U.S. Drops Computer Case Against Student

By John Markoff
The New York Times

July 28, 1990

Federal prosecutors in Chicago yesterday dropped felony charges against a 20-year-old college student in a computer crime case that has drawn national attention because of the civil liberties issues involved.

In a trial that began Monday, the Government had accused the student, Craig M. Neidorf of the University of Missouri, of publishing an internal telephone company document describing the emergency 911 system for nine states in the Southeast. The Government said he had obtained the document from another computer user who had stolen it electronically from the company, the BellSouth Corporation of Atlanta; Mr. Neidorf then published it in an underground computer newsletter that was distributed electronically on computer networks and electronic bulletin boards.

But an assistant United States Attorney, William J. Cook, said the Government decided to drop the charges after learning that much of the information was already publicly available.

''The value of the document was one of the factors in the prosecution,'' he said. ''There were aspects of this document that we did not know were in the public domain. It was a question of the way the phone company portrayed the document.''

Succession of Arrests

Mr. Neidorf had been accused of wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property. He did not plead guilty but acknowledged that he had received the BellSouth document and agreed that he could be prosecuted if he committed similar offenses in the future.

In recent months Federal and state law-enforcement officials have made six arrests in a campaign against young computer users who break into government and business data systems.

The crackdown drew angry opposition from civil liberties experts and some computer industry executives, who argued that the Government was overreacting and discouraging legitimate activities of law-abiding computer users.

A civil liberties organization, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, created by a computer industry executive, Mitchell D. Kapor, has spoken out in support of Mr. Neidorf.

Mr. Neidorf was accused of obtaining BellSouth's 911 document from Robert J. Riggs, 20, of Atlanta, one of three men who pleaded guilty last month to gaining illegal entry to BellSouth computers. Mr. Riggs and Franklin Darden Jr., 23, face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $200,000 fine. The third man, Adam E. Grant, 22, faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Mr. Riggs, testifying in the Chicago case on Thursday. said he had not acted in concert with Mr. Neidorf, as the Government had charged.

Copyright 1990