Unless Congress enacts a law requiring sysops to evaluate the information running through their BBSes, federal prosecutors had better back off.
That's what defense lawyers for David LaMacchia say. Last April, the MIT student, then 20, was indicted on criminal wire-fraud charges. Federal prosecutors accused him of running a BBS that permitted illegal reproduction and distribution of copyrighted software.
LaMacchia's lawyer, Harvey Silvergate, explained to the court that copyright infringement - a civil, not criminal matter - is not covered by the wire-fraud statute. Judge Stearns agreed with him.
After dismissing the indictment, Stearns said that if the federal government insists on prosecuting BBS operators, it could "criminalize the conduct of not only persons like LaMacchia, but the myriad of home-computer users who succumb to the temptation to copy even a single software program for private use."
At press time, the US Attorney's office had not appealed the decision.
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