Computer underground Digest Sun Sep 15, 1996 Volume 8 : Issue 66 ISSN 1004-042X Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu) News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu) Archivist: Brendan Kehoe Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala Ian Dickinson Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest CONTENTS, #8.66 (Sun, Sep 15, 1996) File 1--Vinton Cerf's National Geographic Society Lecture File 2--Re: CuD #8.62 - "US Army Private Faces Spying Charge" File 3--Condat plagiarizes Crypt Newsletter in recent CuD File 4--** BERNIE S. RELEASED!! ** File 5--Microsoft lies, damned lies, and statistics File 6--CITA File 7--EPIC Testifies on Children's' Privacy Bill File 8--It's all in the Game: Who Owns "Real-time" Sports Information? File 9--"Freedom on Trial," from October 1996 Playboy File 10--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 Apr, 1996) CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ApPEARS IN THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 17:37:53 -0400 From: russ@NAVIGATORS.COM(Russ Haynal) Subject: File 1--Vinton Cerf's National Geographic Society Lecture Hello DC-ISOC, We are looking into the following topic for our next meeting: Domain Names (policy, issues, trademark, etc.) We also continue to be interested in suggestions for meeting locations that can handle several hundred people. (If you have a "connection" with any such facility, please reply to this email) In the mean time, I thought this meeting sponsored by the Internet Society and National Geographic would be of interest to you. Questions about Vint Cerf's lecture should be directed to the phone number in the announcement below. Thanks, Russ Haynal Subject--Vinton Cerf's National Geographic Society Lecture Here's the information concering Vinton Cerf's National Geographic Society lecture. ISOC members should mention their affiliation to get the lower ticket price, which is available with advance ticket purchase only. "The Internet and Society" Although Vinton Cerfs' official title at MCI Communications Corporation is senior vice president for data architecture, he is also known worldwide as the "Father of the Internet." Experts say that his tireless efforts to develop global standards for transmitting date have been indispensable to the Internet' s amazing growth. Join him as he discusses this flourishing technology and the legal and social issues arising from its presence in our daily lives. Then see what lies ahead as Dr. Cerf speculates about the future of this revolutionary communications medium. This program is co-sponsored with the Internet Society. When: Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: National Geographic Society and Internet Society Members: $10 with advance purchase only. General admission: $13 (ISOC members should mention their affiliation) Where: The National Geographic Society The Gilbert H. Grosvenor Auditorium, 1600 M Street NW, Washington, D.C. Free parking is available in the Society's underground garage. Information: 202-857-7700 ----------------------------------------------------------- Individuals who are interested in becoming members of DC-ISOC can do so by joining the Internet Society. See the ISOC's web site at http://www.isoc.org for more information. The Washington DC Chapter of the Internet Society also maintains its own web site at: http://www.dcisoc.org Please feel free to pass this announcement message along to other interested individuals. If this message was forwarded to you, you can join our announcement mailing list through our web site ( http://www.dcisoc.org ) _________________________________________________________ Russ Haynal - Internet Consultant, Instructor, Speaker "Helping organizations gain the most benefit from the Internet" Author:"Internet; A Knowledge Odyssey" (Top-rated CD-ROM Tutorial) Available from MindQ Publishing: http://www.mindq.com russ@navigators.com http://www.navigators.com 703-729-1757 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Aug 1996 12:08:05 From: sysop@VISUCOMM.COM(---) Subject: File 2--Re: CuD #8.62 - "US Army Private Faces Spying Charge" I have but a few comments on this case, not knowing the specifics. But, in my experience, it could very well be the case that this Private was just trying show the system was unsecure. When I was in the US Air Force in the late 1980s, I discovered a security problem with some of our computers and communications systems. I informed my supervisor, who apparently informed his. I was then instructed to do nothing, that the security problem DID NOT exist. When I offered to prove it DID exist I was told I would be charged with any manner of serious UCMJ and security violations. So, I naturally dropped the subject. Later, some of those very same security problems were exploited, for personal reasons, by another Sgt and Airman. They were disciplined, after being discovered quite by accident, but no measures were taken to insure resolution of the security problems. They may have been taken care of after I left that AirBase though. Now, for the Private giving some "unclassified" password