85 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
85 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
Steve Jackson Games/Secret Service Lawsuit -- Day One
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By JOE ABERNATHY
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Copyright 1993, Houston Chronicle
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AUSTIN -- Plaintiff's attorneys wrested two embarrassing
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admissions from the United States Secret Service on the opening day of a
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federal civil lawsuit designed to establish the bounds of constitutional
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protections for electronic publishing and electronic mail.
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In the first, Special Agent Timothy Foley of Chicago admitted that
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crucial statements were erroneous in an affidavit he used to conduct
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several search-and-seizure operations in a March 1990 crackdown on
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computer crime.
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Foley later conceded that the Secret Service's special training
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for computer crime investigators overlooks any mention of the law that
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regulates the extent of permissible search-and-seizures at publishing
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operations.
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The case, brought by Steve Jackson Games, an Austin firm, is being
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tried before United States District Judge Sam Sparks. Carefully nurtured
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over the course of three years by a group of electronic civil rights
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activists -- at a cost of more than $200,000 -- the case has been
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eagerly anticipated as a possible damper on what is seen as computer
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crime hysteria among federal police.
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Plaintiffs hope to prove that the printed word exists just as
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surely on the computer screen as it does on a sheet of paper. The
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complaint also seeks to establish the right of computer users to
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congregate electronically on bulletin board systems -- such as one
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called Illuminati that was taken from Steve Jackson Games -- and to
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exchange private electronic mail on such BBSs.
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"This lawsuit is just to stand up and say, at the end of the 20th
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Century, that publishing occurs as much on computers as on the printed
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page," said Jim George, of the Austin firm George, Donaldson & Ford,
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Jackson's law firm.
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That issue came into sharp focus during George's questioning of
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Foley regarding the seizure of the PC on which Illuminati ran, and
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another computer on which was stored the word processing document
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containing a pending Steve Jackson Games book release, GURPS Cyberpunk.
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"At the Secret Service computer crime school, were you, as the
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agent in charge of this investigation, made aware of special rules for
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searching a publishing company?" George asked Foley. He was referring to
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the Privacy Protection Act, which states that police may not seize a
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work in progress from a publisher. It does not specify what physical
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form such a work must take.
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"No, sir, I was not," Foley responded.
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"Did you just miss class the day that was taught?" George asked.
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"No, sir. The United States Secret Service does not teach its
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agents about special rules regarding search and seizure at publishing
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companies," Foley said.
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"Let the record clearly show that to be the case," George said.
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Earlier, Foley admitted on the witness stand that his original
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affidavit seeking a judge's approval to raid Steve Jackson Games
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contained a fundamental error.
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During the March 1990 raid -- one of several dozen staged that day
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around the country in an investigation that the Secret Service called
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Operation Sun Devil at the time -- agents were seeking copies of a
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document taken as a hacker trophy from BellSouth. Subsequently
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republished in an electronic magazine called Phrack, thousands of copies
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of the document were stored on bulletin board systems around the nation.
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Neither Jackson nor his company were suspected of wrongdoing, and
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no charges have ever been filed against anyone targeted in several
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Austin raids. The alleged membership of Steve Jackson employee Loyd
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Blankenship in the Legion of Doom hacker's group -- which was believed
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responsible for the break-in -- led agents to raid the Austin game
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publisher at the same time that Blankenship's Austin home was raided.
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Yet the only two paragraphs in the 42-paragraph indictment that
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established a connection between Blankenship's alleged illegal
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activities and Steve Jackson Games were shown to have been erroneously
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arrived at, when George produced a statement by Bellcore expert Henry
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Kluepfel disputing statements attributed to him in Foley's affidavit.
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"Is it true that Mr. Kluepfel logged onto (Illuminati)?" George
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questioned.
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"No, sir," Foley responded.
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"But you state that in your affidavit," George said.
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"That was a misattribution," Foley said.
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"So you had no knowledge that anything was sent to my client?"
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"No sir, not directly," Foley said.
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"Indirectly?" George asked.
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"No sir."
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The Justice Department, in papers filed with the court, contends
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that only traditional journalistic organizations enjoy the protections
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of the Privacy Protection Act. It further contends that users of
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electronic mail have no reasonable expectation of privacy.
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The trial was to resume at 8:30 a.m. It is expected to conclude on
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Thursday or Friday.
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