[HCDX] French "hacker" Put in Prison for Publishing Freq. List

["Kevin" <kevin_maly@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

12 September 2000. Thanks to Quintessenz.
Source:
http://www.transfert.net/fr/cyber_societe/article.cfm?idx_rub=87&idx_art=1685



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


French hacker sued by an antiterrorist judge



par Jean-Marc Manach
mis en ligne le 12 septembre 2000

Larsen, who's been arrested by the DST (french counter?intelligence agency),
is accused of having disclosed national defence secrets by an antiterrorist
judge. The trouble is that the informations he revealed on the Net are freely
available in bookshops...

Vincent Plousey, 28, works as a telephone technician and defines himself as a
retired hacker. He is one of the rare French specialists of radio frequencies,
respected as such by the underground community, where he has only been known
under his pseudonym : Larsen. Although Plousey had been off the scene for the
last two years, he recently served two months in jail ? where he was treated
like a highly sensitive prisoner ? under the charge, issued by an
antiterrorist judge, of having disclosed national defence secret. In March
1998, a "special police" issue of HVU, Plousey?s e-zine, published an
extensive list of the radio frequencies used by French strategic oceanic
force, land forces, gendarmerie force and national police force. After several
months of inquiry (electronic and phone wiretapping, physical surveillance),
seven plainclothes agents of the DST (Direction de la surveillance du
territoire, French agency for counter-intelligence) arrested Plousey at
gunpoint, on April,18th.

Jean-Pierre Millet, Plousey?s lawyer, a specialist of civil liberties on the
Net, blames what he sees as a repressive drift : "a inquisitive citizen can
honestly put himself in danger because of an inappropriate legislation, a
blind and ineffective repressive system, the failing of some State agencies in
protecting so?called secret data and the free circulation of sensitive datas
that are classified in a State and declassified in others. " Vincent Plousey,
who's visibly hurt by his detention, defends himself by arguing that those
frequencies, classified as "confidential defence" according to the judge, come
from one "textbook for radio operator trainees" of the national police force,
devoid of any mention of confidentiality. Furthermore, these frequencies have
become almost obsolete. They have never been used for "operational
communications", but essentially for testing. But the main trouble is that 90
% of the informations Plousey revealed are freely and legally available in
specialized publications sold in french bookshops, such as the german
Klingenfuss Editions, or the american Monitoring Times...

In the special police issue of his e-zine, Larsen wrote that he was "conscious
of the risks incurred for disclosure of confidential information concerning
national defence". What happened confirms his fears. On July 20th, Larsen
published on madchat.org, the online rendez?vous of the French-speaking hacker
community, a letter that was in fact a warning to his peers. There, he
denounced the gap between the charges and the acts, hoping that this case
could be used as a lesson by others : "take care of yourself, don't go to jail
for bullshit". While Larsen wished above all to protect his true identity, the
Intelligence Newsletter, "a must for all intelligence professionals" as it
presents itself, revealed it by the end of august. The article stated that
"according to sources close to the judge, the presence of an intelligence
agent among the acquaintances of the hacker explained the distrust of the
judge". Released on bail, Vincent Plousey, who had never heard of the said
"agent", decided to reveal himself in order to expose the nonsense of this
case. How can someone who just compiled open source informations be treated
like a hard?core spy ? According to the new French penal code, Plousey may be
condemned to five years of imprisonment plus a fine of 500.000FF.



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

Source:
http://www.transfert.net/fr/cyber_societe/article.cfm?idx_rub=87&idx_art=1688


My story is commonplace

par Jean-Marc Manach
mis en ligne le 12 septembre 2000

As soon as he arrived at Transfert, Vincent Plousey could not refrain from
having a look at the phone switchboard and providing hints about the
improvement of its security. Not a tall man, with bright and quizzical eyes,
Plousey is well mannered and has nothing of a boaster. He seems as shocked by
the charges against him as by the conditions of his stay in jail.

What has been your personnal route ?

I left school before my teens and went to a specialized centre for kids
suffering from educational and domestic problems. I ended up with a
certificate in horticulture. I went into gardening, then became a technician
in a telecom centre. Self taught, I created my first e-zine about telecoms and
radio in 1995, before launching the Chaos Radio Club of France, which made fun
of the French Chaos Computer Club, a group that had been created ? and
manipulated ? by a hacker who had been overturned by the DST, the French
counter?intelligence agency. I left this scene in 1998 because of squabbles
between groups. Also, I was disgusted by these guys who swear they fight for
freedom of expression, but crave to work in the computer security business
?more or less hand in hand with the military.

How did it feel to be arrested by the DST ?

On April 18, at about 9 a.m., I left home for work when seven plain-clothes
policemen, seized me at gunpoint in front of some of my neighbours. I was
taken to the DST central office, then to the hyper-secure antiterrorist
section of the high court. At first, I did not realize much what was happening
to me, especially because I did nothing for the last two years. The
examination was quite heavy, with a lot of morale advice on the side, and I
was scared to death. I kept saying to myself : this must be a mistake. When
they lock you in their cell you are not a human being any more, everything is
made to humble you. You have nothing to eat and you can?t even drink : they
piss in the cell sink... It was a little better in the prison I was locked in
for the next two months, but it all amounts to the same misery.

What did you learn from this experience ?

I think my case was meant as an example, that could frighten quite a lot of
people. In my opinion, they knew that I would write something to advise others
not to go astray the way I did. On the other hand, they also turned me into
some kind of a martyr ? which I am not : anyone could have acted the same way.
In fact, I've been very naive and immature. But I do not regret having
informed others about the way networks function ? and how easy it is, by
crossing sources, to find informations. Everything I found was open-source,
even if it was in the military field. Moreover, I told the judge that I had
only done the job of an investigative journalist. The only source unavailable
to the public that I used is a national police force manual that was given to
me during a "2600" meeting at the Place d?Italie McDonald?s restaurant (the
classic meeting place of french would-be hackers). My story is commonplace,
but the punishment is too strong : I did all this just for fun, and out of
curiosity. I have been so heavily punished because I opened my mouth too much.
As far as freedom of expression is concerned, France is not the United States,
where those very frequenciees that got me into trouble can be found in
magazines ? and where the First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees
freedom of speech.



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

-- 
73,

Kevin


-----------------------------------------------------------
NW Oregon Radio Page http://NWOregonRadio.netfirms.com/
rec_radio_swap Mail List http://NWOregonRadio.netfirms.com/rrs/
Thought for the day:
    A penny saved is ridiculous.

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

_______________________________________________
Hard-Core-DX mailing list
Hard-Core-DX@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www2.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/
_______________________________________________

Copyright (c) 2000 Hard-Core-DX.com

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Text. A copy of the license is available in http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.txt.