Xref: utzoo comp.org.eff.talk:2740 misc.legal:26977
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!world!eff!mnemonic
From: mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk,misc.legal
Subject: Re: Public Access Sites -- concerns, problems, and precedents
Message-ID: <1991Jun18.034259.11798@eff.org>
Date: 18 Jun 91 03:42:59 GMT
References: <1991Jun17.051532.6155@ddsw1.MCS.COM> <1991Jun18.011619.10202@eff.org>
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Lines: 35

In article <1991Jun18.011619.10202@eff.org> mkapor@eff.org (Mitch Kapor) writes:

>Feel free to call him at the EFF.  The number is 617 864-0665.  While there
>are no certainties, it is not my sense there is any organized witch-hunt in
>progress which might affect operators of public access bulletin boards.  So
>relax.

Of the three major anti-hacking efforts I've been following recently,
each is being driven by a different entity or agency. Last week's
stories in Atlanta, for example, are tied to GBI investigations, while
the previous week's cases in Indiana seem to be cases in which state
and local police are working with federal investigators. The
ThriftyTel cases, of course, are being driven by a private long-distance
provider.

>One of the actions of the past year which makes it less likely that there
>will be indiscriminate and over-reaching raids is the lawsuit filed by
>Steve Jackson Games seeking damages resulting from the illegal seizures of
>their equipment.

We have received signs recently that computer-crime investigators
are on notice that they may well be sued if they abuse citizens'
rights in upcoming investigations.



--Mike



-- 
Mike Godwin,        |         To see a world in a grain of sand
mnemonic@eff.org    |         And heaven in a wild flower
(617) 864-1550      |         Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
EFF, Cambridge, MA  |         And eternity in an hour