<nettime> FC: CyberPatrol wins restraining order against "cphack" decrypt app

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

     [orig to <politech@vorlon.mit.edu>]

What's interesting is that Mattel's PR person (Mattel's subsidary sells 
CyberPatrol) is trying to spin this as an order that applies to mirror 
sites. Even the MPAA plaintiffs in the DeCSS suit haven't tried that. Read 
on for the hype.

    Linkname: Mattel Sues Over Blocking Hack
         URL: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,34998,00.html

    Linkname: CyperPatrol Hackers Lose Round
         URL: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,35038,00.html

-Declan


>From: "Sydney Rubin" <srubin@ignitioncom.com>
>To: <declan@wired.com>
>Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 19:32:27 -0500
>X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300
>
>Here's the release we issued at 2:30 today that quotes from the injunction 
>and shows that the restraining order applies to the mirrored sites, as 
>well as the original four defendants -- Skala, Jansson, Scandanvia Online 
>and Islandnet.   Use of the words "agents" and "those persons in active 
>concert or participation with them" in the ruling applies to the mirrored 
>sites.



                                          FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Sydney Rubin
                                          Ignition Strategic Communications
                                          202/244-1200


FEDERAL JUDGE GRANTS COMPANY IMMEDIATE INJUNCTION AGAINST HACKERS WHO 
VIOLATED U.S. COPYRIGHT LAW

Judge Agrees Hackers' Actions Likely Violate Intellectual Property Rights 
of Microsystems Software and Undermine Parents' Ability to Protect Children


FRAMINGHAM, MASS. (March 17, 2000)  A Federal Judge in Boston today issued 
a temporary restraining order against two hackers prohibiting them from 
distributing code that undermines the ability of parents using Cyber Patrol 
to protect children from inappropriate content online.

U.S. District Judge Edward F. Harrington ordered that the "defendants, 
their officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys and those persons in 
active concert or participation with them, shall discontinue publishing 
defendant's Cyber Patrol bypass code and binaries (known as "CP4break.zip" 
or "cphack.exe" or any derivative thereof)."

The ruling prohibits further distribution over the Internet into the United 
States of the bypass code and binaries published by the hackers and 
"mirrored," or copied, on other sites throughout the World Wide Web.

"The ruling means that the defendants and those redistributing the 
defendants' illegal work product will be in violation of a U.S. Federal 
Court order if they distribute the material into the United States," said 
Irwin B. Schwartz, a partner in the Boston law firm of Schwartz and 
Nystrom, LLC, which represents Microsystems.

The ruling also granted the company expedited discovery into who had 
downloaded the illegal material derived from the copyright violations.

Microsystems Software, maker of the Internet filtering software Cyber 
Patrol, filed for the temporary restraining order on Wednesday 
Massachusetts Federal District Court.

The complaint was against two hackers in Canada and Sweden, Matthew Skala 
and Eddy L.O Jansson, as well as the two Internet Service Providers hosting 
the hackers' Web sites, Islandnet.Com in Canada and Scandinavia Online AB 
in Sweden.

The complaint alleged the hackers violated copyright law by reverse 
engineering Cyber Patrol software and then using the illegally-obtained 
source code to develop an executable program that allows users to bypass 
the software.  The hackers then posted pieces of the Cyber Patrol source 
code and their executable program on the Internet and publicized their work 
via e-mailed press releases.

The pair also published portions of the proprietary Cyber Patrol list of 
filtered sites, but this was not part of the complaint filed by the company.

Judge Harrington gave the company permission to serve notice of the 
immediate injunction via email to the defendants and "their agents."   The 
company was serving the electronic notices immediately.   Violating a 
Federal Court Order is punishable by a fine or prison.  The willful and 
knowing violation of U.S. Copyright Law can carry sanctions of up to 
$100,000 per violation.

Defendants receiving the notices are ordered by the court to "preserve 
inviolate the software and information that makes up all such Web sites, 
source or object code and documents relating to Cyber Patrol, as well as 
all records which reflect the identity or number of persons who downloaded 
CP4break.zip or cphack.exe from the Web sites."

Cyber Patrol is the world's most widely-used Internet filtering 
software.  Microsystems' technology is used by America Online for its 
parental controls and hundreds of thousands of families have purchased 
Cyber Patrol software to help protect children from Web sites such as those 
that advocate violence or hate, or post sexually explicit content meant for 
adults.


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