to this Chinese friend of his. BIG NO NO. That is completely outside any realm of responsible action. He deserves to be, hauled in for that. Classified or unclassified, he had NO business giving ANY passwords from his Military affiliations to someone like that. Fred Brandli sysop@VisuComm.com j66r@Probe.net ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 20:17:20 -0500 (CDT) From: Crypt Newsletter Subject: File 3--Condat plagiarizes Crypt Newsletter in recent CuD It's said imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. However, plagiarism should be held in contempt. Jean Condat, "Senior Business Consultant for the Smart Card Unit, Informix" in France posted an article on computer virus troubles during the US Army's Bosnian deployment in CuD 8.65 that plagiarized Crypt News. Instead of paraphrasing, citing or synthesizing the news, Condat cut and pasted my words directly from Crypt Newsletter while cleverly stripping my by-line and Web URL from the original. Too bad I read CuD, huh? "Information wants to be free" is a quaint bromide that's much too often an excuse for this ersatz trick. Stop thief! Crypt Newsletter is watching. For the original, "US Army troubled by computer viruses in Bosnia," check the Website: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~crypt George Smith, Crypt Newsletter ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 02:34:13 -0400 From: Emmanuel Goldstein Subject: File 4--** BERNIE S. RELEASED!! ** As of Friday, September 13th, Bernie S. was released from prison on an unprecedented furlough. He will have to report to probation and he still has major medical problems as a result of his extended tour of the Pennsylvania prison system. But the important thing is that he is out and that this horrible ordeal has finally begun to end. We thank all of you who took an interest in this case. We believe it was your support and the pressure you put on the authorities that finally made things change. Thanks again and never forget the power you have. emmanuel@2600.com www.2600.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 20:54:41 +0000 From: David Smith Subject: File 5--Microsoft lies, damned lies, and statistics Jim, Microsoft has been touting heavily the statistic that 4 out of 5 users prefer Explorer 3.0 over Navigator 3.0. This is touted on their websites, press releases, and has been cited in articles by independent publications. > EXPLORER 3.0 VASTLY PREFERRED TO NETSCAPE 3.0 > > > Microsoft says Usability Sciences Corp., an independent > research firm, has found that four out of five users (79 percent) > preferred Explorer 3.0 over Navigator 3.0 in all 14 categories > tested, including ease of use, efficiency in completing assigned > tasks, and ease of learning. I just couldn't believe it was true. I went to the Microsoft home page, and found that the entire study by Usability Sciences Corporation is available online. I was looking at their research methodology --- do you know what their sample population was? *NEW* users. That is, people who had never used an Internet browser before. By dropping the qualifer that these were new users, Microsoft is being intentionally misleading and deceitful. Is it just me who feels this way? I haven't heard or read a single cry of outrage from the media, which is surprising given the amount of heat granted the Time-Rimm study. Perhaps you and/or the readers of CuD could shed some light and/or blood about this issue. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 1994 16:10:00 -0600 From: Tim Harris Subject: File 6--CITA www.saskmaple.net/citc For Immediate Release C.I.T.A. -- Canadian Information Technology Association Declares War on SaskTel SASKATOON, August 30, 1996 -- The C.I.T.A. -- Canadian Information Technology Association has officially declared war on SaskTel. An official investigative report released by the provincial government August 27, 1996 indisputably shows that SaskTel is deliberately pushing private sector Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and federal government subsidized Community Access Program communities out of business. According to the report, 100 Internet users, each operating a 28.8 k/sec modem would be able to concurrently use a single 56 k/sec line. "You do not have to know anything about computers to do the math." says Lyndon Holm Vice Chairman of the C.I.T.A. "This is technically impossible." The C.I.T.A. confronted Robert Hersche, Senior Advisor on Telecommunications for Saskatchewan Intergovernmental Affairs, about some of the comments made in his report. Mr. Hersche acknowledged that he is not familiar with Internet technology and that the report was constructed from the statements made from the SaskTel Engineering Department. Mr. Hersche indicated that he "took their word for it." When asked if any independent consultants were used for the investigation he replied that they did not have the budget for that. "This assault on private business by this crown corporation grossly violates the Competition Act." says Tim Harris, Chairman of the C.I.T.A. "Unfortunately, as we can see with this