Paul John F. Cadag Professional Ethics MWF(1:00 – 2:00)

Legion of Doom (LOD)

1. What was the case about?

As a hacker group that active from the 1980s to the late 1990s and early 2000. Their name appears to be a reference to the antagonists of Challenge of the Superfriends. LOD was founded by the hacker Lex Luthor, after a rift with his previous group the Knights of Shadow (much as the Masters of Deception would later be founded after Phiber Optik had a rift with Chris Goggans and LOD, eventually leading to the Great Hacker War and disbanding of both groups).

2. Who were the protagonists & parties involved?

LOD was split into LOD and LOD/LOH (Legion of Doom/Legion of Hackers) for the members that were more skilled at hacking than pure phone phreaking.

3. Did any prosecutions result?

YES!!, because Unlike Masters of Deception there were different opinions regarding what the Legion of Doom was. LOD published the Legion of Doom Technical Journals and regularly contributed to the overall pool of hacking knowledge and information, while causing no direct harm to the phone systems and computer networks they took over. On the other hand, many LOD members were raided, charged and in some cases successfully prosecuted for causing damage to systems and reprogramming phone company computers (Grant, Darden and Riggs, etc). While the "Bellsouth" case could be construed as exploration of the phone system, with claims that no real damage was done, there are other former LOD members such as Corey A. Lindsly, who were clearly interested in for-profit computer crime, with no goal except personal gain.

4. If so, what were their outcomes?

Although the overall expressed beliefs and behavior of LOD and MOD were different, it can be difficult to untangle the individual actions of any given member. In many cases there seems to be cross-over between the two groups or collaboration between LOD and MOD members, even in the midst of The Great Hacker War.

5. What ethical issues are raised by this case?

The ethical issues in this case is if you an hacker or member of some kind of hacker group. You cannot deny that you are the hacker. And you cannot avoid the war between the two groups of hacker.

Masters of Deception (MOD)

1. What was the case about?

Was a New York-based hacker group. MOD reportedly controlled all the major telephone RBOC's and X.25 networks as well as controlling large parts of the backbone of the rapidly emerging Internet.

2. Who were the protagonists & parties involved?

MOD's initial membership grew from meetings on Loop-Around Test Lines that led to legendary collaborations to hack RBOC phone switches and the various minicomputers and mainframes used to administer the telephone network. They successfully remained underground using alternative handles to hide even their true hacker identities.

3. Did any prosecutions result?

According to Lex Luthor, "I realized early on that only certain people can be trusted with certain information, and certain types of information can be trusted to no one. Giving out useful things to irresponsible people would inevitably lead to whatever thing it was being abused and no longer useful.

4. If so, what were their outcomes?

As a result of a major nationwide investigation by a joint FBI/Secret Service task force called Operation Sundevil[1], five of MOD's members were indicted in 1992 in federal court. Within the next six months (in 1993), all five pleaded guilty and were sentenced to either probation or prison.

5. What ethical issues are raised by this case?

The ethical issues in this case is if you an hacker or member of some kind of hacker group. You cannot deny that you are the hacker. And you cannot avoid the war between the two groups of hacker.