FC: It's OK to do port scans of networks, federal district judge says

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Recently I participated in a televised American Bar Association panel 
discussion. Longtime politechnicals will recognize some familiar faces in 
our group photo:
http://www.mccullagh.org/image/950-17/aba-netspionage-broadcast.html

The topic of portscanning arose, hence, the below.

-Declan

**********

Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 15:57:13 -0600
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
From: "Michael J. McGuire" <Michael () eMcGuire com>
Subject: Port Scanning Case

Declan:
This hits on the question I asked you and Ron Dick during the panel 
presentation. I thought I'd forward it on.

Unauthorized remote testing of a computer network using
techniques such as a port scan and a throughput test did not
result in "damage" to the network within the meaning of the
federal computer crime statute or the civil recovery
provisions of Georgia's computer crime law, a federal
district court in Georgia holds. The court concluded that an
imperceptible slowdown in performance was not damage under
the Georgia law. With respect to the federal statute, the
court holds that--without an impairment to the integrity of
the network--money spent investigating the defendant's
activities could not be considered "damage."

Moulton v. VC3, N.D. Ga., Civil Action File No. 1:00-CV-434-TWT, 11/7/00

The text of the court's opinion is available at 
<<http://pub.bna.com/eclr/00434.htm>http://pub.bna.com/eclr/00434.htm>.

Michael McGuire




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