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Judge Lifts Restraining Order: MIT Students Win

By Pamela Jones et al.

Kurt Opsahl of EFF has just announced that the restraining order on the MIT students has been lifted:

Today, Judge George O'Toole lifted the gag order on three MIT students who were sued by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for discovering a security vulnerability in the MBTA's fare payment system. The Court found that the MBTA was not likely to prevail on the merits of its claim under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. MBTA had argued that the CFAA, which prohibits the transmission of a program that causes damage to a computer, also covers "verbal transmission," such as talking to people at conferences. Judge O'Toole, however, looked closely at the statute, and held that the CFAA does not apply to security researchers like the students talking to people. More details to follow.

So the attempt to stretch the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act has failed. Please read the statute for yourself, and ask yourself: do you want talking about computers and security to become a crime punishable by fines and imprisonment and subject to FBI and Secret Service oversight? That's what almost just happened. You can find the documents in MBTA v. Anderson here. If you read the MBTA's complaint, you'll find the allegations of violations of the CFAA on page 12. I think you'll find the MBTA interpretation of the statute shocking ("... the damage constitutes a threat to public health and safety... affects a computer system used by a government entity for national security purposes..."). The research was about getting a ride on a subway for free. In any case, the judge didn't buy it, with respect to the restraining order.

Full post as published by Groklaw on August 19, 2008 (boomark / email).