707 lines
30 KiB
Plaintext
707 lines
30 KiB
Plaintext
|
||
Computer underground Digest Wed Jan 21, 1998 Volume 10 : Issue 05
|
||
ISSN 1004-042X
|
||
|
||
Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu)
|
||
News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu)
|
||
Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
|
||
Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
|
||
Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
|
||
Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
|
||
Ian Dickinson
|
||
Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
|
||
Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
|
||
|
||
CONTENTS, #10.05 (Wed, Jan 21, 1998)
|
||
|
||
File 1--SEMANTICS AND THE CHILD PORNOGRAPHER (From V.I.P. Newsletter)
|
||
File 2--Text of US v. Hockings (Child porn decision / 9th Fed Circ.)
|
||
File 3--Text of 18 USC Sec. 2252 (Sexual Exploitation...of Children )
|
||
File 4--Law Enforcement Using the Web for "Justice?"
|
||
File 5--"Underground", Suelette Dreyfus
|
||
File 6--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997)
|
||
|
||
CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN
|
||
THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 20:13:43
|
||
From: Charles C.Mann@sun.soci.niu.edu, ccm@crocker.com
|
||
Subject: File 1--SEMANTICS AND THE CHILD PORNOGRAPHER (From V.I.P. Newsletter)
|
||
|
||
I forwarded a copy of a bit from this same newsletter last
|
||
month that you seemed to find interesting. Sorry to be doing it
|
||
again -- I promise this is the last one -- but this case seemed so
|
||
bizarre that I thought CuD might get a chuckle out of it. Although
|
||
I suspect civil libertarians might cheer the outcome, the level of
|
||
Congressional law-writing incompetence suggested by the court is
|
||
depressing to contemplate.
|
||
Charles Mann
|
||
|
||
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
|
||
Date--Wed, 14 Jan 1998 22--52--38 -0500
|
||
From--Erick Iriarte <bdpc@mail.dti.net>
|
||
To--Multiple recipients of list <cni-copyright@cni.org>
|
||
Subject--VIP - 1/12/98
|
||
|
||
|
||
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
|
||
V.I.P. (Virtual Intellectual Property) Newsletter
|
||
U.S. Intellectual Property & New Media Law Update
|
||
Monday, January 12, 1998
|
||
Volume II, Issue II
|
||
Bazerman & Drangel, P.C.
|
||
|
||
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
|
||
(C) Bazerman & Drangel, P.C. 1998
|
||
|
||
*********************************************
|
||
SEMANTICS AND THE CHILD PORNOGRAPHER
|
||
|
||
U.S. v. Hockings (Ninth Cir. - Decided- November 21, 1997)
|
||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
||
|
||
The Defendant was charged with one count of possession of eight
|
||
computer files containing visual depictions of child pornography in
|
||
violation of Section 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2252(a)(4)(B) and one count of
|
||
transporting sixteen visual depictions of child pornography in
|
||
interstate commerce in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2252(a)(1).
|
||
After a bench trial he was found guilty on both counts.
|
||
|
||
What is a poor child pornographer to do if he is caught red handed
|
||
with the child pornography? Why, attack the statute, what else. The
|
||
statute criminalizes the knowing transportation in interstate commerce
|
||
by any means including by computer or mail of "visual depictions"
|
||
involving minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct or possessing
|
||
three such items. On appeal, Defendant maintained that visual
|
||
depiction did not include GIF files. The Court noted that it would be
|
||
an "absurdity" to find that Congress intended to outlaw the
|
||
transportation of pornographic visual depictions of children by
|
||
computer, yet concluded that the Congress did not intend to include
|
||
GIF files within the definition of visual depiction.
|
||
|
||
Defendant had a subsidiary argument that the statute was
|
||
unconstitutionally vague since it did not clearly indicate to him that
|
||
such electronic depictions would be considered visual depictions under
|
||
the statute. The Court found the statute clear on its face.
