CyberCrime International Network. THE HISTORY OF CYBERCRIME, by Mitchel Waas (Midnight Sorrow). Last Updated on 16 June 1998. December 4th, 1989. I decided to start up a small message network, as a simple link for local warez and h/p/a message bases, between my system (Infinite Darkness) and one other local board, HaloúTree. Soon afterward, a few other local boards asked to get in, so we expanded, and decided to call the network "InfiNet" (said fast, it vaguely sounded like "Infinite," as in Infinite Darkness, my BBS). The net started showing modest activity (there were about ten netted bases, each received upwards of ten posts a day). At the time, I had about 20 or 30 LD callers on my board, due to ansi ads posted mainly on FelonyNet (one of the larger pirate nets of the time). One of my California users, who went by the handle Motorhead, saw the net, and said, "Hey, mind if I pick this up? It looks cool." His board was Metal Church. Then another user, Pazuzu, asked to run it on his board, Motel 666. At that point, I pretty much gave up on keeping the net small and discreet. I decided to start advertising for it, primarily on TCSnet, CelerityNet and FelonyNet (The "Big Three" of underground networks in the early nineties). Then, in June of 1990, Infernal Majesty of Altars of Madness (416, Toronto, Ontario, at that time, one of the largest warez boards in all of Canada) called up, and wanted in. Thus, an international network was born. The net grew at a slow but steady rate until, in June of 1991, I noticed there was another InfiNet, based primarily in 914 (NY) and 717 (PA). I then contacted them, inquiring about the possibility of them changing their name. They refused, and because their network was considerably larger (they had around 40 or 50 nodes, while I only had about 20), I decided it'd be best to change the name of my network. After a long, lengthy, arduous process, I finally arrived at the name CCi, or CyberCrime International (The name was partially suggested by one of my sysops, who wanted "CyberNet," and partially derived from my love of Queensryche's 1988 album Operation:Mindcrime). After creating the first CyberCrime text ad, I went and posted it on the nets. The response was simply amazing. I must have gotten at least five applicants a day for almost a month. By the beginning of 1992, the net had about fifty active nodes. In hindsight, choosing the name CyberCrime was quite the good career move. The net grew steadily and rapidly, until, at the end of 1993, there were well over 300 systems in the nodelist, making it FAR and away the world's largest underground network. February, 1994. Something had happened. I began noticing how very childish much of the scene was. CyberCrime had degenerated into a lot of squabbling between the various "scenes" - the warez people hated the art types, the art people hated the warez types, and the h/p'ers basically hated everyone. So, I took a poll, and found that well over half of the sysops were in favor of kicking out all the "kiddies," and reforming CyberCrime into a network devoted solely to intelligent, quality discussion. So, on March 14, 1994, CyberCrime was reformed. This new network was later renamed to InfiNet; this time with an acronym, making it the International Freedom of Information Network. (The old InfiNet had disbanded long ago, many of the systems having since, coincidentally enough, joined CyberCrime.) InfiNet, at that time, had only about 130 member nodes. So I then began a major recruiting campaign, on both the underground nets, and the peedee/ shareware nets. Thus, the new InfiNet continued growing, though it never once reached the 300 node mark that was surpassed by the old CyberCrime. It was a nice net, if a bit ungainly (having well over 150 bases in it's echolist), running at about 100k-200k of compressed mail per day, making it a very active network. Things progressed, with InfiNet continually generating a good amount of activity, leaving me with little to do but sit back and watch the net grow. Thus, due to my inherent need to be continually working on some "big project," and out of my desire to gain more recognition in the computer underground, I decided to restart CyberCrime. July 1st, 1994. The new CyberCrime was underway, with many of the original CCi member boards, and a lot of new systems. Unfortunately, I had very little idea of where to proceed with the network, and was basically only running it for the "social" aspect of it - not out of any desire to help the scene, or to create a quality underground network. So, it grew very slowly, generating decent amounts of activity, but nothing that could even remotely be termed "quality." October, 1995. I had been spending the last few months dialing out to international BBSes, trying to recruit them into CyberCrime, in some mad desperate attempt to regain the 'title' of "world's largest net." Sadly, I was also experiencing financial problems at that time, and had accumulated a TREMENDOUS number of past-due bills, eventually totaling almost ten thousand dollars. Thus, at the end of