One of the world's most renowned computer hackers is free, as expected, but Kevin Mitnick's career as perhaps the most cheerfully unrepentant hacker is going to have to wait if he wants to resume it - his freedom includes no computer access for three years without his probation officer's permission.
Meanwhile, Mitnick is scheduled to appear in a 60 Minutes interview in which he himself says almost the entire business was a matter of prankishness.
Now 36, Mitnick was received by his parents after leaving the prison here. His parole condition, though, may make it difficult for him to find gainful employment, since most companies and organizations today require computer use. And Mitnick also cannot send or receive e-mail - he'll have to communicate the hard way, through a standard telephone.
Such is the end for a man whose obsession with breaking into computer systems, stealing company files, or tinkering with software, started when he was a Los Angeles teenager.
His familiarity with law enforcement, CNET says, began in 1981, when he was arrested for stealing Pacific Bell computer manuals from the utility's Los Angeles switching center. Prosecuted as a juvenile, he received probation. But he was on his way to international notoriety.
He broke into University of Southern California computers a year later and went to jail for six months. And it got better - he was caught numerous other times. In 1988, after a hacking arrest, his attorney convinced the judge he was similar to a drug or gambling addict. Mitnick then served a year in low-security prison, CNET says, and even underwent a program comparable to the Alcoholics Anonymous twelve-step program.
Addict may have been a polite way to put it - Mitnick went underground in 1992 after a warrant for his arrest was issued for parole violation. For over three years, the FBI suspected him of hitting software makers' systems, Internet service providers, and educational systems. His targets included Motorola, Sun Microsystems, Fujitsu, Nokia, NEC, and Netcom, among others, CNET says.
Yet the law couldn't land a final blow onto him until 1995, when Mitnick made a huge blunder - he hacked into computer files belonging to a researcher at the San Diego Supercomputer Center who turned out to be as skilled a security expert as Mitnick was a hacker. Tsutomu Shimomura used his skills to track Mitnick in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mitnick was arrested in February 1995, held without bail, and spent four years behind bars awaiting federal trial.
Last March, he pleaded guilty to seven counts of wire fraud, computer fraud, and illegal interception of a wire. He was sentenced to six months at Lompoc, a medium-security prison, working as a groundskeeper.
While federal authorities applauded his arrest and conviction, Mitnick became a hero to legions of hackers. His court-appointed attorney, Donald Randolph, tells CNET his arrest may have had anything but a deterring effect. "I'm afraid it has had exactly the opposite effect," Randolph says. "The government didn't distinguish between computer prankster and computer terrorist in prosecuting Kevin Mitnick. The distinction is appreciated by the upcoming 20-something generation who perfectly understand the difference."
Randolph says Mitnick never deprived computer owners of their "unfettered use of their computers. He just peeked at it. Prosecutors couldn't admit they were pursuing a peeker; they had to go after the myth they created."
But assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Painter, who prosecuted the Mitnick case, says Mitnick wasn't just a peeker - he was one of the most prolific computer hackers of all time, going after "a whole panoply of enemies".
And Mitnick has defenders who also say that his being jailed for four years before a trial violated due process and contributed to making him notorious, rather than following due process, prosecuting him quickly, and keeping other hackers from making him a role model.
Meanwhile, Mitnick reportedly says in a forthcoming 60 Minutes that his hacking activity was only too easy and just about all for fun. Authorities may believe he caused millions in damage, but in an interview with Ed Bradley set to air this coming Sunday, Mitnick is far from remorseful.
Cybermuckraker Matt Drudge says CBS network sources say Mitnick tells Bradley he doesn't think he was a thief - just a hobbyist who wasn't out for profit. He admits to Bradley he committed a "gross invasion of privacy," Drudge says - not stealing.
"I was an accomplished computer trespasser. I don't consider myself a thief," he reportedly tells Bradley. "I copied without permission. I saw myself as an electronic joy rider. I was like James Bond behind the computer. I was just having a blast."
And he tells Bradley it was only too easy sometimes, Drudge says. For example, he only had to con someone over the telephone into e-mailing him source codes for two Motorola cellular telephones. And finding a flaw in the Novell software design company's computer system enabled Mitnick to breach its security computer's firewall in minutes.
He reportedly tells Bradley he didn't sell or trade any information he stole even though he could have made a fortune doing so, Drudge says. "It would be quite easy to become a millionaire," Mitnick tells Bradley. "I could have simply accessed the computers of law firms that do acquisitions and mergers and traded on the information. I could have transferred funds. It was just a big game to me."
