Article 2456 of comp.society.privacy: Path: news.csos.orst.edu!gaia.ucs.orst.edu!flop.ENGR.ORST.EDU!reuter.cse.ogi.edu!uwm.edu!computer-privacy-request From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" Newsgroups: comp.society.privacy Subject: Community Nets Crackdown in Italy Date: 16 May 1994 15:36:28 GMT Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Lines: 115 Sender: comp-privacy@uwm.edu Approved: comp-privacy@uwm.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.2.6 X-Original-Submission-Date: 16 May 1994 10:13:05 -0500 (CDT) X-Submissions-To: comp-privacy@uwm.edu X-Administrivia-To: comp-privacy-request@uwm.edu X-Computer-Privacy-Digest: Volume 4, Issue 066, Message 5 of 6 Originator: levine@blatz.cs.uwm.edu ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: 15 May 1994 11:46:49 -0700 From: Bernardo Parrella To: Multiple recipients of list COMMUNET Subject: Community Nets Crackdown in Italy. -I am sending again this posting-yesterday night bounced back- On May 10-12 1994, the first nationwide crackdown on telecom nets was operated by Italian police. Acting after a warrant issued by a Prosecutor in Pesaro, about 60 Bullentin Board Systems throughout the country have been visited and searched by police officials. Dozens of people were formally accused of "distribution of illegally copied software and appropriation of secret passwords" under the law approved by Italian Parliament in January this year. In several cases police officials didn't know what to search for, thus seizing computers, floppy disks, modems along with electric outlets, answering machines, audiotapes, personal effects. The raids also hit private houses and belongings, and in some places sleeping people were abruptly woken up facing machine guns. After searching probably around one third of the entire network - that includes more than 300 BBSes - police officials closed several Fidonet nodes, but no arrests were made. A still inaccurate figure of people were charged with software piracy, and dozens of computers and related devices were seized - along with thousands of floppy disks, CD-Roms, W.O.R.M.S. Moving after a suspected software piracy ring run by people involved in a Fidonet node, the crackdown started in the night between May 10 and 11 in Milano, targeting in the two following days BBSes in Pesaro, Modena, Bologna, Ancona, Pisa and other cities. Fidonet Italia, member of the worldwide Fidonet network, is a non-profit organization devoted to distribution of shareware and freeware programs as well as to electronic forums on topics ranging from technological to social issues. An essential communication tool for several groups and individuals throughout the country, Fidonet Italia became an active multi-cultural vessel and distributor of several different nodes dedicated to specific issues: Peacelink (solidarity, human rights), Cybernet (cyberpunk), Ludonet (games), Scoutnet, Amynet, and others. For thousands of Italian people, Fidonet BBSes today are invaluable tools of information-exchange, social activism and professional activities. The network policy strictly prohibits any distribution of illegally copied software and fraudulent appropriation of secret passwords. Also, Fidonet is one of the few International organizations which has always stated and pursued a clear position against unauthorized copying software. At the moment, the raids seems to be motivated by accusations against two people involved in a Pesaro-based BBS who were using Fidonet contacts to allegedly distribute illegal copies of computer programs. However, there are no reasons for such a vast law enforcement operation. Most likely the prosecutor acted simply on the basis of the Fidonet telephone numbers list (publicly available) owned by the two suspected of software piracy. The vast majority of the people searched don't have any kind of relationship with the suspected, and many of the search warrants stated a generic "conspiracy with unknown" for the crime of software piracy. Particularly, the random and arbitrary seizures of floppy disks and personal computers are completely unmotivated, because every BBS is a completely independent structure and each sysop is running his/her own hardware and software. The seizures will resolve in a great economic loss for these people and their professional activities will be surely affected from negative publicity. Some of them own small computer-related companies while others are physicians, hobbyists, students who risk personal savings to run their services. Because police officials also seized electronic and paper archives containing data and numbers of the people who logged onto Fidonet nodes, it is evident that investigations are going even further - thus violating the constitutional right to privacy. The first result of this crackdown is that many Fidonet operators decided to shut down immediately