The 13-year-old daughter of a Florida hospital clerk was arrested on
charges she called people treated at an emergency room and falsely told
them they had tested positive for H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.
One teen-age patient tried to kill herself after receiving
a call. The defendant had visited her mother at work and used a computer
to print out a list of patients and telephone numbers. She was charged
with assault, aggravated assault and making threats, but she may be
charged instead with making harassing telephone
calls and disseminating false information about someone having a
sexually transmitted disease. The defendant claims the calls were a
prank. (New York Times, 3/1/95, A9.)
The Senate Commerce Committee approved a proposal attached to the
nation's communications laws that would level fines as high as $50,000
and jail terms of up to two years on anyone who transmits material that
is "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy or indecent."
Drafted by Senator Jim Exon (Dem. Nebraska), the bill as adopted by
Senate Committee exempts companies that merely provide transmission
services, navigational tools for the Internet or "intermediate storage"
for customers moving materials from one location to
another. (New York Times, 3/24/95, A1.)
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed
Judge Keeton's decision that Borland's Quattro Pro violated the
copyright on Lotus 1-2-3 by adopting 1-2-3's menu and command structure.
Lotus Development Corp. will ask the U.S. Supreme Court
to review the decision. (San Jose Mercury News, 3/10/95, 1D & 3/24/95,
1C; New York Times, 3/10/95.)
U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real rejected a plea agreement worked
out with a 30-year-old hacker, Kevin Lee Poulsen, after he pled guilty
to seven counts of conspiracy, fraud and intercepting wire
communications. According to Judge Real, federal guidelines do
not allow for a long enough sentence to punish Poulsen. Sentencing has
been delayed until April 10. Poulsen was originally arrested on 18
counts of telecommunications and computer fraud. Poulsen faces separate
espionage charges related to his hacking. (San Jose
Mercury News, 3/1/95, 3B.)
Kevin D. Mitnick, a recently captured fugitive computer hacker, was
indicted on 23 counts of fraud involving computer-access devices.
Mitnick allegedly possessed illegal equipment that allowed him to make a
cellular telephone work as someone else's phone.
Mitnick also commandeered a cellular-compatible modem to gain access to
computer systems, where he allegedly stole information worth more than
$1 million, including 20,000 credit card numbers. Mitnick apparently did
not use the card numbers for financial gain.
(New York Times, 3/1/95, p.30.)
Four students at Queens College and Queens Community College in New
York have been charged with grand larceny, forgery and scheming to
defraud, over use of credit card numbers stolen with the aid of a
specialized computer program. The four allegedly went on
a one-year, $100,000 shopping spree. (New York Times, 3/18/95, p.30.)
The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Pleasure Time, Inc.,
which does business as Telephone Information Systems, and Group Dynamics
Downline over pitches on computer networks (including America Online)
for shares in an "American Indian
Lottery" that were allegedly unregistered securities amounting to little
more than a high-tech pyramid scheme. According to the SEC's Chicago
office, this is the first case the SEC has brought in which most of the
offer and sale of securities occurred in cyberspace. A
Federal district judge in Ohio issued a temporary restraining order over
the defendants, freezing their assets in Florida, Indiana & Ohio.
According to the SEC, over $3 million flowed in from over 20,000
investors. (New York Times, 3/16/95, C10.)
The District Attorney for Merced County, California, filed a civil
suit against leading computer companies for false advertising and unfair
business practices over the sale of computer monitors that are on
average 17 per cent short of the advertised length. The
companies sued are Acer, Apple Computer, Inc., AST Research Inc.,
Daewoo, Dell Computer Corp., Goldstar, IBM, Leading Edge, NEC
Technologies, Packard Bell and Tandy Corp. (San Jose Mercury News,
3/28/95, 1A.)
The U.S Supreme Court (in Arizona v. Evans, No. 93-1660) overturned a
ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court that the Fourth Amendment requires
exclusion of evidence seized as a result of computer errors leading
police to make an invalid search or arrest. (New
York Times, 3/2/95, A11; San Jose Mercury News, 3/2/95, 7A.)
