Hacking JJ’s Pizza

I learned a lot about computers between 1980 (the year we got our first one) and 1993, and doubled that knowledge between 1993 and 1995. In 1993 I built my first PC, in 1994 I got my first dial-up internet account, and in 1995 I began learning about computer networks.

I first gained access to the internet in the fall of ’94, thanks to a generous co-worker who shared his college dial-up internet username and password with me. You must understand how valuable this was at the time, back when people gladly paid by the hour for access to America Online. The college account I used was limited to text-only — no World Wide Web for me, not yet — but it was unlimited and it was free, granting me access to an entirely new world. Soon I was learning all about and exploring IRC, FTP, and Gopher sites.

It all started when a friend of a friend taught me how to download the college server’s list of usernames and passwords. The passwords were hashed (meaning you couldn’t directly read them), but another friend of a friend showed me how to crack them. Before long I had another computer running 24/7, dedicated to revealing those passwords. It guessed the short and simple ones first and then burned cycles for days and weeks trying to break the more difficult ones. My friend’s internet account had a limited amount of storage space. Having access to more accounts meant more storage space. Eventually I gained access to admin accounts with unlimited storage space and the ability to create other accounts. I ended up with many more accounts than I needed, because cracking them seemed dangerous and exciting.

Then I met other people who were inside other systems, doing similar things and willing to trade some of their accounts for some of mine. Once that number of people grew to half a dozen or more, we decided to meet in person to trade information and share knowledge at JJ’s Pizza.

A few of the shady members of this circle also happened to attended classes at the University of Oklahoma, and so JJ’s Pizza, located next to the campus, became our official meeting place. Once or twice a month, our little group of hooligans descended on JJ’s and, over a couple of large pizzas and pitchers of beer, took turns acting as both teachers and students. JJ’s had a side dining room and we were always the only people in it. At that time I owned a portable radio scanner, and sometimes I would turn it on and we would listen to the local police talk to one another over their radios as one guy soldered modifications to electronic devices and another wheeled and dealed in stolen internet accounts as a used car dealer might. Some people said a lot and others said barely anything. Over time I learned that the ones that said nothing at all were the ones to really be afraid of. Some people who aren’t very good with dealing with other human beings are dangerously good at dealing with computers.

I don’t remember how many times we met at JJ’s — a dozen, dozen and a half, tops. Like a lot of computer groups, things got to the point where everybody had shared everything they were willing to share with one another and the fun fizzled soon after.

The picture above of JJ’s Pizza was not taken twenty years ago when all this tomfoolery took place; I snapped it yesterday. I now drive past JJ’s Pizza every Tuesday and Thursday on my way to and from OU. I haven’t been back inside (I’m sure the old Rastan arcade machine is long gone), but I may stop by for lunch sometime soon to see if anything inside seems familiar.