|
||
|
||
The this decision can be seen at:
|
||
|
||
http://www.vcilp.org/Fed-Ct/Circuit/9th/opinions/9750018.htm
|
||
|
||
<lots of less relevant stuff snipped out>
|
||
|
||
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|
||
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
|
||
|
||
The complete set of newsletters can be viewed at:
|
||
|
||
http://www.ipcounselors.com
|
||
|
||
If you have any questions or comments regarding any of the above,
|
||
please do not hesitate to contact us. IF YOU ARE AWARE OF ANY
|
||
INTERESTING RECENT CASE, PARTICULARLY IF THE COMPLAINT OR DECISION IS
|
||
ON THE WEB OR YOU CAN SUPPLY US WITH A COPY OF THE PLEADINGS OR
|
||
DECISION FOR POSTING, PLEASE LET US KNOW.
|
||
|
||
If you do not wish to receive the update, send a message to
|
||
bdpc@ipcounselors.com with "unsubscribe update" in the body of the
|
||
message. If you know of others who wish to subscribe, have them send a
|
||
message to bdpc@ipcounselors.com with "subscribe update" in the body
|
||
of their message.
|
||
|
||
Bazerman & Drangel, P.C.
|
||
Intellectual Property and New Media Attorneys
|
||
60 East 42nd Street
|
||
Suite 1158
|
||
New York, NY 10165
|
||
tel: 212 292 5390
|
||
fax: 212 292 5391
|
||
e-mail: bdpc@ipcounselors.com
|
||
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 12:23:25 -0600
|
||
From: jthomas@SUN.SOCI.NIU.EDU(Jim Thomas)
|
||
Subject: File 2--Text of US v. Hockings (Child porn decision / 9th Fed Circ.)
|
||
|
||
From: http://www.vcilp.org/Fed-Ct/Circuit/9th/opinions/9750018.htm
|
||
_________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
||
[IMAGE] This opinion was acquired from the 9th Circuit and enhanced
|
||
for distribution on the Internet by
|
||
The Villanova Center for Information and Policy.
|
||
_________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
||
FOR PUBLICATION
|
||
|
||
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
|
||
|
||
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
|
||
|
||
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
|
||
No. 97-50018
|
||
Plaintiff-Appellee,
|
||
D.C. No.
|
||
v.
|
||
CR-95-00556-TJH
|
||
MARK STUART HOCKINGS,
|
||
OPINION
|
||
Defendant-Appellant.
|
||
|
||
Appeal from the United States District Court
|
||
for the Central District of California
|
||
Terry J. Hatter, District Judge, Presiding
|
||
|
||
Argued and Submitted
|
||
November 3, 1997--Pasadena, California
|
||
|
||
Filed November 21, 1997
|
||
|
||
Before: William C. Canby, Jr. and David R. Thompson,
|
||
Circuit Judges, and Donald W. Molloy,* District Judge.
|
||
|
||
Opinion by Judge Molloy
|
||
|
||
_________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
||
SUMMARY
|
||
|
||
|
||
COUNSEL
|
||
|
||
Richard D. Burda, Deputy Federal Public Defender, Los
|
||
Angeles, California, for the defendant-appellant.
|
||
|
||
David C. Scheper, and Benjamin Jones, Jr., Assistant United
|
||
States Attorneys, Los Angeles, California, for the plaintiff-
|
||
appellee.
|
||
|
||
_________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
||
OPINION
|
||
|
||
MOLLOY, District Judge:
|
||
|
||
I. Overview
|
||
|
||
Mark Stuart Hockings ("Hockings") was charged with one
|
||
count of possessing eight computer files containing visual
|
||
|
||
13999
|
||
|
||
|
||
depictions of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C.
|
||
S 2252(a)(4)(B), and one count of transporting sixteen visual
|
||
depictions of child pornography in interstate commerce, in
|
||
violation of 18 U.S.C. S 2252(a)(1). After a bench trial he was
|
||
found guilty on both counts.
|
||
|
||
On appeal, he claims the computer GIF files from which
|
||
pornographic images could be retrieved are not "visual
|
||
depictions" as defined in the charging statute. Additionally, he
|
||
argues the charging statute did not provide him with fair
|
||
warning of the proscribed conduct. We disagree.
