Underground Societies Part III – Legion Of Doom (LOD)

The Legion of Doom (LOD) was an extremely influential hacker group that was active from the 1980s to the late 1990s. Their name appears to be a reference to the main antagonists of Challenge of the Superfriends.

LOD was founded by the hacker Lex Luthor, after a rift with his previous group the Knights of Shadow (much as the Masters of Deception would later be founded after Phiber Optik had a rift with Chris Goggans and LOD, eventually leading to the Great Hacker War and disbanding of both groups).

At different points in the group’s history, LOD was split into LOD and LOD/LOH (Legion of Doom/Legion of Hackers) for the members that were more skilled at hacking than pure phone phreaking.

Unlike Masters of Deception there were different opinions regarding what the Legion of Doom was. LOD published the Legion of Doom Technical Journals and regularly contributed to the overall pool of hacking knowledge and information, while causing no direct harm to the phone systems and computer networks they took over. On the other hand, many LOD members were raided, charged and in some cases successfully prosecuted for causing damage to systems and reprogramming phone company computers (Grant, Darden and Riggs, etc). While the “Bellsouth” case could be construed as exploration of the phone system, with claims that no real damage was done, there are other former LOD members such as Corey A. Lindsly (a.k.a. Mark Tabas) who were clearly interested in for-profit computer crime, with no goal except personal gain.[1][2]

Although the overall expressed beliefs and behavior of LOD and MOD were different, it can be difficult to untangle the individual actions of any given member. In many cases there seems to be cross-over between the two groups or collaboration between LOD and MOD members, even in the midst of The Great Hacker War.

As of 2006 what has happened to each individual member of the Legion of Doom is unknown. A small handful of the higher-profile LOD members who are accounted for includes: Chris Goggans “Erik Bloodaxe”, Dave Buchwald “Bill From RNOC”, Patrick K. Kroupa “Lord Digital”, Loyd Blankenship “The Mentor”, Bruce Fancher “Dead Lord” and Mark Abene “Phiber Optik”, who was a member of both LOD and Masters of Deception (MOD).

Other members included: Steven G. Steinberg “Frank Drake”, Corey A. Lindsly “Mark Tabas”, Peter Jay Salzman “Thomas Covenant”, Adam Grant “The Urvile”, Franklin Darden “The Leftist”, Robert Riggs “The Prophet”, Kenton Clark “Monster X”, Todd Lawrence “The Marauder”, Scott Chasin “Doc Holiday”, Dan Smith “Control C”, and Jake Kenyon Shulman “Malefactor”.

Former LoD people whose real names are unknown include: Agrajag The Prolonged, King Blotto, Blue Archer, The Dragyn, Unknown Soldier, Sharp Razor, Doctor Who, Paul Muad’Dib, Phucked Agent 04, X-man, Randy Smith, Steve Dahl, The Warlock, Terminal Man, Silver Spy, The Videosmith, Kerrang Khan, Gary Seven, Carrier Culprit, Master of Impact, Phantom Phreaker, Doom Prophet, Phase Jitter, Prime Suspect, The m0nit0r, Skinny Puppy, r00t, Professor Falken, Solomon Grundy (which was later shortened to “Sundry”) and LoD founder: Lex Luthor.

Underground Socities Part I – Cult of The Dead Cow

Underground Societies have always attracted people. Being a part of a underground society has traditional been considered to be a privilege – a symbol of status. Herein i begin my daily series on the underground societies in the world. I will try to cover as many as i can, and readers are requested to suggest the societies they want to be included. I begin with the famous ‘Cult of the Dead Cow’.

_ _  ((___)) [ x x ] \ / (' ') (U)

cDc’s ASCII cowskull logo

CULT OF THE DEAD COW, also known as cDc or cDc Communications, is a computer hacker and DIY media organization founded in 1984 in Lubbock, Texas. The group maintains a weblog on its site, also titled “CULT OF THE DEAD COW”. New media are released first through the blog, which also features thoughts and opinions of the group’s members.

To further the Cult’s stated goal of “Global Domination Through Media Saturation,” over the years cDc members have granted interviews to major newspapers, print magazines, online news sites, and international television news programs.

The group was formed in June 1984 at the Farm Pac slaughterhouse by Grandmaster Ratte’ (aka Swamp Ratte’), Franken Gibe, and Sid Vicious, three BBS SysOps. The slaughterhouse, a hangout of many Lubbock youth, burned in 1996. (The burned out building was used as a haunted house for several Halloweens after that. In 2001, the grounds surrounding it were converted into the “West Texas Canyon Amphitheater,” which closed in 2004.)

In December 1990, cDc member Drunkfux gave birth to the modern hacker con. HoHoCon, usually held in Houston, Texas, was the first hacker conference which invited the participation of both journalists and law enforcement. In all, dFx hosted five annual HoHoCons.

In 1991, cDc was named “Sassiest Underground Computer Group” by Sassy Magazine. Also in 1991, the group began distributing music in the form of cassette tape albums sold through its post office box. Many of these albums are now available online in their entirety.

October 1994 saw the creation of the cDc’s Usenet newsgroup, alt.fan.cult-dead-cow.^[1] It was thus the first hacking group to have its own Usenet newsgroup. In November of that year, the group claimed responsibility for giving Ronald Reagan Alzheimer’s disease, claiming to have done so in 1986 with a blowgun.^[2]

The cDc declared war on the Church of Scientology in 1995 during the alt.religion.scientology controversy,^[3] stating

“

We believe that El Ron Hubbard [sic] is actually none other than Heinrich Himmler of the SS, who fled to Argentina and is now responsible for the stealing of babies from hospitals and raising them as ’super-soldiers’ for the purpose of overthrowing the U.S. Fed. Govt. in a bloody revolution. We fear plans for a ‘Fourth Reich’ to be established on our home soil under the vise-like grip of oppression known as Scientology!

”

In 1997, before online distribution of audio files was common, the cDc began distributing original MP3-format music on its website.^[4]

In February 2000, the cDc was the subject of an 11-minute documentary short entitled “Disinformation.” Also in February 2000, cDc member Mudge briefed President Bill Clinton on internet security.