their systems all over the country, fearing heavier police intrusions in both their public activities and private lives. While the Italian Parliament recently approved specific laws about copyright and piracy of computer software, there are still no rules to protect personal privacy in the electronic medium. This legislative void inevitably makes the sysop the only responsible person about anything happens onto and around his/her own BBS. Fidonet operators do not want and can not be the target of undiscriminated raids that, forcing them to closing down their activities, cause serious damages to themselves as well as to the entire community. In an article published Friday 13 by the newspaper "La Repubblica", Alessandro Marescotti, Peacelink spokesperson, said: "Just when the worldwide BBS scene is gaining general respect for its important role at the community level, in Italy the law hits those networks that have always been strongly against software piracy. Charging dozens of honest operators with unmotivated accusations, the main goal of this crackdown is directed against the social activities of small community nets - thus clearing the space for commercial networking." While terms and figures of the entire operation should still be clarified, on Sunday 15 Fidonet Italia operators will meet in Bologna to study any possible legal counter-action. Article 2521 of comp.society.privacy: Path: news.csos.orst.edu!flop.ENGR.ORST.EDU!reuter.cse.ogi.edu!uwm.edu!computer-privacy-request From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" Newsgroups: comp.society.privacy Subject: Fidonet Crackdown in Italy - Follow-up Date: 7 Jun 1994 01:40:19 GMT Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Lines: 173 Sender: comp-privacy@uwm.edu Approved: comp-privacy@uwm.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.2.6 X-Original-Submission-Date: 6 Jun 1994 10:31:03 -0500 (CDT) X-Submissions-To: comp-privacy@uwm.edu X-Administrivia-To: comp-privacy-request@uwm.edu X-Computer-Privacy-Digest: Volume 4, Issue 075, Message 7 of 10 Originator: levine@blatz.cs.uwm.edu Fidonet Crackdown in Italy - Follow-up from: Bernardo Parrella To: All Subject: Fidonet Crackdown in Italy - Follow-up Date: May 23, 1994 "The crackdown needed to be done, software piracy has become a National sport in Italy. Unfortunately, the operation rapidly became too wide for our forces: right now, here in Pesaro we are only three Prosecutors, quite busy with criminal trials, in court all day long. We will try to do our best with the less possible damage for the entire community." Here are the explanatory words of Gaetano Savoldelli Pedrocchi, the Pesaro Prosecutor who is managing the investigations that last week led to a nationwide crackdown on Fidonet Italia BBSes During the operation - confidentially known as "Hardware 1" - more than 60 (some sources go up to 130) Bulletin Board Systems have been visited and searched by police and custom officials. In the central and northern part of the country, several Fidonet nodes were closed and dozens of operators were charged of "conspiracy with unknown for distribution of illegally copied software and appropriation of secret passwords." Some figures say the seizures included more than 120 computers, 300 streamer-cassettes and CD-ROMs, 60,000 floppy disks, an imprecise number of modems and other electronic devices. In some cases, police officials sealed off rooms and garages where the BBSes were operated or closed all the hardware they found in a closet. Several Fidonet operators (generally students, professionals, small-company owners) lost their personal data because every magnetic support was "suspected to carry pirated software". Aimed to crack a distribution ring of illegal software run by two people using the publicly available Fidonet nodelist, investigators searched and seized every single site of the list - even those that had never had any contact with the two suspected. Also, many operators not inquired by police were forced to immediately shut down their systems, searching for possible illegal software covertly uploaded on their BBSes. As a consequence of such indiscriminate operations, the real, very few pirate boards had the chance to quickly hide their businesses - sources say. "I do not believe to this scenario," said the Pesaro Prosecutor in an interview by SottoVoce Magazine. "We acted after precise information about the activities of a specific data-bank: if some operators have nothing to do with the charges, we'll verify it as soon as possible." Questioned about further investigations agai nst BBSes users, the Prosecutor said: "We'll see later....at the present, users can sleep peacefully: otherwise, I cannot imagine how many people should be investigated. I do not want to criminalize the entire population. Even if the inquiry has become so vast, this is not a subject of vital