In a setback for Viacom Inc., the Senate voted to repeal the minority
communications tax break that allows a company to avoid capital-gains if
it sells a broadcasting or cable system to a company controlled by
members of a racial or ethnic minority. The House had
approved a similar measure, and House and Senate members will work on a
compromise bill. Last year, Viacom agreed to sell its cable television
system for $2.3 billion to an investor group led by Frank Washington, a
black entrepreneur in California with backing from
Telecommunications Inc. Viacom would reportedly receive a $400 to $600
million tax break under the program. The deal is contingent, however, on
Viacom's obtaining tax treatment available under existing law. (New York
Times, 3/25/95, p.19.)
In January 1995, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled
that telephone companies providing I.S.D.N. service must price each
channel in an I.S.D.N. bundle as a separate phone line and charge
accordingly. The FCC is currently examining I.S.D.N.
and similar technology. (New York Times, 3/20/95, C9.)
A Minnesota jury concluded that neither IBM nor Apple Computer Inc.
are responsible for injuries a former secretary claimed were caused by
the design of computer keyboards. According to IBM's lead counsel, the
jury rejected arguments including that keyboard
design was defective, that IBM had a duty to warn users, and even that
plaintiff had injuries associated with keyboard work. Apple Computer had
already settled with the plaintiff, after learning its lawyers failed to
turn over important documents during discovery. (New
York Times, 3/9/95, C1.)
Intel filed a settlement proposal under which it would settle the
class action breach of warranty and false advertising suit over the
flaws in the Pentium processor for up to $6 million. (San Jose Mercury
News, 3/28/95, 1D.)
Federal District Court Judge Harold Greene ruled that Bell Atlantic
Corp. may compete with cable operators and broadcasters by transmitting
programming anywhere in the country. The ruling, which finds that rules
that prohibit the regional Bell companies from
providing long-distance communications service do not apply to Bell
Atlantic's request to transmit television programming, is expected to be
extended to all seven regional Bell companies. Pacific Telesis also
received from Judge Greene a more limited waiver to
transmit programming. (New York Times, 3/18/95, p.1.)
Conner Peripherals Inc., has filed a patent infringement suit against
IBM over a technique that allows 2-1/2 and 3-1/2 inch hard drives to
shut down when not being used and then to restart in milliseconds when
needed. Conner has asked a New York District Court to
bar IBM from selling hard drives and related products that violate the
patent, including IBM's popular Thinkpad and most of its desktop PCs.
(San Jose Mercury News, 3/29/95, C17; New York Times, 3/29/95, 4F.)
A federal court in Delaware found that Motorola did not infringe any
of four wireless phone patents owned by Interdigital Communications
Corp. in a trial concerning time-division multiple access (TDMA), a
wireless technology that allows voice and data to be
transmitted in digital form. The jury also found invalid 24 claims at
issue in the suit, saying the claims would be obvious to "one of
ordinary skill in the art." (New York Times, 3/30/95, C20.)
Telephone Electronics Corp. of Jackson, Miss., has agreed to withdraw
a lawsuit alleging that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) special
wireless telephone license preferences for small businesses, minorities
and women are arbitrary and unconstitutional.
In return, the FCC will allow a waiver for Telephone Electronics,
allowing it to qualify for the small-business bidding discount of 10
percent for a limited number of licenses in eight markets in which it
now operates rural telephone companies. (New York Times, 3/30/95,
C2.)
A Nebraska man, Thomas D. Wallace, filed a $40 million suit in Federal
District Court in Los Angeles after finding the word "nigger" in
Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia, a CD-ROM product. Wallace claims he
found the slur when he inadvertently typed "nigger"
when looking for references to the Niger River. Wallace sued Compton's
New Media, its owner (the Tribune Company of Chicago), as well as the
store that sold him the software (Best Buy), claiming emotional
distress, deceptive trade practices, and libel. (New York
Times, 3/9/95, A8.)
Microsoft urged a federal appeals court to overturn Judge Sporkin's
decision not to approve the proposed consent decree between the Justice
Department and Microsoft. Microsoft also asked the appeals court to
disqualify Judge Sporkin, alleging he relied too much
on a popular book about Microsoft ("Hard Drive") that he had read. The
Justice Department has argued to the appeals court that the judge
overstepped his authority in refusing to approve the consent decree.
(New York Times, 3/8/95, C4.)
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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(c) 1995 Jonathan Rosenoer; All Rights Reserved.