Technology: Drop The Phone

Even the most dangerous criminal suspects are usually allowed access to a telephone, but not Kevin Mitnick -- or at least not without being under a guard's eye. And then he is permitted to call only his wife, mother and lawyer. The reason is that putting a phone in Mitnick's hands is like giving a gun to a hit man. The 25-year-old sometime college student is accused by federal officials of using the phone system to become one of the most formidable computer break-in artists of all time.

Mitnick, who was arraigned last week in Los Angeles and is being held...