|
||
|
||
The construction or interpretation of a statute is reviewed
|
||
de novo. United States v. DeLaCorte, 113 F.3d 154, 155 (9th
|
||
Cir. 1997). Whether a statute is void for vagueness is also
|
||
reviewed de novo. United States v. Woodley, 9 F.3d 774, 778
|
||
(9th Cir. 1993).
|
||
|
||
II. Discussion
|
||
|
||
A.
|
||
|
||
Subsections 2252(a)(1) and (4)(B) criminalize the knowing
|
||
transportation in interstate commerce, "by any means includ-
|
||
ing by computer or mails," of "visual depictions" involving
|
||
minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, 18 U.S.C.
|
||
S 2252(a)(1) (emphasis added). It is also illegal to be in the
|
||
knowing possession of three or more "matter[s] which contain
|
||
any [such] visual depiction," 18 U.S.C.S 2252(a)(4)(B).
|
||
When the offense happened, the applicable statute stated that
|
||
" `visual depiction' includes undeveloped film and
|
||
videotape." 18 U.S.C. S 2256(5) (Law. Co-op. 1991). It did
|
||
not refer to information stored on disc. In 1996, the statutory
|
||
definition was expanded to include "data stored on computer
|
||
disk or by electronic means which is capable of conversion
|
||
into a visual image." 18 U.S.C.S. S 2256(5) (Law. Co-op.
|
||
1991 & Supp. 1997).
|
||
|
||
14000
|
||
|
||
|
||
When interpreting a statute, we "look first to the plain lan-
|
||
guage of the statute, construing the provisions of the entire
|
||
law, including its object and policy, to ascertain the intent of
|
||
Congress." Northwest Forest Resource Council v. Glickman,
|
||
82 F.3d 825, 830 (9th Cir. 1996). If the statute is unclear, we
|
||
look next to the legislative history. Id. at 830-31.
|
||
|
||
[1] Hockings argues that his conduct is not within the pur-
|
||
view of the statute because the definition of "visual depiction"
|
||
contained in the former version of section 2256(5), includes
|
||
undeveloped film and videotape but not computer data. How-
|
||
ever, both subparts of section 2252 under which Hockings
|
||
was charged prohibit the transportation by computer of visual
|
||
depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. It
|
||
leads to an absurdity to find that Congress intended to outlaw
|
||
the transportation of pornographic visual depictions of chil-
|
||
dren by computer, yet conclude that Congress did not intend
|
||
to include GIF files within the definition of visual depiction.
|
||
|
||
[2] The former definition of "visual depiction" is not lim-
|
||
ited to undeveloped film and videotape--it "includes" those
|
||
items but is not drafted as an exhaustive list of all items that
|
||
constitute a "visual depiction." See 18 U.S.C.S. S 2256(5)
|
||
(1991). This view is supported by United States v. Smith, 795
|
||
F.2d 841 (9th Cir. 1986). Smith construed the pre-1986 ver-
|
||
sion of the child pornography statute that contained no defini-
|
||
tion of "visual depiction." Smith took photographs of three
|
||
teenage girls in various stages of nudity and sent the film for
|
||
developing. After developing the film, the photo company
|
||
contacted U.S. postal inspectors. Smith was charged with vio-
|
||
lations of the federal child pornography statutes and convicted
|
||
on all counts. Id. at 844-45.
|
||
|
||
On appeal, this court rejected Smith's argument that
|
||
"unprocessed, undeveloped film does not constitute a `visual
|
||
depiction' within the meaning of the statute." Id. at 846.
