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Defcon Hacker Trips A51 Radar?

I wanted to let you know of an article in yesterday's (8/10/97) San
Jose Mercury News. It was in their their Sunday magazine called WEST
(kind of like Parade), but I cannot find it on their web site.

The article was called "To Catch a Hacker", by Jonathan Littman. It was
about the recent Def Con V convention in Las Vegas. Did you go??

Anyway, he talks about these zany teenagers and the stuff they do
(sarcasm inserted by moi), including this interesting, but short,
excerpt:

<clip>
Before I check out of the Alladin, I'll talk to the hacker who led a
troop in a Humvee out to the Air Force's mysterious Area 51, released a
makeshift helium balloon wrapped with foil to trip the radar, and
watched with amazement 14 1/2 minutes later when a Navy F-something
screamed within 500 feet of the provocateurs.
<clip>

That's it! Half a paragraph on page 28 of a ten page article. He also
has a picture on page 25 of people at night holding an inflated trash
bag attached to a long length of aluminum foil. The caption reads: Some
Def Con participants launch a balloon near the Air Force's top-secret
"Area 51." After an earlier prank, a fighter jet scrambled from the
airbase to check the radar disturbance.

Anyone heard of this?


Index: Sightings, Testimonials & Anecdotes