Michele <
eatshi...@spammers.com> wrote:
> The Internet was edgy in 1993? I remember waiting for the World Wide Web
> Worm page to load up in order to search the innertubes in '93. Can't
> remember who we were dialing into then.
Actually I think CL isn't that far off the mark, in the first 2 or 3 years
we operated, much of the internet was reached using ip addresses and port
numbers. Hostnames and domains were around, but most of "the good stuff" was
passed around only by ip address.
The reason for that (the way it was explained to me) was because of how the
colleges and universities were wired up. I guess from the dorm rooms to the
computer lab, anyone could plug a machine in and get it on the net. To get a
hostname though, required going to the dns admin (probably staff) and
requesting it, too many question, stupid ideas, can cause problems, most
elected to stick with an ip address only.
A side note to that, someone else told me some colleges had a monthly fee to
use the network but didn't have control of the actual connection. Basically
what that means is, if someone plugged in a machine and got a dynamic
address for it (or stole a static one), if they were not paying, they
wouldn't get a hostname and reverse dns entry for the domain.
The key point to that was, many systems used to run a frontend called
tcpwrappers which was software that ran before other software. So like if
someone went to
ftp.ripco.com and we were running it, the wrapper would look
at the inbound ip address, then do a hostname lookup for that, then verify
the hostname matched the ip (reverse lookup). If all of that was kosher, the
program would hand off to the ftp program and all was well.
Naturally anyone "borrowing" the connection who didn't have a hostname and
matching reverse record would be rejected, giving them incentive to pay the
access fee.
Not really sure if all that was true, but made sense on some level.
> Bruce -- you care to share the story of how you named your servers?
Pffft, I think I remember all the hostnames but not sure about who the
people were anymore. I'm sure it's in the CUD and EFF archives but I'll give
it a shot.
I'm pretty sure the first machines online were:
rci.ripco.com
golden.ripco.com
foley.ripco.com
then later these were added:
lawson.ripco.com
gail.ripco.com
We had others later on (like 2 dozen) but those were just named after what
they were doing with part numbers (web servers, terminal servers, dns
servers).
The rci machine was the hub, I guess you can call it, exported the file
systems to the other machines, ran mail, was the admin login box. Was just
named after the company initials.
The machines foley and golden were the shell boxes, they were named after a
couple secret service agents (Tim Foley and Barbara Golden). For those of
you who weren't born yet, ripco started as a bulletin board (1983) and in
May of 1990 got raided and seized by the U.S. Secret Service as part of this
"operation" called Operation Sundevil. Apparently me and like 42 other
bulletin boards around the country were part of some kind of underground
theft ring, yanking in 13 billion a year in computer trespassing thefts.
I never got my check from that work.
Foley and Golden were the two agents here in Chicago assigned to handle my
seizure.
Lawson I'm fuzzy about, I think he was an assistant states attorney here in
Illinois that had a bug up his ass to bring the hammer down on ye old ripco.
The Secret Service got there first and somewhat ruined his day. I beleive he
was the one prosecuting (in 1987) two guys (one from ripco called Shadow
Hawk I) and the other from down south (The Prophet). After that went to
trial (and de boyz off to jail), he set his sites on me but kept missing.
From what I understand, he applied several times to get warrants issued on
ripco but never passed the muster with the judge and got turned down over
lack of evidence. When the SS got it done from Arizona (reason for the
Sundevil name), he was supposed to be really pissed about it.
So as a consolation present, I named a machine after him, was another shell
box added when the system grew.
If that wasn't the guy from Illinois, it was the name of the "expert" the SS
had to write up everything, posts on ripco remembering the death of Jim
Morrison (of the Doors) as being radical anarchists. How a blue box can
bring down the 911 system in 13 states. You know, the real and true facts.
The machine called gail was the news server (usenet). It was the first box
we had where all it did was usenet. It tended to panic alot and have
breakdowns, just like the woman we named it after, Gail Thackery.
She was the head clown calling the shots from Arizona, supposedly feeding
all this crap to the secret service to get them to do her bidding. Many
people who met her in person figured she was on the edge of having a nervous
breakdown and generally started to spew (ranting and raving) instead of just
having a conversation.
And that I think is about it.
-bruce
b...@ripco.com