Interview with tKC / Phrozen Crew

FreeAll

tKC (The Keyboard Caper) is the founder of the cracking group Phrozen Crew.

<FreeAll> How old are you, and where are you from?
<tKC> hmm how old I am? I wish I can say but for security reason nope :-/ and I'm from South Africa

<FreeAll> When did you first enter the scene?
<tKC> Apart from irc scene which I entered first time in 1995, in SA (South Africa) lets say in 1992/1993

<FreeAll> Which group were you with at that time?
<tKC> I used to crack on my own, no group yet since SA scene is very small.. I started do cracking in 1991. Later on in 1993 I joined forest crew as a hacker. Mainly as demo coder and ansi artist at that time

<FreeAll> When did you form Phrozen Crew, and why? Any particular history on that?
<tKC> In 1993/4 forest crew has changed the name to frozen crew, then in 1994 frozen crew has died (busted etc), so after a few months I decided to form my own group and revived it as cracking group, so phrozen crew was born. and the reason? I think I did it, just for fun. And surely many things have happened in PC, long history u know :)

<FreeAll> How does it feel to have formed the most well-known group in the scene history?
<tKC> Of course I feel good and proud if I look back for what I've done. Honestly in the beginning, of course it went to my head but since I've learned lots from the scene. Lets say we're good at our own, and yes there are others too. At least I could say we did the best for users.

<FreeAll> What do you think is the reason to your popularity?
<tKC> Well, since PC didnt care much of dupes, the hell with rules of scene if u know what I mean. So we just cracked anything like we want, thats what made people (users) loving us. And for the fact, people have told me that Im the friendliest cracker they ever seen, always willing to help them.

<FreeAll> Have you made demos in PC?
<tKC> Yea, a few before I entered the irc. But now I havent got time for coding demos..

<FreeAll> Why did you leave PC?
<tKC> It's a very very long story. We prefer not to talk about that, but ok this time I'll tell shortly. I've screwed up. I tried my best for PC to protect them from the laws which many members were concerned about. So I and the other prez decided to close PC and reform another group. It was a big mistake tho.. after we closed PC, other members refused and stayed in PC, so for what I've done to them I decided to leave them. It was hard that time. Anyway enough of that :)

<FreeAll> Was it CiA you formed then?
<tKC> Yea after a few months people pushed me to try another group, so I founded CiA.

<FreeAll> Why have you been doing this for so many years? Doesn't it ever get boring to do the same?
<tKC> To tell the truth, yes sometimes I got the feeling that I have to stop but next time when I see the application I failed to stop cracking :) And as u know, I always love helping people so that they can have their regged/cracked programs. So I'm not tired yet. I guess the cracking is in my blood :) Oh, I've joined Phrozen Hell a few weeks ago, so I'm not done yet with cracking :-) I think its gonna take another 10 years before I'd stop.

<FreeAll> Have you been going to a lot of scener parties?
<tKC> Yea 2 or 3 but that was before I entered the irc. It was a local SA demo scene, it was fun tho :)

<FreeAll> Why not after you entered IRC?
<tKC> After I started do cracking seriously, I figured I'm not much into demos, also mainly demo scene in SA died. Of course I could go to other parties oversea but bucks is the problem :-)

<FreeAll> So you haven't been to The Party?
<tKC> Nope

<FreeAll> This is probably something you don't want to answer, but it could be fun to know. Have you ever been busted?
<tKC> never :-)

<FreeAll> When was the time you have been closest to being caught or found by the law? Ever been close?
<tKC> long time ago.. lets say 1992/1993

<FreeAll> What happened if you want to tell?
<tKC> Nah, I ran the bbs, and the guy used to phreak and entered my bbs, so he was caught.. And they came and found nothing illegal at my home. They just asked questions thats all

<FreeAll> How do you transfer cracks to the groups?
<tKC> Basically we send cracks to 0days and newsgroups.

<FreeAll> How do/did you protect members from the law?
<tKC> We just stay in the closed channels, except CiA which I've retired a while ago. and of course I'm not afraid of my ip. so thats ok for me to hang out at CiA chan. :)
Note: he is not afraid because he's 'secured'.

<FreeAll> You said you joined as a hacker in forest crew. What did you hack?
<tKC> Using unix, lets say we hacked banks, telekom, and other great companies. Not mainly to steal info but to explore etc. Of course other hackers stoled and so on but for me, I just wanted learn what is there I could do and so on.

<FreeAll> Have you ever been involved with Fairlight?
<tKC> Nope

<FreeAll> Is the hacking scene big in SA?
<tKC> Nope except phreaking which I was much into that. Note: phreaking = make free calls. Like beigeboxing if anyone should know.

<FreeAll> Let's do the lame questions:
<FreeAll> What do you prefer: coca or pepsi?
<tKC> coke :)

<FreeAll> What do you prefer: britney or christina
<tKC> britney

<FreeAll> What do you prefer: pc or c64 (here pc means personal computer and not phrocen crew, hehe)
<tKC> pc of course hehe. But c64 was great

<FreeAll> What do you prefer: windows or *nix
<tKC> windows since 99% users want cracks on their windows platform :)

<FreeAll> What do you prefer: mac or windows?
<tKC> also windows

<FreeAll> What about your parents (if you have any). Do they know about all this?
<tKC> Oh hell, I'll fart if they ever found out

<FreeAll> How the hell can you keep it a secret from them? For 10 years. Kind of a long time
<tKC> U gotta know how to do hehe

<FreeAll> What do you do in your daily life?
<tKC> Not really much, screw gals and coding projects :)

<FreeAll> Are you working as a programmer?
<tKC> Yea. Never went to colleges or whatever.. learned myself

<FreeAll> How did you get your name The Keyboard Caper?
<tKC> Well, from 1 of the bbs's I got a long list with nicks I could pick up, so I choosed the keyboard caper :)

<FreeAll> Nicks you could pick up? You couldn't make your own?
<tKC> Nah, it was hard to decide on which one I made, so fok it, I grabbed the list

<FreeAll> lol. So you haven't had another nick?
<tKC> Yea. dr.wolfen

<FreeAll> What music you into?
<tKC> Techno, pop, rock, rave..a lot

<FreeAll> Like Bjork?
<tKC> Yea

<FreeAll> Have you ever made money cracking or distributing. I heard phrozen was doing that. But then later I heard that was a group called frozen.
<tKC> Nope..

All this went on for like three hours, but we talked about a lot, and I really wouldn't put everything here. I would agree with the people that called him the friendliest cracker.

FreeAll