Convicted hacker's prison ID card for sale online

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ A celebrity computer hacker gained more notoriety after three online auction sites posted then removed from sale his prison ID card. <br><br>The ID card of Kevin Mitnick is being offered

Friday, December 1st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ A celebrity computer hacker gained more notoriety after three online auction sites posted then removed from sale his prison ID card.

The ID card of Kevin Mitnick is being offered on start-up auction site DutchBid.com after being rejected by Amazon.com, Yahoo! and e-Bay.

Terms of his prison release prohibit him from having any contact with computers, but Mitnick said Thursday that his father, Alan, posted the items online.

The posting lasted 36 hours on e-Bay and only a few hours on each of the other two sites, Mitnick said. Autographed ``Free Kevin'' bumper stickers also are for sale.

Mitnick said e-Bay told his father selling identification cards was illegal due to the risk of fraudulent use. Yahoo! said it violates their ``community standards,'' and Amazon.com said the ID card didn't promote the image Amazon wanted, Mitnick said.

A Yahoo! spokeswoman said the company does not comment on specific postings, but she added it removes items that are found to be illegal. Amazon.com and e-Bay did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press.

Mitnick was released in January after a five-year prison term for stealing software and altering computer information of such victims as Motorola, Novell, Nokia and Sun Microsystems, and the University of Southern California, costing them millions of dollars.

Mitnick became an icon to some hackers after leading the FBI on a three-year manhunt that ended in 1995 when investigators traced his electronic footprints to a Raleigh, N.C., apartment.

Mitnick said he didn't consider selling the ID illegal because ``the chance that someone would try to take this ID and impersonate me and try to break into a federal prison to be a prisoner is ludicrous.

``Maybe they have a bad taste in their mouth for people who have engaged in computer hacking,'' he said.

On Biloxi, Miss.-based DutchBid.com, the card is advertised as ``one of a kind memorabilia.'' The highest bid it has fetched so far is $2,000.

Eric Rosenberg, DutchBid.com founder and president, said he e-mailed Mitnick's father when he heard other sites had canceled the card from their auction sites.

``In no way is DutchBid condoning anything that he has done in the past. The main issue here is the principle that people should be able to sell what is legally theirs,'' he said.

Mitnick's cellular phone already has sold on e-Bay for $355 and his first computer was turned over to a buyer for $510. His HAM radio is still up for auction on the site.