Tulsans

in the process...

all the better.

And it sure wasn't hard to do that.

Once we'd confused people at the mall,

we headed over to Oral Roberts University...

in the hopes that the Religious Right

would climb on board.

When the vice president of the university,

a former federal agent...

came down the stairs with a golf club,

we took the hint.

There wasn't a golf course for miles.

Hellflower, Satan's power

You grow more beautiful by the hour

You feed our hearts

And you free our minds

With the essence of the souls

that you devour

Shrinking violet makes the scene

ln the formal garden of the queen

Bloody Mary, so contrary

They had a hard time getting into my place.

l had the bedroom door closed,

so l didn't hear the pounding on the door

They were pounding on the door

out there for a good 10 minutes.

They actually started calling

on the cellular phone...

and leaving messages

on my answering machine.

''This is the FBl.

We're at your door. Open up.''

l wasn't there when they searched my home.

My mom had to get me from school.

My dad was the only one home.

They thought...

that he was me.

They were looking for somebody

that was an adult.

When they found out that l was like, 13...

they didn't know what to do.

l think when they walk in

and want to take things...

they should be told to go to hell...

take what they want, we'll see you in court,

don't even talk to me.

The problem, of course, is that

hackers don't have the resources to do this.

They want to try to get off cheap...

so they cooperate and they plea bargain...

and they end up pleading guilty

to something they didn't do.

And that sets the record bad

for them going forward.

l think if people had the resources,

or if there were an organization...

dedicated to helping people,

to providing the resources....

You know, something that's much more

than just a dummy front...

such as the EFF.

An organization that's actually truly willing

to help in those matters...

that we'd see a lot more progress

along those lines.

The government, for once...

would have to start conforming

to the same laws...

that they're supposedly enforcing.

We were detained for two hours

in the parking lot.

There were 13 police officers

and l think five or six police cars.

l told them what was going on...

but they seemed to think

there was more going on than there was.

Without my consent

they took my box of crystals...

even though they admitted

they didn't know what they were.

They took anything and everything

that had magnetic media on it...

or had an electrical plug on it.

They took other unrelated items

such as a woman's purse.

l'm not quite sure howthat fits

into the scope of their investigation.

Every business card l had.

They took everything

just to make life difficult on me.

They told me they're not trying

to chastise me...

and then one of them said...

he used to play with baseball cards

when he was a kid.

They would be searching my wardrobe.

l'd be standing there with the guy

he's asking questions...

and he's going through every pocket

in my wardrobe.

Then it suddenly dawned on me...

l don't have to stand there.

So l walked out of the room.

He stopped searching the wardrobe

and walked out with me.

lt was very obvious.

Their tactics weren't meant

to actually accomplish something.

Searching every pocket

of every shirt in my closet...

that tactic wasn't meant to do anything

except intimidate me.

They showed up at my friend's house...

where a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old

had just been put to bed.

They came storming into the house

with guns drawn...

ran up the steps...

and said,

''Freeze! Secret Service! Don't move!''

l was sitting at the keyboard of a computer,

so l looked extremely dangerous.

l was thrown to the floor, handcuffed,

and hogtied, and all that...

and dragged out. l told my..

friend Ellen Fisher, who was there,

to call my lawyer, which she did.

They kept telling me to shut up.

l was taken back to the police station

in Havertown, Pennsylvania...

and locked in a cell for about three hours

while my car was searched.

Then a Secret Service agent

interviewed me...

or interrogated me, wanted to know

what l was doing with the crystals.

And l said l was making them

available to people.

He tried to get me to say l was

committing fraud with them which l was not.

He gotvery irate that l wasn't telling him

what he wanted to hear.

Eventually they locked me

back in the cell again.

They refused to let me call my lawyer.

ln fact, my rights weren't read to me.

There were many instances

in which l told them...

l wanted to consult with my attorney...

and they said, ''That's not a good idea.''

They wouldn't let me get an attorney

So finally, when...

they all shifted from my apartment

to searching my office, actually at work...

l got to drive down in my own car.

l called an attorney...

and by the time they were at my work,

so was an attorney.

The agent in charge, Ken McGuire,

in particular...

gave me a very nasty

and disappointed look...

at the fact

that l was willing to protect my rights.

lt's really amazing.

He really gave me one of these:

''You shouldn't have done that'' looks.

''Now you're really in for it.''

NASA people told my parents l was cocky...

because l told them

to choose harder passwords.

l had cops tell me pretty well straight out:

''We really didn't want to harm Junior..

''so we took his computer

and gave it to the boys...

''over in traffic management,

and it was just really groovy.''

Wait a minute. You're like,

''You took this kid's equipment?''

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