Subject:  ****UK - Court Acquits Teenage Hacker 03/17/93
Date: 17 Mar 93 20:51:59 GMT

LONDON, ENGLAND, 1993 MAR 17 (NB) -- In a result that the press are
calling a "Hacker's Charter," the four-week trial of Paul Bedworth, a
19-year-old student, accused of unauthorized access to several
computer systems, ended today with his acquittal.

To Scotland Yard's computer crime squad, the case was cut and dried,
despite the fact it was the first major case under the Computer Misuse
Act, 1990, which introduced stiff penalties for unauthorized access to
computer systems, among several other other hacking-related
activities.

Bedworth was arrested at his mother's house in Ilkley, North
Yorkshire, two years ago, following an investigation into unauthorized
access to networks that spanned the world.

Bedworth used a dial-up link into a local university to gain access to
the Internet, a loosely controlled international network that links
academic and commercial systems around the world. By repeatedly trying
various test passwords and exploiting known weaknesses in DEC VAX
computer systems, he was able to log onto several dozen computers
with very high privilege levels.

When the case came to Southwark Crown court earlier this month,
Bedworth admitted that he was scared when the police raided his
mother's house and pinioned him to the bed late one evening in 1991.
The result of the scare, he said, was that he realized that hacking
was illegal and, by his own admission, stupid.

As well as being the first major case of its type to be brought under
the Computer Misuse Act, the trial was significant since junior
counsel to Bedworth, a barrister named Alistair Kelman, along with Ian
MacDonald, QC, introduced an unusual defense for their client, that of
computer addiction.

In support of this, Kelman and MacDonald introduced an expert witness
called Professor Griffith-Edwards of the Maudsley Hospital, an expert
in compulsive behavior, who, after testing Bedworth, came to the
conclusion that he was an obsessive person, totally besotted by
computers.

"That side of the case wasn't made up. Even today, while he is
studying artificial intelligence at Edinburgh University, Paul spends
all his nights up to midnight in the computing labs and his
weekends too. He's hooked on computing," Kelman told Newsbytes.

Once in court, Bedworth pleaded not guilty to the charges of
unauthorized modification and access of computers and material and
denies conspiring to obtain telecommunication services dishonestly.

As reported previously by Newsbytes, he was charged with logging into
an EC computer system in Luxemburg and causing havoc. Other charges
accruing against him involved illegally accessing a Lloyds Bank
computer and BT's network generally.

During the trial, it transpired that Bedworth had dialled around the
world on the Internet, instructing computers in the EC to dial other
networks repeatedly, at a cost of several tens of thousands of pounds.
His own mother's phone bill, meanwhile, came to several hundred pounds
as she struggled to come to terms with her son's computer problem.

Speaking with Newsbytes, Peter Sommer, a computer security consultant
and the author of the Hacker's Handbook, written under his pen name of
Hugo Cornwall, said he was surprised at the not-guilty verdict, given
the nature of the defense. "I think it was successful because the jury
is looking to let the guy off, due to their heavy-handed behavior
when they arrested him," he said.

According to Sommer, although the defence of computer addiction was an
unusual one, it was able to beat the charges involved.

"In law, to make a prosecution of this type work, you have to ensure
that there is the "mens rea," the reason of intent. To convince the jury
otherwise, you have to demonstrate that the compulsion is sufficiently
strong to overcome the intent, as has clearly happened in this case,"
Sommer said.

Sommer dismissed suggestions that the result of the case is a "hacker's
charter," allowing anyone to hack away at online systems legally. He
said, however, that he does not view the "threat" of "hackers" such as
Bedworth as a major one in his line of work as a security consultant.

"There are very few (hackers). These cases are always very interesting
but a distraction from the more mundane," he told Newsbytes, adding
that the bottom line for many companies was a massive build-up of
defenses against the perceived threat of computer hackers.

At a press conference held immediately after the trial's conclusion,
Kelman said that its significance was nothing to do with the wrongful
acts its sought to punish, "but the realization that maybe what is
required is a little more understanding and a little less
condemnation."

Kelman pointed out that his client was a second generation "anorak" (a
popular name for computer enthusiasts in the UK) but there are now
large numbers of third generation anoraks at large, all of whom are
well versed in computers.

"The child, whose best friend is a computer rather than a person, is
not going to function normally in society. We need to be able to
predict how he will behave and what treatments will restore him to
normal health. Parents must demand that proper research is done into
this important problem." he said.

Press sources are now suggesting that the disastrous outcome of the
case for the Scotland Yard computer crime division may be the final
straw for the authorities, many of whom see the seven-strong division
as unnecessary. Some sources have suggested that the division may now
be dismantled.

And as for Paul Bedworth? In the words of barrister Kelman: "There
will be some champagne corks popping in Edinburgh this evening."

(Steve Gold/19930317/Press Contact: Alistair Kelman - Tel: 071-797-
8987; Debbie Tripley of Hodge, Jones & Allen - Tel: 071-482-1974)