FC: Battle Creek retreats, says won't prosecute anti-spammer

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Previous message:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03282.html

Ian tells me he isn't sure whether he'll resume the ORBZ service.

-Declan


----- Forwarded message from MAReen () ci battle-creek mi us -----

From: MAReen () ci battle-creek mi us
Subject: Re: Query from Wired News
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () wired com>
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2002 15:49:47 -0500
X-Mailer: Lotus Notes Release 5.0.8  June 18, 2001


For your information.

          March 21, 2002
          FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
          Contact: Michelle Reen, Assistant to the City Manager, 966-3378

                                City Settles Dispute
                                    with orbz.org

               BATTLE  CREEK, MI ? City officials have agreed not to pursue

          charges against Ian Gulliver, a 20-year-old systems administrator

          from  Ghent, New York and the administrator of orbz.org. Gulliver

          is  an  anti-spam  activist  that  sent  an email to the City and

          caused a major slowdown of its mail server.

               "Our  investigation  and  conversations  with Mr. Gulliver's

          attorney have led us to believe that there was no criminal intent

          to  cause the City harm. However, there was no way for us to know

          when  we  received  the  hit  that  this  was  not  intended as a

          malicious  prank,"  said  Michelle  Reen,  Assistant  to the City

          Manager.   "Our   Information   Systems   Department  and  Police

          Department  took  the  situation  seriously. The Detective had no

          reason  not  to believe he was pursuing a hacker when he issued a

          search  warrant.  The  purpose  of  the  search  warrant  was  to

          determine  the  identity  of  the  person who sent the email that

          caused  our  system  to  fail  so we could then determine whether

          further investigation would be necessary."

               According to Gulliver's attorney, the email sent by Gulliver

          was  intended to test the City server to determine whether it was

          vulnerable to a spam attack. Spam refers to a computer prank that

          causes  multiple  duplicate  emails, sometimes several hundred at

          once, to clog up the recipient's mail server.

               The  email test triggered a weakness in the version of Lotus

          Domino  software  used by the City and caused a major slowdown of

          the  City's  email  network for about a day on February 25, 2002.

          The  weakness has been fixed and there is no reason to believe at

          this time that the City's server is vulnerable to illicit use for

          spamming.

               "We  are  satisfied  that  Mr. Gulliver intends to provide a

          service  by  creating a blacklist of vulnerable servers. In fact,

          we  recognize  that  he has done us a service. We are going to be

          taking  a  close  look  at  our policies regarding Lotus security

          updates  and  how  we can avoid the issue in general," said Reen.

          "In  turn, however, we have asked him to reconsider his policy of

          making  unannounced  tests  on  servers.  In today's computerized

          world  it  is  everyone's  responsibility  to  maintain  a secure

          system.

               "But,  if  I can draw the analogy that just because everyone

          should  wear  a  computerized  bulletproof vest doesn't mean that

          shooting  people  to  find  out who isn't wearing one is the best

          answer.  If Mr. Gulliver chooses to do this, he perhaps shouldn't

          be  surprised that he will occasionally be confused with the type

          of individual he is fighting against.

               "In  this  case, no one was injured. We have been tipped off

          by  Mr.  Gulliver  and,  we  hope, we have also sent a message to

          hackers  that  we will pursue online activity that we feel may be

          maliciously intended," said Reen.

                                        <End>



----- End forwarded message -----



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