3/16/93 Secret Service Held Guilty Of Violating Computer Privacy
 
  By Bob Ortega

  A federal court in Austin, Texas, ruled that the U.S.  Secret Service
violated privacy laws in seizing an electronic bulletin board, electronic
mail and computer records from a computer games maker three years ago, The
Wall Street Journal reported.

  Federal Judge Sam Sparks also ruled that the Secret Service, contrary to
government denials, had read, disclosed and erased messages on the bulletin
board it seized, in violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

  "Though the ruling is not as clear as we'd have liked, it's the first
opinion I know of that holds that electronic communications on a bulletin
board are protected" by the federal Privacy Protection Act, said Peter
Kennedy, attorney for Steve Jackson Games of Austin, the plaintiff in the
case. Justice Department attorneys couldn't immediately be reached for
comment.

  The case, which provoked fierce debate over how widely the government can
cast its net in combating computer crime, led to the founding of a
computer-user's rights group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which
sponsored the suit against the government. Yesterday, the foundation hailed
the verdict. "This case should send a message to law-enforcement groups
everywhere that they can't ignore the rights of those who communicate by
computer," said Mike Godwin, the foundation's counsel.

  In March 1990, the Secret Service was tracking a "911 program" that agents
believed computer hackers had stolen from BellSouth. Agents, saying they
suspected that an employee of Steve Jackson's was involved, raided the
company under a warrant issued by the local U.S.  Magistrate. They seized
computer equipment, an electronic bulletin board, and files that contained a
computer game the company had been about to publish.

  The Service held onto the property for months, and destroyed some of the
files and electronic messages.

  In his opinion, Judge Sparks said there was never any basis for suspicion
that the company or its owner, Steve Jackson, had broken any laws; and that
if agents hadn't been so "sloppy" in their investigation, they would have
realized that the company was a legitimate publisher, entitled to the
protection of the Privacy Protection Act.  That act shields files and work
records of newspapers, broadcasters and publishers from government search or
seizure.

  Judge Sparks did support the Secret Service's contention, on a separate
count, that despite seizing and reading electronic messages on the bulletin
board, it hadn't "intercepted" them under the meaning of the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act.

  He awarded Jackson, his company, and three bulletin board users a total of
about $55,000, plus attorney's fees.