October 1995, I was forced to quit the scene, take my board down, and sell off all my equipment. I passed both InfiNet and CyberCrime down to my co-moderators, and sadly, resignedly, left the scene. Footnote: InfiNet eventually split up into two separate networks: 1) InfiNet, a tightly run 'fortress' of a net run by Gemini of The File Room BBS, which died in early 1997 when he took his board down. 2) InfiNet ][, a devoted "Free Speech" network, which still exists today, run by Heretic of The Burning Times, and Rocketman of The Launching Pad, both CyberCrime members. CyberCrime, unfortunately, languished and died a slow, painful death, eventually disbanding completely in early 1996. December 1996. For the past several months, I had been hanging out on the Internet, thanks to a new computer I had purchased, after working hard and accumulating some money over the past year. The BBS scene in my area was all but dead, all the former sysops whimpering about how the "Internet had killed the scene." So I began spending my evenings on the Internet, scouring it for signs of activity, searching for a clue as to why all the die-hard BBSers would, over the course of a year, virtually cease calling BBSes, to spend all their time on the Internet. And, in all honesty, I'm still seaching today, still unconvinced that the Internet offers ANYTHING to surpass a BBS that is run by a devoted, attentive and interested sysop. What I found on the Internet was this: The IRC - a vast, disorganized, teeming mass of children, grown mighty through the power of ops, running their channels like penny-ante dictators, making them invite-only, and kick-banning people for the slightest offense or disagreement. Not at all a "meeting ground for the underground", more of a limited resource for people who know which channels to linger in. UseNet - an excellent, well-organized system of message bases, with a tremendous potential; continually abused, and basically ruined, by endless spammers and cross-posters. The Web - The highly-touted, miraculous cure-for-anything, World Wide Web. A vast, chaotic, mishmash of disparate, widely-incompatible technologies and bandwidth-wasting multimedia gimmickry. Possibly the best information source in the world, but nearly impossible to know, with any certainty, that you've located THE BEST possible resources, without spending an afternoon scouring each and EVERY search engine. Mailing Lists - at present, the ONLY Internet-based resource which can approximate the closeness and camaraderie possible on a BBS. Hampered by the necessity of storing all the messages on one's own hard drive, making it difficult to subscribe to a large number of mailing lists. Similarly to the web, also handicapped by the lack of a reference point, a single central database to research available mailing lists. Needless to say, I was highly disillusioned. So, I began thinking. And eventually, on one of my treks through my mountain of old backup tapes, found an archive containing my old BBS, Infinite Darkness. Happily, eagerly, I restored it, and brought Infinite Darkness back to the world of BBSing in South Florida, bound and determined to show the spoiled little Internet brats of today what a REAL, well-run BBS is like. Boy did I ever. Averaging between 30 and 70 calls per day, running with four nodes and 20 gigs online, my board rocked the South Florida scene, bigtime, and created a "new revolution," where a lot of the kids who were formerly devout Internet- worshipers, are now putting up BBSes, and spending their days vegging out locally, instead of contributing to the distended global mass of the 'net. Having accomplished that task, I once again began hanging out on EFnet IRC, this time seeking out the more underground/scene-related areas - #iCE, #Ansi, #FX, #BBS, etc. - whereas previously I had devoted my time to staying in the channels devoted to my favorite musical groups - #Depeche, #Orbital, #KMFDM, etc. I began talking to my old friends in the scene, noticing how the formerly incredibly diverse world of underground message networks had seriously died out, leaving only five or six small networks, the largest containing only around 30 nodes, the most active barely seeing 10k a day in compressed message activity. The saddest thing of all about the current state of underground networking? The people who run and read these nets are seemingly SATISFIED with their quality, complacent in their attitude that the BBS scene is indeed "dead," happy to be getting what little bit of activity they already are receiving. I began discussing the idea of restarting CyberCrime, and how great it would be to have a network for the computer underground again, a place for the scene to congregate, one that isn't run like some third-world dictatorship, a single focal point for this highly altered underground scene. So it began. On June 20th of 1997, I began planning the new CyberCrime. I decided to create an unusual echolist; large by today's standards (where most underground networks have 5, MAYBE 10 echoes), but small by yesterday's standards (where most