U.S. Targets Illegal Sharing of Software

Federal prosecutors say the indictment of an MIT computer science major is the first move in an assault on the illegal sharing of expensive copyrighted software.

But members of a budding computer rights movement say the case could short-circuit computer users’ First Amendment rights to information.

A federal grand jury indicted David LaMacchia on Thursday on one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud.

The 20-year-old Massachusetts Institute of Technology junior is charged with running a computer bulletin board that allowed users to illegally copy more than $1 million worth of copyrighted software for free. The software included everything from games to word processing programs.

U.S. Atty. Donald K. Stern called the case the largest involving computer piracy in the nation’s history. He indicated similar cases could follow as technology makes the exchange of information easier.

“In this new electronic environment it has become increasingly difficult to protect intellectual property rights,” Stern said.

But to Richard Stallman, a software writer who founded and directs the Free Software Foundation, the government’s case against LaMacchia “is an additional increment in how our freedom is restricted to squeeze out every possible penny for those software owners.”

According to the federal indictment, LaMacchia operated the computer bulletin board at MIT in late 1993 and early this year under the computer aliases “John Gaunt” and “Grimjack.”

Prosecutors say the bulletin board, named Cynosure, allowed people on MIT’s computer network and the global Internet information highway to illegally copy the software.

LaMacchia, who faces fines of up to $250,000 and possible jail time, declined to comment on his case. His attorney, David Duncan, said LaMacchia should not be held responsible for the activities of other people who may or may not have used his bulletin board.

“This raises serious First Amendment issues,” Duncan said. “Are you going to impose on the system operator the role of censorship?”