Neowin.net - Kevin Mitnick rides again

Kevin Mitnick rides again

Posted by me101 on 20 January 2003 - 14:52 · 43 comments & 4041 views

Thanks go to xpablo on our Back Page News for letting us know that the world's most famous hacker, Kevin Mitnick, is going to be "free" to use a computer which can be connected to the internet for the first time in over 5 years. This occasion will be broadcast "live" on TV for the whole world to see...

On Tuesday, 21st January 2003, Kevin Mitnick will celebrate his long-awaited re-entry into the magical world of computing by appearing live on TechTV's "The Screen Savers." Don't miss this landmark moment in hacker history, to be broadcast starting @ 7pm Eastern.Joining Kevin Mitnick in the TechTV "The Screen Savers" studio with Leo and Patrick, are other noteworthy legends in the computer industry... Shawn Fanning, creator of Internet music downloading pioneer Napster, and Steve Wozniak, a co-founder of Apple.

Kevin Mitnick, in a recent interview with CNN, says about the landmark 21st day of January 2003, "I'm looking forward to using email. My friends and family are tired of checking email for me and printing it out".

News source: CNN Tech

View: TechTV - The Screen Savers - Mitnick Rides Again

View: GeekCulture - Nitrozac and Shaggy "The Joy Of Tech" Cartoon

View: KevinMitnick's web site

"It's in a category we call 'invisible,' " he said. "It transcends the notion of having to carry another item -- like a PDA, a cell phone or a laptop -- to hold your information."

And there's another attractive aspect. As a potential market for Microsoft or any other company, it certainly doesn't hurt that the wristwatch industry sells about a billion watches a year.

Trenches to Trenchcoats

In the grand scheme of things, the wristwatch isn't really all that much older than the computer. Watches started to make a regular appearance on wrists only after World War I, when Army officers found early models -- they looked like pocket watches attached to a wrist strap -- better for synchronizing movements, and much more efficient than digging in uniform pockets and inside greatcoats.

Civilians caught on in the 1920s. And the high-tech fantasy of strapping a smart piece of technology onto one's wrist kicked in in the '30s, with comic-strip detective Dick Tracy and his two-way wrist radio. It has regularly floated in and out of pop culture ever since. The 1960s spy spoof "Get Smart" furnished bumbling spy Maxwell Smart most famously with his shoe phone. But he also made use of a watch containing a mini-phonograph player, one that had an antenna to reach things and one that furnished a garrote, the better for strangling the evildoers of KAOS. In 1973, James Bond's Rolex came with a handy electromagnetic, bullet-deflecting feature in "Live and Let Die." And the '80s saw David Hasselhoff whispering into his digital watch whenever he needed to summon his computerized supercar in the TV show "Knight Rider."

But for all the fictional visions of the super-smart watch, there have been enough failed real-world products to fill a display case.

In 1972, for example, chipmaker Intel Corp. became convinced that digital watches would become a new high-tech business requiring innovative microchips. So the company acquired a watchmaker called Microma. The watches were of notoriously poor quality, and when competitors began selling digital watches for $10, Intel quickly jumped out of the business. Intel co-founder Gordon Moore still occasionally wears his Microma, which he refers to as his "$15 million watch," a not-so-subtle reference to how much the foray into watches cost the company.

Hewlett Packard Co. tried its hand at a calculator-watch instrument in 1977, the HP-01, which sold, poorly, for a whopping $650 ($750 if you wanted the gold version). "Clumsy and cumbersome -- long on technology and short on fashion" was how HP co-founder David Packard remembered the product in his memoirs.

Jump forward a couple of decades, to 1999, when HP chief executive Carly Fiorina wore a Swatch watch onstage at the Comdex trade show and announced that HP was teaming up with Swatch to make a new Internet-enabled timepiece that would deliver customized news to its wearer -- a description that sounds pretty similar to the new Microsoft watches. No such watch was ever released, and the company was mum on that product's fate this week.

There are even current examples on the market, a Speedpass watch from Timex (a swipe of the wrist buys gas at Mobil or Exxon or a hamburger and fries at McDonald's) and Casio's wrist camera/watch, electronic memo pad/watch and TV remote control/watch, of all things.

