                                ==Phrack Inc.==

                      Volume Two, Issue 20, File 2 of 12

                           ==Phrack Pro-Phile XX==

                       Written and Created by Taran King

                                    1/5/88

         Welcome to the Phrack Pro-Phile XX.  Phrack Pro-Phile was created
to bring info to you, the users, about old or highly important/controversial
people.  This month, I bring to you someone who you all have seen and heard
of...

                                  Taran King
                                  ~~~~~~~~~~
                                    (me!)

         Taran King (I) was the sysop of Metal Shop Private, a private
exchange for telecommunications enthusiasts (phone phreaks and hackers) as
well as being the home-base of Phrack Inc. which I ran.  I also had a hand in
the organization of SummerCon '87 and PartyCon '87.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personal
~~~~~~~~
             Handle: Taran King
           Call him: Randy, Randster, Randall, whatever (real name is Rand)
       Past handles: None
      Handle origin: The main character in The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd
                     Alexander
      Date of Birth: 7/11/69
Age at current date: 19 years old
             Height: 5'10" or so (give or take an inch)
             Weight: 135-140 lbs. (I hate fat people)
          Eye color: Brown
         Hair Color: Brown
          Computers: IBM PC, later with a hard drive added.
  Sysop/Co-Sysop of: Metal Shop Private, The Brewery, Quick Shop/Metal Shop
                     AE, Whackoland, The Dark Tower, Digital ITS (proud of
                     that one) and probably a few more I've forgotten about.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
         I started out in the BBS world in September of 1983 when a friend
gave me numbers to different modems which included things to hack on as well
as bulletin boards.  I actually got my computer in late June of that year, but
didn't understand the concept of the modem until that point. I got involved
with David Lightman (314)'s board before it went up by beta-testing it for him
at times and when he put it up, I ended up being user 2 and then soon after,
co-sysop of The Dark Tower.  It was there that my local notariety became
strong and a few people from the nation started calling in.  His board was
very good with what he had and the little advertising that it got, but it
eventually went down.  It was at that point when I started getting around
nationally and was able to make connections of my own.  I put up Metal Shop:
The Dark Tower Phase II a bit after because St. Louis totally lacked bulletin
boards that dealt with hacking or phreaking.  I advertised around the country
and drew in quite a crowd.  The board excelled with time to the point of
having around 500 users when it got to be a security risk in my eyes and we
put in the general password system (made by Cheap Shades, of course).
Eventually, that crowd got weeded down to a lot fewer people and some time
after that, I was hospitalized.  After my release from the hospital, Cheap
Shades and I (me on the ideas and Shades on the programming) created a
modified version of WWIV BBS program to suit my wants/needs and it resembled
the old Shop set-up.  As time went on, it became a name of its own through the
crowd that hung out on it as well as having Phrack Inc. as being based there.
For more detailed explainations of how things came about and about a few
things mentioned above, see the big history file in this issue of Phrack Inc.
I've met a few members of the phreak/hack world including the following:
Knight Lightning, Cheap Shades, Forest Ranger, The W(hack)o Cracko Bros., Dr.
Forbin, Data Line, and Reverend Enge (all local to me), as well as Jester
Sluggo, Blue Buccaneer, Phantom Phreaker, Doom Prophet, Bill from RNOC, Tuc,
Dan The Operator, Lex Luthor, The Leftist, Sir Francis Drake, Loki, Disk
Jockey, Control C, Synthetic Slug, Lucifer 666, Mad Hatter, Cutthroat, The Mad
Hacker (219), Sir William, Dr. Cypher, Hatchet Molly, Bad Subscript, The
Mentor, Cisban Evil Priest, Phrozen Ghost, Surfer Bob, Crimson Death (618), The
Dictator, Doc Holiday (901), and The Ur-Vile.  Some of the memorable phreak
boards I was on (besides my own) included The Dark Tower, The Pipeline,
Broadway Show, Zyolog, Stronghold East Elite, Stronghold North, Hell Phrozen
Over, Private Sector, Pirate-80, Stalag 13, Lunatic Labs UnLtd., Quick Shop,
Metal Shop Brewery, NetSys, The Private Connection, ShadowSpawn, RACS III, The
Pearly Gates, Brainstorm Elite, Metalland North, The Alliance, Intergalactic
