Pope was touring Mexico City. Hustlers
from the Medellin Cartel were trying to buy black-market Stinger
missiles in Florida. On the comics page, Doonesbury character Andy was
dying of AIDS. And then ... a highly unusual item whose novelty and
calculated rhetoric won it headscratching attention in newspapers all
over America.

The US Attorney's office in Phoenix, Arizona, had issued a press
release announcing a nationwide law enforcement crackdown against
"illegal computer hacking activities." The sweep was officially known
as "Operation Sundevil."

Eight paragraphs in the press release gave the bare facts: twenty-seven
search warrants carried out on May 8, with three arrests, and a hundred
and fifty agents on the prowl in "twelve" cities across America.
(Different counts in local press reports yielded "thirteen,"
"fourteen," and "sixteen" cities.) Officials estimated that criminal
losses of revenue to telephone companies "may run into millions of
dollars." Credit for the Sundevil investigations was taken by the US
Secret Service, Assistant US Attorney Tim Holtzen of Phoenix, and the
Assistant Attorney General of Arizona, Gail Thackeray.

The prepared remarks of Garry M. Jenkins, appearing in a U.S.
Department of Justice press release, were of particular interest. Mr.
Jenkins was the Assistant Director of the US Secret Service, and the
highest-ranking federal official to take any direct public role in the
hacker crackdown of 1990.

"Today, the Secret Service is sending a clear message to those computer
hackers who have decided to violate the laws of this nation in the
mistaken belief that they can successfully avoid detection by hiding
behind the relative anonymity of their computer terminals. ( ... )
"Underground groups have been formed for the purpose of exchanging
information relevant to their criminal activities. These groups often
communicate with each other through message systems between computers
called 'bulletin boards.' "Our experience shows that many computer
hacker suspects are no longer misguided teenagers, mischievously
playing games with their computers in their bedrooms. Some are now
high tech computer operators using computers to engage in unlawful
conduct."

Who were these "underground groups" and "high-tech operators?" Where
had they come from? What did they want? Who WERE they? Were they
"mischievous?" Were they dangerous? How had "misguided teenagers"
managed to alarm the Unit