Kapor stresses that the foundation is not a defense fund for
"hackers" and does not support breaking into computer systems or
pirating software.
The foundation has already had an impact. It recently located
defense witnesses in the government's case against computer
bulletin board operator and newsletter publisher Craig Neidorf.
On July 27, in the middle of the trial, the government abruptly
dropped its case against Neidorf.
Neidorf was accused of interstate transportation of a stolen
BellSouth Corp. document describing its emergency 911 system, a
charge which stems from the government's investigation into a
group of hackers called the Legion of Doom.
Prosecutors dropped Neidorf's case when Sheldon Zenner, Neidorf's
attorney, showed that the information which BellSouth alleged was
proprietary could be purchased by calling an 800 number and
paying $13.
'Private police force'
Terry Gross, an attorney that aided Neidorf's defense team,
accused the government of serving as a private police force for
large corporations.
"I think it is a very serious concern that we should all have of
the government being used as a private police force for private
corporations," Gross said. "Especially when BellSouth made a
claim that the government accepted."
The foundation contends that prosecutors, policemen and judges
must think of computer communications in the same way they think
of printed and broadcast communications
