A student at the University of Michigan, Abraham Jacob Alkhabaz
(writing under the name "Jake Baker"), has been jailed without bail for
posting a sexually violent work of fiction in the Internet newsgroup,
alt.sex.stories. The story uses the name of a female student
who had been in one of his classes last semester. Alkhabaz was arrested
by the F.B.I. and charged with transporting threatening material across
state lines. Three weeks after he used the school's computer to post the
story, Alkhabaz was suspended by the
University of Michigan. (New York Times, 2/11/95, p.7.)
Kevin D. Mitnick, one of the most wanted computer criminals, was
arrested in Raleigh, North Carolina, by a team of FBI agents. Mitnick,
31, is a convicted felon who has been sought since September 1992.
Mitnick is charged with breaking into the Internet computer
of a highly-regarded computer security expert (who then assisted in
tracking down Mitnick) and several other computer systems, including The
WELL and Netcom Inc., stealing credit card numbers, cellular phone
codes, security tools and other proprietary information
from high-technology companies. (New York Times, 2/16/95, A1 & C13, and
2/17/95, A1; San Jose Mercury News, 2/16/95, 1A, and 2/17/95, 1A.)
A 16-year-old San Francisco high school junior pled not guilty to
eight felony computer hacking counts based on alleged used of a false
password, trying to download student files, and changing records to show
he made a "C" in biology instead of a "D." Last year,
the student received a certificate of merit for helping teachers with
computer problems. (San Jose Mercury News, 2/2/95, 7B.)
The New York Public Affairs Commission stated that through phone
company error, for a period of months as many as 30,000 Nynex customers
did not receive the privacy they were promised when their phone numbers
were revealed to persons with Caller ID. (New
York Times, 2/2/95, C6.)
A federal judge in San Jose refused a request by the Church of
Scientology that would have required Netcom On-line Communication
Service to install software to monitor the activities and Internet
postings of a critic of the Church, Dennis Erlich, who allegedly posted
Church publications and documents online. In its lawsuit, the Church
alleges that Erlich has copied copyright material and disclosed trade
secrets. (San Jose Mercury News, 2/22/95, 1E.)
Thieves in Oregon used a stolen bank card 724 times over a 54 hour
period to withdraw $346,770 from 48 cash machines. Daily A.T.M. cash
limits were not working over the weekend the card was used because the
Oregon Telco Credit Union was changing its
computer software. The stolen card was taken from a purse in a locked
car. The PIN number for the card was written on a piece of paper in the
purse. Three persons face charges of unauthorized use of an access
device. Convictions could bring each up to 63 years in
prison. (New York Times, 2/9/95, A11, and 2/12/95, p.16.)
A New Jersey teenager agreed to pay $25,000 to Microsoft Corp. and
Novell Inc. in a court-approved settlement of a civil lawsuit over
operation of a computer bulletin board, named the Deadbeat Bulletin
Board, that illegally distributed free copies of their copyrighted
computer software. (Wall Street Journal, 2/6/95, B6.)
AT&T Corp. and VLSI Technology agreed to develop security chips to
protect a broad array of devices with triple the data encryption
standard formula that the National Security Agency opposes. VLSI is the
designated contractor to make the Government's Clipper
chips. (New York Times, 2/1/95, C6.)
Equifax Credit Reporting Services Inc. agreed to settle charges by the
Federal Communications Commission that it violated the Fair Credit
Reporting Act by failing to protect the accuracy and privacy of consumer
credit reports. Equifax agreed to reinvestigate within
30 days information in a consumer's credit report disputed by the
consumer and upon receipt of documentation from a consumer confirming
his or her version of a dispute, to accept the consumer's version. (New
York Times, 2/9/95, C2; San Jose Mercury News, 2/9/95,
2F.)
A researcher at Stockholm University's Institute of Computer and
System Science reports counting 5,561 messages or postings about child
pornography in four electronic bulletin boards listed in USENET during a
seven-day period between late December 1994 and
early January 1995. 85% of the messages were fantasy stories or tips on
transmitting pictures. The postings included 800 graphic pictures of
adolescents engaged in sexual acts. (San Jose Mercury News , 2/7/95,
11A.)
A Florida middle school teacher, Richard Lee Russell, was arrested and
charged with exchanging child pornography in interstate commerce after
meeting other computer users interested in child pornography through
America Online. Another Florida teacher was
similarly charged. The U.S. Customs Office says it expects more arrests
to follow. (San Jose Mercury News, 2/18/95, 3D.)
U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Sporkin rejected the Justice
Department's agreement with Microsoft Corp. that would have settled
allegations Microsoft unfairly competed with its rivals. The Justice
Department appealed, claiming the judge was wrong and had
overstepped his authority. (San Jose Mercury News, 2/15/95, 1A; New York
Times, 2/15/95, A1, and 2/17/95, C1.)
The Justice Department issued subpoenas to Lotus Development Corp. and
America Online Inc., widening its examination of the proposed
acquisition of Intuit Inc. by Microsoft Corp. (Wall Street Journal,
2/1/95, B5.)
The Federal Communications Commission approved wireless licenses for
Iridium, Goldstar and TRW, each of which plans to launch "low earth
orbit" satellite systems. (New York Times, 2/1/95, C5.)
The Computer Emergency Response Team, based at Carnegie Mellon
University, warned of a vulnerability in 20 commonly used email programs
running on Unix systems connected to the Internet that may be exploited
by hackers to read, overwrite or destroy files.
(Wall Street Journal, 2/23/95, B1.)
Samsung Electronics Co. countersued Nintendo of America Inc., alleging
defamation in a copyright infringement suit by Nintendo over Samsung's
alleged distribution of memory chips to counterfeiters of Nintendo's
Donkey Kong game. (Wall Street Journal, 2/2/95,
B8.)
Apple Computer added Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. as defendants in
its suit against San Francisco Canyon Co., alleging Intel and Microsoft
sought to boost the performance of a Microsoft program called Video for
Windows by copying and distributing several
thousand lines of code from an Apple product (QuickTime for Windows).
(San Jose Mercury News, 2/10/95, 3F; New York Times, 2/10/95, C3; Wall
Street Journal, 2/10/95, B6.)
Representatives of a computer dealer buying group, ASCII, will meet
with the Justice Department over concerns that computer hardware and
software companies will use Microsoft's online service (to be launched
with Windows '95) to bypass them and go directly to
customers. (San Jose Mercury News, 2/14/95, 1E.)
The U.S. and China avoided a trade war by entering into an agreement
over how to protect intellectual property. Twelve days before, the U.S.
announced trade sanctions would be imposed on more than $1 billion of
Chinese goods if no accord was reached. The pact
means increased access for American makers of films and music and
improved enforcement against pirates who copy and sell such products
illegally. (New York Times, 2/27/95, A1.)
The U.S. Supreme Court denied Apple Computer's appeal, ending the
copyright infringement suit the company brought against Microsoft Corp.
and Hewlett-Packard over the "look and feel" of the Macintosh user
interface. (New York Times, 2/22/95, C6.)
CyberLex (tm) is published solely as an educational service. The author,
a California attorney, is Executive Editor of LEXIS COUNSEL CONNECT
CALIFORNIA. He may be contacted at jrosen03@counsel.com or
cyberlaw@cyberlaw.com. Questions and comments
may be posted on America Online (go to keyword "CYBERLAW") or CyberLaw
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trademark of Jonathan Rosenoer. Copyright
(c) 1995 Jonathan Rosenoer; All Rights Reserved.