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but to extend the protection of freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of expression to computer-based media: bulletin boards, electronic publishing, computer conferencing and so on. The foundation dedicated itself to six aims, all to do with influencing future legislation so that the civil liberties of computer users, whether they were hackers or not, would not be ignored. It attracted the support of a number of well-off technocrats in the computer industry – including $150,000 from Steve Wozniak, one of the Apple founders. (Woz had remained faithful to the original ideals of Apple. He resigned his position at the company in the early 1980s when it became too 'corporate' and busied himself promoting music festivals and teaching, among other things.)

By the time the Foundation was established on 10 July 1990 the full force of the federal crackdown had already been felt. The New York hackers Acid Phreak, Phiber Optik and The Scorpion had been raided on 24 January; Craig Neidorf had been arrested in February; the Atlanta Three had been indicted in the same month; Loyd Blankenship (The Mentor) and Steve Jackson had been busted and their equipment confiscated on 1 March; and the nation-wide raids on 8 May had rounded up LoD, MoD and DPAC members, as well as an assortment of independent hackers.

The catalogue of charges ranged from wire fraud to handling of stolen property, from unauthorized possession of access devices to misappropriating source codes. Allegations of credit card fraud, bank fraud and altering hospital computer records flew about. And there were specific incidents: dropping computer bombs into telephone switches, stealing the E911 documents. It had the makings of a nation-wide conspiracy.

The first case the Foundation took on was in Chicago. Assistant US Attorney William Cook, who had earlier successfully prosecuted Kyrie – the 'Fagin' of the stolen access code gang – and who had become something of an authority on computer crime, was now in charge of the case against PHRACK editor Craig Neidorf. Neidorf had been indicted for transporting the stolen E911 document across state lines. He came to trial in Chicago on 23 July.

The prosecution's case was opened by Cook, who outlined the government claim of a conspiracy involving Neidorf and members of

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