e LaMacchia was indicted by a grand jury on April 7, 1994 on charges of "conspiracy and scheme to defraud." The charges stemmed from LaMacchia's involvement in the operation of a pair of bulletin board systems (BBS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The boards, called CYNOSURE I and CYNOSURE II, were allegedly used as distribution centers for illegally copied software. In this case, the law was not prepared to handle whatever crimes may have been committed. The judge ruled that there was no conspiracy and dismissed the case. If statutes were in place to address the liability taken on by a BBS operator for the materials contained on the system, situations like this might be handled very differently. Jake Baker, a student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, was arrested by FBI agents on February 9, 1995 and charged with "transmitting threats across state lines." The charge came about after it was discovered that Baker had posted an erotic fantasy on the Internet in which he raped and tortured a character with the same name as one of Baker's real-life classmates. The charges were later revised to making a "threat to injure another person," but in the meantime Baker had been suspended from the University of Michigan and his story had made headlines around the world. The case raises issues beyond the legality of posting a fantasy in which a living person's name is used. Many people have expressed concern over whether Baker's civil liberties were violated when he was suspended and how much liability an individual has when posting materials to the Internet. Baker was eventually acquitted, in part because his story was determined to be "self expression" and did not constitute a threat. Legal systems are not yet adequately prepared for the variety of crimes that can be committed over computer networks. The legality or illegality of "cybercrimes" is ambiguous, although certain jurisdictions are taking steps to answer the...
