Date: 14 Jan 93 22:19:52 PST
From: Kpro-Madness <unknown@domain>
Subject: File 6--Public Service for Cornell Hackers

The following should be of interest to CuD readers. It originally
appeared in RISKS Digest ( V. 14 #27).
++++

Date--Wed, 13 Jan 93 09:56:50 -0700
From--dclawson@clipr.colorado.edu
Subject--Public Service for Cornell Hackers

"Public Service for Hackers"    by John Marcham
_Cornell_Alumni_News_ magazine

Two former [Cornell] students will develop a computer program to
make
it easier for a quadraplegic man in Tennessee to use a computer he
owns, as part of their punishment for launching a computer virus
that
damaged programs and caused hard drive crashes last February.

David Blumenthal '96 and Mark A. Pilgrim '94 were sentenced by a
Tompkins County Court judge to pay restitution to users whose
computers were jammed by the men's virus, at and near Stanford
University and in Japan, and to perform ten hours of community
service
per week for a year.

A computer buff who knew the quadraplegic and heard of the Cornell
virus case wrote the judge in Ithaca, and asked if the students'
public service could be worked off developing a less expensive and
cumbersome program for the disabled man, who uses a mouthstick and
outdated software to operate his McIntosh computer.

The judge and the former students agreed to the proposal: the
students
start work in November. A third former student, found guilty of a
lesser infraction, was asked by not required to do public service,
and
declined.

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