John Threat

Last updated
John Lee
Born (1973-07-06) July 6, 1973 (age 51)
Other namesJohn Threat, Corrupt
Occupation(s) Programmer, entrepreneur
Known forMember of Masters of Deception (MOD), Hacking, member of Decepticons

John Lee, a.k.a. John Threat is an American computer hacker and entrepreneur. He used the name "Corrupt" as a member of Masters of Deception (MOD), a New York based hacker group in the early 1990s. [1] [2] [3]

As a result of his participation in the Great Hacker War, between MOD and rival hacker group Legion of Doom, he was indicted on federal wiretapping charges in 1992. He pled guilty and was sentenced to one year at a federal detention center. His participation in the Great Hacker War landed him on the cover of Wired Magazine in 1994. [4] [5]

Lee was born on July 6, 1973, in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in Brownsville, where he was a member of the Decepticons, a Brooklyn-based street gang formed in the early '80s, named after the villains in the Saturday morning cartoon, Transformers . Lee attended Stuyvesant High School [6] and went on to New York University. During his freshman year at NYU, Lee was sentenced to prison for his role in the Great Hacker War. [5]

Lee also has editing, producing, and directing credits in film and television. In 2004, he founded Mediathreat, LLC, a film production company. [3] In 2005, he directed the original documentary "Dead Prez: Bigger than Hip Hop." [7] In 2011, he co-directed the music video for MAKE OUT's single "You Can't Be Friends With Everyone" with Diane Martel.

Lee also gained notoriety in 2001 when he revealed himself as the anonymous editor of UrbanExpose.com, a controversial entertainment gossip website. [8] [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dead Prez</span> American hip hop duo

Dead Prez is an American hip hop duo composed of M-1 and stic.man, formed in 1996 in New York City. They are known for their confrontational style, combined with lyrics focused on both militant social justice, self-determination, and Pan-Africanism. The duo maintains an ethical stance against corporate control over the media, especially hip hop record labels.

Masters of Deception (MOD) was a New York–based group of hackers, most widely known in media for their exploits of telephone company infrastructure and later prosecution.

The Great Hacker War was a purported conflict between the Masters of Deception (MOD), an unsanctioned splinter faction of the older hacker group Legion of Doom (LOD), and several smaller associated groups. Both primary groups involved made attempts to hack into the opposing group's networks, across the Internet, X.25, and telephone networks. In a panel debate of The Next HOPE conference, Phiber Optik re-iterated that the rumored "gang war in cyberspace" between Legion of Doom and Masters of Deception never happened, and that it was "a complete fabrication" by the U.S attorney's office and some sensationalist media. Furthermore, two other high-ranking members of the LOD confirmed that the "Great Hacker War" never occurred, reinforcing the idea that this was just a competition of one-upmanship and not a war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MindVox</span> Early Internet Service Provider, based in NYC

MindVox was an early Internet service provider in New York City. The service was referred to as "the Hells Angels of Cyberspace".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Abene</span> American InfoSec expert and former hacker (born 1972)

Mark Abene is an American information security expert and entrepreneur, originally from New York City. Better known by his pseudonym Phiber Optik, he was once a member of the hacker groups Legion of Doom and Masters of Deception.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Poulsen</span> American computer hacker

Kevin Lee Poulsen is an American convicted fraudster, former black-hat hacker and a contributing editor at The Daily Beast.

Chris Goggans is an American hacker, a founding member of the Legion of Doom group, and a former editor of Phrack magazine. He is known as an expert in security as well as for his statements on hacker ethics and responsibility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nelson George</span> American writer and filmmaker

Nelson George is an American author, columnist, music and culture critic, journalist, and filmmaker. He has been nominated twice for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The Legion of Doom (LOD) was an American hacker group founded by a hacker known as Lex Luthor after a rift with his previous group, the Knights of Shadow. LOD was active from the 1980s to the early 2000s, but was most active from 1984 to 1991. Today, Legion of Doom ranks as one of the more influential hacking groups in the history of technology. The name is apparently a reference to the antagonists of Challenge of the Superfriends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord Jamar</span> American actor and rapper

Lorenzo Dechalus, known professionally as Lord Jamar, is an American rapper, DJ, record producer, actor and podcaster. He is a founding member of the hip hop group Brand Nubian, which was formed in 1989. In 1996, he discovered Dead Prez and got them signed to Loud Records.

