Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

314 Mitnick, Kevin D.———. “The Media Lab’s New Pilot.” Technology Review. Availableonline. URL: http://www.technologyreview.com/article/16851/. Accessed October 2, 2007.Maeda, John. Maeda @ Media. New York: Universe Publications,2001.The Media Lab: Inventing a Better Future. Available online. URL:http://www.media.mit.edu/. Accessed October 2, 2007.Negroponte, Nicholas. Being Digital. New York: Vintage Books,1996.Mitnick, Kevin D.(1963– )AmericanComputer Cracker/Hacker, ConsultantThe MIT Media Lab has devised a variety of new ways for peopleto use computers. This is an innovative laptop sketchbook that createsanimations directly from drawings. (Sam Ogden / PhotoResearchers, Inc.)Emphases and ProjectsThe focus of most of the lab’s diverse projects is on findinginnovative and productive new ways for people to usecomputers and related technology. Recently there has beenan emphasis on more practical applications such as aiding“disabled, disadvantaged, [and] disenfranchised” peoplein becoming pioneers in using technology that everyonemay use someday. The “One Laptop per Child” project todevelop inexpensive computers for developing countries isalso a part of this effort.As of 2007 there were 27 separate research groups at thelab, including the following:• Object-Based Media—objects that can “understand”and describe their environment• Personal Robots—robots that interact with peoplesocially (see Breazeal, Cynthia)• Computing Culture—relationships among art, technology,and culture• molecular Machines—logical and mechanical devicesusing molecular-scale parts• Software Agents—programs that can serve as assistantsfor human activities• Ambient Intelligence—interfaces that are “pervasive,intuitive, and intelligent” (see Maes, Pattie)• Society of Mind—applying models of human cognitiveprocessing to machines (see Minsky, Marvin)• Affective Computing—developing computers that canrecognize and respond intelligently to human emotionFurther ReadingBourzac, Katherine. “Media Lab Courts Corporate Funding.”Technology Review, February 21, 2006. Available online.URL: http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/16383/?a=f.Accessed October 2, 2007.Once notorious for breaking into computers and stealinginformation, Kevin Mitnick later became a consultant andauthor on computer security.Mitnick was born October 6, 1963, in Van Nuys, California.With little parental supervision and few otherfriends, Mitnick became involved with “phone phreaks,”people who had learned to manipulate the long-distancephone system. However, Mitnick soon turned his attentionto breaking into computer systems. Mitnick first got introuble in high school for breaking into the school district’scomputer system. He also allegedly broke into the NorthAmerican Air Defense Command computer, though fortunatelywithout starting a nuclear war as in the movie WarGames. Despite being caught stealing Bell System technicalmanuals and put on probation, Mitnick continued breakinginto computers. In 1989 he received a one-year prisonsentence for breaking into computers at MCI and DigitalEquipment Corporation. After getting out he violated hisprobation by stealing more Bell documents, and a warrantwas issued for his arrest.Mitnick then went underground, eluding authoritiesfor two years and using a variety of fake identities. However,when Mitnick broke into the computer of physicistand computer security expert Tsutomu Shimomura andstole a large number of documents and programs, andlater taunted him on the phone, Shimomura resolved totrack down the intruder. Shimomura and several otherexperts set up a tracking program at The Well (a computerconferencing system where Mitnick had stashed the stolenmaterial). Mitnick attempted to disguise his location byrouting calls through a phone company switching officein Raleigh, North Carolina, but when Shimomura figuredout that Mitnick was calling from Raleigh, he and a Sprintphone technician drove around Raleigh scanning for thecalls from Mitnick’s cellular modem, tracking him to hisapartment building. They then called federal agents, whoarrested Mitnick.Mitnick became a cause célèbre in the hacker community.The controversy was heightened by two books writtenabout the case, one by Shimomura and New York Timesjournalist John Markhoff and the other by Jonathan Littman,who argued that the charges against Mitnick wereoverinflated and government prosecutors overzealous.