332 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
332 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
******************************************************************
|
|
////////////// ////////////// //////////////
|
|
/// /// ///
|
|
/////// /////// ///////
|
|
/// /// ///
|
|
////////////// /// ///
|
|
******************************************************************
|
|
EFFector Online Volume 5 No. 2 2/19/1993 editors@eff.org
|
|
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
|
|
326 lines
|
|
|
|
-==--==--==-<>-==--==--==-
|
|
In this issue:
|
|
Update on the Steve Jackson Games Case
|
|
Contact information for Local and Regional Groups Supporting the
|
|
Online Community
|
|
-==--==--==-<>-==--==--==-
|
|
|
|
Happy Anniversary ;-) Steve Jackson Games Case!!
|
|
|
|
March 1st marks the three-year anniversary of the Secret Service
|
|
raid on Steve Jackson Games. As we await Judge Sam Sparks's
|
|
decision in this precedent-setting case, EFF would like to remind
|
|
everyone of what has happened so far.
|
|
|
|
In May of 1991, EFF reported about the case in issue #1.04 of
|
|
EFFector Online:
|
|
|
|
On March 1, 1990, the United States Secret Service nearly
|
|
destroyed Steve Jackson Games (SJG), an award-winning
|
|
publishing business in Austin, Texas.
|
|
|
|
In an early morning raid with an unlawful and unconstitutional
|
|
warrant, agents of the Secret Service conducted a search of the
|
|
SJG office. When they left they took a manuscript being prepared
|
|
for publication, private electronic mail, and several computers,
|
|
including the hardware and software of the SJG Computer Bulletin
|
|
Board System. Yet Jackson and his business were not only
|
|
innocent of any crime, but never suspects in the first place.
|
|
The raid had been staged on the unfounded suspicion that
|
|
somewhere in Jackson's office there "might be" a document
|
|
compromising the security of the 911 telephone system.
|
|
|
|
In the months that followed, Jackson saw the business he had
|
|
built up over many years dragged to the edge of bankruptcy. SJG
|
|
was a successful and prestigious publisher of books and other
|
|
materials used in adventure role-playing games. Jackson also
|
|
operated a computer bulletin board system (BBS) to communicate
|
|
with his customers and writers and obtain feedback and
|
|
suggestions on new gaming ideas. The bulletin board was also the
|
|
repository of private electronic mail belonging to several of its
|
|
users. This private mail was seized in the raid. Despite
|
|
repeated requests for the return of his manuscripts and
|
|
equipment, the Secret Service has refused to comply fully.
|
|
|
|
Today, more than a year after that raid, The Electronic Frontier
|
|
Foundation, acting with SJG owner Steve Jackson, has filed a
|
|
precedent setting civil suit against the United States Secret
|
|
Service, Secret Service Agents Timothy Foley and Barbara Golden,
|
|
Assistant United States Attorney William Cook, and Henry
|
|
Kluepfel.
|
|
|
|
"This is the most important case brought to date," said EFF
|
|
general counsel Mike Godwin, "to vindicate the Constitutional
|
|
rights of the users of computer-based communications technology.
|
|
It will establish the Constitutional dimension of electronic
|
|
expression. It also will be one of the first cases that invokes
|
|
the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act as a shield and not
|
|
as a sword -- an act that guarantees users of this digital medium
|
|
the same privacy protections enjoyed by those who use the
|
|
telephone and the U.S. Mail."
|
|
|
|
|
|
As the case proceeded, the attorneys from George, Donaldson and
|
|
Ford, who represented Steve Jackson, Steve Jackson Games, and
|
|
Illuminati BBS users Elizabeth McCoy, Steffan O'Sullivan and Walter
|
|
Milliken, decided to drop charges against all defendants except the
|
|
United States Secret Service. (This was a strategic decision made to
|
|
ensure that the trial would proceed in a timely manner.) The case
|
|
went to trial in the United States District Court in Austin, Texas, from
|
|
January 26 - 28, 1993. The plaintiffs presented their case first with
|
|
testimony from all of the plaintiffs themselves, Secret Service Special
|
|
Agents Timothy Foley and Barbara Golden, former U.S. District
|
|
Attorney William J. Cook, Bellcore security expert Henry Kluepfel,
|
|
University of Texas security guard Larry Coutorie, WWIV BBS
|
|
software creator Wayne Bell and a financial expert who testified to
|
|
the amount of damages. By the end of the second day, the plaintiffs
|
|
rested their case.