Josh Quittner is an American journalist.

Michelle Slatalla is an American journalist and humorist. Currently, she writes a monthly column for the Wall Street Journal about interior design. Previously, she was a columnist for The New York Times, TIME magazine, Real Simple, and a reporter for Newsday. In 2012 she created the outdoor design blog Gardenista, and was the editor in chief of the site for seven years. She has written several books, including Gardenista: The Definitive Guide to Stylish Outdoor Spaces and The Town on Beaver Creek: The Story of a Lost Kentucky Community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M-1 (rapper)</span> American rapper

Mutulu Olugbala, better known by his stage name M-1, is an American rapper, songwriter, and activist from Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for his work as one half of the political hip hop duo dead prez with stic.man.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Hoch</span> American actor

Daniel Hoch is an American actor, writer, director and performance artist. He has acted in larger roles in independent and art house movies and had a few small roles in mainstream Hollywood films, with increasing exposure as in 2007's We Own the Night. He is also known for his one man shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melvin Gibbs</span> American bassist

Melvin Gibbs is an American bass guitarist who has appeared on close to 200 albums in diverse genres of music. Among others, Gibbs is known for working in jazz with drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson and guitarist Sonny Sharrock, and in rock music with Rollins Band and Arto Lindsay.

Justin Tanner Petersen was an American hacker, concert promoter, sound engineer, private investigator and an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. While tasked with helping to catch other hackers and fugitives wanted by the FBI, he continued to commit serious crimes.

Patrick Karel Kroupa, known colloquially as Lord Digital, is an American writer, hacker, and activist. Kroupa was a member of the Legion of Doom and Cult of the Dead Cow hacker groups and co-founded MindVox in 1991 with Bruce Fancher.

<i>Hackers</i> (film) 1995 film by Iain Softley

Hackers is a 1995 American crime thriller film directed by Iain Softley and starring Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Jesse Bradford, Matthew Lillard, Laurence Mason, Renoly Santiago, Lorraine Bracco, and Fisher Stevens. The film follows a group of high school hackers and their involvement in an attempted theft. Made in the mid-1990s when the Internet was just starting to become popular among the general public, it reflects the ideals laid out in the Hacker Manifesto quoted in the film: "This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch... We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals... Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity."

Elias Ladopoulos is a technologist and investor from New York City. Under the pseudonym Acid Phreak, he was a founder of the Masters of Deception (MOD) hacker group along with Phiber Optik and Scorpion. Referred to as The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace in a 1995 non-fiction book, MOD was at the forefront of exploiting telephone systems to hack into the private networks of major corporations. In his later career, Ladopoulos developed new techniques for electronic trading and computerized projections of stocks and shares performance, as well as working as a security consultant for the defense department. As of 2015, he is CEO of Supermassive Corp, which is a hacker-based incubation studio for technology start-ups.

References

  1. Village Voice, "Rebel Hackers: The Computer Kids who Phreak Out the Feds", By Julian Dibbell, July 24, 1990
  2. Shift Magazine, "Being John Lee", By Christopher Shulgan, 2002
  3. 1 2 Mass Appeal, "A Digital Gangsta", By Noah Rubin and Todd Jordan, 2004
  4. https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.12/hacker.html
  5. 1 2 Wired , "Gang Wars in Cyberspace", By Michelle Slatella and Joshua Quittner, December 1994
  6. Slatalla, Michele; Quittner, Joshua (1995). Masters of deception: The gang that ruled cyberspace. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN   0-06-092694-5.
  7. Dead Prez: It's Bigger than Hip Hop @ Starz.com
  8. The Industry Standard, "An Urban Mystery Man Revealed", By Kenneth Li, February 12, 2001
  9. Inside Magazine, "Confession of a Media Terrorist", By John Lee, March 6, 2001