STEVE JACKSON GAMES vs. U.S. SECRET SERVICE - TRIAL
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On March 1, 1990, the United States Secret Service, participating in a
nationwide sweep code named Operation SunDevil, launched an early morning
raid on Steve Jackson Games, an Austin Texas publisher of role-playing games
and books. They broke locks on doors, seized and carted away all personal
computer equipment, business records, manuscripts of books being prepared for
publication, and all hardware and software of the Illuminati bulletin board
system run by SJG at (512)447-4449 to communicate with writers, customers,
and fans of the game series published by Jackson. Steve Jackson arrived at
work to find his business already loaded and ready to roll. Agents on the
scene refused to answer any questions, and they presented a search warrant
with essentially no information on it.

With his business records, computers, and manuscripts gone, Jackson laid off
workers in an effort to stave off bankruptcy. No charges were filed against
Jackson, and months of appeals to have the equipment and records returned met
with very limited success. In May, 1991, with the assistance of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation, Steve Jackson and the EFF filed a civil suit
against the United States Secret Service, Secret Service Agents Timothy Foley
and Barbara Golden, Assistant United States Attorney William Cook, and Henry
Kluepfel.

The case finally came to trial on Tuesday, January 26, 1993 at about 1:00 PM
in the U.S. District Court with Judge Sam Sparks presiding. Attorneys Jim
George and Pete Kennedy represented the plaintiffs. Their first witness was
agent Timothy Foley of the Secret Service. He acknowledged that he did know
that e-mail was on the BBS menu system, and explained that he refused to give
Jackson copies of anything that was on the BBS because he feared it might be
"booby-trapped." Although it was widely reported that he had told Steve
Jackson at the time that GURPS Cyberpunk, a fictional game published by SJG,
was a "handbook for computer crime." When questioned under oath, he denied
ever making such a statement. He also denied any knowledge that Congress had
granted special protections to publishers during searches under the Privacy
Protection Act.

Larry Couterie, a University of Texas police officer was called to the stand
next. An affidavit filed by Foley to support the search warrant application
indicated that Coutorie had provided the Secret Service with the business
address of one of Jackson's employees. Under questioning, Couterie denied
knowing anything about the employee, or providing any such information to
Foley.

Steve Jackson demonstrated for the court the operation of a BBS,
demonstrating a message conference with an old west theme. By all accounts,
the demonstration was quite entertaining and the judge seemed to enjoy it.

The next day, the plaintiff's continued their case with testimony by writers
who submit manuscripts to SJG, and by e-mail users of the BBS. Apparently,
over 160 electronic mail messages were never delivered due to the government
seizure of the system, and of course much was made of the impact on the
individuals lives due to messages they thought they had sent, but had never
actually been received, etc.

Wayne Bell, author of the WWIV software used on the Illuminati system,
testified after examining the BBS. This testimony was used to show that
Secret Service had indeed read all the mail on the BBS system with numerous
files updated weeks after the raid.

Much of the original warrant was based on information from Henry Kluepfel,
Director of Network Security Technology at Belcore. His testimony at the
trial did more to explain what actually happened to lead to the raid.
Apparently, they suspected a BBS titled the Phoenix Project, operating in
Austin, of having a copy of an E911 document stolen from a computer in
Atlanta. Their information led them to believe the Phoenix Project was
operating from the home of Loyd Blankenship, an employee of Steve Jackson
Games. But after February 7, 1991, the Phoenix Project couldn't be located -
it's telephone number didn't answer. Since Loyd Blankenship worked at Steve
Jackson games, and since Steve Jackson Games ran a BBS titled Illuminati that
used the same WWIV software, they decided that the Phoenix Project was
actually hidden behind a "secret door" on the Illuminati BBS. A comparison of
the userlogs of the two bulletin boards indicated there was only a single
common user to both systems - Loyd Blankenship.

William Cook, retired U.S. Attorney testified at the trial and made a couple
of interesting comments. He indicated that no charges were ever filed against
Loyd Blankenship. A good bit of this testimony revolved around SJG role as a
publisher and the abrogation by the Secret Service of any observance of the
Privacy Protection Act procedures for serving search warrants on publishers.
One of the most interesting aspects of Cook's testimony involved the status
of electronic mail. He asserted that e-mail messages that had been sent, but
not received, were not in transit electronic mail but rather "stored"
electronic mail. The judge questioned him on this point and he acknowledged
he had based this interpretation on nothing beyond his own view of the
subject.

The government only made a half-hearted attempt at defending its position on
the raid. Most of their activity centered on damage control - seeking to
disqualify the $2 million in damages and $150,000 in lost royalties claimed
by the plaintiff. They contended that Steve Jackson games had actually been
in financial difficulties for several years before the raid and implied that
the publicity caused by the raid actually helped his business. By Thursday,
the judge had had enough. He interrupted testimony to deliver a 15-minute
tirade directed at Secret Service agent Timothy Foley consisting of a series
of "Didn't you know/Didn't you ask" questions that amounted to a public
scolding.

Shaken, the government rested their case without calling any of their
scheduled remaining defense witnesses.

While the trial was dramatically one sided on behalf of Steve Jackson Games
and the EFF, and decidedly embarrassing for the Secret Service and the U.S.
Attorney, the outcome is unsettled. The judge took the matter under
advisement and at this writing, has not issued a ruling in the case. The EFF,
with SJG, is seeking to establish several things. First, that the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act ensures the privacy of electronic mail from
government seizure without warrants served to each e-mail correspondent.
Secondly, SJG as a publisher is entitled to special protection under search
warrants under the Privacy Protection Act. And third, that SJG is deserving
of monetary damages from the business disruption caused by the search. All of
these are relatively dramatic goals that would alter how the government deals
with bulletin boards in the future. And despite the one-sided appearance of
the trial, Judge Sparks ultimate ruling could deal with any of these elements
as he sees fit.