On Fri, 18 Sep 1998, Ocrat Subscriber wrote:
>>> the GIMPS server
>>> machines, which [the FBI] would be entitled
>>> to by many grounds, weren't confiscated.
> The PrimeNet Server? I hope this was a joke in
> poor taste. There are no such grounds for the
> FBI to take any such action. They may be
> heavy-handed at times, but they must operate
> within the law.
Some time ago I saw a commentary on the confiscation rules FBI follows,
which among other things include "confiscating any connected computers".
In the analysis they noted that this essentially meant FBI could
confiscate all machines connected to Internet, but considered that due to
the storage problems etc. this would be unlikely ;) However, certainly
computers running the "GIMPS hacker soft" as news and the search warrant
seem to indicate are "connected" to the GIMPS central servers.
>From the investigations point of view it would also make sense (if they
figured anything about the system) because it includes extensive logs etc.
on his activity the prosecution will be most interested in, and
"tampering" with those logs (removing his stats) has already been
discussed even on this list.
Also consider the fact that the newspaper articles said the search
warrant (By the way, any change of getting it scanned out for a web-site
on the issue? I see a growing need to get both viewpoints of this out in
the open for people to see) specifically mentioned shipping stolen data
from there "out to the Internet". The most logical link would be the
GMIPS servers, and I'm also pretty sure it's the only related address
showing up in the firewall logs etc. which I imagine probably is what
they're referring to. I'm not expert on search warrants, but I think this
claim alone would have warranted (no pun intended) a second
search-warrant for the GIMPS main databases.
So no, unfortunately I'm not joking. The legal sector has pulled off
stupider stunts than that in the past. See, for example, as earlier
noted, Operation Sundevil for the confiscation and draving conspiracy
links etc. approach from FBI - altough I hope they've learned since then
- and Randall Schwarz at least for the part of fighting huge corporations
on silly charges. If it goes civil law, the different cases of Church of
Scientology vs. AOL/Dennis Erlich etc. etc. show good pointers on how far
civil law can be abused. (In that sense I'm glad to see FBI involved,
since they have to be subjected to higher level of public scrutinity
etc.) But if I was Aaron B., I'd have shut up and contacted EFF among
others a long time ago already.
-Donwulff