underground networks had bases supporting every major group, BBS software, and topic, sometimes reaching 50 or even a hundred echoes). I started contacting all the old BBSes that used to be in CyberCrime, and began a ruthless, sometimes abrasive ad campaign on IRC, then posted ads on the various underground networks, to begin soliciting pre- applications for the new CCi. Thus is was, that on July 1st, starting day for the new CCi, there were already 28 member boards. But things didn't stop there - I continued recruiting, and spreading the word. I called out-of- state, sometimes even out-of-country BBSes, uploading the infopack and posting ads on every local base and message net I could find. It is now Sunday, a very lucky 13th of July, and there are 43 member boards, in 27 area codes and seven countries, currently receiving or setting up CyberCrime. And to think... this is only the beginning. :) lateron Mitch Midnight Sorrow July 13th, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Addendum Number One: It is now Saturday, March 14th, 1998. CyberCrime has been alive now for over eight months - it is no longer "The New CyberCrime," but just CyberCrime. I suppose my detractors have now faded into the background, content that the formerly capricious, here-today gone-tomorrow Midnight Sorrow of the past has actually, finally grown up. One would hope, at least. :) The network had a bad period for the last few months of 1997, during which I was working predominantly 12-16 hour days, and had very little time, if any, to spend working on CCi or my bbs. (Side note: through the course of the past eight months, the former method of polling from a long distance hub has been all but completely eliminated (only TWO systems in CCi now poll long distance, as far as I know), having switched instead to an automated method of transferring mail packets via internet e-mail, using our once nemesis, The Internet, as a sort of backbone for CyberCrime, enabling us to grow faster, and more diversely, and distribute information on a SIGNIFICANTLY faster scale than had ever been previously possible.) Anyway, back to the story - in December, it was found that my primary ISP was having serious problems with their POP e-mail server, and even though it SEEMED as if mail was going out, it wasn't, much of the time. So, in early January, I sat down, and after a few moments of thought, I solved the problem - I switched ISPs. :) At that point, I began devoting a great deal time to the network, and started actively contrbuting to the network, releasing new infopacks, and HEAVILY promoting CyberCrime on every message network in existance (sometimes even ruthlessly spamming totally off-topic areas on FidoNet, a very uncool thing to do, I know, but hey - life's a bitch) and on IRC. After such a complete frenzy of promotion and activity, the dust has settled, and I've observed two significant occurrences over the past several months: 1) THE BBS REVIVAL: I have NO idea what part CyberCrime plays in this, but it is AWFULLY coincidental - over the past several months, there has erupted a near-frenzy of new bbses coming online, most of them telnet and many dialup, or even telnet AND dialup. Where, as recently as six months ago, you could hop on IRC, ask who onchannel is a sysop, your only reply would be jokes or people saying "Yeah right - bbses are dead babe!", NOW, you go into channels like #Ansi, #Ascii, and even #WarezArt - and the place is JUMPING - BBS ads repeated every fifteen minutes, and many ACTIVE channels devoted entirely to the BBS scene - #CyberCrime (of course), #BBS, #BBSWarez, #WarezBBS, #Renegade, #Iniquity and #PCBoard, and even #BBSAdz. It's amazing. Anyway, like I said, I have no idea what part CyberCrime has played in this "BBS Revival," but the mere fact that CCi *MAY* have had even a MINUTE role in this, is wonderful beyond words. Let's keep it up! 2) THE FUTURE OF CYBERCRIME: When I originally sat down and wrote this document, I was quite HOPEFUL of CCi's future success, yet still harbored many doubts as to whether the network would actually succeed in such a barren wasteland of former sysops, major negativity and bad images of the "former BBS scene." Now, however, the future is brighter than ever. The last infopack (#023) was released on Tuesday, the 10th of March. Today is Saturday the 14th, and I'm set to release infopack #024. Just in these last four days, I've received six new applications for CCi. We're now running at 75 nodes in 15 countries, and are showing NO sign of slowing down. Message base activity is growing at a phenomenal rate, while quality is proving something of a problem - we've now reached a turning point with CyberCrime, one I never expected would come about, and I'm going to put it to an official vote of all CyberCrime sysops: Should CyberCrime continue on it's current path of "Quality, Not Quantity", moderating message bases and removing access to any troublemakers? Or should we go total free speech, and allow "anything goes" in every base, leaving it to people's maturity to conduct themselves properly? Well, I'm