importance for our country. It is mostly a fiscal and bureaucratic issue, a matter of small-scale but spread illegality." However, rumors say other inquires are currently underway in other cities, and even the Criminalpol is working on similar issues. Assisting the investigated people, some lawyers already asked for the immediate return of the confiscated materials, while others suggested to wait for better times. In any case, it will probably take months (years?) before receiving official answers regarding the seizures. Struggling to re-open in some way their systems, Fidonet operators are also working to get the attention of mainstream media on the issue - with little success, so far. After an article published by La Repubblica, two local newspapers, Il Mattino and Il Giornale di Brescia, run brief reports on May 15, both centered on "a wide software piracy ring cracked by police officials". But the real activity is happening inside and around electronic communities. MC-Link, Galactica and especially Agora' Telematica (the biggest Italian systems) are doing a great job, offering space for news, opinions and comments - also acting as conne ction links between the decimated net of BBSes and worried individuals scattered along the country. Here is just one example: "....police officials seized everything, including three PCs (one broken), a couple of modem (just fixed for some friends), floppies, phone cables, phone-books. Now Dark Moon is down, hoping to have at least one line available in a few days, maybe at 2400. I fear that more raids will soon follow elsewhere. So, please, stay alert..." A catching dynamism flourishes from the BBSes linked to Cybernet. Although some of them are currently not operating, several special issues of the Corriere Telematico were released over the net and their printed voice, Decoder Magazine, will soon distribute news, testimonies, comments on "Operation Hardware 1". PeaceLink has set up a defense committee-news center in Taranto and its spokesperson, Alessandro Marescotti, will sign an article for the next issue of the weekly magazine Avvenimenti. The news are arousing a vivid debate on Usenet (soc.culture.italian, comp.org.eff.talk) and on The WELL (eff #584), and are also widespread by Communet News, Computer Underground Digest, and Alice (Italy-based mailing list on civic networking). Promptly alerted, the International online community gave good response - quickly redistributing the news over the Net (from the APC Networks to Global Network Navigator) and sending supportive messages. Here is an email from Michael Baker, Chairman of Electronic Frontiers Australia: "To that end I am writing to offer assistance to anyone in Italy who wants to set up such an organisation. Recently I (along with others) have set up Electronic Frontiers Australia, and I am now its Chairman. Other national EF groups have been, or are being, set up in several other countries (Canada, Ireland, Norway, UK and Japan)....if there is anything we can do to help, please ask." Shifting toward politics, on May 19, the first working day o f th e new Italian Cabinet, six Members of the Reformers group presented a written question to the Ministers of Justice and Interior. After a short introduction about telecom systems, the document gives an account of the facts and asks three final questions to the Government: "- if it will intend to open an investigation to verify if the raids ordered by the Pesaro Prosecutor's office were prej udicial to the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression; - if it is not the case to set up a better and greater team of computer experts in order to avoid further random seizures of electronic devices that lead to shut down the BBSes; - if it is not the occasion to confirm that current legislation does not charge system operators with objective responsibility for users' activities on telecom systems." Although the Fidonet sysop community (about 300 people) is still quite uncertain regarding its future, many of them feel the urgent need to overcome a sort of cultural and social isolation that clearly surrounds the telecom scene in Italy. At the moment the main issue is how to raise public interest and political pressure to obtain clear laws in support of civil rights in the electronic medium. Several online laboratories, such as the Community Networking conference on Agora' Telematica as well as the BBSes linked to Cybernet, are developing a vast array of ideas and proposals. "We underestimate our strength: if we could just be able to set up an Italian Association of Telecom Users we could put pressure on political and legislative bodies." "Overwhelm newspapers, radio and tv stations with faxes, letters, phone calls!" "We must attract common people, through hundreds of tables and events in the streets more than online, even if we do not have a Kapor to support