provincial government report, the private business owners can not even get a fair investigation to determine wrong doing. SaskTel is judge and jury on every issue." Since the private sector has been challenging SaskTel on these issues of unfair competition, SaskTel insists they are bound by tariffs. These tariffs are not federal but from the Provincial Cabinet. The role of Saskatchewan Intergovernmental Affairs is to advise the Minister about policy issues concerning SaskTel. It is the position of the C.I.T.A. that the Provincial Cabinet is just as ignorant as their advisors and are passing tariffs "taking SaskTel=92s word for." The C.I.T.A. will be releasing an official challenge to SaskTel and provincial government representatives to have an on-camera debate later next week. "We don't expect them to show up." says Harris "To this point they have backed out of every request to meet this organization." ------------------------------ Date: 12 Sep 1996 18:15:29 -0500 From: "Dave Banisar" Subject: File 7--EPIC Testifies on Children's' Privacy Bill From -- EPIC: Volume 3.16 September 12, 1996 -------------------------------------------------------------- Published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Washington, D.C. http://www.epic.org/ ======================================================================= [2] EPIC Testifies on Children's' Privacy Bill ======================================================================= EPIC Director Marc Rotenberg testified today before the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Crime in support of the Childrens Privacy Protection and Parental Empowerment Act of 1996. The bill would establish basic privacy standards for organizations that collect personal information on children and curb recent abuses in the marketing industry. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Bob Franks (R-NJ) and has 46 cosponsors in the House of Representatives. A similar measure has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA). Rotenberg said that "current practices pose a substantial threat to the privacy and safety of young people." He described a recent incident where a reporter posing as the murderer of Polly Klaas was able to obtain the ages and address of young children living in the Pasadena area. Rotenberg also cited editorials from USA Today and the Economist favoring privacy legislation as well as public opinion polls which show that 9 out of 10 Americans object to the sale of personal data where explicit consent is not obtained. Recalling the passage of the Family Educational Right to Privacy Act of 1974, which protects the privacy of student records, Rotenberg said there was already Congressional recognition of the need to protect personal information about young children. "No universities have been shut down because of the Act, but the privacy of children's educational records is more secure because Congress did not fail to act when it had the opportunity to establish privacy protection for young people." #011#Also testifying in support of the bill were Rep. Bob Franks, children rights advocate Marc Klaas, and Miriam Bell of Enough is Enough. Marc Klaas also heads the Klaas Foundation for Children which launched the Kids Off Lists campaign. Testifying against the bill were representatives from the Direct Marketing Association, a list broker, a book publisher, and a police officer from San Bernadino. More information on the Childrens Privacy bill and kids privacy may be found at: http://www.epic.org/privacy/kids/ The Klaas Foundation for Children is on the web at: http://www.klaaskids.inter.net/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Aug 1996 17:40:10 -0500 (CDT) From: pkennedy Subject: File 8--It's all in the Game: Who Owns "Real-time" Sports Information? ********************************************** ** LEGAL BYTES ** ********************************************** Summer 1996, Volume 4, Number 2 ---------- George, Donaldson & Ford, L.L.P. Attorneys at Law 114 West 7th Street, Suite 1000 Austin, Texas 78701 (512) 495-1400 (512) 499-0094 (FAX) gdf@gdf.com http://www.gdf.com ---------- Copyright 1996, George, Donaldson & Ford, L.L.P. (These articles may be re-distributed electronically, without editing and with proper attribution) ---------- David H. Donaldson, Jr., Publisher, dhdonald@gdf.com Peter D. Kennedy, Editor, pkennedy@gdf.com ---------- 2. IT'S ALL IN THE GAME: WHO OWNS "REAL-TIME" SPORTS INFORMATION? If information can't be copyrighted, that means anyone can copy it, right? Wrong. A recent ruling from a New York federal judge has startled many lawyers and sports fans alike. On July 19, 1996, U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska declared that the National Basketball Association "owns" the "essence" of its professional basketball games, and therefore the NBA can prohibit the unauthorized publishing of "real-time" basketball scores and statistics -- even though that information cannot be copyrighted, and even though the games are being broadcast live on television or radio. The case is called The National Basketball Association v. Sports