|
||
Accepting that "color film must undergo an elaborate devel-
|
||
|
||
14001
|
||
|
||
|
||
oping process before any image can be perceived by the
|
||
human eye," id., the court concluded:
|
||
|
||
[T]he exclusion of unprocessed film from the stat-
|
||
ute's coverage would impede the child pornography
|
||
laws by protecting a necessary intermediate step in
|
||
the sexual exploitation of children. The interpreta-
|
||
tion urged by Smith would allow unrestricted inter-
|
||
state commerce in child pornography so long as the
|
||
pornography was still in the form of undeveloped
|
||
film. Such a loophole is inconsistent with congres-
|
||
sional intent; the undeveloped state of the film does
|
||
not eliminate the harm to the child victims in the
|
||
film's production or the incentive to produce created
|
||
by the film's trafficking. We therefore hold that the
|
||
undeveloped film constitutes a "visual depiction"
|
||
. . . .
|
||
|
||
Id. at 846-47.
|
||
|
||
[3] The same rationale applies to GIF files in relation to the
|
||
pre-1996 version of the statute under which Hockings was
|
||
charged. GIF files were a means of storage and transportation
|
||
of visual depictions of child pornography in this case.
|
||
Although a software program was required to de-compress the
|
||
GIF file, the contents of the GIF file could be viewed on a
|
||
computer screen or printed in hard copy if so desired.
|
||
|
||
[4] The statute was amended in 1996 to specifically include
|
||
computer data such as GIF files. ("[V]isual depiction includes
|
||
. . . data stored on computer disk or by electronic means
|
||
which is capable of conversion into a visual image"). 18
|
||
U.S.C.A. S 2256 (West Supp. 1997). Hockings suggests the
|
||
amendment lends support to his argument that the pre-1996
|
||
statute did not encompass GIF files. However, "Congress may
|
||
amend a statute simply to clarify existing law, to correct a
|
||
misinterpretation, or to overrule wrongly decided cases. Thus,
|
||
an amendment to a statute does not necessarily indicate that
|
||
|
||
14002
|
||
|
||
|
||
the unamended statute means the opposite." United States v.
|
||
Hawkins, 30 F.3d 1077, 1082 (9th Cir. 1994). We conclude
|
||
that computer GIF files are visual depictions within the mean-
|
||
ing of the charging statute. The visual image transported in
|
||
binary form starts and ends pornographically and that is what
|
||
Congress seeks to prohibit.
|
||
|
||
B.
|
||
|
||
[5] We also reject Hockings' attack on the statute as void
|
||
for vagueness. The Supreme Court outlined the contours of
|
||
the vagueness doctrine in United States v. Lanier, 137 L.Ed.
|
||
2d 432 (1997). First, an act cannot be so vague that "men of
|
||
common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning
|
||
and differ as to its application." Id. at 442. Second, the rule
|
||
of lenity must be applied to restrict criminal statutes to con-
|
||
duct clearly covered by those statutes. Id. Third, a court may
|
||
interpret the statute to provide the "requisite level" of clarity,
|
||
but any such interpretation must not be so "novel " as to
|
||
include conduct that "neither the statute or any prior judicial
|
||
decision has fairly disclosed to be within its scope." Id. at
|
||
442-43.
|
||
|
||
Hockings argues that the charging statute is constitutionally
|
||
vague because it criminalizes "the transportation and posses-
|
||
sion of items [GIF files] that clearly are not visual depictions,
|
||
on the grounds that they are visual depictions, goes beyond
|
||
what a person of common intelligence would infer from read-
|
||
ing the statute." We disagree. The statute satisfies the Lanier
|
||
standard.
|
||
|
||
[6] As noted above, GIF files are merely a means of storage
|
||
and transportation of visual depictions. The statute proscribes
|
||
the transportation of visual depictions of minors engaged in
|
||
sexually explicit conduct by any means, including by com-
|
||
puter. 18 U.S.C. S 2252(a)(1),(4)(B). While holding other-
|
||
wise, even if judicial gloss is required to bring GIF files
|
||
within the compass of the statute, such an interpretation is not
|
||
|
||
14003
|
||
|
||
|
||
novel in view of the case law discussed above. See Smith
|
||
supra; see also United States v. Thomas, 74 F.3d 701, 707
|
||
(6th Cir. 1996)(holding that GIF files fall within the obscenity
|
||
statutes although not specifically proscribed herein because
|
||
"the manner in which the images move[ ] does not affect their
|
||
ability to be viewed on a computer screen in [a distant loca-
|
||
tion] or their ability to be printed out in hard copy in that dis-
|
||
tant location"). Hence, Hockings had fair warning that the
|
||
transportation of visual depictions by means of computer GIF
|
||
files was in violation of the statute.
