Hi and welcome to Sabarism's malicious life. I'm Ren Levy. In May 1990, 1990, officials from several law enforcement agencies gathered in Phoenix, Arizona

to announce a nationwide crackdown on illegal computer activity.

A huge operation carried out by hundreds of Secret Service and FBI agents in over 12 major cities.

They presented to the nation a sweeping successful move against a new kind of criminal, hackers.

As one official put it, it was time America realized that computer-based crimes are no joke.

Quote, it's not a game.

They are attempting and getting into credit cards.

They're getting into telephone systems, medical records, credit records, they're getting

into everything."

Gary M Jenkins, the sitting assistant director of the U.S. Secret Service, was one of the architects of the raid.

He didn't mince words either, announcing quote,

today the Secret Service is sending a clear message to those computer hackers

who have decided to violate the laws of this nation in the mistaken belief

that they can successfully avoid detection

by hiding behind the relative anonymity of their computer terminals."

End quote.

What a marvelous triumph for the rule of law against devious criminals.

Or rather, that was their narrative promoted by the US government.

But in fact things were not exactly as they seemed.

Operation Sun Devil turned out to be a very controversial action by the government and its effects are still being felt today.

We cannot understand Operation Sun Devil without first understanding Bulletin Board systems,

BBS for short.

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