   Just thought you might find this Associated Press story of interest ...
 
   BOSTON - A college student was cleared Thursday (12/29) of charges he
   set up a computer bulletin board service allowing copyrighted, commercial
   software to be copied for free.
 
   U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns ruled that David LaMacchia could not
   be prosecuted for criminal copyright infringement under the current
   federal wire fraud statute.  Allowing the case to proceed could make it
   possible for home computer users to be prosecuted for copying even a 
   single program for their own personal use, he said.
 
   He suggested Congress rewrite the copyright law to cover computer software,
   saying it is up to legislators, not the courts, "to define a crime and*--*     ordain its punishment."
 
   Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to appeal the case, said Kathleen
   Griffin, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Donald Stern.
 
   LaMacchia, an electrical engineering and computer science major at the
   Massachusetts Institute of Technology, used the computer aliases "John
   Gaunt" and "Grimjack" to operate the bulletin board from November 1993
   until January, according to the indictment charging him.
 
   As many as 180 people alledgedly used the illegal software library over
   one 16-hour period, copying hundreds of copyrighted programs.  The users
   were anonymous, and it wasn't known if any of them used the programs to
   make money.
 
   Although his actions weren't illegal, Stearns said LaMacchia acted
   reprehensibly if the allegations were true.
 
   "If the indictment is to be believed, one might at best describe his
   actions as heedlessly irresponsible, and at worst as nihilistic, self-
   indulgent, and lacking in any fundamental sense of values," the judge
   wrote.
   LaMacchia, a senior from Rockville, Md., was indicted April 7 on one 
   count of conspiring to commit wire fraud.  At the time prosecutors said
   it was the largest computer piracy case in U.S. history.
 
   LaMacchia, who is on winter break, did not return messages left at his
   home in Rockville.
 
   Associated Press, 12/30/94.
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