Using SPOT technology, Microsoft's high-tech watch wearers would receive news and instant messages by picking up customized information transmitted on FM radio waves on a nationwide network that Microsoft is in the process of building by leasing airwave space from radio stations in major cities. This would entail a subscription service, of course, with a monthly fee.

Strangely, the technology used to make the SPOT chips has roots in the early days of the video-game industry. In 1984, engineer Larry Karr, founder of a small firm called SCA Data, developed an early version of the technology at the behest of video-game company Atari as a way to wirelessly deliver games to the Atari 2600 game console. But the game company went under and the product never saw the light of day. Karr used the modern equivalent of that same technology to help Microsoft design the new chips.

Three watchmakers, Fossil, Citizen and the Finnish company Suunto, have signed on to make SPOT watches, which should be available starting in the holiday season of this year. Microsoft has said the watches will start at about $150, though it hasn't announced what the monthly or yearly price will be to subscribe to the network service.

Expanding 'Time'

This new revenue stream would depend on nothing less than changing the very way people think about time.

"We're trying to expand the notion of time so that people think not just of time, but to the things that time is linked to," said Mitchell. In other words, people don't care that it's 12:40 p.m., they care about the fact that they've got a meeting across town in 20 minutes. Having timely information on your wrist, such as traffic conditions or weather, could be just as important as knowing the clock time, he argues.

Mitchell, as it happens, was a key player in an earlier attempt to wed the computer to the wristwatch. The first product he worked on at Microsoft was the Timex Data Link watch in the early '90s, which stored appointments and messages. To sync it up with their computers, users had to hold the watch up to their computer screen, which transmitted information to the watch by flashing a series of bar codes.

Timex is sitting out on SPOT watches for now, however. Wilson Keithline, director of advanced development at Timex, said the company rejected a partnership with Microsoft on this technology in order to focus on its own attempts at advanced watch products, such as the Speedpass watch.

Much of Mitchell's work comes down to one potential customer: his boss, Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft. Ballmer, head of the most powerful tech company in the world, doesn't wear a watch and doesn't carry a cell phone -- because he doesn't like to be interrupted.

"He'll point at his wrist during meetings and say, 'Still no watch here!' " said Mitchell.

Ballmer has promised the SPOT development team he'll start wearing a SPOT watch if it lets his administrative assistant unobtrusively message him during meetings and lets him follow baseball games on the fly.

Is Fashion Still Fickle?

One of the lessons Microsoft says it has learned from previous generations of computerized watches is the importance of fashion -- and that fashion may not be one of Microsoft's core competencies. In the past, watches with computer technology have typically appealed only to the pocket-protector crowd, not the average department-store shopper.

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#1 Posted by kairon on 20 Jan 2003 - 15:05: lol someone should make this guy work for microsoft, they could learn a few (or a lot) of security things from him to make windows more secure.

(1 reply) #2 Posted by SMG on 20 Jan 2003 - 16:00: #1, unfortunately, 5 years is a long time in the world of computers and he will know jack poop about hacking these days... think about it! these were the days of windows 95, maybe he got a chance to have a go at 98 first edition if he was quick enough. And linux... that has evolved so much too in 5 years. So I don't think that Microsoft will his services any time soon. I also want to say that he will be lost in the new technology, my only question is: what would be his first website he'll visit? any web community he used to visit, I doubt would still be around.

#3 Posted by kuregu02 on 20 Jan 2003 - 16:03: Man, I would go insane without a computer over the weekend, let alone FIVE years!

(3 replies) #4 Posted by Jason on 20 Jan 2003 - 16:34: Never heard of him, he sounds like a GEEK

(1 reply) #5 Posted by RaINE on 20 Jan 2003 - 17:05: 1st thing he should do is get a job as security consultant 4 the riaa site, then they might stop getting hacked every 5 minutes

(1 reply) #6 Posted by Zone-MR on 20 Jan 2003 - 17:10: Right, so your telling me he hasnt used a computer at home at all in the last 5 years. And he was getting familly members to check email for him and print it out? Yeah right, im sure in the privacy of his own or familly's home where noone would know, he would have no objections using a computer.

