Bernie S
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Bernie S, real name Ed Cummings, is a computer hacker living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania He participates in the WBAI show Off The Hook with Emmanuel Goldstein from 2600 Magazine
On March 13, 1995, Cummings was arrested and charged with possession of a modified Radio Shack phone dialer. Cummings plead guilty to unauthorized access to telecommunications service, but appealed the constitutionality of the law he was convicted under. Cummings was sentenced to 7 months in federal prison. He was released on October 13th, 1995, but still faced charges of tampering with evidence, due to Cummings removing the batteries from the phone dialer after he was arrested. He was convicted, and set to serve 6 to 24 months plus a $3,000 fine.
While in the prison system, Cummings was transferred to 3 different Federal prisons in Pennsylvania, and was attacked while using the pay telephone, resulting in a fractured jaw and shattered left arm. On September 13th, 1996 Cummings was released.
Cummings has stated that if it were not for Emmanuel Goldstein and his radio program "Off The Hook" on which he appeared numerous times while in prison, he would not have been able to deal with the hardships he endured in prison.