Most FTP sites containing pirated software last a few days and
then the data moves on to some other cyberspace harbor of illegal
uploading and downloading. But according to U.S. Attorney General
reports, David LaMacchia's Cynosure and Cynosure II, located on
MIT workstations, were connected to the Internet from November
21, 1993 to January 5, 1994, six weeks of active pirating. Even
if the site's address was only passed on by word of mouth, with
a site up that long it was only a matter of time before law enforcement
would find out and intervene.
Basically, all LaMacchia did was give Internet users access to
MIT's Athena workstations. If one knows the machine's address
and a correct login/password, he/she is then able to log onto
the site and browse what is stored there. If you have ever logged
into one of UT's public FTP servers, such as Microlib
or simply ftp.utexas.edu, your
access to the shareware/freeware
programs stored there is pretty much the same type of access a
net user will have had to Cynosure on the MIT machines. Again,
there is one fundamental difference: Microlib knowingly stores
free or low-cost programs while MIT's computers unknowingly stored
unlicensed commercial programs.
David LaMacchia was indicted April 7, 1994, for violating wire-fraud
statutes, but the case was eventually thrown out. U.S. District
Court Judge Richard Stearns, who threw out the case, said that
"Mr. LaMacchia could not be prosecuted for criminal copyright
infringement under the wire-fraud statute, in part because he
had not profited personally from the scheme." (Wilson, A20)
Current law declares distributing pirated software illegal even
without a motive of profit, but the issue the legislators seemed
to be pointing out was whether or not LaMacchia should be punished
for simply making a site available for the copying of commercial
programs. This issue of whether or not an information carrier
or system operator should be responsible for the content that
flows through their networks remains unresolved. Still, this incident
is just another reason for the software industry
to be concerned about the protection of their livelihood.
David LaMacchia cleared; case raises civil liberties issues
Official Dismissal of Charges
Contributions to the David LaMacchia Legal Defense Fund