🚀 go-pugleaf

            Civil liberty issues in BBS Search and Seizures
     Guest speaker : Pete Kennedy, of George, Donaldson & Ford, LLP

                       EFF-Austin General Meeting
               Monday, September 18th, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
                   La Madaleine Inn, 3418 North Lamar

Several high profile search and seizures of computer bulletin board
systems have occurred in the last two or three months. For example, the
FBI arrested 12 people for using America Online to distribute child
pornography earlier this week.  The Church of Scientology has seized
computer systems of former members accused of distributing copyrighted and
trade secret Scientology materials. The Hamilton County Computer Crime
Task Force seized the Cincinnati Computer Connection BBS -- with a user
base estimated between 2,000 and 5,000 -- for allegedly distributing 45
obscene files. 

Pete Kennedy is the Austin lawyer who represented Steve Jackson Games in
the company's successful lawsuit against the Secret Service He recently
filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of the users of the Cincinnati
Computer Connection BBS against the law enforcement officials comprising
the Task Force, for violating user's rights under the First and Fourth
Amendments, and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. A press release
has been attached to this file providing background information on the
case.  Kennedy will be talking about these laws, how they relate to
computer users, his role in the Steve Jackson Games case, and what he
hopes what legal advancements in advancing privacy and First Amendment
rights will occur as a result. Other sysop liability issues may be
discussed if time permits. 

Kennedy is an associate of George, Donaldson, and Ford, a contributor
to Boardwatch magazine, and editor of the electronic publication
Legal Bytes.

EFF-Austin is a local grass roots organization created to protect
civil liberties in cyberspace.  We provide educational forums on the
social, legal, and political consequences of cyberspace.

For further information, contact EFF-Austin President David Smith via
e-mail (bladex@bga.com) or via the voice mail box (703-8556).



- - - - - - - - -    P R E S S   R E L E A S E   - - - - - - - -

For IMMEDIATE Release 8/7/95           Contact: Scott T. Greenwood
                                                Peter D. Kennedy
                                                513/684-0101
Computer Users Fight Back:

        CINCINNATI ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEM USERS
       FILE CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST SHERIFF SIMON LEIS

  Seven subscribers to a Cincinnati electronic bulletin board system filed
a class action lawsuit today in federal court against Sheriff Simon L Leis,
Jr., and other law enforcement officials.  On June 16, 1995, members of the
Hamilton County Computer Crimes Task Force raided the offices of the
Cincinnati Computer Connection BBS and seized the entire computer system,
including all the private electronic mail of the subscribers.  This is the
first user class action challenging a government seizure of computer
material.

  According to the search warrant used to justify the raid, the Task Force
was seeking 45 computer image files on a system that contained hundreds of
thousands of public and private messages.

  The seven subscribers represent a class of thousands of users of the
Cincinnati Computer Connection electronic bulletin board.  The lead
plaintiff is Steve Guest, a 36-year old computer system analyst who runs
his own business, in large part using the Cincinnati Computer Connection
BBS.  Other plaintiffs include Denise and Ben Kelley, active bulletin board
users and grandparents of seven; Nelda Sturgill, a registered nurse who
used the bulletin board to keep up with medical news and to swap recipes;
and Randy Bowling, who suffers from a speech impediment caused by a head
injury, who used CCC BBS as his primary way to communicate and to study
computer science.

  "The faces of the CCC subscribers were the faces of Greater Cincinnati -
working men and women, retirees, mothers, fathers, grandparents and
children, Republicans, Democrats and Independents," the lawsuit alleges.
The users of the system claim that the wholesale seizure of the computer
bulletin board system violated their constitutional right to free speech
and association and that the seizure of their private e-mail violated their
right to privacy and federal law.

  "The Task Force used a drift net to troll for a tiny amount of supposed
'computer porn,'" said Cincinnati civil rights lawyer Scott T. Greenwood,
who represents the plaintiffs.  "In the process, they netted an enormous
amount of entirely irrelevant material, and shut down a
constitutionally-protected forum for speech and association."

  "We believe that the law prohibits the indiscriminate seizure of private
electronic communications," said Peter D. Kennedy, an Austin, Texas
attorney who also represents the plaintiffs, and who represented Steve
Jackson Games when that company sued the U.S. Secret Service for illegally
seizing its electronic bulletin board system in 1990.  "It is a fundamental
principle of law that, even during legitimate investigations, the
government must limit its searches and seizures to things related to the
crime under investigation.  Here, the Task Force took everything, including
thousands of innocent persons' private mail and public notices."

  Greenwood added, "Whether the sheriff and the computer 'net police' like
it or not, the Bill of Rights is not optional just because they don't like
it or understand it.  Shutting down a computer system and seizing people's
private communications makes a mockery of the First Amendment."

  The lawsuit claims that Sheriff Leis and the Task Force violated the
First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, several provisions of the federal
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986,  and Ohio common law privacy
rights, and seeks actual damages, statutory damages, and punitive damages
on behalf of the seven plaintiffs and the entire class.

For further information, contact:

Scott T. Greenwood                    Peter D. Kennedy
Greenwood & Associates                George, Donaldson & Ford LLP
2301 Carew Tower, 441 Vine St         114 W. 7th Street, Suite 1000
Cincinnati, Ohio  45202               Austin, Texas  78701
(513) 684-0101                        (512) 495-1400
stgrnwd@iac.net                       pkennedy@io.com

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