not really sure of what the outcome will be, but regardless of what happens on that arena, I'm finding myself incredibly upbeat about the future prospects of CyberCrime. Instead of wondering IF CyberCrime will succeed, I'm now wondering WHEN it will overtake the original CyberCrime's 400-member mark. Even that is no longer an "if" - we've gone from 45 bbses to 75 bbses just since January 1st, and I really don't see the number of new applicants slowing down WHATSOEVER. We're going to hit the 400 BBS mark, with ease, and quite probably continue onward from there. Regardless, all I can say about this whole wonderful and completely unexpected situation is... The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades. Long live CyberCrime! lateron Mitch March 14, 1998. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Addendum Number Two: Real quick one here... on one of my many searches thru the internet, I came upon quite a few sites that discussed the old CyberCrime. If you'd like to see how OTHER people referred to CyberCrime (and the old scene), check these sites out. They're a real blast from the past: http://www.datafellows.com/bulletin/bull-209.htm http://www.feist.com/~tqdb/evis-tq.html http://www.flashback.se/archive/ARTICLE.010.1 http://www.ice.org/~jae/ansi1.htm http://www.phrack.com/Archives/lookie_lookie/phrack37/phrack37.html http://www.scenelink.org/news/other_news.html http://www.vertex.com.br/users/cyber/tla.htm Enjoy. April 5, 1998. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Addendum Number Three: It's now the middle of June, 1998. It's been an incredibly hot and sweltering month here in South Florida, so instead of pursuing my social life as I normally do, I've been staying indoors, and promoting the holy living hell out of CyberCrime. Made quite a few enemies in the process, as is inevitable with such a visible ad campaign as I've run, but the level of applications has not slowed down one bit, averaging between 4 and 6 new applicants per week, often more. I'm now advertising regularly on 26 different message networks, and have also started lightly spamming (in that the posts are on-topic, at least) the UseNet, which CyberCrime now provides feeds for, thanks to the setup help from Shadowen and Jughead, we use the NewsGate program to great effect. Next, I'm sorry to see the level of laziness in many sysops still playing a major part in this scene. Over the past two weeks, I've cut 25 dead or inactive nodes from CyberCrime, bringing us from a high of 123 member bbses down to 98 bbses, and back up to 114 bbses as of this infopack. The scene still runs rampant with little kiddies, who put up a bbs thinking it'd be lots of fun, changing software eight times, changing his handle every other week, and alternating between a dialup and telnet system every six days. It's annoying as hell, particularly from the standpoint of having to keep track of all these kiddies who are continually applying to CCi, and then disappearing a month and a half later. It's become a major hassle trying to discern DEDICATED bbses and sysops, from here today, gone tomorrow type systems, particularly when considering that half the systems going down these days are OLD boards (having been up for multiple years), with OLDER sysops (some in their late thirties, even). It's somewhat disheartening. On a positive note, the bbs scene STILL seems to be thriving, with the number of new bbses coming online pretty much keeping pace with the number of old systems going down, and high-speed telnet boards becoming the new standard of quality bbsing. We just signed up our absolute largest bbs ever, a 250 node telnet system in Honolulu, Hawaii, operating off of a T1, running a web-based Wildcat setup (which may very well solve the problem of offering CyberCrime via the world wide web). With the massive popularity and increased presence of cablemodem in many larger cities, this sort of thing might very well be a thing of the future - massive bbses, with both telnet and dialup lines, with web-based interfaces and numerous advantages over the older style BBS. So, with just four days shy of year since I restarted the "new" CyberCrime, things are an always-confusing mixture of good and bad. Good, in that the applications just keep pouring in, message activity is still QUITE extremely high (2500 posts in 33 echos over the last 30 days is pretty good in MY eyes, at least), and there are still a lot of motivated, dedicated sysops out there. Bad, in that there's still entirely too much laziness and apathy. We've REALLY got to teach the "kids" in our scene to respect heritage - once you put up a board, keep it there. Don't change the board name, don't change your handle, and, for god's sake, stick with a software once you've spent the time setting it up. Without any truly serious, long-term bbses out there, our scene won't be able to maintain any definitive longevity - something which we DESPERATELY need, with the internet playing such an incredibly pervasive role in the BBS scene of the future. lateron Midnight Sorrow June 16, 1998