(1 reply) #7 Posted by Toxicfume on 20 Jan 2003 - 17:49: Wish I could watch it, but I don't have TechTV, ugh. Interesting to know his first site, hope it's something surprising.

#8 Posted by tmaxxtigger on 20 Jan 2003 - 18:10: Wasn't he just not allowed on the Internet? I think he could still use a computer so long as it was not on the Internet.

#9 Posted by iomayho on 20 Jan 2003 - 18:20: is he being watch 24 -7? cuz he can be at his house using the internet, and how will anybody know that.....i mean, it could be anyone from his family...

(1 reply) #10 Posted by Spike101M69 on 20 Jan 2003 - 18:22: Mr. Kevin Mitnick 2219 East Thousand Oaks Blvd. Thousand Oaks, CA 91362 - [b]from freekevin.com[/b] wow, he lives like 5 minutes away from me!!!!!

(2 replies) #11 Posted by blitzkrg on 20 Jan 2003 - 20:51: i'm sure.. "i wish i could watch it"????? WHO THE F@!K is this moron.. is he a rock star? a diplomat? a movie star? he's not even on a freaking book of the month list.. any people wanna watch him?? for what reason?? he's gonna go to www.neowin.net and ppl are gonna go oooohhhhh ahhhhhhh maybe he'll faint? maybe he'll have a freaking heart attack? maybe the damn world will end??? this guy is a criminal who got busted.. big FREAKING DEAL... i have no problems with hacking.. but i have a problem with makeing someone a god or famous becuz they hacked and got caught.. HOW LAME!!!!!!!!!! AND IF ANY OF YOU WATCH HIM.. YOUR JUST AS LAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(3 replies) #12 Posted by modem on 20 Jan 2003 - 22:19: *sigh* you teeny bopper hacker tech-wanna-bies really REALLY need to know your history in the tech world. Then come back and try to pretend to know what you are talking about. Anyway for those who don't know who Kevin Mitnick is, he was someone who was always involved not just in computers, but in technology from a very preteen age. He enjoyed finding out how things work, what makes certain electronic things "tick" and so forth. He was someone who pioneered (if I can use that for a term) into the true hacking field. By that I don't mean sitting down, using an exploit known to millions and a pre-crafted software tool to DDoS some website. Mitnick used his own inguinuitity to talk to help-desk people at Motolora and other telephone networks and pretended to be a high up VP and convince those help desk people to turn over valuable documentation. Kevin would then take that documentation to find and exploit holes in not just technical systems, but in business protocol systems and such. That would be like me calling Neobond and saying I was his ISP and needed to know how neowin worked. He then used the info he got to change phone numbers, modify phone systems mostly for the shear ability to say he had done it. Anyway Kevin *IS* an extremely intelligent person being able to completely understand how networks, phone systems, or anything technical works. His mind is one that comphrends that and that is something you just don't loose or forget anytime soon. For those who say he tinkered with Win95 and won't know anything about WinXP or linux current products. Wrong. Given that he spent 5 years in a jail cell which makes for pretty good reading time and thinking time. I'd be willing to bet he spent that time fine tuning his knowledge and learning more than we can come close to giving him credit for. For all practical purposes, Kevin is a *TRUE* hacker, not some DDoSing wanna be script kiddie. Kevin actually found holes, he probed and prodded and learned how to manipulate security holes, not take someone elses knowledge and simply use it to be annoying.

#13 Posted by icie on 21 Jan 2003 - 02:23: indeed. most modern 'hackers' are, sadly, script kiddies or crackers.. Kevin Mitnick was a white hat who learnt from what he discovered when playing around with other systems. He was an earlier generation of hackers, who used both their computer knowledge and social engineering skills to get to where they wanted to. In the publicity involved in the case, the fact that he was a white hat (and at most a grey hat) was overlooked, and some facts were distorted. I would hesitate to call him a criminal.

