ellcore.

However, when Bellcore publicly announces a project of this kind, it
expects a certain attitude from the public--something along the lines
of GOSH WOW, YOU GUYS ARE GREAT, KEEP THAT UP, WHATEVER IT
IS--certainly not cruel mimickry, one-upmanship and outrageous
speculations about possible security holes.

Now put yourself in the place of a policeman confronted by an outraged
parent, or telco official, with a copy of Version (B). This
well-meaning citizen, to his horror, has discovered a local
bulletin-board carrying outrageous stuff like (B), which his son is
examining with a deep and unhealthy interest. If (B) were printed in a
book or magazine, you, as an American law enforcement officer, would
know that it would take a hell of a lot of trouble to do anything about
it; but it doesn't take technical genius to recognize that if there's a
computer in your area harboring stuff like (B), there's going to be
trouble.

In fact, if you ask around, any computer-literate cop will tell you
straight out that boards with stuff like (B) are the SOURCE of trouble.
And the WORST source of trouble on boards are the ringleaders inventing
and spreading stuff like (B). If it weren't for these jokers, there
wouldn't BE any trouble.

And Legion of Doom were on boards like nobody else. Plovernet. The
Legion of Doom Board. The Farmers of Doom Board. Metal Shop. OSUNY.
Blottoland. Private Sector. Atlantis. Digital Logic. Hell Phrozen
Over.

LoD members also ran their own boards. "Silver Spy" started his own
board, "Catch-22," considered one of the heaviest around. So did
"Mentor," with his "Phoenix Project." When they didn't run boards
themselves, they showed up on other people's boards, to brag, boast,
and strut. And where they themselves didn't go, their philes went,
carrying evil knowledge and an even more evil attitude.

As early as 1986, the police were under the vague impression that
EVERYONE in the underground was Legion of Doom. LoD was never that
large--considerably smaller than either "Metal Communications" or "The
Administration," for instance--but LoD got tremendous press.
Especially in Phrack, which at times read like an LoD fan magazine; and
Phrack was everywhere, especially in the offices of telco security.
You couldn't GET busted as a phone phreak, a hacker, or even a lousy
codes kid or warez dood, without the cops asking if you were LoD.

This was a difficult charge to deny, as LoD never dist