http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/mo/biztech/articles/02hack.html June 2, 1999 Federal Cybercrime Unit Hunts for Hackers By MATT RICHTEL [snip...] John Vranesevich, who operates the Anti-Online Web site, which chronicles hacker activity, said the information requested from Internet service providers involved software tools, computer files and aliases pertaining to hacker activities. Vranesevich said several of the aliases actually represented software programs called "bots," which are posted in chat rooms as automated monitors but may have been mistaken by F.B.I. agents for human participants. [It is widely believe by hackers AND FEDERAL AGENTS that JP made this list up. No less than *10* FBI agents have verified to MSNBC, me, Hackernews, and other independant people that the list is bunk. No one at the FBI will verify that 'directive' is real. And why did it have a DOJ fax number on it if it came from the FBI? And why a 'directive' when the FBI use subpoenas? JP didn't know any of those names were bots. Only when people challenged him on it did he turn to say the above. He made no mention of them being bots when he 'broke' the story. When I personally called an agent in New York to ask about the list, he laughed when I asked if it was FBI based. I told him one of the 'people' on the list was "mal_vu" and he replied "isn't that a bot?". He already knew.] One hacker group, which calls itself F0rpaxe, says it is based in Portugal and takes responsibility for "massive attacks" on various Web sites, sent a statement to Anti-Online saying, "If the F.B.I. doesn't stop we won't, and we can start destroying." [See: http://www.attrition.org/negation/www/ao.021.html JP was caught plagiarizing HackerNews and did not receive the mail from Forpaxe on his own. At least, not in time for him to release this article.]