(1 reply) #14 Posted by Carbon Cypher on 21 Jan 2003 - 02:28: Anyone who thinks that people are lame because they want to see a hacking icon get back on the internet just doesn't understand why exactly it matters. Isn't that what hacking is all about? Understanding things and learning how things work? Yes Kevin is a hacker, but more importantly he was imprisoned for 5 years not for hacking, but for posession of unauthorized equipment. And the feds managed to get him in prison for 5 years, a nice chunk of that time without charges. On his parole he was able to use a computer as long as it wasn't hooked up to a network or the internet. Furthermore, who the hell wants to see a rock star on TV? Or any of thease other half-wits on TV? We see them because either someone can make money off them, or because someone looks up to them. I would rather hear what Mitnick has to say, rather than Brittany Spears telling us shes a virgin. Hearing Mitnick tell his story would be more informative and entertaining than all those slack-jaws on MTV combined.

#15 Posted by sonicice on 21 Jan 2003 - 03:02: I'm going to bet that he's going to get on it, and see what garbage it has turned into, what with all the popups and full-screen flash ads nowadays, and turn right back around and get off of it.

#16 Posted by Br4nd0n on 21 Jan 2003 - 03:57: there was actually a movie made about kevin mitnick. It is called "Operation Takedown", some also call it "Hackers 2". I don't believe it was ever released in the US though.

#17 Posted by blitzkrg on 21 Jan 2003 - 04:16: i thought you were idiots when i made the 1st post and i see i was right after i read the respones that followed.. this is a man *a NORMAL man* who did some research - hacked and got caught.. someone said "he liked to learn thing, and tinker, and understand and blah blah blah" who the F! doesnt.. i used to rip S! apart all the time and tinker and learn and break and fix and what not.. most of us "geeks" do that sorta thing.. it's called a type.. some ppl are type A ppl and some are type B, etc.. some people are just have that predisposition about them to do that kinda stuff.. that in no way makes him god like, nor is he deserving of it.. do i think he is a bad guy.. no - i dont even know him.. i cant judge.. do i think he is stupid , no.. not at all. i'm sure he is very intelligent.. and worst of all... "He was someone who pioneered (if I can use that for a term) into the true hacking field" give me a break... there were hackers long before him..ppl used to hack the phone system before there were networks to hack... blah and unless your gay - I wanna see britney

#18 Posted by blitzkrg on 21 Jan 2003 - 04:23: "Furthermore, who the hell wants to see a rock star on TV?" the millions and millions of fans who go to the concerts, buy the cd's or download the mp3s.. you think if i hack and get caught, i'd get millions of fans and be deserving of my very own tv show on The Screen Savers.. ooooooh......... ahhhhhhh... please.. i really have no problem with ppl supporting him, but the fact that every move he makes gets front page irks me.. if he takes a sh_it do you think they will put that on there to.. i dont have a problem with kevin m... i have a problem with the fact that a tv show was dedicated to the ultra special event of him using the internet for the 1st time in 5 years.. and worse it makes front page news...

#19 Posted by Pebbles on 21 Jan 2003 - 05:43: Why do you people idolise a criminal? I mean honestly the guy broke into personal property (albeit digitally) stole source code and then had the audacity to phone up the guy and threaten him, he then sh*t his pants when he realised he'd f*cked up and tried to cover his mistakes too late. As for "white hat (and at most a grey hat)" are you taking the piss? the guy was as black hatted as they come, and also your belief that he found new exploits and security holes i think your way over-rating the guy, if you actually dug around a little you'd find that he was talking with people overseas (i forget who ATM) who were coaching him, the guys a criminal plain and simple, do i think the American government did right by him when they caught him - No, but i do believe that the american government, as well as the rest of the world, have a lot of catching up and understanding to do in terms of technology, the internet, and policing the new frontier. In my personal opinion you Mitnick idoliser's would do better to read up on the PATRIOT Act and understand how much your personal freedom's are being affected by the post 9/11 fear and mistrust that's gripping the 1st world countries. But you'll probably just flame this post b'cos it's not pro mitnick!

(1 reply) #20 Posted by m4ch1n3g0d on 21 Jan 2003 - 16:00: I think Mitnick is a very interesting person, and the fact that a hacker is being idolized in the same way as a rock star is actually kinda cool. I'm not sure if Mitnick will be doing anything illegal in the years to come, but he is very intelligent, which is a heck of alot better than most people I see idolized, so this is a good thing. He has better things to say than that ugly plastic wh0re britney spears or Fred Durst, and i definetly will be tuning in to see what he has to say.

