[My comments are in brackets. No portion of this article has 
 been left out.]

(ZDNet) (March 16, 1998)

The Web's first King of the Hill hacking contest starts 
today. Open to all, this ongoing hackfest will sort the 
newbies out from the elite hackers-- and it's perfectly 
legal.

by Alex Wellen  March 16, 1998
 
Hacking systems. Creating backdoors. Gaining and maintaining 
root access. Defending the system you just hacked against 
future intruders.  These are just some of the skills contestants 
will have to develop if they want to succeed at the Web's first 
ongoing King of the Hill hacking contest.     
 
The brainchild of Carolyn Meinel, editor of the Happy Hacking 
ezine and The Happy Hacker book, this unique war game pits 
hackers against each other. The object: to hack and control 
access to a target system on the Happy Hacker site.
 
[This is not new, unique, nor the 'brainchild' of Carolyn Meinel.
 These contests have been around since the late 80's if not
 earlier. According to her own words in the "Hack 101" article:

 "In fact, sometimes several hackers make an agreement try to 
  break into each other's computers. It's the most exhilarating 
  game on the planet!"]

Along the way, Meinel hopes contestants will advance their 
defensive and offensive skills in a legal and safe environment. 
Aside from the King of the Hill game, Meinel and the 505 Gang 
of "white-hat" hackers offer tutorials, a technical support 
line, and hacking guides dedicated to "fun hacking in the old
hacking sense," she explained.
 
Meinel said the concept occurred to her and ZDTV Cyber Crime 
columnist Ira Winkler during the Def Con Four conference in 
the Summer of 1996.

[From the Defcon 4 announcement: "Network Setup, Sign in, Informal 
 PGP Keysigning, Small Demonstrations, Lots of Partying.  Capture 
 the Flag Contest Starts  at 18:00 (That's 6 PM for you who can't 
 read a computer clock)" Capture the Flag is Defcon's name for
 the same contest. She read about the idea from the convention
 flyer, listened to Jeff Moss aka Dark Tangent announce it, etc.]

 From Dark Tangent, organizer of Defcon: "I am thinking it was 
 DEF CON 3 that we had the first official one, where the guy from 
 the NSA said he would start one up internally.." and "We got the 
 idea at DC 2, but did it at DC 3.  I came up with the name 'Capture 
 the flag'." DT goes on to say "I am friends with Ira Winkler, and 
 the funny thing is he doesn't remember ever talking to Carolyn about 
 such a game, and he is pissed that she used his name in one of those 
 articles."]
 
In ramping up the project, Meinel said she has come under attack 
by malicious, or "black hat," hackers who don't want this kind of 
knowledge made public.  "My attackers want to keep the secrets to 
themselves so the rest of the public will remain defenseless,"
she said.

[How can she presume to know the minds and thinking of these
 supposed "black hats" so well?]
 
"Hackers have been threatening me and trying to take me off the 
Net for years-- might I add with poor success.
 
"In one case, one group of losers calling themselves the Gray 
Area's Liberation Front broke into my daughter's college account 
and posted her email on a hacker site. That's slimy.
 
"Anyone can learn to break into a computer. The hard part is 
how to defend yourself."

[Over 5 internet hosts have been broken into that had accounts
 for Carolyn Meinel. I would say that track record shows 
 she isn't capable of defending herself.]
 
Meinel's ISP, who wishes to remain nameless, booby-trapped 
her last site. Unauthorized access was met with the message-- 
"Smile, you're on candid camera"-- and a reply email 
explaining that the hacker's ISP has been informed of 
the misuse. "This frequently has the affect of kicking 
the person off the account," Meinel said.

[rt66.com (her ISP) used a trojan PHF script that was being
 distributed by security and hacker mail lists. Carolyn
 fell victim to this same script (modified so it wouldn't
 output the same line) while probing the host skillz.303.org] 

Meinel said a fierce "shadow war" of black-hat hackers 
versus white is currently being waged on the Internet. 
"A little known fact is that most good ISPs are owned 
and operated by 'white-hat hackers,'" she said.
 
Meinel got a laugh out of one recent battle where the 
black-hat hackers converted a traditional page into a 
"Warez" site dedicated to trading stolen software. 
Instead of taking down the site, the white-hat hackers 
who ran the ISP replaced the hacker's beautiful opening 
graphics with pornographic movies and virus-infested 
programs. "I love that!" she said.
 
The victim of numerous hack-attacks, Meinel retains
a good sense of humor about it: "You have to laugh
it off. I balloon. I train wild horses. I can't get
myself crazy because--'oh, now they hate me' or 'I'm
terrified, what am I going to do.'"