[Out of fairness to Mr. Richtel, I spoke with him about this article
and found out that he did NOT take everything JP said at face value.
His assertion that the list is valid came from his own source, other 
than JP.]

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.]

Letter of complaint to Richtel