Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!wuarchive!udel!rochester!granite.cs.rochester.edu!yamauchi From: yamauchi@granite.cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: Search Warrants & Organizations (was Re: Missing mission) Message-ID: <1990Sep10.012530.4008@cs.rochester.edu> Date: 10 Sep 90 01:25:30 GMT References: <11446@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> <1990Aug26.063940.29357@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu> <36814@ut-emx.UUCP> <11502@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> <1990Sep2.030722.25255@cs.rochester.edu> <11522@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> Sender: news@cs.rochester.edu (Usenet news) Reply-To: yamauchi@granite.cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi) Organization: University of Rochester Computer Science Department Lines: 36 In article <11522@medusa.cs.purdue.edu>, spaf@cs.purdue.EDU (Gene Spafford) writes: > > The seizure of equipment at Steve Jackson Games may well turn out to > be a terrible abuse by Federal investigators. It may turn out to be a > terrible mistake. And it may turn out to be a step in a valid > investigation. When statements are made, all three possibilities > should be borne in mind. What bothers me about this case is that even if noone at SJG was responsible for any criminal action, its employees will still suffer at the hands of the SS. Suppose this all turns out to be a big mistake -- is the SS going to be held responsible for repairing all the damage it has inflicted? I'm not saying that the SS/FBI shouldn't go after the real criminals: credit card # stealers, virus writers, crackers, etc. But some recent actions smell more like a witch hunt to me -- in the 50s people worried about Reds overthrowing the government, now they're worried about Hackers wiping their bank accounts -- both fears may have some basis in reality, but this seems dwarfed by the level of overreaction. It's one thing to arrest (and if necessary shoot) KGB agents, it's another to blacklist Hollywood movie directors. Similarly, it's one thing to arrest crackers, and quite another to seize equipment from someone who makes a cyberpunk RPG. Perhaps some net.legal.expert can answer a question -- can Steve Jackson (and other victims) sue the SS (and other agencies) for his losses? If he does, what are his chances (assuming he and his employees are not charged/convicted)? _______________________________________________________________________________ Brian Yamauchi University of Rochester yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu Computer Science Department _______________________________________________________________________________