54 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
54 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
3/16/93 Secret Service Held Guilty Of Violating Computer Privacy
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By Bob Ortega
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A federal court in Austin, Texas, ruled that the U.S. Secret Service
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violated privacy laws in seizing an electronic bulletin board, electronic
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mail and computer records from a computer games maker three years ago, The
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Wall Street Journal reported.
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Federal Judge Sam Sparks also ruled that the Secret Service, contrary to
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government denials, had read, disclosed and erased messages on the bulletin
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board it seized, in violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
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"Though the ruling is not as clear as we'd have liked, it's the first
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opinion I know of that holds that electronic communications on a bulletin
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board are protected" by the federal Privacy Protection Act, said Peter
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Kennedy, attorney for Steve Jackson Games of Austin, the plaintiff in the
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case. Justice Department attorneys couldn't immediately be reached for
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comment.
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The case, which provoked fierce debate over how widely the government can
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cast its net in combating computer crime, led to the founding of a
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computer-user's rights group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which
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sponsored the suit against the government. Yesterday, the foundation hailed
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the verdict. "This case should send a message to law-enforcement groups
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everywhere that they can't ignore the rights of those who communicate by
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computer," said Mike Godwin, the foundation's counsel.
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In March 1990, the Secret Service was tracking a "911 program" that agents
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believed computer hackers had stolen from BellSouth. Agents, saying they
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suspected that an employee of Steve Jackson's was involved, raided the
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company under a warrant issued by the local U.S. Magistrate. They seized
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computer equipment, an electronic bulletin board, and files that contained a
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computer game the company had been about to publish.
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The Service held onto the property for months, and destroyed some of the
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files and electronic messages.
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In his opinion, Judge Sparks said there was never any basis for suspicion
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that the company or its owner, Steve Jackson, had broken any laws; and that
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if agents hadn't been so "sloppy" in their investigation, they would have
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realized that the company was a legitimate publisher, entitled to the
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protection of the Privacy Protection Act. That act shields files and work
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records of newspapers, broadcasters and publishers from government search or
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seizure.
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Judge Sparks did support the Secret Service's contention, on a separate
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count, that despite seizing and reading electronic messages on the bulletin
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board, it hadn't "intercepted" them under the meaning of the Electronic
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Communications Privacy Act.
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He awarded Jackson, his company, and three bulletin board users a total of
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about $55,000, plus attorney's fees.
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