87 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
87 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
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From The Dialy Oklahoman Newspaper, September 27, 1993, Page 1:
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COMPUTER PORN CASE TRIGGERS LEGAL QUESTIONS
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By David Zizzo, Staff Writer
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Is talking to Anthony Davis hazardous to your health?
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In a manner of speaking, that's what numerous people with computers and modems
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apparently have been worrying about since late July. That's when Oklahoma
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City police raided Davis' software publishing firm and confiscated his
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sophisticated commercial computer bulletin board system. Authorities allege
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Davis was selling pornographic computerized materials on CD-ROM and through
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files downloaded over phone lines.
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Names of everyone who signed onto Davis' bulletin board service, those who
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downloaded or uploaded graphic files depicting sexual acts and those who
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didn't are in the hands of investigators.
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After the arrest, Earl Faubion, a police officer who runs a law enforcement
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oriented computer bulletin board system, got numerous inquiries from worried
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users. "There are a lot of people concerned," Faubion said. Many who used
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Davis' system for months and have been asking, "Am I in trouble?" Faubion, who
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ironically channeled much of his computer system's private mail through Davis'
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system before it was shut down, tells users that's out of his area of
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expertise.
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Bill Holmes, Davis' attorney, said bulletin board system operators fear their
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computers will be seized along with the electronic mail inside.
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The Davis bust sent a chill throughout the national computer community, said
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Jack Rickard, editor and publisher of Boardwatch magazine, a bulletin board
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newsletter published in Littleton, Colo. "It's causing chaos," he said.
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Rickard said Oklahoma City is being viewed "a little bit like clown city" in
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computer circles, since the explicit material Davis offered can be purchased
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in nearly every computer magazine and is carried by numerous bulletin boards.
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"This is off the shelf," he said. "It's considered pretty mundane stuff."
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Widespread availability is not a defense, however, attorney Holmes said. The
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allegedly illegal material was contained on four read-only memory compact
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discs and represented only a fraction of information offered by Davis.
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Oklahoma City police referred questions on the Davis case to the district
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attorney's office. An assistant prosecutor handling the case referred
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questions to District Attorney Bob Macy, who did not return several phone
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calls.
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The bust will test Oklahoma laws on "community standards" regarding
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pornography, said Mike Godwin, attorney for the Electronic Frontier
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Foundation. The Washington, D.C., advocacy group is funded by donors that
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include large software companies. "When you talk about community standards,
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who's the real community?" Godwin wonders. "Is it the city or ... the
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community of people on-line?"
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Holmes, a former Cleveland County prosecutor, calls Oklahoma's pornography law
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"an extremely broad statute." "I'm not sure it wouldn't include Playboy or
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Penthouse type publications," he said.
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Legal experts say Oklahoma's law appears aimed against sale or distribution of
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pornographic material. That leaves some to wonder whether passing a free copy
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to a friend constitutes distribution. Part of the law also appears to make
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possession a crime, but U.S. Supreme Court rulings have backed an
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individual's right to own such material, Holmes said. Also, free speech
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guarantees likely would protect those who use words to describe pornographic
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acts, he said. Explicit materials depicting children are covered under much
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stricter laws, but Davis' CDs contained no such material.
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Apart from the pornography question is the issue of electronic mail seized
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with Davis' computer equipment, correspondence most legal experts say is
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protected by federal law. Davis' computer was part of a large electronic mail
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system that shuttled messages across the country.
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Critics of the bust say likely lawsuits over the mail might show the
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government "has bitten off more than it can chew." They point to a case in
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Austin where the owner of a computer won a $50,000 damage award over E-mail
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seized by the Secret Service. The government also was liable for $1,000 for
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each user of the E-mail. In Davis' case, that could be up to 2,000 clients,
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or $2 million. "The city of Oklahoma City could be on the hook for that,"
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Rickard said.
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Critics also say police over reached in grabbing Davis' entire system,
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shutting down his pay-for-play computer service, because of four CDs.
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Prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of the system, which includes a 13 gigabyte
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memory unit and 10 high speed modems. "They don't have to seize it any more
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than they have to seize the building when they confiscate a bookstore," said
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Godwin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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