View source for Skyhigh 12 ch09 About Steve

<pre>      about steve of scs*trc/laser



yo everybody!

in issue #11 of this magazine, i brought
you a chapter about hacking.this chapter
 (which was very interesting, and cool)
was written by one of my new, english,
friends. he's known to the scene as:-

         steve of scs*trc/laser!

as promised, i would bring an interview
with him in issue #12; so here we go!!

    -  -- -------------------- --  -


first i would like to say welcome, and
thanx for the very cool chapter from you



? ok let's get started the right way.
  i remember seeing the name 'zenith' in
  some old cracker-intros. i specially
  remember the logo done in 'italic'.
  but why the hell do i write all this?
  the reason is that you; steve, were a
  member of this old legend!
  but lots of things has happened since
  then. i think it would be in its place
  for you to start with a few personal
  facts, together with the scene-history
  of yours.

! well facts-wise i am 29 years old, 6
  foot tall, weigh about 85kgs, i am
  single (intend staying that way!),
  have short dark brown hari and live as
  most know in the south of england!

  scene history:-

  1983 - 1988 laser cracking service
              as a cracker, musician
              and mail trader.

  1988 - 1989 zenith as a cracker, mail
              and modem trader.

  i quit zenith in may 1989 and after a
  few months i joined an atari st/amiga
  group here in england called "the
  medway boys" cracking and modem
  trading atari st games mostly but i
  have also cracked some amiga games
  and coded some tools for the amiga &amp;
  atari st also!

  1992 - ???? laser once again as a
              cracker, mail trader,
              sysop and modem trader.


? yep, now you should be introduced!!
  well, steve i would like to chat a bit
  about the hacking chapter in the last
  issue.
  i myself don't know shit about hacking
  or its history,so i found your chapter
  extremely exciting. but i guess you do
  ( otherwise you wouldn't have written
  it i guess !! ).
  do you have anything to add! has any-
  thing happened since!
  i was told that blue-boxing is no
  longer possible. is that true or just
  pure bullshit?

! well it's half true about the blue-
  boxing here in england!  fact is that
  most english sceners are very lame
  indeed when it comes to phreaking,
  hacking or trying to learn about the
  subject!  most english sceners would
  rather sit back and let someone else
  do all the hard work!  as for hacking
  i'm trying to keep a low profile at
  present as i had some big trouble
  with my university computer a while
  back!


? you once told me that you're writing
  on a book concerning computer crime.
  please tell us a little about it!

! well when i started as an student on
  information technology and it's
  applications i soon realised that
  this was my future; so as i have also
  good qualifications in english i then
  decided to write a book on a chosen
  specialist subject for when i reach
  a higher level of study!  then when i
  get to that higher level i will have
  a lot of work already done!  also i
  like to think that when it is finished
  that i can make a lot of money from
  it!  at present the book is finished
  in english but is being translated
  into german so we can approach a
  german publisher who is interested!


? i guess you're interested in all kinds
  of storys or documentations concerning
  computer-crime. do you have anything
  to say to the readers who knows a true
  story, or trick?

! well i guess everyone knows the story
  now of the 2 americans who ripped off
  an eft computer in new york!  but this
  is the kind of story that i am very
  interested in hearing!  by the way
  that story is since discovered to be
  only half true; as the 2 guys did not
  make as much money as they claimed but
  they still made a lot of money!


? i guess that modems and bbs are mixed
  up with hacking, but that's not quite
  true i believe. i know that you also
  have a board yourself.
  what will happen to it after you have
  joined success+trc ? is it still a
  laser board or a scs+trc board?

! well straylight is now of course a
  scs*trc board but as laser has now
  become a sort of federation rather
  than a group as such laser will of
  course continue!  laser cracks will
  be available on straylight and also
  vandalism news and airwolf team
  wares are available on straylight!


? talking about your board! please give
  us some info about it. you know :
  sysop, time, hard-/software, a.s.o.!

! well sysops are myself, caramon of
  laser/legion of doom, moren scs*trc,
  vengeance scs*trc and breaker of
  laser and trsi.  unfortunately the
  board has returned to 1200 at present
  as caramon managed to break my 2400
  modem; but i am considering buying a
  cmd swiftlink and running a c*base at
  9600 for those who have 9600!  the
  hours are mostly 24 hours unless i
  have to copy a lot of disks but it's
  up 95% of the time!  as for software
  it runs on a modded ucbbs 1.3+ pal in
  c128 mode with drive access at c128
  burst mode with 2*1570's and 2*1581's!


? well enough about hacking and boards.
  i would also like to talk about games.
  as written in skyhigh issue #11, you
  have some plans about your collection.
  please tell us about it!

! well the collection is going fine and
  finally i have managed to complete my
  first list!  some people who have my
  list may think t strange there is only
  2500+ entries on it but this is
  because there is nothing on this list
  which is not 100% working and error-
  free!  also the list doesn't contain
  any previews whatsoever!  it takes a
  very long time to check and correct
  all the games i am getting in the mail
  and this first list has taken since
  in fact christmas 1992!  nearly every
  game on the list is re-packed with a
  better cruncher than it was before &amp;
  my list contains the shortest versions
  of any almost any game!


? i think this is a cool idea to collect
  all the games and improve them. as i
  said in the chapter, then i'll rather
  have 30 discs full of quality games
  than 700 with pure shit. even if it
  means that the games are old!!!
  unfortunately not all have the same
  opinion. as you say yourself then many
  sceners nowadays concentrate on spread
  ing the hottest (but often lame) crax,
  instead of concentrate a bit more on
  improving their collection.

? you have been both in the 'old' scene
  and the scene today.  do you feel any
  changes? are people more friendly now,
  or is it the other way around?

! well there's a lot more lamers around
  now and there's too many people who
  very arrogant!  also people are much
  much more lazy!  very very few people
  also call you for friendship any more!
  as for the arrogance i hate people who
  self appoint themselves as some kind
  of judge of every other scener like by
  applying stupid rules and points
  systems!  also i hate the attitude of
  some sceners who think that trading
  old games is lame.  surely if you
  don't have the game then it doesn't
  matter how old it is!


? is there anything we can do about it?
  please tell us your idea of the per-
  fect c64-scene today...

! well at one time nearly all c64 guys
  used to swap using lists rather than
  by sending only new stuff.  for
  example i would send my list to one of
  my contacts and they would send theirs
  so each sending we would actually
  request what stuff we wanted!  it
  would be a lot cooler if we could all
  do this as well as spreading new stuff
  only!


? well steve as you might know then i
  usually ask the victims of their faves
  and you are no exception. so please
  tell us about 'em!

! favourite :
  -----------

  crackergroup   : trsi &amp; airwolf team

  singlecracker  : crisp/trsi

  demogroup      : oxyron (hahaha!)

  coder          : tron/flt

  graphician     : bizkid is ok (haha!)

  composer       : syndrom

  magazine       : reformation

  cover designer : met/mayhem

  game           : ultima iv
                   (looking for v and vi
                    if anyone has them!)

  demo           : spasmolytic


  and the more personal things!!


  drink          : coffee, pepsi

  food           : pizza, pasta

  movie          : silence of the lambs

  music          : hardcore, techno



? that wasn't that hard eh!

  well steve,is there anything you would
  like to say to the scene, or things ya
  would like to share with the rest of
  us. if so then the word is free!

! well to the 1000+ sceners with modems
  that don't call my board, why not?
  also to any guys into hacking, rpg's
  or collecting old games get in touch!
  some hello's to those sceners who are
  good friends and i respect:-

  all fellow scs*trc and laser members,
  gremlin/entropy, jazzcat/legend,
  lightside/awt, truss/excess (write!),
  freestyle+hok+richie+derbyshire ram
  of avantgarde, black widow/gothic,
  roadrunna/triad and to all my other
  contacts especially those who i've
  known from the 1980's!  before i
  forget a special hi to the breaker!

  finally i would like to say :-

  call 'straylight' on XXXXXXXXXXXXX!


? ok my friend i guess that's all for
  now. i would like to thank you for
  taking the time to help me out with
  this interview.
  i hope you'll have luck in the future,
  and will stay to the end!!!

  if you have other exciting subjects,
  like your previous chapters, feel free
  to publish 'em in skyhigh...

  ok that's it. have a nice one. bye!!!
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