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

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Thu Mar 21 2002 - 17:41:04 PST

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    Ian tells me he isn't sure whether he'll resume the ORBZ service.
    
    -Declan
    
    
    ----- Forwarded message from MAReenat_private-creek.mi.us -----
    
    From: MAReenat_private-creek.mi.us
    Subject: Re: Query from Wired News
    To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private>
    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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