e and address.


        05. Why does 2600 cost more to subscribe to than to buy at a newsstand?

A note from Emmanuel Goldstein:

  We've been selling 2600 at the same newsstand price ($4) since 1988
  and we hope to keep it at that price for as long as we can get away
  with it. At the same time, $21 is about the right price to cover
  subscriber costs, including postage and record keeping, etc. People
  who subscribe don't have to worry about finding an issue someplace,
  they tend to get issues several weeks before the newsstands get
  them, and they can take out free ads in the 2600 Marketplace.

  This is not uncommon in the publishing industry.  The NY Times, for
  example, costs $156.50 at the newsstands, and $234.75 delivered to your
  door.




         * Section F: Miscellaneous * 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        01. What does XXX stand for?

TLA     Three Letter Acronym

ACL     Access Control List
PIN     Personal Identification Number
TCB     Trusted Computing Base

ALRU    Automatic Line Record Update
AN      Associated Number
ARSB    Automated Repair Service Bureau
ATH     Abbreviated Trouble History
BOC     Bell Operating Company
BOR     Basic Output Report
BOSS    Business Office Servicing System
CA      Cable
COE     Central Office Equipment
COSMOS  Computer System for Main Frame Operations
CMC     Construction Maintenance Center
CNID    Calling Number IDentification
CO      Central Office
COCOT   Customer Owned Coin Operated Telephone
CRSAB   Centralized Repair Service Answering Bureau
DID     Direct Inbound Dialing
DDD     Direct Distance Dialing
ECC     Enter Cable Change
LD      Long Distance
LMOS    Loop Maintenance Operations System
MLT     Mechanized Loop Testing
NPA     Numbering Plan Area
PBX     Private Branch Exchange
POTS    Plain Old Telephone Service
RBOC    Regional Bell Operating Company
RSB     Repair Service Bureau
SS      Special Service
TAS     Telephone Answering Service
TH      Trouble History
TREAT   Trouble Report Evaluation and Analysis Tool

LOD     Legion of Doom
HFC     Hell Fire Club
TNO     The New Order

ACiD    Ansi Creators in Demand
CCi     Cybercrime International
FLT     Fairlight
iCE     Insane Creators Enterprise
iNC     International Network of Crackers
NTA     The Nocturnal Trading Alliance
PDX     Paradox
PE      Public Enemy
PSY     Psychose
QTX     Quartex
RZR     Razor (1911)
S!P     Supr!se Productions
TDT     The Dream Team
THG     The Humble Guys
THP     The Hill People
TRSI    Tristar Red Sector Inc.
UUDW    Union of United Death Workers


        02. How do I determine if I have a valid credit card number?

Credit cards use the Luhn Check Digit Algorithm.  The main purpose of
this algorithm is to catch data entry errors, but it does double duty
here as a weak security tool.

For a card with an even number of digits, double every odd numbered
digit and subtract 9 if the product is greater than 9.  Add up all the
even digits as well as the doubled-odd digits, and the result must be
a multiple of 10 or it's not a valid card.  If the card has an odd
number of digits, perform the same addition doubling the even numbered
digits instead.


        03. What is the layout of data on magnetic stripe cards?

A standard card may have any of three tracks, or a combination of these
tracks.

Track 1 was the first track standardized.  It was developed by the
International Air Transportation Association (IATA) and is still
reserved for their use.  It is 210bpi with room for 79 characters.  It
includes the primary account number (up to 18 digits) and the name (up
to 26 alphanumeric characters).

Track 2 was developed by the American Bankers Association (ABA) for
on-line financial transactions.  It is 75bpi with room for 40 numeric
characters.  It includes the account number (up to 19 digits).

Track 3 is also used for financial transactions.  The difference is its
read/write ability.  It is 210bpi with room for 107 numeric digits.  It
includes an enciphered PIN, country code, currency units, amount
authorized, subsidiary account information and other restrictions.

For more information, read the ANSI/ISO 7811/1-5 standard.  This
document is available from the American Bankers Association.


        04. What are the ethics of hacking?

An excerpt from: Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
                          by Steven Levy

        Access to computers -- and anything which might teach you
        something about the way the world works -- should be unlimited
        and total. Always yield to the Hands-On imperative.

        All information should be free.

        Mistrust Authority.  Promote Decentralization.

        Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus criteria
        such as degrees, age, race, or position.

        You can create art and beauty on a computer.

        Computers can change your life for the better.


        05. Where can I get a copy of the alt.2600/#hack FAQ?

Get it on FTP at:
rahul.net      /pub/lps/sysadmin/
rtfm.mit.edu   /pub/usenet-by-group/alt.2600
clark.net      /pub/jcase/

Get it on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.engin.umich.edu/~jgotts/underground/hack-faq.html

Get it on my BBS:
Hacker's Haven (303)343-4053

EOT