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1523 of 48,116 files

1998 September 4

As many of you are aware, there were world-wide porn busts. Unknown to anyone in ATN, the ATN WHQ siteop has been caught and charged with possession and distribution child pornography and is due to begin trial in 30 days. He is also likely to face mass piracy charges too, as police also took almost a terrabyte of pirated software from his apartment. This letter to everyone is intended to inform and warn you of the consequences of the events in the past 28 hours.
  • Text / Bust or takedown
  • Jinponius, writer credits
[+] Configuration Copy text
MAXIMISE THIS TEXT FILE ***** MAXIMISE THIS TEXT FILE ***** MAXIMISE THIS TEXT FILE ATN (ACTIVATION) CLOSES IN DISASTREROUS CIRCUMSTANCES (4th September 1998) This is Jinponius - ATN Founder / Prez / Trader As many of you are aware, there were world-wide porn busts. Unknown to anyone in ATN, the ATN WHQ siteop has been caught and charged with possession and distribution child pornography and is due to begin trial in 30 days. He is also likely to face mass piracy charges too, as police also took almost a terrabyte of pirated software from his apartment. This letter to everyone is intended to inform and warn you of the consequences of the events in the past 28 hours. Early morning Sept 2 1998, in response to electronic surveillance by the US FBI, US Customs Dept, and the US Treasury (apparently responsible for more than banks) sent 15 armed agents to the HOME of Carabus in Connecticut, USA. They seized his computer, some 1500 cds containing masses of software and also illegal porn. This raid was one of many made at the same time around the world and in many countries breaking a world wide porn ring called the WonderLand Club. How Carabus was brought to the attention of law enforcement agencies is a question unanswered. Carabus was told he had been "screened" by law enforcement agencies, where they had monitored his two Carabus@ email addresses and his ICQ. He was shown print outs of his recent email - so much for privacy on Hotmail. Carabus was released not long after the raid, because the contents of the PC and the CDs need to be examined with a fine comb before any arrest is made. The next move of Carabus was to go to work later in the morning, give a brief note to the #ATN98 channel via his bot that he had been busted, and immediately close down his bots. He then proceeded to destroy his server - CP ATN WHQ, which was untouched due to a search warrant being unattainable - protected by the University that hosted it. 30mins later Carabus appeared on IRC, and messaged myself. He told be that he is in trouble, that he had been raided for software piracy. He DID NOT bother to tell me that he was raided for child porn. He also said there is going to be a trial, and that it is likely he will be deported back to Germany, and lose his job. He is also likely to face a big fine and/or imprisonment. He warned me that they have all information relating to the existence and activities of ATN, and I was told to go in to hiding on IRC, change site IPs ports etc etc. When asked how clued up on warez and the scene are these authorities, the reply was that they are well educated on the matter. Since Cara was a senior in ATN, he had access to the ATN MS EXCEL ADMINISTRATION FILE. This file was sitting on the HDD of the computer that was seized. This file contained member info such as Nick, Country, ICQ UIN, LOGIN, PASS, IDENT, IPs (some static ???.???.???.?? and some dynamic), and also showed what sites each member was on. On another Tab in the excel file was a sitelist, giving information such as site name, abbreviation, IP, PORT, Location, Speed, and channel. This file was protected by a password, which I have no doubt is nothing more than a formality for opening, since the FBI had even been cracking the "Russian encryption of porn" that we have heard on the news. There we must assume that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies will not only have the static IPs of some very upset people, but also the IPs of many scene sites. The following is a list of scene sites listed in the ADMIN FILE: 5th Element AF1 BBRO * ATN INTERNAL SITE CP * ATN INTERNAL SITE - WHQ Cemetary Gates CNE * ATN INTERNAL SITE COD CPD * ATN INTERNAL SITE CPD2 * ATN INTERNAL SITE EMF * BOOKWARE SITE FRAG * OLD IP B4 IT WAS BUSTED FNL MSV MF NBM NC NON ProjectGenocide PrimeMover QC Reality FLuX RF * ATN INTERNAL SITE SAD Sanctuary SoliD Disruption SaraPaX TBP SLR aka The Cellar TB - The Labrynth TDR TT TH - RTS WHQ TUK -The Ultimate Kingdom TWL TWH VXS * ATN INTERNAL SITE VF WOC WTC I urge all siteops to take action - either close down or change access details. Only (2) of the forementioned sites (SAD AF1) are not located in the countries where the raids took place. This does not mean authorities will not act in Hungary upon request of the authorities from other countries. I applaude the AF1 siteop for taking prompt action before there was even confirmation of the exact situation. The authorities have all Carabus' IRC logs, ICQ message, email messages, and many IPs of sites and the account details of 70 or so ATN members. This is cause for extreme alarm considering every file will be screened on his PC by experts. Carabus is facing piracy and pornography charges, therefore it is reasonable to assume not only porn activity is being clamped down, but that the authorities are likely to take this opportunity to take down the scene sites. If the authorities fail to recognise these sites as significant top sites, then it is reasonable to assume that these sites listed in the ADMIN file could be deemed to be distributing illegal pornography by authorities. The ADMIN file contains NO reference to the contents or purpose of these sites - so could be mistakenly implicated in the child pornography ring. That is why immediate action must be taken, according to news reports, screening of Cara's HDD is well underway, and the news reports more raids are coming. Before I summarise, I would like to take an opportunity to thank everyone for helping myself and my creation, ATN, for giving us a chance. We formed in Sept 97, and closed at my command at Sept 98. I apologise for the problem that has arisen, I wish there was something that I could have done to prevent it. I only first started thinking that Carabus was a paedophile when I heard on the news that the organisation that had carried out the raid on Carabus, had at the same time performed porn raids across the USA and in cooperation with other countries around the world. Constantly monitoring the news and webpages in USA, I finally came across the information I have been dreading (http://www.courant.com/news/article/ctnews1.stm). I am scared to think of how long Carabus has been electronically monitored, many people could also be in danger. Summary: 1) Only ONE ATN member is busted and is facing child porn and piracy charges. 2) Siteops must take action to protect themselves and their site, it does not matter where you are located, the governments are working in tandem. 3) If you think you are in danger, follow your instinct, safe than VERY sorry. 4) On behalf of Carabus, ATN and myself apologise for the threat that is b4 us all. 5) Heinz J. Schaeffers aka CARABUS - YOU ARE ONE SICK MOTHER FUCKER AND I HOPE YOU SUFFER THE PAIN THOSE CHILDREN DID. I HOPE THEY WARMLY GREET YOU IN PRISON. 6) Thanks for reading this letter, it is important to me that you are warned. 7) CARA IS COOPERATING WITH AUTHORITIES ACCORDING TO THE NEWS !!?! WTF DOES THAT MEAN? I am upset to see all my effort go wasted like this, ATN was a good group that deserved a better end. Thank you to all ATN members (bar one of them), you are fine people. My final words are "linfXp should be unbanned - its the only way anyone can trade 0sec, especially from distant locations, and it is freely available to all. Any serious group has at least one group shell trading box". THE END
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