|
|
|
|
On Thursday morning, the defense put Special Agent Timothy Foley
|
|
back on the witness stand. After he testified that he did not know
|
|
that Steve Jackson Games was a publisher, that the seized computer
|
|
equipment (3 computers, 5 hard disks, and more than 300 floppies)
|
|
had not been accessed by Secret Service investigators after March
|
|
27, 1990, but was not returned to Steve Jackson until late June, and
|
|
that no copy of the information contained on the seized disks
|
|
(including a manuscript for an upcoming publication and the
|
|
company's business records) was ever provided to Steve Jackson,
|
|
Agent Foley sat through a solid 15-minute reprimand from the judge
|
|
on the unacceptability of the government's behavior. The defense
|
|
attorneys were so shaken by the judge's admonishments that they
|
|
decided not to call any other witnesses.
|
|
|
|
While Judge Sparks made it clear that he found the Secret Service's
|
|
behavior to be reprehensible, it is not clear how he will rule in this
|
|
case. The case was based on two rarely-construed federal statutes --
|
|
the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and the Privacy
|
|
Protection Act (PPA). ECPA says that government officials may not
|
|
read private electronic mail unless they have a warrant specific to
|
|
that mail. No search warrant specified that Elizabeth McCoy, Steffan
|
|
O'Sullivan or Walter Milliken had done any wrong, yet it appears that
|
|
their mail -- in fact, ALL of the electronic mail contained on the
|
|
system that ran the Illuminati BBS -- had been read and deleted by
|
|
agents conducting the search at Secret Service headquarters in
|
|
Chicago. PPA requires that law enforcement officers follow special
|
|
procedures when the entity to be searched is a publisher, in order to
|
|
protect the First Amendment freedom of the press. No special
|
|
procedures were followed in this case. So even if the judge finds that
|
|
Secret Service behavior was inappropriate, it is not so clear that he
|
|
will find that the behavior was actually in violation of these statutes.
|
|
|
|
We expect Judge Sparks will hand down his decision any time now.
|
|
When it is issued, we will be sure to print the written opinion in an
|
|
upcoming issue of EFFector Online.
|
|
|
|
-==--==--==-<>-==--==--==-
|
|
|
|
Local and Regional Groups Supporting the Online Community
|
|
|
|
Many of our members have expressed interest in joining with others
|
|
in activities that support the online community. Below is a list of
|
|
regional groups that are organized to work on projects to improve
|
|
online communications. Feel free to contact any of the folks listed
|
|
below with your ideas and to learn more about how you can get
|
|
involved.
|
|
|
|
We are constantly looking to update this list, so if you know of other
|
|
groups that we should add, or if you are trying to form a group in
|
|
your local area, please forward the name of the group and contact
|
|
information to Shari Steele at ssteele@eff.org.
|
|
|
|
|
|
NATIONAL
|
|
Electronic Frontier Foundation
|
|
Shari Steele - ssteele@eff.org
|
|
Cliff Figallo - fig@eff.org
|
|
|
|
Electronic Frontier Foundation
|
|
666 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, #303
|
|
Washington, DC 20003
|
|
Phone: (202)544-9237 (voice)
|
|
|
|
ALABAMA
|
|
Huntsville:
|
|
Huntsville Group
|
|
Matt Midboe - mmidboe@nyx.cs.du.edu
|
|
|
|
CALIFORNIA
|
|
San Francisco Bay Area:
|
|
This!Group
|
|
Mitch Ratcliffe - coyote@well.sf.ca.us or
|
|
Mitch_Ratcliffe@macweek.ziff.com
|
|
Glenn Tenney - tenney@netcom.com
|
|
Judi Clark - judic@netcom.com
|
|
|
|
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
|
|
Washington, DC, Area:
|
|
"Group 2600" and some public access operators
|
|
Bob Stratton - strat@intercon.com
|
|
Mikki Barry - ooblick@intercon.com
|
|
|
|
MASSACHUSETTS
|
|
Cambridge:
|
|
EF128 (Electronic Frontier Route 128)
|
|
Lar Kaufman - lark@ora.com
|
|
|
|
MICHIGAN
|
|
Ann Arbor:
|
|
Ann Arbor Computer Society & others
|
|
Ed Vielmetti - emv@msen.com
|
|
msen gopher - gopher.msen.com
|
|
msen mail list - majordomo@mail.msen.com "info aacs"
|
|
|
|
MISSOURI
|
|
Kansas City:
|
|
Greater Kansas City Sysop Association
|
|
Scott Lent - slent@vax1.umkc.edu
|
|
|
|
GKCSA
|
|
P.O. Box 14480
|
|
Parkville, MO 64152
|
|
Phone: (816)734-2949 (voice)
|
|
(816)734-4732 (data)
|
|
|
|
NEW MEXICO
|
|
Albuquerque:
|
|
FreeNet! and Noise in the Void
|
|
Stanton McCandlish - anton@hydra.unm.edu