|
||
|
||
AFFIRMED.
|
||
|
||
14004
|
||
the end
|
||
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 22:33:52 -0600
|
||
From: jthomas@VENUS.SOCI.NIU.EDU(Jim Thomas)
|
||
Subject: File 3--Text of 18 USC Sec. 2252 (Sexual Exploitation...of Children )
|
||
|
||
(Source - http://law.house.gov/usc.htm)
|
||
|
||
18 USC Sec. 2252 01/16/96
|
||
|
||
TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
|
||
PART I - CRIMES
|
||
CHAPTER 110 - SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND OTHER ABUSE OF CHILDREN
|
||
|
||
Sec. 2252. Certain activities relating to material involving the
|
||
sexual exploitation of minors
|
||
|
||
-STATUTE-
|
||
|
||
(a) Any person who -
|
||
|
||
(1) knowingly transports or ships in interstate or foreign
|
||
commerce by any means including by computer or mails, any visual
|
||
depiction, if -
|
||
(A) the producing of such visual depiction involves the use
|
||
(B) such visual depiction is of such conduct;
|
||
(2) knowingly receives, or distributes, any visual depiction
|
||
that has been mailed, or has been shipped or transported in
|
||
interstate or foreign commerce, or which contains materials which
|
||
have been mailed or so shipped or transported, by any means
|
||
including by computer, or knowingly reproduces any visual
|
||
depiction for distribution in interstate or foreign commerce or
|
||
through the mails, if -
|
||
|
||
(A) the producing of such visual depiction involves the use
|
||
of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; and
|
||
(B) such visual depiction is of such conduct;
|
||
(3) either -
|
||
(A) in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of
|
||
the United States, or on any land or building owned by, leased
|
||
to, or otherwise used by or under the control of the Government
|
||
of the United States, or in the Indian country as defined in
|
||
section 1151 of this title, knowingly sells or possesses with
|
||
intent to sell any visual depiction; or
|
||
(B) knowingly sells or possesses with intent to sell any
|
||
visual depiction that has been mailed, or has been shipped or
|
||
transported in interstate or foreign commerce, or which was
|
||
produced using materials which have been mailed or so shipped
|
||
or transported, by any means, including by computer, if -
|
||
(i) the producing of such visual depiction involves the use
|
||
of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; and
|
||
(ii) such visual depiction is of such conduct; or
|
||
(4) either -
|
||
(A) in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of
|
||
the United States, or on any land or building owned by, leased
|
||
to, or otherwise used by or under the control of the Government
|
||
of the United States, or in the Indian country as defined in
|
||
section 1151 of this title, knowingly possesses 3 or more
|
||
books, magazines, periodicals, films, video tapes, or other
|
||
matter which contain any visual depiction; or
|
||
(B) knowingly possesses 3 or more books, magazines,
|
||
periodicals, films, video tapes, or other matter which contain
|
||
any visual depiction that has been mailed, or has been shipped
|
||
or transported in interstate or foreign commerce, or which was
|
||
produced using materials which have been mailed or so shipped
|
||
or transported, by any means including by computer, if -
|
||
(i) the producing of such visual depiction involves the use
|
||
of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; and
|
||
(ii) such visual depiction is of such conduct;
|
||
shall be punished as provided in subsection (b) of this section.
|
||
(b)(1) Whoever violates, or attempts or conspires to violate,
|
||
paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subsection (a) shall be fined under
|
||
this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both, but, if
|
||
such person has a prior conviction under this chapter or chapter
|
||
109A, such person shall be fined under this title and imprisoned
|
||
for not less than five years nor more than fifteen years.
|
||
(2) Whoever violates, or attempts or conspires to violate,
|
||
paragraph (4) of subsection (a) shall be fined under this title or
|
||
imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.
