Date: 6 Oct 92 18:11:11
From: mcmullen@well.sf.ca.us
Subject: File 2--Trial Date Set In New York "Hacker" Case

NEW YORK, N.Y., U.S.A., 1992 Oct. 6 (NB) -- At a conference held in
United States Federal Court, Southern District, Judge Richard Owen set
April 12, 1993 as the date of the trial of five New York City
"hackers" indicted on Wednesday, July 8th for various alleged
telecommunications illegalities (in the initial indictment, the word
"hacker" was defined as "someone who uses a computer or a telephone to
obtain unauthorized access to other computers.").

The accused, Mark Abene, also known as "Phiber Optik"; Julio Fernandez
a/k/a "Outlaw"; Elias Lapodolous a/k/a "Acid Phreak"; John Lee a/k/a
"Corrupt"; and Paul Stiva a/k/a "Scorpion", were charged at the
original indictment with being part of a conspiracy intended to allow
"the members of MOD (the name of the group) would gain  access to and
control of computer systems in order to enhance their image  and
prestige among other computer hackers; to harass and intimidate rival
hackers and people they did not like; to obtain telephone, credit,
information, and other services without paying for them; and to
obtain.  passwords, account numbers and other things of value which
they could sell  to others." Additionally,individuals of the group
were charged with specific crimes including the illegal accessing of
computers belonging to Southwestern Bell.

Since the indictment, attorneys for the defendants have been reviewing
evidence obtained by the Secret Service and the FBI through
court-authorized wiretapping that is purported to substantiate the
allegations.  At the most recent court appearance, the attorneys
requested an extended period of time for the discovery process because
they had only recently been furnished diskettes containing information
obtained through the inception of computer communications and,
according to a defense attorney, the material "runs somewhere between
20 and 50 megabytes."

When asked by Judge Owen for a definition of a megabyte, United States
Assistant Attorney General Stephen Fishbein informed him that a
megabyte is a million bytes and that a "byte is a piece of
information." Owen then asked if Fishbein was really going to present
all that information to a jury, saying "That would really byte the
jury." Fishbein said that only that portion of the material that
actually showed the existence of illegal activity would have to be
shown but that the defense attorneys might wish to examine all of the
intercepted material.

Owen then scheduled January 3rd as the date for filing of defense
motions, a date in February for government response and April 12th as
the actual trial date.

Marjorie Peerce, attorney for Paul Stira, told Newsbytes "I can't
comment on the details of the case but Mr. Stira looks forward to the
date he can tell his story in court."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19921006)

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