following:
The Justice Department searched 125 homes across the country, =
including New York, Newark, Dallas and Miami, and announced a dozen =
arrests in a two-year investigation of use of America Online for =
distribution of child pornography and to lure minors into sex.
More arrests are expected. One person arrested, Craig Zucker, ran a day =
care center in his home in Chicago, Illinois, and is charged with =
distributing by computer three pictures of underage girls engaged in =
sexually explicit acts. The investigation began in 1993,
after the abduction of 10-year-old George Stanley Burdynski for his =
neighborhood in Brentwood, MD. The boy has not been found. AOL notified =
the FBI after users reported photos of nude children were circulating, =
and announced it would not tolerate use of its
network for illegal activities. Violation of Federal law on child =
pornography, including creating, possessing, and disseminating child =
pornography, may result in 10 years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. New =
York Times, 9/14/95, A1; San Francisco Chronicle,
9/14/95, A1; Marin Independent Journal, 9/16/95, A5.
The Secret Service created a computer bulletin board system, called =
"Celco 51," using it to buy hundreds of stolen cellular phone codes. =
Traffic on the board lead to raids in several states, the arrest of 6 =
persons, seizure of more than 20 computer systems as well
as equipment used to make cellular phones operate with stolen codes. =
The suspects allegedly broke into the computer system of McCaw Cellular =
(now named AT&T Wireless). New York Times, 9/12/95, A1; Marin =
Independent Journal, 9/14/95, C1.
The Russian who allegedly masterminded a break-in of Citicorp's =
computers, making unauthorized transfers of $40 million and withdrawals =
of $400,000, was ordered to stand trial in the U.S. Vladimir Levin, =
arrested at Heathrow Airport in England, will face charges
of theft, computer misuse, forgery, and false accounting. New York =
Times, 9/21/95, C18. =
Two Berkeley, California, men were indicted by a federal grand jury =
in Sacramento, California, on charges of conspiracy, fraud, and =
destruction of computer data, related to the theft of credit card =
numbers from Tower Records/Video stores throughout the country.
Terry Patrick Ewing, 21, and Michael Yu Kim, 20, who face more than 20 =
years in prison and a $250,000 fine, allegedly used computers over the =
course of four months to tap into a central computer owned by M.T.S., =
Inc., the parent company of Tower
Records/Video stores, gathering 2,000 credit card numbers and account =
information, and also to delete files in an attempt to cover their =
tracks. They allegedly charged up to $20,000. San Francisco Chronicle, =
9/16/95, A17.
A San Jose, California, man was found guilty on three counts of phone =
fraud, for making, using and cloning cellular phones. Clinton Watson, =
45, allegedly was involved in or connected to the sale of more than =
1,000 cloned phones or programming chips, and had
600 unauthorized phone numbers in his possession. San Francisco =
Chronicle, 9/27/95, B1.
Federal District Court Judge John Kane ordered the Church of =
Scientology to return computers and files seized by federal marshals and =
the church from two men in Boulder, Colorado (Lawrence Wollersheim and =
Robert Penny), who used a computer bulletin board
named Factnet to disseminate information critical of the church. New =
York Times, 9/14/95, A11.
America Online asked its subscribers to change their passwords on a =
regular basis to counter problems caused by hackers and persons posing =
as AOL staff. Hackers have reportedly tampered with AOL's business and =
customer information files. San Francisco
Chronicle, 9/7/95, A1, & 9/8/95, B1.
The Clinton Administration announced proposals to relax restrictions =
on export of cryptographic software, allowing export of encryption =
algorithms using 64-bit keys in place of the 40-bit keys currently =
permitted, but only if individual keys are given to "escrow
agents" who could make them available to law enforcement agents under =
standard legal procedures. New York Times, 9/11/95, C5.
FBI Director Louis J. Freeh said the FBI might consider other =
approaches if consensus is impossible on the Administration's proposal =
for voluntary compliance with a "key escrow" plan for public use of =
strong cryptography. New York Times, 9/25/95, C5.
Two first-year graduate students at the University of California at =
Berkeley discovered a serious security flaw in the Netscape Navigator =
(the Internet browser software) that could allow a person with a =
computer to break Netscape's public key encryption system in
less than a minute. The company said it would release a new version =
without the flaw the following week. New York Times, 9/19/95, A1.
Microsoft Corp. and Visa International announced a standard for =
on-line payments and financial transactions, called "Secure Transaction =
Technology," intended to guarantee security and privacy of payment and =
purchases made over computer networks. The
announcement was met with criticism that the proposal is an attempt to =
make the on-line world beholden to Microsoft and Visa. Mastercard has =
been developing a separate system, named "Secure Courier," with Netscape =
Communications Inc. New York Times,
9/28/95, C1.