Dismantling, Inc. (IDI), DUNE, Speed Demon Elite, The Abyss, MetroMedia/Danger
Zone Private, The Matrix, Thieve's World, FreeWorld II, Flying Circus, Twilight
Zone, Septic Tank, The Lost City of Atlantis, Phantasie Realm, CHAMAS, and
probably a few others I forgot that were important. Certain knowledge I've
gained over the years is attributed to various boards forementioned as well as
people like Bill from RNOC, Phantom Phreaker, Doom Prophet, The Videosmith, and
many others not to mention reading (a key part to learning technical things)
and social engineering.

         I utterly hate working with computers for anything other than
communicating with friends and occasionally word processing.  Programming on
them is the most repugnant thought in the world to me (no offense Shades!).

         I've really never been much for hacking at all, although I did gain a
bit of an interest through the legitimate accounts I gained on systems such as
NetSys run by Terminus in Maryland.  Hacking was never really much for me
(besides looking at things on dull systems that were totally useless) when I
first got the modem.  Now that I'm at college and have access to it, I'm
learning VM/CMS a bit so that I can use Bitnet and work through/with it.

         I attended and had a part in organizing both SummerCon '87 and
PartyCon '87 (very much in SummerCon and very little in PartyCon).  I also
attended SummerCon '88 for a little while on each of the days except Sunday. I
was supposed to be on the NEW TAP staff, run by the W(hack)o Cracko Bros. as
well as being on the staff of Telecomputist (which sponsored SummerCon '87) and
doing all but writing articles for Phrack Inc.  Other than that, I'm not
terribly involved with phreaker/hacker media.

         The only group I was ever in was The 2600 Club! which later revised
into The NEW 2600 Club! which was just as ignorant with more interesting names
but about an equal participation in anything.  I learned I was able to advance
through the phreak world without the booster of a club besides using my board
as a reference.  I didn't need to rely on the work of others.

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

        Interests: Telecommunications (basically phreaking knowledge-wise
                   now), music (heavy metal of all sorts plus so much more
                   and playing electric guitar), fraternity life (party), women
                   (white ones, blond, with blue eyes, and NO FAT CHICKS!
                   Namely, Kimberly), driving (and one day, I'll drive that
                   fucking DeLorean!)

Taran's Favorite Things
-----------------------

        Women: Kimberly (see above...I went all out!)
         Cars: Lamborghini Contachs, DeLoreans, Lotuses, Vectors, etc.
        Foods: NO VEGETABLES!
        Music: Heavy metal, Pink Floyd, classic rock.
      Leisure: Partying, playing guitar, spending time with the woman.
Alcoholic fun: Tequila shots, Rum & Coke, good beer (pretty much anything),
               Long Island Tea, and those funky teas you find at college
               parties in garbage cans lined with garbage bags (hmm!)

Most Memorable Experiences
--------------------------

Forest Ranger's conferences (what would YOU do for a Klondike Bar at 3am?).
Car accident with Jester Sluggo as well as almost a 2nd time afterwards (keep
         drinking!).
Bell Shock Force conferences (yes ma'am, I'm sorry but you'll just have to cut
         those wires)
Getting busted in late May '87 (don't try it, it ain't fun).
SummerCon '87 (a better party than PartyCon '87, met a lot of great people).
PartyCon '87 (a lot of fun, but too unorganized although I met a few more
         people that I had wanted to).
SummerCon '88 (wait, did I attend that???).


Some People to Mention
----------------------

Knight Lightning (my right hand man; although he wasn't terribly
         knowledgeable, he was always there and trying to help out and still
         is!|)
David Lightman 314 (for allowing me to use his program to start what turned
         out to be Metal Shop Private)
Man-Tooth (my original 2nd co-sysop next to KL who drove me down to David
         Lightman's house in South-fucking-County St. Louis for 30 minutes)
Dr. Forbin/Mr. Modem (for re-transferring the original program after something
         got fucked after the ride to South-fucking-County)
Forest Ranger (wild man, can't say much about him without getting hurt|)
Phantom Phreaker (we found ya for 2600 Club and you excelled far beyond any of
         the rest of us in the club did, plus you helped my board immensely)
