Xref: utzoo comp.protocols.tcp-ip:7837 misc.legal:9982 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!vax5!wclx From: wclx@vax5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip,misc.legal Subject: Re: Prosecution in the Internet Worm case Keywords: worm, virus, Internet, Morris, indictment Message-ID: <19157@vax5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU> Date: 28 Jul 89 00:24:06 GMT References: <8907211627.aa28013@note.nsf.gov> <8137@hoptoad.uucp> Sender: news@vax5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU Reply-To: wclx@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (Lawrence Kestenbaum) Organization: Cornell University, Field of City & Regional Planning Lines: 108 In article <8137@hoptoad.uucp> gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) writes: >GAO/IMTEC-89-57 report: >> As of >> March 23, 1989, there have been no indictments in the Internet >> virus case. Because it is an open matter, Justice officials >> would not provide any specific information about the case. > >Do they plan to leave it "open" until the statute of limitations runs out? > >I don't think Mr. Morris should be left hanging like this. They have all >the evidence they are likely to get. If there is a case, fine, indict the >guy. It looks like you just got your wish! From the ITHACA JOURNAL (Ithaca, NY), Thursday, July 27, 1989, page 1: CU student indicted in 'worm' case By John Yaukey, Journal Staff Cornell University graduate student Robert Morris Jr. faces a felony charge for allegedly creating a renegade computer program that brought down thousands of computers nationwide last November. Morris was indicted on a charge of "gaining unauthorized access to computers around the country, preventing authorized access to these computers and causing losses in excess of $1,000," according to a statement from the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York. The indictment, handed up by a federal grand jury in Syracuse, was announced Wednesday. If convicted, the 24-year-old graduate student could be imprisoned for five years and fined $250,000, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office. "Mr. Morris will enter a plea of not guilty," his Washington- based attorney, Thomas Guidoboni, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "He looks forward to eventual vindication and his return to a normal life." Morris is expected to be arraigned in Syracuse sometime next week, Guidoboni said. The federal attornet's office in Syracuse would not say when he would be arraigned. The indictment against Morris comes about eight months after the destructive program called a "worm" was released. U.S. Attorney Andrew Baxter said the grand jury was waiting on a decision by the U.S. Justice Department before a ruling could be made. Baxter never elaborated on what the justice department was weighing during those eight months. Cornell officials have refused to comment on the charge in any way. In early April, the university issued a report that said Morris created a computer "worm" and that he apparently acted alone in doing it. The report also noted that disciplinary measures "should allow for redemption" and should not be so harsh as to be permanently damaging. It also said that nobody of authority at Cornell was involved in creating or releasing the worm. In early November, Morris is alleged to have created and released a "worm," a program that electronically mailed itself from computer to computer. As the worm, first called a virus, infiltrated the machines, it filled them with bogus files, bled them of power and brought them down. The worm reportedly made its way through some 6,000 defense, industry and academic computers, but did not destroy any information. Some of the computers that the worm made its way to include those at the University of California at Berkeley, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at Moffett Field, Calif., Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. and the Cornell National Supercomputing Facility. Estimates of the damage caused by the worm vary. Damage and cleanup costs were reported as high as $96 million, but members of the Cornell team assembled to investigate the worm said that was "grossly exaggerated." Morris was reported to be living in the Washington, D.C., area, though his attorney said he no longer is there. Guidoboni would not reveal where Morris had moved. When asked about Morris' status at Cornell, officials there acknowledge only that he requested and received a leave of absence effective Dec. 1, 1988. Morris' attorney has said he has been suspended from Cornell ----------------(End of article)--------------------------- Lawrence Kestenbaum, wclx@vax5.cit.cornell.edu 506 S. Albany St., Ithaca NY 14850 "In the long run, the preservationists are always right." -J. K. Galbraith