Michael Lafaro , a Long Island computer consultant, was not pleased when Forecast Installations did not pay him the last US$2,400 on a $3,600 custom software system. Lafaro sent a technician to Forecast's site on the pretext of providing software maintenance. Instead, he modified the system to shut down at a specified time. When Forecast found out, it trumped Lafaro by filing charges leading to his arrest on November 22, 1993, for "computer tampering" under the New York computer crime laws. Lafaro and his technician face sentences of up to seven years in prison and $10,000 in fines if convicted.
To some of his peers, Lafaro is a hero and a martyr. If an unsatisfied customer can withhold payments without becoming a criminal, why can't the consultant withhold his software? The law lets auto mechanics and construction firms place mechanics' liens on entire cars and buildings, a powerful remedy that nearly guarantees prompt payment. Is this simply a case of the traditional law of mechanics' liens not being updated fast enough to create an analogous software lien for computer consultants?
Or perhaps the law is moving too quickly. Lafaro was arrested under a section of New York state's computer crime law that was recently beefed up to scare "dark side" computer hackers and plain old embezzlers into thinking twice before their next uninvited computer foray. But by casting the net wide, the state may unjustly convict small-business owners for everyday disputes that do not belong in the criminal courts. Was Lafaro a strategic target of the newly strengthened laws or an unintended civilian casualty?
Forecast's attorney characterizes Lafaro's system-disabling software as a "virus," a wildly inaccurate label that whips up hysteria by recalling the computer virus scares of the past few years. He claims Lafaro's time-bomb function could have caused over half a million dollars in damage (in fact, the system was never shut down). Lafaro's attorney says the computer crime law was badly misapplied in this case, pointing out that the Class-C felony charge against Lafaro is equivalent to rape or sodomy in the second degree under New York law. The case is still in the pre-indictment stage as this issue goes to press.
ELECTRIC WORD
Next Time, Use a Collection Agency
