But then, what about the police? If they can legally bug phones with a court order, if they can legally subpoena telephone records, what can they do with bulletin boards? Pretty much the same things. The remaining sections of the Act go into great detail about what the police can do and how they can do it. If syops is served, they can be required to make a backup copy of whatever information is on their system (limited to that listed in the warrant or subpoena). They must do this without telling the persons under investigation. They do not at this point, generally, give the police the records. They just tell the police that its been done. Then, challenge it. Eventually, after all gets sorted out, the information goes to the police or is destroyed. If the Act makes the invasion of electronic comuncations stuff federal crimes, what penalties does it establish? Again, generally, there are two cases. The first is the one most BBS operators and users will be concerned with. "A fine of not more than $5,000 or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both." Actually, in the law, that is the second case. The first is where businesses were conducting industrial espionage–"for purposes of commercial advantage, malicious destruction or damage, or private commercial gain." In this case, "a fine of not more than $250,000 or imprisonment foe not more than one year, or both, in the case of a first offense," and "a fine or imprisonment for not more that two years, or both, for a subsequent offense."What all this has said is that the federal criminal code now protects electronic communications the way that it previously protected written ones. It recognizes that mailmen, physical or electronic, have access to mail that they carry, and it requires them to keep it confidential. It sets up some hefty penalties for those who do not take privacy seriously enough. And finally, it sets up procedures for the contents of bulletin boar...