Team Analysis and Tracking Systems, Inc. (STATS), 1996 Westlaw 435031 (S.D.N.Y. July 22, 1996). In ruling for the NBA, Judge Preska did not rely on the most common intellectual property doctrines -- trademark, copyright, patent, or trade secret law. In fact, she specifically held that neither the NBA games nor their scores and statistics could be copyrighted. However, in a decision that is leaving some intellectual property lawyers scratching their heads, Judge Preska ruled that the old pliable common law doctrine of "unfair competition" gives the NBA a monopoly over the dissemination of "real-time" information about its games. The actual contestants in Judge Preska's courtroom were the NBA, the communications giant Motorola, and an innovative company called STATS. While Judge Preska's ruling might be an anomaly limited to the unique arena of sports law, it might just be the first skirmish of a potentially wide-ranging new intellectual property war: high-stakes battles to own the economic value of the "freshness" of otherwise public and legally unprotected information. Many companies considered this case to be very important: "friend of the court" briefs were filed by The National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, The Associated Press, America Online, and The New York Times. STATS and "SportsTrax." Time is money. Information has value -- or at least timely information has value. Stale information can be worth less than zero. What good is hours-old stock price information? Know up-to-the-minute stock prices, and you can make informed investment decisions; old stock prices information is just a history lesson. What real sports fan can wait for the morning paper to read the box scores? And what bookie can monitor the current status of his "investments" by reading the paper or watching the evening news? Sensing a lucrative niche market, Motorola and STATS first teamed up to deliver scores and statistics for ongoing professional baseball games. Under a license with Major League Baseball, STATS hired "reporters" to watch the ball games and transmit to STATS play-by-play information. STATS processes the information and transmits it to Motorola. (STATS also provides the information to news outlets and America Online.) Motorola then broadcasts the information to special pagers marketed under the name "SportsTrax"; these pagers could display, in practically real time, the status of all ongoing Major League games. When STATS and Motorola started a similar service for professional basketball, they did not obtain a license from the National Basketball Association. The NBA, which had plans to develop its own similar service, quickly sued to shut down SportsTrax's coverage of NBA games. In the lawsuit, the NBA accused STATS and Motorola of a host of legal violations, from copyright and trademark infringement to state law "commercial misappropriation." The NBA lost every claim except one, but that one claim was enough for the court to enjoin the entire SportsTrax business. Judge Preska's opinion runs over 100 pages, but her decision gives answers to two key questions: Can a sports contest itself be copyrighted? And if it can't, does New York law still protect the NBA's ownership of the "essence" of that game? Sporting events -- and facts describing them -- cannot be copyrighted. The NBA made the somewhat novel argument that a basketball game can be copyrighted just like a poem or a song. Not too surprisingly, Judge Preska decided that the Copyright Act's protection of "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression" did not apply to the basketball game itself. (A broadcast of the game, in contrast, incorporates a creative choice of camera angles and commentary and can be copyrighted.) The court went on to conclude, again not too surprisingly, that the scores, statistics and other facts pertaining to the sporting events also were not copyrightable. The Copyright Act protects the expression of ideas or facts, not the underlying facts or ideas themselves. And even though the SportsTrax service was delivering information contained in copyrighted broadcasts, the NBA's copyright in the broadcast was not being infringed because SportsTrax was only transmitting uncopyrightable facts. Does state law protect the "essence" of live sporting events? Often, a ruling that the Copyright Act does not apply ends the hunt. Not here. Judge Preska went on to rule that the SportsTrax service violated New York state law and that the NBA was entitled to an injunction shutting it down. At first blush, Judge Preska's conclusion that distribution of public, uncopyrighted facts can be enjoined seems contrary to fundamentals of intellectual property law. However, although the legal precedent is old (pre-dating digital pagers and the Internet by quite some years) there is support for her ruling. The key precedent is the seventy-eight-year-old U.S. Supreme Court case of International News Service v. Associated Press, 248 U.S. 215, 39 S. Ct. 68 (1918). Wire news services were the cutting edge communication technology at that time. The INS and the AP were