The United States vs. Craig Neidorf
Dorothy E. Denning · Communications of the ACM · 1991
The following debate examines a landmark electronic publishing case where the U.S. government indicted the publisher of an electronic newsletter on 10 felony counts of wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property.Before the trial was over, such awesome issues as freedom of the press, the right to privacy, public security, and the Constitution were called into question.At the center of it all was Craig Neidorf, then a 20-yearold college student.• Communications asked Dorothy E. Denning, an expert witness for Neidorf's defense, to explore the case and its far-reaching ramifications.She paints an insider's view of the event; recounting the indictments, the resulting trial, the rights of hackers, the role of government, and the responsibilities--and liabilitiesmof the computing community.• We then invited seven of Denning's colleagues to comment on her conclusions as well as provide their own assessments of the way the case was handled.