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CyberLex (tm) -- Updated 12/95 (fwd)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 1995 11:24:04 -0800
From: Jonathan Rosenoer <cyberlaw@cyberlaw.com>
Subject: CyberLex (tm) -- Updated 12/95
CyberLex (tm)
by Jonathan Rosenoer
Notable legal developments reported in November 1995 include the following:
# U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Whyte issued a ruling in the copyright
infringement case brought against Netcom On-Line Communications and others
over Internet posting of Scientology works, finding Netcom may be liable
for contributory infringement if it can be proven Netcom knew of the
copyright violations and neglected to prevent recurrence and remove the
offending works. San Jose Mercury News, 11/27/95, 1A.
# The F.B.I. proposed a national wiretap system providing the capacity to
monitor simultaneously as many as one out of every 100 phone lines in some
high-crime areas. At minimum, the F.B.I. would be able to monitor 74,250
phone lines at once, which is 10 times the number of surveillance orders in
1993. New York Times, 11/2/95, A1.
# Virgin Atlantic Airways was fined by the U.S. Department of
Transportation for publishing misleading advertising on the Internet.
Virgin published details of its transatlantic air fares on its Web page,
but failed to update them. In particular, Virgin advertised a round-trip
air fare of $499 between Newark, New Jersey, and London, England, for
passengers booking 21 days in advance. But a consumer calling Virgin was
told the fare was no longer available because the season had changed from
off-peak to peak. Virgin Atlantic agreed to pay a $14,000 fine. Financial
Times, 11/23/95.
# Cornell University officials are investigating four freshmen for sexual
harassment and misuse of computer resources in connection with an e-mail
message joking about rape and listing "75 reasons why women should not have
freedom of speech." The message was apparently sent to 20 of the students'
friends and then forwarded to countless Internet e-mail addresses. Marin
Independent Journal, 11/16/95, A4.
# Frank Music Corp., The Harry Fox Agency, Inc., and CompuServe Inc.
agreed to settle a class action lawsuit for copyright infringement, __Frank
Music Corp. v. CompuServe, Inc.__, Civ. No. 93-Civ-8153-JFK (SDNY). The
suit alleged copyright infringement of the song "Unchained Melody" and more
than 900 other songs, based upon the uploading and downloading of sound
recordings by CompuServe subscribers, and the alleged facilitation of this
copying by CompuServe. CompuServe does not admit liability, but will make
payments to be divided among the music publishers involved. CompuServe
will work with the Harry Fox Agency on a licensing arrangement allowing
CompuServe to obtain licenses permitting the uploading and downloading of
the publishers' songs on the CompuServe system.
# America Online alerted its subscribers to a destructive computer virus,
known as "AOLGold" or "install.exe", that arrives attached to e-mail. The
virus is activated once downloaded, and proceeds to restart the computer
and rename the program that controls the computer's monitor. When the
computer is next restarted, the virus begins deleting files in alphabetical
and numerical order. The virus in not specific to America Online, and has
been spotted on the Internet. Marin Independent Journal, 11/17/95, B6.
# Randall Schwartz, a former Intel systems administrator, was convicted
under Oregon law on three felony counts of altering a computer system
without authorization and gaining access to a system with the intention of
committing theft. Originally hired as a contract programmer and systems
administrator, Schwartz conducted routine security checks using a program
called "Crack," which guesses user passwords. After being hired by another
Intel division, Schwartz performed a security check on his old division,
despite reprimands by Intel for two previous incursions into computers at
Intel and other companies. During that check, Schwartz used Crack to
determine the password of a user, gained access to a core cluster of Intel
computers, moved a password file from a computer to a quicker one, where he
used Crack to break 48 of 600 passwords. Intel conceded there was no
evidence Schwartz took passwords out of the system, but maintained that
merely moving the passwords constituted theft. Schwartz was sentenced to
five years probation, a deferred ninety-day jail term, 480 hours of
community service, and $170,000 in legal fees. He also faces a $72,000
damages claim. New York Times, 11/27/95, C5.
# Autodesk's anti-piracy squad and Los Angeles, California, District
Attorney agents raided the residence of "Captain Blood," who was arrested
on software piracy charges. Captain Blood, whose real name is Thomas Nick
Alefantes, has been sought for five years by Autodesk, the nation's fourth
largest PC software maker. The raid uncovered over $1 million worth of
software, including copies of Autodesk's AutoCAD program -- which
investigators said were being sold for as little as $79. Alefantes, held
on $1 million bail, is charged with two counts of counterfeiting a
registered trademark and computer fraud. Marin Independent Journal,
11/16/95, A1.
# Justin Tanner Petersen, 35, also known as "Agent Steal," was sentenced
to 41 months in federal prison for taking part in a scheme to rig radio
station contests and illegally possessing 40 passwords to various financial
accounts. He was also placed on three years' supervised probation, ordered
to use computers for employment only, and to pay more than $40,000
restitution. Petersen's lawyer plans to appeal the sentence, on grounds it
was unfairly enhanced by two special circumstances: that Petersen used
"special skills" in committing his crimes, and fled while on bail and
helping the federal government pursue cases against other hackers.
Peterson admits that before he became a fugitive, he conspired to transfer
$150,000 from Heller Financial in Glendale, California, to the Union Bank
account of an unidentified person. He also admits that to cover the crime
and divert attention from the transfer, he phoned two phony bomb threats to
Heller to force its evacuation. Los Angeles Times, 11/28/95, B5.
# Kevin L. Poulsen, 30, a computer hacker serving a four-year prison term
for rigging Los Angeles radio station contests, pled guilty to unauthorized
intrusion into the files of Pacific Bell. Poulsen admitted burglarizing
phone company offices, and obtaining manuals and access codes to obtain
free phone service and bogus credit cards. He also admitted obtaining a
list of F.B.I. wiretaps from phone company computers. Federal prosecutors
dropped espionage charges against Poulsen, saying a military document found
in his possession was obsolete, also acknowledging he had lawful access to
the document and did not share the information. New York Times, 11/12/95.
# LambGroup, Inc., a Miami, Florida, company providing local tourist
information on the World Wide Web, sued a competitor for plagiarism of
data. The company based its claim on British common law, rather than
copyright law. Marin Independent Journal, 11/28/95, B6.
# U.S. Robotics Access Corp. settled a lawsuit alleging false and
misleading advertising brought by the Marin County (California) District
Attorney's Office. The suit is based on allegations US Robotics misled
purchasers into believing they would receive specified software when
purchasing the company's "Mac & Fax Sportster 14.400 Fax/data modem."
Modem packaging said the box included "FAX stf" or "MicroPhone LT
Communications," but US Robotics allegedly substituted other software. The
company paid $31,000 to settle the claims, but did not admit any violation
of state law. Marin Independent Journal, 11/21/95, B6.
CyberLex (tm) is published solely as an educational service (e-mail:
cyberlex@cyberlaw.com). CyberLex is a trademark of Jonathan Rosenoer.
Copyright (c) 1995 Jonathan Rosenoer; All Rights Reserved. CyberLex World
Wide (http://www.cyberlaw.com/) is made possible with support from Best
Internet Communications, Inc. (ph. 415/964-2378).
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