battling to become the nation's preeminent wire service. The INS had been taking AP wire stories from early editions of East Coast newspapers and transmitting them to its West Coast newspapers. Although the INS often didn't infringe the AP's copyright in the stories, the Supreme Court ruled that INS, as a competitor of the AP, could not even use the facts in the AP stories to write its own stories -- at least while the news was still "hot." In those days, the Supreme Court was less careful about the source of law for its ruling; it apparently decided the INS v. AP case based on the common (judge-made) law of unfair competition. Subsequent courts have interpreted the INS v. AP ruling as incorporating some notion of a property right that arises under state, not federal, law. Although INS v. AP involved news stories, it became the foundation for a series of rulings from the 1930s through the 1950s prohibiting unauthorized broadcasts of sporting events. In 1938, a Pennsylvania federal trial court enjoined the unlicensed radio broadcast of Pittsburgh Pirates games from a rooftop overlooking Forbes Field. [fn.1] Between 1937 and 1955, New York courts prohibited unlicensed broadcasts or depictions of boxing matches, hockey contests and baseball games. [fn.2] Judge Preska found these old cases to be good law in New York. Three factors appeared to be key: (1) the NBA took various steps, such as licensing broadcasts and placing restrictions on the media and spectators, to control the commercial use of information about its games; (2) STATS and Motorola were commercially using the information to directly compete with the NBA in providing information about basketball games; and (3) STATS and Motorola were "reaping where they have not sown" -- gaining commercial advantage from the efforts of the NBA, not their own. The court concluded that the defendants had "misappropriated the essence of the NBA's most valuable property -- the excitement of an NBA game in progress." The "quantity and contemporaneous nature of the information" convinced the court that SportsTrax went far enough beyond permissible "mere media coverage." Each of the factors the court found persuasive are open to question, and this decision is likely to be the subject of serious debate. While the NBA does restrict through various licenses how its games are depicted or broadcast, neither Motorola nor STATS were subject to such a license. The information they carried was already public. Whether the SportsTrax service directly competes with attendance at games or television coverage is questionable; no computer statistical display can substitute for the joy of watching Michael Jordan actually play the game. And STATS and Motorola certainly contend they are reaping what they have sown -- that the efforts of collecting, sorting, organizing and distributing the information in a manner that consumers want is not a trivial matter; the SportsTrax system is not simply a "pirate" broadcast of NBA games. Open Questions. Lots of open questions remain after this ruling. If the NBA "owns" the "essence" of its games, for how long does it own that right? The NBA itself releases to news services game statistics twice a quarter -- would SportsTrax be free to transmit the information then? If the NBA chooses to hold back those statistics, can it extend the length of control it has over game information? Has Judge Preska recognized a new type of intellectual property -- the "essence of live entertainment" or perhaps the "freshness of information"? What is the line that distinguishes permissible news reporting from "commercial misappropriation"? Or is the "ye shall not reap where ye have not sown" principle broader than that? In 1991, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the Copyright Act did not prevent someone from simply copying the information in another publisher's telephone book, even though that information was originally collected at great effort and expense. Facts like names, addresses, and phone numbers can't be copyrighted. [fn.3] Under New York law as applied in the NBA case, would the result be different? Would it be different if the original publisher required purchasers of the book to agree not to compete? The NBA v. STATS lawsuit is another example of the tension between developing communications technology and the limits of traditional intellectual property protections. This century, each time a significant new means of communication is developed -- telegraph, radio, television, and now digital pagers and the Internet -- this same type of dispute has arisen. When copyright and trademark are found wanting, those who produce entertainment or information turn to state law to expand their control; those who assemble, sort and transmit information seek to narrow the doctrines that restrict their ability to compete. History has shown -- at least in New York cases involving sporting events -- that courts may be receptive to favoring producers over those who gather and disseminate information. Whether this will continue to hold true may turn into a high-stakes legal battle fought in courtrooms