August 20, 2008
Judge Frees the Tongues of MIT Subway Hackers
Three MIT students can now talk, but not because of their right to free speech. For the past 10 days, the trio has been restrained by a judge’s order from describing their now-celebrated exposure of a flaw in the Boston transit system’s fare card. Yesterday a U.S. District Court judge in Boston lifted the gag order because he did not believe the students had violated a federal law against transmitting malicious computer software, CNET reports. Many had expected the matter to be decided along First Amendment interpretations, but instead the decision turned on the issue of what counted as “transmission” of software and what did not.
The three, as The Chronicle reported last week, showed there were vulnerabilities in the computer-read cards used to pay fares on the Boston subway, flaws that could allow people to get a free ride. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is providing a lawyer for the students, said the work was done to show the flaws in the system so they could be fixed before a malicious attacker used them. (The students’ paper got an A in an MIT computer-science class.) But the Boston transit system sued to stop the students from talking about the research at Defcon, a hacker convention, citing the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Talking about the code publicly, the transit system argued, was an illegal transmission of a computer program under the act. A judge who was on duty the weekend the suit was filed issued a temporary restraining order that silenced the students until a hearing could be held.
On Tuesday another judge, George O’Toole Jr., gave the students leave to speak. The talk they had planned to give at Defcon was not a computer-to-computer transmission but simply a talk to people, he said. He also noted that the transit system had not proved the students had caused at least $5,000 damage, a provision for invoking the federal statute. Ruling that the law was not applicable, Judge O’Toole avoided any First Amendment issues. That did not, however, stop the EFF from issuing a statement describing the decision as a “free speech victory.”
After today’s ruling, the Boston transit system could continue pressing its lawsuit, but statements from officials indicated they were not too keen on that idea. And the students can reveal the details of their work in public. Whether they will or not is anyone’s guess. Their lawyer wasn’t saying. —Josh Fischman
Posted on Wednesday August 20, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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The Boston transit system is a valuable alternative to carbon-emitting automobiles, and its financial viability should be protected. Actually, our mass transit systems would be free of charge to the user if we were actually paying attention to our impending destruction of the environment.
— Bruce Aug 21, 11:09 AM #
I agree with #1, these guys are crooks and should be put in jail for theft. Actually in boston transit would be free if you did not spend 19billion dollars on a big dig…
— Put them in Jail Aug 21, 11:44 AM #