|
|
|
|
Stanton McCandlish
|
|
8020 Central SE #405
|
|
Albuquerque, NM 87108
|
|
Phone: (505)246-8515 (data - 24hr, 1200-14400 v32bis, N-8-1)
|
|
|
|
NEW YORK
|
|
Batavia:
|
|
Genesee Community College Group
|
|
Thomas J. Klotzbach - 3751365@mcimail.com
|
|
|
|
Thomas J. Klotzbach
|
|
Genesee Community College
|
|
Batavia, NY 14020
|
|
Phone: (716)343-0055 x358 (voice - work)
|
|
|
|
New York City:
|
|
NTE
|
|
general - nte@panix.com
|
|
Simona Nass - simona@panix.com
|
|
Alexis Rosen - alexis@panix.com
|
|
|
|
TEXAS
|
|
Austin:
|
|
EFF-Austin
|
|
general - eff-austin@tic.com
|
|
directors - eff-austin-directors@tic.com
|
|
Jon Lebkowsky - jonl@tic.com
|
|
EFF-Austin
|
|
P.O. Box 18957
|
|
Austin, TX 78760
|
|
Phone: (512)465-7871 (voice)
|
|
|
|
=============================================================
|
|
|
|
EFFector Online is published by
|
|
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
|
|
666 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC 20003
|
|
Phone: +1 202 544-9237 FAX: +1 202 547 5481
|
|
Internet Address: eff@eff.org
|
|
Articles by Shari Steele, EFF Staff Attorney (ssteele@eff.org)
|
|
Coordination, production and shipping by Cliff Figallo, EFF
|
|
Online Communications Coordinator (fig@eff.org)
|
|
Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged.
|
|
Signed articles do not necessarily represent the view of the EFF.
|
|
To reproduce signed articles individually, please contact the authors
|
|
for their express permission.
|
|
|
|
*This newsletter is printed on 100% recycled electrons*
|
|
=============================================================
|
|
|
|
MEMBERSHIP IN THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION
|
|
|
|
In order to continue the work already begun and to expand our
|
|
efforts and activities into other realms of the electronic frontier, we
|
|
need the financial support of individuals and organizations.
|
|
|
|
If you support our goals and our work, you can show that support by
|
|
becoming a member now. Members receive our bi-weekly electronic
|
|
newsletter, EFFector Online (if you have an electronic address that
|
|
can be reached through the Net), and special releases and other
|
|
notices on our activities. But because we believe that support should
|
|
be freely given, you can receive these things even if you do not elect
|
|
to become a member.
|
|
|
|
Your membership/donation is fully tax deductible.
|
|
|
|
Our memberships are $20.00 per year for students, $40.00 per year
|
|
for regular members, and $100.00 per year for organizations. You
|
|
may, of course, donate more if you wish.
|
|
|
|
Our privacy policy: The Electronic Frontier Foundation will never,
|
|
under any circumstances, sell any part of its membership list. We
|
|
will, from time to time, share this list with other non-profit
|
|
organizations whose work we determine to be in line with our goals.
|
|
But with us, member privacy is the default. This means that you
|
|
must actively grant us permission to share your name with other
|
|
groups. If you do not grant explicit permission, we assume that you
|
|
do not wish your membership disclosed to any group for any reason.
|
|
|
|
=============================================================
|
|
Mail to: The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Inc.
|
|
238 Main St.
|
|
Cambridge, MA 02142
|
|
|
|
I wish to become a member of the EFF. I enclose: $_______
|
|
$20.00 (student or low income membership)
|
|
$40.00 (regular membership)
|
|
$100.00 (Corporate or organizational membership.
|
|
This allows any organization to
|
|
become a member of EFF. It allows
|
|
such an organization, if it wishes
|
|
to designate up to five individuals
|
|
within the organization as members.)
|
|
|
|
[ ] I enclose an additional donation of $_______
|
|
|
|
Name:
|
|
|
|
Organization:
|
|
|
|
Address:
|
|
|
|
City or Town:
|
|
|
|
State: Zip: Phone: ( ) (optional)
|
|
|
|
FAX: ( ) (optional)
|
|
|
|
Email address:
|
|
|
|
I enclose a check [ ].
|
|
Please charge my membership in the amount of $
|
|
to my Mastercard [ ] Visa [ ] American Express [ ]
|
|
|
|
Number:
|
|
|
|
Expiration date:
|
|
|
|
Signature: ________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
Date:
|
|
|
|
I hereby grant permission to the EFF to share my name with
|
|
other non-profit groups from time to time as it deems
|
|
appropriate [ ].
|
|
Initials:___________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253
|