throughout the nation. Footnote 1: Pittsburgh Athletic Co. v. KQV Broadcasting Co., 24 F. Supp. 490 (W.D. Pa. 1938). Footnote 2: Twentieth Century Sporting Club, Inc. v. Transradio Press Serv., Inc., 300 N.Y.S. 159 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1937) (boxing); Madison Square Garden Corp. v. Universal Pictures Co., 7 N.Y.S.2d 845 (N.Y. App. Div. 1938) (hockey); National Exhibition Co. v. Fass, 143 N.Y.S.2d 767 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1955) (baseball). Judge Preska found the latter decision especially relevant; it involved a service that monitored broadcasts of baseball games, rewrote descriptions of the ongoing games, and then sent the descriptions to other radio stations via teletype. The entire process took only minutes, so the stations receiving the teletypes could "broadcast" the game while it was still in progress. The court held that this activity could be stopped by the owners of the baseball team. Footnote 3: Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340, 111 S. Ct. 1282 (1991).[ALL CAPS] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 13:07:03 -0500 From: Declan McCullagh Subject: File 9--"Freedom on Trial," from October 1996 Playboy [Some excerpts follow. Pick up the October issue for the full article. --Declan] Playboy, October 1996 "Freedom on Trial: how the communications decency act played in court" By Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com) Day 1 (March 21) In the shadow of the Liberty Bell in downtown Philadelphia, the future of online liberty is being decided. A panel of federal judges has gathered to hear a challenge to the Communications Decency Act, which bans "indecent" or "patently offensive" material from being transmitted or displayed online where minors might access it. That means just about anywhere online. [...] Day 2 (March 22) A key witness today is Robert Croneberger of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. The judges are pleased with his description of the Internet as a library -- finally, someone who isn't using technobabble. Croneberger testifies about the difficulties and expense of implementing the CDA, noting that his library would have to hire 180 people to review and censor the 2 million listings in its catalog. Russotto, the government lawyer, is skeptical. During her cross-exam, she tries to make the case that the job wouldn't be so difficult as Croneberger portrays it. Q: Can you do a keyword search through your catalog for words related to sex or for the seven dirty words [to find material to restrict]? A: It depends. Q: But a keyword search on sex wouldn't turn up books about physics, would it? A: I doubt it. Q: And a search on sex isn't going to turn up books about gardening? A: Obviously plants proliferate and flowers grow, but it depends on the words you're using. Q: Would a search on sex turn up a biography of Abraham Lincoln? A: I've read many articles about his supposed sex life, or lack thereof. Q: Would a search on sex turn up any books about geology? A: Only if "rock" is put together with "roll." Croneberger's point is subtle but clear. Sex can't be taken out of a library any more easily than it can be separated from life. [...] Day 4 (April 12) The government witnesses take the stand. First up is Howard Schmidt, an Air Force special agent who says he has conducted 30 to 50 investigations of online porn. The judges are growing weary of demonstrations and sex, so when Schmidt offers to download provocative images from Usenet groups, the panel asks for G-rated animals instead. After the second or third waterfowl image, Judge Sloviter rules, "I think we've seen enough ducks." [...] Beyond its sheer stupidity, [Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist Dan Olsen's -L18 self-labelling scheme] seems to be built with prudery rather than technology. During cross-examination, the judges didn't appear to take him seriously: Q: If you thought about posting a centerfold from Playboy, would you think the image might be indecent or patently offensive for persons under 18? A; If we consider the local community that consists of Dan, Dan would be offended. Q: And how about the seven dirty words. A: Dan would be offended. Judge Buckwalter: Who's Dan? Judge Sloviter: Yes, who's Dan? A: That's me. I'm sorry. Judge Dalzell: Oh, he's the community. He is an expert on what would offend him. A: It's a relatively small community, but it's the one I know best. Buckwalter: I thought Dan was an acronym. A moment later, our lawyers show Olsen a list of Internet addresses and ask if they appear to be porn sites deserving of unsuitable-for-children tags. He hesitates, then says, "I don't know, but I wouldn't go there." Looking over the list, Judge Dalzell adds the punch line. "Chick of the Day could be poultry," he suggests. "You really are in for ducks and poultry," says Judge Sloviter. "It's a leitmotif." Bruce Ennis, counsel for the ALA, asks Olsen how content providers would verify the ages of those who visit their sites. Olsen stammers a bit and then hits on an idea. Ask the Social Security Administration! It