A teenager who founded a Net anti-censorship group could face a lawsuit from the owner of the popular blocking program Cybersitter, Solid Oak Software, on grounds that he illegally obtained the list of sites blocked by the program.
But the 18-year-old student at Vanderbilt University who founded Peacefire, Bennett Haselton, says that he merely ran the blocking software on his computer and kept track of which sites were blocked - such as the National Organization for Women, Mother Jones, and The Well.
"According to our sources, he has engaged in illegal criminal copyright violations to further his juvenile teenaged political agenda, and reduce the effectiveness of our product," said Brian Milburn, president of Solid Oak Software.
Solid Oak has added Peacefire to its list of blocked sites and has asked Peacefire's Internet provider, Media3, to remove Peacefire from its server. Milburn has also said he will block out all content Media3 hosts if it does not remove Haselton's site.
"It's pretty ironic that Cybersitter, which is supposed to help kids, is blocking a student-run organization," Haselton said. Peacefire was founded in August and now has about 100 members, of whom the average age is 15 years old.
Haselton wrote an article naming some of Cybersitter's blocked sites last month on the Peacefire Web site, but the site wasn't blocked until Friday, after Haselton contacted Milburn to discuss the company's blocking practices, Haselton said. The student was then told that Solid Oak had referred the matter to its legal department.
"There was no way he could have known who was on our list without breaking into our system," said Solid Oak spokesman Mark Kanter. "The filter had to be decoded by reverse engineering" - a process of taking a piece of technology and, without any knowledge of the techniques used to create it, making a copy.
In an email written to Media3 on Friday, and forwarded to Wired News by Media3's administrator, Joe Hayes, Milburn said that Haselton "has made it his mission in life to defame our product," and warned that all content to Media3 - some 2,500 domain names - would be blocked on Cybersitter if Peacefire was not removed.
"We realize this is an extreme measure and regret that our customers will no longer have access to any sites serviced by Media3. I am not sure if any of our current customers are Media3 subscribers, but as they will no longer be able to access their email and such, we will offer any affected customers complete refunds," Milburn said in the email.
Hayes said Solid Oak has given him no proof that Haselton has done anything illegal, so he would not remove Peacefire, and noted that among the content on Media3's server is a Mayflower Society Bulletin Board and "everything to do with Pilgrims and Plymouth Rock." Hayes added that Media3's attorneys have been alerted to the situation, and if the ISP is blocked, it will take legal action. Solid Oak does not normally inform sites they have been blocked.
