Article from the Sunday Chicago Tribune, November 18, 1990
CRACKDOWN ON CRIME IS RAISING QUESTION OF COMPUTER RIGHTS
by Jim Sulski
At dawn on a spring morning, several Secret Service agents, armed with
guns and a warrant, converged on a Northwest Side home and storefront.
When they left, they had seized - not drugs or firearms - but computer
equipment, including several personal computers, modems, printers, and floppy
disks.
Across the country, several similar raids were taking place as part of the
federal government's recent crackdown on computer crimes.
The targets were not sophisticated, high-powered computers or foreign
technology. The government, instead, was aiming and computer bulletin boards,
which are interactive computer systems that can be run on PCs/
Through the bulletin boards, agents were targeting people known as
"hackers." They use the boards for illegal purposes such as swapping stolen
credit card or long distance numbers; posting instructional information, such
as passwords for breaking into other computer systems; or distributing stolen
software or electronic information.
In the last year or so, the government has stepped up action against
hackers and their so-called "underground" activities, government officials
said.
The definition of "underground" differs depending on whom you talk to.
The government considers it a network of computer users who engage in illegal
activities. Computer industry experts, on the other hand, computer the
underground to so-called underground theater and newspapers, defining
participants as enthusiasts who like to explore new areas.
A two-year government investigation, called Operation Sun Devil,
culminated in March with the seizure of several bulletin boards and indictments
against some of their operators.
Sun Devil agents executed 27 search warrants across the country,
government officials said. Part of the investigation was spearheaded by
Chicago-based federal agents.
But members of the computer industry and civil liberties experts have
vehemently opposed the government's actions, saying that the governent has
overreacted. They also claim that the government isn't educated to the world
of bulletin boards and the computer underground.
More importantly, they say, the government's actions infringe on 1st
Amendment rights, and that freedom of the press and the right to publish has
been granted to paper publications but not to electronic publications.
"The danger is that it threatens freedom of speech because it means the
bullatin board operators or users have to be very careful what they post on a
board," says Jim Thomas, a professor of sociology/criminal justice at Northern
Illinois University, DeKalb, and a moderator of the Computer Underground
Digest.
The digest is an electronic journal that was begin in March to serve as a
vehicle for debate on issues related to the computer underground.
"There's a double standard here about what you can say in print or in
public and what you can do on a bulletin board," Thomas said. "If I send you a
note through the U.S. mail, it's privileged. People can't just walk into the
post office and confiscate all the letters because I have sent you a letter.
"Yet if I send you a letter on E-mail [the federal government's] actions
indicate they can go in and close down a bulletin board and take all the
private mail out and read it."
In addition, such action could discourage legitimate activities of law-
abiding computer users, computer experts said.
"It has a chilling effect on speech as far as what people can say to each
other, publicly or privately," Thomas said. "It makes people paranoid out
there."
U.S. Atty. William J. Cook maintained, however, that the government
actually has a very favorable attitude toward bulletin boards.
"The federal government is not involved in an investigation of bulletin
board operations," he said. "As a matter of fact, the federal government
operates more bulletin boards than any other single institution in the world,
both inside various agencies and public service boards. So we'd be shooting
ourselves in the foot if we took a broad sweep at bulletin boards."
Instead, Cook said, they government is cracking down on the electronic
vehicles hackers use to traffic and hide stolen information. These happen to
be primarily bulletin boards.
"For years, hackers hid stolen information on their home computers," he
said. "But now they've become more sophisticated and more clandestine in their
operations. They have taken to hiding information in other locations, such as
bulletin boards, university computers and other facitilies where they're able
to create accounts. We've even seen hackers hide stolen information on the
system they stole it from by taking it from one file location to another."
Equipment seizures are often the only way to track down stolen computer
information, Cook added.
While acknowledging that some members of the so-called computer
underground can be dangerous, computer rights supporters claim that most are
curious but harmless. Most of those who break into computer systems do it for
the challenge and not to cause damage, they said.
"Generally, I think most of these kids were raised on getting to the next
level on the Nintendo game and this is just a logical progression of that,"
said attorney Sheldon T. Zenner of the Chicago firm, Katten, Muchin and Zavis.
"They are trying to see what's behind the locked doors," Zenner added.
"That doesn't make it right. But the question is how do you deal with those
wrongs if there is no harm and no malicious intent?"
He said he is concerned that punishment be appropriate to the crime.
Zenner was involved in one recent case that he considers a possible
milestone in the rights of bulletin board operators and users.
He represented University of Missouri student Craig Niedorf, 20, who
published an electronic computer underground magazine titled Phrack. The
magazine documented stories about hackers' adventures breaking into computer
systems.