keeps records of such things. Big Brother couldn't have said it better. Day 5 (April 15) The government has a tough road ahead. It has to convince three skeptical judges that enforcing the CDA would not become a boondoggle. Olsen, at least, believes it can be done. When asked if his rating system would slow the growth of the Net, he quickly responds, "Absolutely not!" But everyone in the courtroom seems to feel Olsen is being a weasel. Judge Dalzell, the most Net-savvy judge and the only one with young kids (I'm guessing the two are related), helps pin the inventor down. "Assume a chat group -- say, students from 13 to 18 -- is talking about the CDA. In the course of the chat, an 18-year-old is exasperated and types in 'Fuck the CDA.' Is it your proposal that before he types the message, he should tag it -L18?" Dalzell is paraphrasing Cohen v. California, a First Amendment case in which the Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a teenager who wore a jacket that read "Fuck The Draft." Some of Dalzell's other questions were equally astute. "If in one issue of The Economist the word 'fuck' appears," he asks Olsen, "the library putting it online would have to go through the entire issue?" "Somebody would have to make that judgement," Olsen replies. He suggests that librarians band together to censor material. He insists his plan is "flexible." To that, Bruce Ennis reponds testily, "Is it flexible if you, the librarian, risk going to jail for two years if you make the wrong judgment and put material online that is found to be patently offensive for a minor?" [...] Sloviter isn't finished. After Olsen claims that a voluntary rating system developed at MIT is unfeasible because it will "slow the flow" online, she asks how an adult could show -L18 tagged materials to a mature teenager. Olsen replies that a "teacher or parent could log on." "Wouldn't that slow the flow?" the judge asks. Flustered, Olsen suddenly discharges a series of staccato high-pitched giggles. It's the damnedest thing that I have ever heard -- it sounds like a rabbit being tortured to death. The galley stares in horror. Thus ends the testimony of our best witness -- and we didn't even call him to the stand. Day 6 (May 10) During closing arguments, Justice attorney Tony Coppolino dances around providing a legal definition for indecency. He hints that it would include only hard-core porn but concedes the government can't guarantee that an ambitious prosecutor somewhere wouldn't take on an absurd case. Judge Sloviter is growing impatient: "I've been taking the position for 17 years that people should know what they can be prosecuted for," she says "I still don't understand" what indecency means under the CDA. "We've been trying to get at this for 40 minutes," grumbles Judge Dalzell. [...] EPILOGUE We have won -- for now. The government's appeal will reach the Supreme Court during the next few months. If the Court upholds the lower court decision, outraged right-wing groups will demand action. Congress will spring to attention. Bills will be drawn up, campaign funds raised, and porn once again waved in the Senate chamber. Censorship is often championed by adults who want to protect children from a world the adults do not understand. During the hearing, Judge Buckwalter raised this issue while discussing the computer gap between parents and children that helps fuel fears of online dangers. "In another generation that will fade from the picture, don't you think?" he asked. Archaic restrictions over what we can share online, however, may not. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 22:51:01 CST From: CuD Moderators Subject: File 10--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 Apr, 1996) Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are available at no cost electronically. CuD is available as a Usenet newsgroup: comp.society.cu-digest Or, to subscribe, send post with this in the "Subject:: line: SUBSCRIBE CU-DIGEST Send the message to: cu-digest-request@weber.ucsd.edu DO NOT SEND SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE MODERATORS. The editors may be contacted by voice (815-753-0303), fax (815-753-6302) or U.S. mail at: Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA. To UNSUB, send a one-line message: UNSUB CU-DIGEST Send it to CU-DIGEST-REQUEST@WEBER.UCSD.EDU (NOTE: The address you unsub must correspond to your From: line) Issues of CuD can also be found in the Usenet comp.society.cu-digest news group; on CompuServe in DL0 and DL4 of the IBMBBS SIG, DL1 of LAWSIG, and DL1 of TELECOM; on GEnie in the PF*NPC RT libraries and in the VIRUS/SECURITY library; from America Online in the PC Telecom forum under "computing newsletters;" On Delphi in the General Discussion database of the Internet SIG; on RIPCO BBS (312) 528-5020 (and via Ripco on internet); and on Rune Stone BBS (IIRGWHQ) (860)-585-9638. CuD is also available via Fidonet File Request from 1:11/70; unlisted nodes and points welcome. EUROPE: In BELGIUM: Virtual Access BBS: +32-69-844-019 (ringdown) In ITALY: ZERO! 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