IP: Stanford Tracking Racist E-Mails

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Today: June 03, 1999 at 10:33:26 PDT 

Stanford Tracking Racist E-Mails

ASSOCIATED PRESS 

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) -- Stanford University has turned loose its electronic bloodhounds to track the source of racist 
e-mail sent to 25,000 campus computer users over the weekend. 
The one-paragraph message accused the university of giving preference in housing to non-whites, said Rachel Lotan, a 
professor in the School of Education who received the e-mail. 
The message was so racist "it took my breath away," she said. "It must be someone very angry." 

A housing shortage for students has been a problem at Stanford for some time. Last week, some 1,300 students were not 
selected in the lottery held for scarce campus housing. Last year, almost 900 missed out. 

Prosecutor Julius Finkelstein, head of Santa Clara County's high-tech crimes unit, said the hacker could be charged 
with such offenses as unauthorized use of a computer account and harassment via e-mail.