107 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
107 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
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"A Little Perspective, Please"
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by Mitchell Kapor
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Forbes Magazine
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June 21, 1993
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(Permission granted for electronic redistribution)
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In Its Dec.21, 1992 cover story, headlined "The playground
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bullies are learning how to type," FORBES perpetuated a
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dangerous myth. This magazine blamed a new generation of
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"hacker hoods" for an epidemic of computer crime. It grates on
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me to see these two words- hacker and hood - used together.
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I'll begin by agreeing that computer crime is a real and serious
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problem. But the FORBES cover seemed to blur the distinction
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between theft and free speech, between adventuresome
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teenagers and crooks. Most hackers are just playing around or
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swapping information; only a minority are out to steal it.
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Hackers are not hoods, though a few may be.
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If I sound sensitive on this point, I have good reason. In the
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summer of 1990 John Perry Barlow and I founded the
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Electronic Frontier Foundation to challenge Secret Service
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seizures of computer bulletin board systems. Our goal was
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simple enough. We wanted to establish that the Bill of Rights
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applies in cyberspace as well as on Main Street. We wanted to
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help assure that law enforcement people, while fighting crime,
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do not violate the free speech and privacy rights of computer
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bulletin board users. We made one principle clear from the
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start: "Unauthorized entry into computer systems is wrong and
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should be illegal."
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Big high-tech rip-offs these days have to do with the theft of
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cellular and PBX codes. These can run up victims' phone bills
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into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to Donald
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Delaney, a New York State Police investigator who specializes in
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this area, major telecom fraud is typically committed by career
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criminals in their 30s, many of whom see it as more lucrative
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and safer than the drug business. Hardly your typical hacker.
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If the typical 17- year old hacker, gets caught stealing small
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amounts of phone service or breaking into a computer system
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where he has no business being, he's scared as hell, and ready
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to confess.. He's highly unlikely to do it again. These first-time
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offenders don't usually end up ever again on the business end
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of one of Dectective Delaney's warrants. There is no reason for
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bringing the full force of the law down on kids like this.
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So I was peeved at a FORBES cover that seemed to lump these
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kid pranksters in with hardened crooks. Such broad bracketing
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leads to excesses like those of the Secret Service in the recently
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decided Steve Jackson Games case. Federal Judge Sam Sparks
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found that the Secret Service illegally seized the private
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electronic mail of users of a customer relations bulletin board
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system operated by the Jackson firm.. At the trial, Judge Sparks
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roasted Secret Service agent Tim Foley for not making a simple
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investigation in advance that would have shown there was no
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cause to snoop on E-mail. The case demonstrates that
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accusations of computer crimes should be limited to cases
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involving seriously harmful behavior and injurious intent, not
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the mere suspicious use of a computer or a network.
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In Massachusetts, efforts to put such a balanced perspective
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into law are now under way. Governor William Weld has
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submitted computer crime legislation based on a report of his
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Commission on Computer Technology & Law, which I chaired.
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Commission members included law enforcement officials, such
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as a bulletin board-system literate district attorney,
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representatives from the computer and telecommunications
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industries and civil libertarians.
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The commission determined that much of what is labeled
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"Computer crime" would constitute a crime regardless of the
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particular means of accomplishment. Theft of a lot of money
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funds through manipulation of computer accounts is grand
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theft. Does the computer make it any grander?
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Our commission reported, and Governor Weld agreed, that
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changes to the law, where needed to plug gaps, are best
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accomplished by modifying existing law and building off
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familiar legal principles, not by passing overly broad and
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untested laws specifically covering computer crime.
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We found, for instance, that unauthorized access to a computer
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system is not, by itself, a violation of Massachusetts law. It
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should be. We therefore recommended an addition to the
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criminal law covering electronic trespass with penalties of up
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to $1,000 in fines or 30 days in jail. The proposed statute states
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that the requirement of a password constitutes the equivalent
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of a posted "No Trespassing" sign.
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The Massachusetts experience shows that it's possible for civil
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libertarians, law enforcers and industry experts to find
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common ground; they can address problems created by the
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spread of computers without compromising rights. This is the
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stroy the media ought to pay more attention to. Enough of
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these fantasies about dangerous teenagers stealing big money
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and compromising national security.
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---------------------------------------------------
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Mitchell Kapor, Electronic Frontier Foundation Note permanent
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new email address for all correspondence as of 6/1/93
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mkapor@kei.com
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