A Caribbean resort owner and a scuba instructor, Arnold Bowker and =
John Joslin, filed suit in Cook County, Illinois, requesting that a =
Circuit Court order disclosure of the name of an America Online =
subscriber that allegedly defamed them on an AOL bulletin
board. Posting under a pseudonym (Jenny TRR), the subscriber explained =
she had a bad experience at the resort while learning to dive with an =
instructor who used drugs -- writing, in part, that "diving with a =
stoned instructor was a little scary." Bowker, owner of a
dive shop at the Carib Inn in Bonaire, Netherland Antilles, heard of =
the allegations from a visitor, and investigated. Believing the =
allegations to be untrue, Bowker posted a rebuttal on the same bulletin =
board and asked the subscriber to recant. Marin Independent
Journal, 9/16/95, B6; San Francisco Chronicle, 9/16/95, A4.
MCI Communications Corp. and AT&T Corp. asked the Federal =
Communications Commission to block French and German telephone companies =
from collectively buying 20% of Sprint Corp. MCI and AT&T want France =
and Germany to open their
telecommunications markets to U.S. companies. New York Times, 9/2/95, =
p.15.
A Presidential study group headed by Bruce Lehman, U.S. Commissioner =
of Patents and Trademark, issued a report titled "Intellectual Property =
and the National Information Infrastructure," recommending changes to =
bring copyright law into line with current
technology. New York Times, 9/6/95, C5.
Network Solutions Inc. announced that Internet users will have to pay =
$50 per year to maintain domain names they have registered. Network =
Solutions will send out three electronic reminders, 60, 30 and 15 days =
before the due date. New York Times, 9/14/95, C1.
The Federal Communications Commission accelerated repeal of =
regulations blocking television networks from entering the syndication =
market that were scheduled to be lifted in November 1995. New York =
Times, 9/7/95, C5.
A Federal Court in New York barred Time Warner from scrambling =
sexually explicit programs broadcast over its cable system. At issue is =
the 1992 Federal Cable Act, which allows cable operators to voluntarily =
ban sex programs on leased-access stations, and
also provides that if such programs are not banned, operators must =
scramble the signal. In July, a U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington =
placed a stay on the latter part of the law, pending review by the U.S. =
Supreme Court. The New York ruling said the law was
likely to be held unconstitutional, as amounting to government =
censorship, and pointed out the potential stigmatization of subscribers =
who ask for the pornographic shows. New York Times, 9/19/95, A18; =
9/21/95, A1 & C20.
A court of appeals gave the Federal Communications Commission =
permission to proceed with an auction of radio frequencies for personal =
communication services previously enjoined because of plans to give =
women and minorities preferences by reducing the
cost of their bids. The issue had been resolved by extending =
preferences to all small business, but again delayed by claims the new =
rules made it too easy for large corporations to gain de facto control =
of bidders. New York Times, 9/29/95, C5.
Infinity Broadcasting Corp., the employer of radio disk jockey Howard =
Stern, agreed to pay the Government $1.7 million to settle accusations =
of indecent radio broadcasts, ending a dispute with the Federal =
Communication Commission dating back to 1992. New
York Times, 9/2/95, p.13.
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether Lotus Development Corp. =
has a valid copyright in the series of commands used to operate the =
Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet program. The case involves claims brought by =
Lotus against Borland International, which designed
its own spreadsheet program, Quattro Pro, so that users could operate =
it as if they were using 1-2-3. New York Times, 9/28/95, C2.
A member of the Federal Communications Commission, James H. Quello, =
accused the Commission's chairman (Reed Hundt) and a senior White House =
official (Greg Simon) of pressuring Westinghouse Broadcasting to offer =
more educational programming as a
condition for approval of its plan to acquire CBS Inc. New York Times, =
9/27/95, C4.
The Patent & Trademark Office will make abstracts of its patent =
database freely available on the Internet, beginning November 9, 1995. =
New York Times, 9/27/95, A15. =
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 cyberlaw.us@counsel.com or =
cyberlaw@cyberlaw.com. Questions and comments
may be posted on America Online (go to keyword "CYBERLAW") or CyberLaw =
World Wide (http://www.portal.com/~cyberlaw/), made possible with =
support from Portal Communications Co. CyberLex is a trademark of =
Jonathan Rosenoer. Copyright =A9 1995 Jonathan
Rosenoer; All Rights Reserved.