Fidonet Crackdown in Italy - Follow-up (fwd)

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

From:       Bernardo Parrella <berny () well sf ca us.>
To:           All
Subject:   Fidonet Crackdown in Italy - Follow-up
Date:        May 23, 1994




"The crackdown needed to be done, software piracy has become a National
sport in Italy. Unfortunately, the operation rapidly became too wide for our
forces: right now, here in Pesaro we are only three Prosecutors, quite busy
with penal trials, in court all day long. We will try to do our best with
the less possible damage for the entire community."


Here are the explanatory words of Gaetano Savoldelli Pedrocchi, the Pesaro
Prosecutor who is managing the investigations that last week led to a
nationwide crackdown on Fidonet Italia BBSes


During the operation - confidentially known as "Hardware 1" - more than 60
(some sources go up to 130) Bulletin Board Systems have been visited and
searched by police officials.


In the central and northern part of the country, several Fidonet nodes were
closed and dozens of operators were charged of "conspiracy with unknown for
distribution of illegally copied software and appropriation of secret
passwords."


Some figures say the seizures included more than 120 computers, 300
streamer-cassettes and CD-ROMs, 60,000 floppy disks, an imprecise number of
modems and other electronic devices.


In some cases, police officials sealed off rooms and garages where the BBSes
were operated or closed all the hardware they found in a closet.
Several Fidonet operators (generally students, professionals, small-company
owners) lost their personal data because every magnetic support was
"suspected to carry pirated software".


Aimed to crack a distribution ring of illegal software run by two people
using the publicly available Fidonet nodelist, investigators searched and
seized every single site of the list - even those that had never had any
contact with the two suspected.


Also, many operators not inquired by police were forced to immediately shut
down their systems, searching for possible illegal software covertly
uploaded on their BBSes.


As a consequence of such indiscriminate operations, the real, very few
pirate boards had the chance to quickly hide their businesses - sources say.


"I do not believe to this scenario," said the Pesaro Prosecutor in an
interview by SottoVoce Magazine. "We acted after precise information about
the activities of a specific data-bank: if some operators have nothing to do
with the charges, we'll verify it as soon as possible."


Questioned about further investigations against BBSes users, the Prosecutor
said: "We'll see later....at the present, users can sleep peacefully:
otherwise, I cannot imagine how many people should be investigated. I do not
want to criminalize the entire population. Even if the inquiry has become so
vast, this is not a subject of vital importance for our country. It is
mostly a fiscal and bureaucratic issue, a matter of small-scale but spread
illegality."


However, rumors say other inquires are currently underway in other cities,
and even the Criminalpol is working on similar issues.


Assisting the investigated people, some lawyers already asked for the
immediate return of the confiscated materials, while others suggested to
wait for better times. In any case, it will probably take months (years?)
before receiving official answers regarding the seizures.


Struggling to re-open in some way their systems, Fidonet operators are also
working to get the attention of mainstream media on the issue - with little
success, so far. After an article published by La Repubblica, two local
newspapers, Il Mattino and Il Giornale di Brescia, run brief reports on May
15, both centered on "a wide software piracy ring cracked by police
officials".


But the real activity is happening inside and around electronic communities.




MC-Link and especially Agora' Telematica (the biggest Italian systems) are
doing a great job, offering space for news, opinions and comments - also
acting as connection links between the decimated net of BBSes and worried
individuals scattered in the country.


Here is just one example: "....police officials seized everything, including
three PCs (one broken), a couple of modem (just fixed for some friends),
floppies, phone cables, phone-books. Now Dark Moon is off, hoping to have at
least one line available in a few days, maybe at 2400. I fear that more
raids will soon follow elsewhere. So, please, stay alert..."


A catching dynamism flourishes from the BBSes linked to Cybernet. Although
some of them are currently not operating, a special issue of the Corriere
Telematico was just released over the net and their printed voice, Decoder
Magazine, will soon distribute news, testimonies, comments on "Operation
Hardware 1".


PeaceLink has set up a defense committee-news center in Taranto and its
spokesperson, Alessandro Marescotti, will sign an article for the next issue
of the weekly magazine Avvenimenti.


Promptly alerted, the International online community gave good response -
quickly redistributing the news over the Net and sending supportive
messages.


Here is an email from Michael Baker, Chairman of Electronic Frontiers
Australia: "To that end I am writing to offer assistance to anyone in Italy
who wants to set up such an organisation. Recently I (along with others)
have set up Electronic Frontiers Australia, and I am now its Chairman. Other
national EF groups have been, or are being, set up in several other
countries (Canada, Ireland, Norway, UK and Japan)....if there is anything we
can do to help, please ask."


Shifting toward politics, on May 19, the first working day of the new
Italian Cabinet, six Members of the Reformers group presented a written
question to the Ministers of Justice and Interior.


After a short introduction about telecom systems, the document gives an
account of the facts and asks three final questions to the Government:
"- if it will intend to open an investigation to verify if the raids ordered
by the Pesaro Prosecutor's office were prejudicial to the constitutionally
guaranteed freedom of expression;
- if it is not the case to set up a better and greater team of computer
experts in order to avoid further random seizures of electronic devices that
lead to shut down the BBSes;
- if it is not the occasion to confirm that current legislation does not
charge system operators with objective responsibility for users' activities
on telecom systems."


Although the Fidonet sysop community (about 300 people) is still quite
uncertain regarding its future, many of them feel the urgent need to
overcome a sort of cultural and social isolation that clearly surrounds the
telecom scene in Italy.


At the moment the main issue is how to raise public interest and political
pressure to obtain clear laws in support of civil rights in the electronic
medium.


Ideas and proposals are developing from several electronic laboratories,
such as the Community Networking conference on Agora' Telematica as well as
on Cybernet.


"We underestimate our strength: if we could just be able to set up an
Italian Association of Telecom Users we could put pressure on political and
legislative bodies."
"Overwhelm newspapers, radio and tv stations with faxes, letters, phone
calls!"
"We must attract common people, through hundreds of tables and events in the
streets more than online, even if we do not have a Kapor to support us."
"There should be press-conferences in several cities, with the presence of
investigated people along with famous persons, politicians."
"What about a 24-hours silence from any system in the country with
simultaneous events in each city and village where a BBS operates?"


The situation is rather fluid and in e-motion. Stay connect!




- Bernardo Parrella


<b.parrella () agora stm it>
<berny () well sf ca us>




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