Newsgroup Posting 7

Author(s)
Mike Godwin
Parent Collection
Parent Resource
The David LaMacchia Case
Publisher
Online Ethics Center
Year
1994
Rights
Use of Materials on the OEC
Discipline(s)
Computer Sciences
Computer, Math, and Physical Sciences
Topics
Security
Privacy and Surveillance
Case Study / Scenario
Description

A letter from Mike Godwin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) citing that LaMacchia did not commit wire fraud, and that the charge was placed in the indictment to make LaMacchia's actions appear worse than they really were.

Body

In article 2, Karl Denninger wrote: But you'd be wrong. Civil copyright infringement cannot be the predicate for a conspiracy charge. And the allegations in the indictment don't mention criminal copyright infringement, which includes as an element the copying *for profit*. I know, Mike, but I would say that they probably could have. All they have to do is get $2,000 worth of transferred software and I would think that the test would pass.

So, you think they just overlooked criminal copyright? Seems unlikely, given the hue and cry about amending the software penalties back in 1992. No, I am certain the problem is that they couldn't be sure of proving the "for profit" element of the crime.

I agree that Wire Fraud is probably better understood and sounds "worse". I don't know enough about federal wire fraud statutes to know if what he did really qualifies.

IMHO, probably not. Where's the fraud? He didn't misrepresent anything.

--Mike

Citation
Mike Godwin. . Newsgroup Posting 7. Online Ethics Center. DOI:. https://onlineethics.org/cases/newsgroup-posting-7.