Barbie Doll (for suggesting the idea of Phrack Inc. in different words even if
         nobody knows what or who you were or where you were from)
The W(hack)o Cracko Bros. (what a couple of idiots)
Oryan Quest (never has there been as bad a pest as this man, but he turned out
         to be human Mexican, but human| after we were both busted,
         interestingly enough)
Lex Luthor (for freaking me out when he first called my board and contributing
         a bit here and there)
Capt. Hook (taught me a bit about social engineering here and there and
         introduced me to a few people as well as helping out a couple of
         times)
Cheap Shades (what would Metal Shop have been without the programming mastery
         of this individual; my left hand man and great friend as well)
Tuc (generally a good friend and historical reference as well as creating the
         Pro-Phile that I based the rest of them on)
Bill from RNOC (another one of my best friends who is the smartest person
         potentially, and definitely the smartest when it comes to phreaking
         and hacking put together; a great source of information, and one of
         the most hilarious people I know)
Olorin The White (if this guy puts me in his group one more time, I'm gonna
         kill him!)

Inside Jokes
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary likes corn.  Are you stupid (corn, cheese, free)?  Supervisors at Pizza
Hut?  Essscuse me Mr. Corley, but I was juss lookin' fo sum bonez...I'm Bosco.
What's the worse that could happen?  Smoke.  Raggy!  Raggy! HeeheeHEEHeeheehee
hee.  KS-KS-KS <Gulp!>.  Do you know any phreaks who carry around their own
trunks.  IIIII Like Chi-Nese!  Listing for Dalkon Shields please.  I know
that's a blue box!  Hello, security?  Do we have a trace?  We do.  Good.
<LAUGHTER!>.  AMD.  We make display.  We're hopping on a plane now and coming
to Maryland to kick your ass!  For $20 I'll sell you 5 lbs. of baking soda.
Doesn't he look like The Fly?  You almost just hit the car again!  Keep
drinking!  It was the other side of the car this time!  Keep drinking!  Do you
know what your aunt would do to you if you got in another accident?  Keep
drinking!  I hate it when your dick hits the water in the bottom of the
urinal, don't you?  But what do you think about it?  But what do you think
about it?  But what do you think about it?  And a complimentary beer comes
with the room.  Domino's dude!  Ya wanna get paid?  Run to me boys.  Guess
where I'm calling from?  NO!  NO!  COCKSUCKER!  I'mLuckyI'mLuckyI'mLucky!  But
first off, do you have Karl Marx's phone number?  Dude.  NAA.  Dude.  NAA.
Dude.  NAA.  The meat was SOOOO tender, it just slid off the bones.  Chicken.
Hey, you know like you have a little piece of wire hanging down from your
nose?  Jolly Green Faggot.  That made me pucker my lips.  Sweet.  Baksketball
Jones.  HAHAHAHAHA<fart>HAHAHAHA.  You Bonehead.  I would have reached my hand
in but I had just finished deficating.  Dan, you're too thin for your voice.
You can almost hear the dogs across the street barking.  I only want to know
two things:  1) How do you blue box off of CCIS and 2) how do you remotely take
total control of LMOS?  NO!  I'M BIOC!  <STAMP>  BIOC  <STAMP>  BIOC  <STAMP>
BIOC.  "BIOC Agent 003 was arrested today for stamping his name on his RA's
forehead."

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         I'm against pretty much all forms of fraud now that I've spent the
night in jail, the summer of '87 in pain and waiting, and will spend the next 3
years of my life on probation.  I'm not informing to anyone about anything if
you have thoughts about that statement, but I have no part in anything
fraudulent. I've always thought that carding was the most stupid crime
connected with computers and that it's too risky to be worth it in the end.  I
hope that the future phreaks and hackers keep around and retain what's been
built up over the many years since long before I'd heard of phreaking or
hacking.

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

I hope you enjoyed this file.  Although I had at one time intended on this
being my last Pro-Phile, it's actually the first of many to come...And now
for the regularly taken poll from all interviewees.

Of the general population of phreaks you have met, would you consider most
phreaks, if any, to be computer geeks?  Generally, the cool ones aren't, but
of course, in every large group of people, you'll probably find a few geeks
here and there.  Thanks for your time, Randy.  No problem, Randy.

                                            Taran King
=========================================================================