#21 Posted by Vidar on 21 Jan 2003 - 19:54: [img]http://members.aol.com/vidar2oo3//Mobilecam.jpg[/img] Nuff said. (image url fixed)

#22 Posted by DigitalDude on 21 Jan 2003 - 23:59: wahoo its on in a couple mins!

#23 Posted by Spike101M69 on 22 Jan 2003 - 01:42: wow, that blew

#24 Posted by Carbon Cypher on 22 Jan 2003 - 03:21: Blitz you forgot to mention that I said there are 2 reasons someone would want to see someone on TV. 1 Someone makes money off them, or 2 someone looks up to them... And believe me #2 is still a strech for some. Yes, thats why rock stars and chicks with lots of tits and ass are on TV, beacuse they can sell you something. I doupt many people look up to Brittany and when she opens her mouth can say "Wow she seems intelligent... i want to know more". NO. People see Brittany and say " I wanna F**K her" So she goes into the money making category. I'm just saying why not want to see someone who was punnished for MORE than he commited get free? Its just as good a reason as seeing someone with no talent shaker her ass and say "I'm a singer!" And.... BTW... the Patriot Act is a load of crap and should be removed.

#25 Posted by haloscan on 22 Jan 2003 - 03:26: Interesting

#26 Posted by Pebbles on 22 Jan 2003 - 04:43: ahha the patriot act is a load of crap and should be removed! hmm lets see it's already been passed in the house with an overwhelming vote only 1 person spoke out against it, the likelyhood of it being "removed" is very slim infact i'd say as slim as mitnick actually being a white-hat hacker, or maybe as slim as mitnick being innocent of his crime's. Geez if your gonna find someone to look upto why not start with Steve Woz, or Richard Stallman, or dare i say it "Mr Gates", maybe look towards somebody of your own generation like Linus Torvolds, all of whom have so far achieved far more than your precious Mitnick, John Perry Barlow would be another that i'd suggest you look up, he now speak's out for people like Mitnick and all of us, he is actually fighting for your digital rights here in the US, Man i just don't get you people, sure Mitnick was hard done by when the US government finally arrested him and yes they held him for 4 Yrs without trial, but he did the crime and admits it was wrong, unfortunatly for Mitnick he got caught at the wrong time, a time when the US Government wasn't too clued up on what technology could and couldn't achieve in the wrong hands, (too many bond films me thinks). At the beginning of a new frontier there are always people that are hard done by in terms of the law, but it's exactly those people that help shape the law for future criminals and law abiding citizens. As for arguing that you'd rather see Mitnick on TV than Britney or Durst, i couldn't agree more i'd rather see those people that i've mentioned earlier than some of these so called star's, but remember it's a big assed world out there and technology is only in it's baby stages in comparison to say Telephone, TV, Music, and such, and lets be honest Computers don't exactly make for great TV do they, i'd say that 75% of the population couldn't give a rats ass about computers as long as they get to watch WW(whatever they call it now!), or their latest soap or the latest Idol wannabe'e, or whatever it is they watch. But i digress, waving the banner for a lowlife criminal just because he got caught is i'm afraid just a little worrying, especially as he wasn't that good of a hacker, HE GOT CAUGHT, why not go and wave the banner for somebody who did do something good for your little hobby like Wozniack, Torvolds, Barlow, oh wait i just remebered you don't need to wave the flag for them cos they've done a good job of it themselves thru action not crime.! /end rant

#27 Posted by haloscan on 22 Jan 2003 - 07:05: Nice.......

#28 Posted by Carbon Cypher on 22 Jan 2003 - 17:03: Ok final post on this manner. Because everything seems to get taken out of context. 1) Mitnick isn't my hero, i just think his story is worth telling. When stupid people say "Who would wanna hear him, hes a criminal" I say "Why not, he has a story and its certainly more interesting than whats on already". 2) Whats on TV is crap theas days anyway, but some people like it, some don't, and some make money. 3) I know alot about the Patriot Act, and when i said its Bullshit i mean that the patriot act does more damage than good. I know its passed, I know what it does, and I know it was the government using 9/11 to take away stuff that they couldn't in the past. But now it doesn't matter anyway. This thread is dead, and Mitnick has already been released.

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