Niedorf was indicted earlier this year on federal charges of wire fraid
and interstate transportation of stolen property. His computer equipment was
seized and, if convicted, he faced up to 31 years in prison and a fine of
$122,000.
The government charged that Niedorf published a BellSouth Co. document
about their 911 emergency phone service system. Niedorf allegedly distributed
copies of Phrack through computer bulletin boards.
Niedorf was accused of acquiring the information through a Lockport, Ill,
bulletin board. The information had been entered by one of three Georgia men
who stole it from the BellSouth computer system. The three men admitted taking
the information from the BellSouth system and pleaded guilty to computer fraid
in June.
Niedorf wasn't charged with hacking; instead the government centered on
his role as a bulletin board operator. However, four days into his trial in
Chicago in late July, the government dropped all charges after learning that
much of the information in the document already was available to the public,
Cook said.
As a result of the case, Zenner said he believes the government will be
"more careful" in charging bulletin board operators with computer crimes.
"In their haste to catch the computer criminals, [the government] also
netted some innocent people," Zenner said. "But they weren't able to figure
that out until after innocent people had been indicted and had to bear the
expense and time of taking it to trial. And that's the problem of an area
that's maybe not fully understood by law enforcement."
The computer rights supporters noted the following other cases in which
they claim the government overreacted:
In May, Chicagoan Bruce Esquibel, 31, was awakened in his Albany Park home
by federal agents who had a seizure warrant for the computer equipment that ran
his bulletin board.
Esquibel, who works in the electronics repair business, operated the Ripco
bulletin board sine December 1983, which, he said, catered to about 600 users.
Its subjects included poetry, tips for computer games, and underground computer
newsletters.
The warrants didn't require the government to explain to Esquibel why they
were seizing his equipment, he said. "So I have no clue to what specific type
of material from the bulletin board they were concerned about," he said.
Esquibel hasn't been charged with any crime.
Esquibel and Zenner, his attorney, however, can only speculate on why the
government was interested in his bulletin board.
"The theory I have is that someone on my system may have been passing
[though E-mail] credit cards or long distance access codes or some type of
information that would be blatantly illegal," Esquibel said. "Personally, I
have no interest in this whole hacking thing. And the majority of people on my
board were also never interested in that material."
Like other bulletin board operators, Esquibel said he routinely checked
for information that may have seemed criminal in nature. But even with regular
maintenance, such information could remain on the board for a day.
In Texas earlier this year, the Secret Service raided the offices of
computer games producer Steve Jackson and confiscated some of his equipment.
Again, the warrants kept the nature of the seizure secret, computer experts
said. Computer rights supporters believe the government thought Jackson was
producing a manual for computer crime. Jackson said he was creating a role-
playing game about computer espionage called Gurps Cyberpunk.
Jackson also wasn't charged with any crime, and his computer equipment was
returned to him.
Computer industry and civil liberties experts have begun to resist the
government's actions.
Partially because of the Niedorf indictment, several computer executives
in July formed the Electronic Frontier Foundation to lobby for 1st Amendment
protections for computer bulletin boards and newsletters and to stop what they
consider intrusive law-enforcement techniques.
Founders of the organization include Mitchell Kapor, creatore of software
manfucaturer Lotus Development Corp., and Steven Wozniak, co-founder of Apple
Computer Inc.
The establishment by NIU's Thomas and sevel others of the Computer
Underground Digest was a more grass-roots movement. "I became angry at the
hyperbole," Thomas said. "I was attracted to this by the sense of injustice.
Then the rights issues began to emerge."
Zenner said those groups are bringing attention to the question of rights
for bulletin board operators and users. "But the courts have not really
addressed that issue," he said. "And that has made bulletin board operators
very nervous."
Computer rights supporters believe that policies on seach and seizure and
laws defining computer-related crimes and issues that need to be addressed.
In addition, they believe law enforcement agents need to become better
educated about computers and how they work. "That will make sure that not only
innocent people like Niedorf won't get charged in the future but will also
ensure that people who are committing the crimes and successfully investigated
and prosecuted," Zenner said.
"The difficulty is that many times the [bulletin board] system
administrator doesn't exercise the kind of discipline on the board that lets
the investigators know with assurance that the information is limited solely to
one area," Cook said. "Often a hacker will dump things into other people's
accounts. In that case, the investigators, in order to seize the evidence, are
going to have to seize the entire memory of that computer operation."
In contrast to a post office or printing plant, Cook said a personal
computer "is infinitely more flexible. With computers you can store
information in numerous places, and there is a divergence of places where it
can be stored and dumped."