The Warez BBS

What he did David Lamacchia set up an internet BBS to allow people to trade copyrighted software. The U.S. Attorney General estimates that millions of dollars of software was traded. What he did NOT do David Lamacchia is not accused of trading any software himself. He is not accused of owning any pirated, copyrighted software. He did not profit from his BBS. Attorney General Quote "In this new electronic environment it has become increasingly difficult to protect intellectual property rights. Therefore, the government views large scale cases of software piracy, whether for profit or not, as serious crimes and will devote such resources as are necessary to protect those rights." Defense Quotes "The U. S. Attorney and his staff are trying to brand a (SYSOP) as a criminal, for what *other* people place on, and take off of, a computer system that the SYSOP creates and maintains but does not control. ... Obviously, the people who run the telephone company and who publish newspapers should be watching this case carefully, lest they find themselves criminally responsible for misuses of their communications media and systems." Outcome The judge dismissed the case before it could come to trial, saying that the wire fraud statute of 1952 was the wrong law to use against the defendant. The Attorney General decided not to appeal the dismissal, and intend was going to request Congress pass new laws aimed specifically at this behavior. Latest News The SPA has sued, and then dropped the suits, several ISPs for "contributory copyright violation.
http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/dldf/