us." "There should be press-conferences in several cities, with the presence of investigated people along with famous persons, politicians." "What about a 24-hours silence from any system in the country with simultaneous events in each city and village where a BBS operates?" The situation is rather fluid and in e-motion. Stay connect! - Bernardo Parrella < - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > electronic distribution of this posting is greatly encouraged, preserving its original version, including the header and this notice < - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > Article 2522 of comp.society.privacy: Path: news.csos.orst.edu!flop.ENGR.ORST.EDU!reuter.cse.ogi.edu!uwm.edu!computer-privacy-request From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" Newsgroups: comp.society.privacy Subject: Crackdown on Italian BBSes Continues Date: 7 Jun 1994 01:40:28 GMT Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Lines: 72 Sender: comp-privacy@uwm.edu Approved: comp-privacy@uwm.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.2.6 X-Original-Submission-Date: 6 Jun 1994 10:57:04 -0500 (CDT) X-Submissions-To: comp-privacy@uwm.edu X-Administrivia-To: comp-privacy-request@uwm.edu X-Computer-Privacy-Digest: Volume 4, Issue 075, Message 8 of 10 Originator: levine@blatz.cs.uwm.edu from: Bernardo Parrella To: All Subject: Crackdown on Italian BBSes Continues Date: June 4, 1994 Twenty-four days after the first major crackdown on Fidonet Italia BBSes, on Friday June 3, the Taranto Finance Police visited Taras Communications BBS, the main National Peacelink node and data-bank. Acting after a warrant issued by the Prosecutor of the same city, Giovanni Pugliese and his wife were charged for the possession of "illegally copied software and electronic equipment suitable to falsification." After searching their apartment for more than 5 hours (from 5 pm to 10.30 pm), Finance officials sealed off the PC on which the BBS run and seized 174 floppy disks - leaving behind the monitor and the only available modem. Because the Taranto node hosts most of the network archives and all the email traffic, at the moment the entire national Peacelink net is down. Giovanni Pugliese is currently working to start again his system as soon as possible - probably in the next 48 hours. "Taras Communications BBS has never had anything to do with software piracy and is well know for its activities related to humanitarian, peace, social and community issues," Giovanni Pugliese said. "Peacelink and its sister Fidonet Italia network had always pursued a very restrictive policy against any illegally copied software on their systems. Because Taras Communications BBS is the main National node of Peacelink network, its forced closure, hopefully very short, will result in a great damage for those hundreds of people - including journalists, activists, volunteers - that were widely relying upon its everyday services." With more than 30 nodes throughout the country, several Fidonet gateways, and a project currently underway to connect directly to Comlink and the other APC Networks, Peacelink is completely dedicated to peace, human rights and ecology issues. Founded in1992 as a specialized conference of Fidonet Italia network, Peacelink became quickly independent and well known even outside Italy. Recently the network hosted a national conference on peace-related matters, becoming also the only communication link for people in the former-Yugoslavia and the outside world. The first phase of the crackdown (May 11-13) targeted Fidonet Italia network in several cities in the northern and cental regions of the country. While a still inaccurate number of BBSes (probably from 30 to 60) were searched and dozens were closed down, on May 25 an official press-release of the Finance Police in Torino claimed a seizure "for a value of more than 4 billion of Italian lire (about US $2,5 million), including 17 personal computers; 13,690 floppy disks of illegally copied software," dozens of modems and electronic devices. Fourteen people were charged with "conspiracy with unknown for the crime of software piracy" - but no arrests were made. The new raid hit the online community at the exact moment when sysops, users, media and citizens were waiting for a relaxing and clarifier signal from investigators, including the first decisions about the seized hardware scheduled in these days. Right now, activists are coordinating a series of quick answers, including the probable foundation of a National association dedicated to the protection of civil rights for Electronic Citizens. - Bernardo Parrella < - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > electronic distribution of this posting is greatly encouraged, preserving its original version, including the header and this notice < - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >