eBay pulls Kevin Mitnick trinkets

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/1/14908.html

By: Kevin Poulsen
Posted: 22/11/2000 at 04:16 GMT

What would you pay for a vintage computer once used by hacker Kevin
Mitnick? How about a cell phone that he once spoke on, or a genuine
prison I.D. card?

On Monday, on-line auction house eBay cancelled an offering of
Mitnick's official federal Bureau of Prisons inmate I.D. card, ending
a flow of authentic Mitnick merchandise put up by his father on behalf
of the legendary hacker, who is himself barred from using computers,
and of course accessing the Web, under the terms of his supervised
release.

The laminated plastic card was carried by Mitnick during his stint at
a federal correctional institute in Lompoc, California, where it
served both as identification and as a debit card for prison vending
machines. It bears Mitnick's name, mug shot and federal prisoner
number.

Before eBay cancelled the auction, the standing bid for the card was
over $1000. "And it was only up for less than forty-eight hours," says
Mitnick.

Two other pieces of Mitnick memorabilia have already sold on eBay:
Mitnick's "first computer," a circa 1982 TRS-80 Pocket Computer Model
PC-2, which went for $510, and a cell phone Mitnick recently gave up
in favour of a newer model sold for $355.

Of course, both items came with a certificates of authenticity and an
autographed "Free Kevin" bumper sticker.

In an e-mail message to Mitnick's father, an eBay customer service
representative claimed the company stopped the auction under its
policy prohibiting sellers convicted of a "violent felony" from
profiting from their misdeeds.

Mitnick plead guilty to a number of felonies last year in connection
with a string of electronic intrusions into software and cell phone
companies in the mid-90's, but none of the crimes were violent in any
usual sense of the word.

Perhaps realizing this, a later message from a different
representative claimed eBay cancelled the auction based on a policy
against selling federal I.D. cards. The company also cited a policy
that bars any sale of stolen property.

In fact, Mitnick's breathless sales pitch ("act now and own a piece of
history") included the claim that the hacker had to smuggle the I.D.
card out of prison upon his release. "The item, as it was described,
was smuggled out of a federal penitentiary," says eBay spokesperson
Kevin Purglove. "Therefore, one could question whether or not the one
selling it is the rightful owner of the merchandise."

Mitnick now says there was no smuggling involved, and admits he
included the dramatic line to "make it more exciting."

"It's not stolen," says Mitnick. "I'd be insane to sell something
that's stolen on eBay."

"A lot of times the inmates need the cards when they're released to
get on a plane to go home, or to get on a bus," agrees federal Bureau
of Prisons spokesperson Tracy Billingsley. "They're not leaving with a
drivers license or any form of I.D., so sometimes we let them take it
with them."

But while Billingsley says the thousand-dollar card is not stolen
property, she claims that it isn't Mitnick's to sell, either. "It is a
government document, it is the property of the Bureau of Prisons," she
says. "Inmates are not obligated to return it, but they're not free to
sell it."

Mitnick, who paid $5.00 for the card in prison, disagrees. He's begun
looking for another outlet for the sale. "The Bureau of Prisons can
sue me," Mitnick says.


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