|
||
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 98 15:57 CST
|
||
From: Cu Digest <TK0JUT2@MVS.CSO.NIU.EDU>
|
||
Subject: File 4--Law Enforcement Using the Web for "Justice?"
|
||
|
||
The homepage links between law enforcement and the public became a
|
||
bit tighter in the past few weeks. Two homepages, one from a New
|
||
York state Attorney General, and the other from an Illinois
|
||
citizen, respectively used the Web to oppose the parole of a man
|
||
convicted of murdering a child and to publicize the names of sex
|
||
offenders.
|
||
|
||
In New York, the Attorney General used the homepage in an attempt
|
||
to sway the decision of the parole board in an upcoming case. This
|
||
seems an unacceptable intrusion of politics in what ought to be
|
||
independent decision making. The New York Times reported the
|
||
story as follows:
|
||
|
||
Date--Tuesday, December 23, 1997
|
||
Source--By Joseph A. Kirby, Tribune Staff Writer.
|
||
Dateline--NEW YORK
|
||
Copyright Chicago Tribune
|
||
|
||
OFFICIAL USES WEB TO FIGHT ABUSER'S PAROLE
|
||
NEW YORKER'S POSTING PROMPTS HUNDREDS OF REPLIES AGAINST KILLER
|
||
|
||
In an unusual mingling of government and the Internet,
|
||
New York state's attorney general took to cyberspace Monday
|
||
to publicize his opposition to a parole petition by a
|
||
Manhattan lawyer whose sensational case focused the nation's
|
||
attention on domestic abuse a decade ago.
|
||
|
||
Atty. Gen. Dennis Vacco used his state Web page to alert
|
||
New York residents to the upcoming January parole hearing of
|
||
Joel Steinberg, who was convicted of killing his illegally
|
||
adopted 6-year-old daughter, Lisa, in November 1987.
|
||
|
||
|
||
<<Article describes how Steinberg's lover testified that
|
||
he had brutally abused her and their two children for years
|
||
and how Stienberg reported smoked cocaine while his oldest
|
||
child was dying of a brain hemorrhage>>
|
||
|
||
"The Parole Board must give full weight to his horrific
|
||
and senseless beatings of Lisa," Vacco wrote on the Web
|
||
site, which features a picture of Lisa holding her younger
|
||
brother. "Joel Steinberg . . . was nothing more than a
|
||
despicable monster. He has not yet paid his debt to
|
||
society."
|
||
|
||
<snip>
|
||
|
||
Vacco's use of the Internet to publicize his decision is
|
||
somewhat of a twist because the attorney general, like some other
|
||
politicians, is a critic of the information superhighway. In
|
||
recent months, the attorney general has said the Internet allows
|
||
teenagers easy access to pornography and affords them the ability
|
||
to illegally purchase alcohol.
|
||
|
||
The story provides the ULR as:
|
||
|
||
www.oag.state.ny.us
|
||
|
||
In Illinois, an Associated Press report on 3 December '97 provided
|
||
a URL of www.chilicothe.com that lists the names and registered
|
||
sex offenders in soime Illinois counties. Although the URL was not
|
||
responding to several attempts to reach it, similar homepages have
|
||
been reported across the country, and the numbers will likely
|
||
increase.
|
||
|
||
Because may states (and the federal government) have enacted
|
||
"Megan's Laws" that require convicted sex offenders, especially
|
||
with juvenile victims, to
|
||
register with police in the town in which they live, such
|
||
information is public. However, the legality of publishing the
|
||
information makes it no less unacceptable. First, the definition
|
||
of "sex offense," even when juveniles are involved, remains too
|
||
broad to be meaningful. Second, the lists are not error-proof.
|
||
Third, publicity exaggerates a stigma that makes reintegration
|
||
into society difficulty. Finally, most offenses with juveniles as
|
||
victims occur within the home.
|
||
|
||
Public dialogue on crime, such as it is, currently contains far
|
||
too much heat and too little reason. State officials should bear
|
||
in mind that responsible Net use applies to them as well as those
|
||
they target: Demagoguery and reducing justice to a game of
|
||
passions across the Net may be effective grandstanding, but it
|
||
also raises questions about the impartiality of the justice.
