Miami Judge Drops Hacker Conviction

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/2985214.htm

CATHERINE WILSON
AP Business Writer
Apr. 02, 2002

MIAMI - One of the first convictions obtained under a federal law
intended to crack down on computer hacking has been erased by a
federal judge based on a financial assessment of the damage.

Computer technician Herbert Pierre-Louis was convicted of knowingly
transmitting a computer virus to his employer. But his jury decided
the loss, not including lost profits, was less than $5,000, the
minimum required for a conviction.

"The law is the law, and the government didn't have sufficient
evidence to meet all the elements of the crime," defense attorney
Manuel Casabielle said Tuesday.

Prosecutors did not immediately return a call for comment, but have
told Casabielle they intend to appeal.

Federal prosecutors wanted U.S. District Judge Alan Gold to factor in
lost profits caused by a two-day shutdown when the virus infected
computers at Purity Wholesale Grocers work sites in Buffalo, N.Y., and
Hopkins, Minn., in June 1998.

The defense argued that the only loss allowed under the law was repair
costs, which didn't meet the $5,000 threshold.

Calls to the Boca Raton-based company for comment were not immediately
returned. Purity has $1.5 billion in annual sales through 12
affiliated companies.

Congress amended the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act last year to expand
the concept of loss to cover lost revenue, repair costs and related
damage from interrupted service.

In examining the old and new laws, Gold said the latest version is
more than a simple clarification or technical change.

With the amendment, Pierre-Louis may be the only defendant who can
take advantage of the narrower definition of the cost of hacking.

If an appeals court sides with prosecutors and allows lost profits to
be considered, Gold said Pierre-Louis would still be acquitted because
prosecutors didn't work hard enough to prove the $5,000 loss.

The conviction was greeted in the computer industry as a sign of
things to come for hackers.

Pierre-Louis' trial was only the second nationally under the
anti-hacking law. The other case ended in the conviction of a
California dot-com systems administrator who infected his old
company's computers after quitting.



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