|
||
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 10:17:06 -0800
|
||
From: <Rob.Slade@sprint.ca>
|
||
Subject: File 5--"Underground", Suelette Dreyfus
|
||
|
||
BKNDRGND.RVW 970723
|
||
|
||
"Underground", Suelette Dreyfus, 1997, 1-86330-595-5, A$19.95
|
||
%A Suelette Dreyfus
|
||
%C 35 Cotham Road, Kew 3101, Australia
|
||
%D 1997
|
||
%G 1-86330-595-5
|
||
%I Reed Books/Mandarin/Random House Australia
|
||
%O A$19.95 +61-2-9550-9207 fax: +61-2-9560-0334
|
||
%O debbie@iaccess.com.au
|
||
%P 475
|
||
%T "Underground"
|
||
|
||
This book is yet another gee-whiz look at teenage mutant wannabe-high-
|
||
tech-bandits. The stories revolve around a number of individuals with
|
||
loose links to one particular bulletin board in Melbourne, Australia,
|
||
all engaged in system intrusions and phone phreaking.
|
||
|
||
An immediate annoyance is the insistence of the author in referring to
|
||
system breaking as "hacking." ("Cracking" seems to be reserved for
|
||
breaking copy protection on games and other commercial software.) If
|
||
any actual hacking takes place--creative, or otherwise sophisticated,
|
||
use of the technology--it isn't apparent in the book. The
|
||
descriptions of activities are vague, but generally appear to be
|
||
simple "cookbook" uses of known security loopholes. This may not
|
||
accurately reflect the events as they transpired, since the author
|
||
also betrays no depth of technical knowledge, and seems to be willing
|
||
to accept boasting as fact. The bibliography is impressively long
|
||
until you realize that a number of the articles are never used or
|
||
referenced. At which point, you wonder how much material has even
|
||
been read.
|
||
|
||
The structure and organization of the book is abrupt and sometimes
|
||
difficult. Social or psychological observations are arbitrarily
|
||
plunked into the middle of descriptions of system exploration, and,
|
||
even though the paucity of dates makes it difficult to be sure, they
|
||
don't appear to be in any chronological sequence, either. Those who
|
||
have studied in the security field will recognize some names and even
|
||
"handles," but the conceit of using only handles for members of the
|
||
"underground" makes it difficult to know how much of the material to
|
||
trust.
|
||
|
||
Early chapters foreshadow dire events to overtake "Craig Bowen" and
|
||
Stuart Gill: Bowen never gets mentioned again, and Gill is only
|
||
mentioned twice, peripherally. (In combination with frequent
|
||
allusions to ignorance on the part of law enforcement agencies, one
|
||
might suspect that a kind of Australian version of "The Hacker
|
||
Crackdown" [cf. BKHKCRCK.RVW] was planned, but, if so, it didn't come
|
||
off.)
|
||
|
||
The book's attitude is also oddly inconsistent. In places, the
|
||
crackers and phreaks are lauded as brilliant, anti-establishment
|
||
heroes; but, by and large, they are portrayed as unsocialized,
|
||
paranoid, spineless non-entities, who have no life skills beyond a few
|
||
pieces of pseudo-technical knowledge used for playing vicious pranks.
|
||
So thorough is this characterization, that it comes as a total shock
|
||
to find, in the afterword, that not only do these people survive their
|
||
court convictions, but also become important contributing members of
|
||
society.
|
||
|
||
The author seems to feel quite free to point fingers in all
|
||
directions. The absurdity of giving "look-see" intruders larger
|
||
prison sentences than thieves or spies is pointed out, but not the
|
||
difficulty of legally proving intent. After repeatedly hinting at
|
||
police incompetence, brutality, and even corruption, the book ends
|
||
with a rather weak statement implying that the situation is getting
|
||
better. The common cracker assertion that if sysadmins don't want
|
||
intruders, then they should secure their systems better, is followed
|
||
up with no discussion of surveys showing only one full-time security
|
||
person per five thousand employees, and only passing mention, by one
|
||
of the ex-intruders, of the extreme difficulty in doing so. Poor
|
||
family situations are used so frequently to justify illegal activities
|
||
that one feels the need to point out that *most* products of "broken"
|
||
homes do *not* become obsessive, paranoid loner criminals!
|
||
|
||
It is interesting to see a book written about a non-US scene, and from
|
||
a non-American perspective. Technically and journalistically,
|
||
however, it has numerous problems.
|
||
|
||
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997 BKNDRGND.RVW 970723
|
||
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Date: Thu, 7 May 1997 22:51:01 CST
|
||
From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
|
||
Subject: File 6--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997)
|
||
|
||
Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are
|
||
available at no cost electronically.
|
||
|
||
CuD is available as a Usenet newsgroup: comp.society.cu-digest
|
||
|
||
Or, to subscribe, send post with this in the "Subject:: line:
|
||
|
||
SUBSCRIBE CU-DIGEST
|
||
Send the message to: cu-digest-request@weber.ucsd.edu
|
||
|
||
DO NOT SEND SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE MODERATORS.
|
||
|
||
The editors may be contacted by voice (815-753-6436), fax (815-753-6302)
|
||
or U.S. mail at: Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL
|
||
60115, USA.
|
||
|
||
To UNSUB, send a one-line message: UNSUB CU-DIGEST
|
||
Send it to CU-DIGEST-REQUEST@WEBER.UCSD.EDU
|
||
(NOTE: The address you unsub must correspond to your From: line)
|
||
|
||
Issues of CuD can also be found in the Usenet comp.society.cu-digest
|
||
news group; on CompuServe in DL0 and DL4 of the IBMBBS SIG, DL1 of
|
||
LAWSIG, and DL1 of TELECOM; on GEnie in the PF*NPC RT
|
||
libraries and in the VIRUS/SECURITY library; from America Online in
|
||
the PC Telecom forum under "computing newsletters;"
|
||
On Delphi in the General Discussion database of the Internet SIG;
|
||
on RIPCO BBS (312) 528-5020 (and via Ripco on internet);
|
||
CuD is also available via Fidonet File Request from
|
||
1:11/70; unlisted nodes and points welcome.
|
||
|
||
In ITALY: ZERO! BBS: +39-11-6507540
|
||
|
||
UNITED STATES: ftp.etext.org (206.252.8.100) in /pub/CuD/CuD
|
||
Web-accessible from: http://www.etext.org/CuD/CuD/
|
||
ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4) in /pub/Publications/CuD/
|
||
aql.gatech.edu (128.61.10.53) in /pub/eff/cud/
|
||
world.std.com in /src/wuarchive/doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
|
||
wuarchive.wustl.edu in /doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
|
||
EUROPE: nic.funet.fi in pub/doc/CuD/CuD/ (Finland)
|
||
ftp.warwick.ac.uk in pub/cud/ (United Kingdom)
|
||
|
||
|
||
The most recent issues of CuD can be obtained from the
|
||
Cu Digest WWW site at:
|
||
URL: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest/
|
||
|
||
COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST is an open forum dedicated to sharing
|
||
information among computerists and to the presentation and debate of
|
||
diverse views. CuD material may be reprinted for non-profit as long
|
||
as the source is cited. Authors hold a presumptive copyright, and
|
||
they should be contacted for reprint permission. It is assumed that
|
||
non-personal mail to the moderators may be reprinted unless otherwise
|
||
specified. Readers are encouraged to submit reasoned articles
|
||
relating to computer culture and communication. Articles are
|
||
preferred to short responses. Please avoid quoting previous posts
|
||
unless absolutely necessary.
|
||
|
||
DISCLAIMER: The views represented herein do not necessarily represent
|
||
the views of the moderators. Digest contributors assume all
|
||
responsibility for ensuring that articles submitted do not
|
||
violate copyright protections.
|
||
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
End of Computer Underground Digest #10.05
|
||
************************************
|
||
|