tierney@fortune.UUCP (06/13/84)
#N:fortune:29600010:000:4511
fortune!tierney Jun 12 12:41:00 1984
***** fortune:net.micro / ism780!darryl / 12:09 am Jun 10, 1984
I am quoting an article from the Los Angleles Times, Saturday,
June 9th. I have indicated excised portions of the article (to remain
as brief as possible) with elipsis, editorializations in brackets.
Just thought you'd all like to know what the press thinks the truth
is...
"A Granada Hills computer hobbyist is paying a stiff price because an
anonymous caller posted a telephone credit card number on his computer
bulletin board, and its use led to a wave of fraudulent phone calls.
"Tom Tcimpidis, a television engineering and computer software consultant,
has incurred several thousand dollars in legal costs and lost income because
of the incidient, and $5,000 worth of his computer equipment was seized
by police and Pacific Bell Co. investigators.
"He still faces the threat of a misdemeanor prosecution, although the
detective who served the search warrant has said he doubts that any charges
will be brought.
...
"Tcimpidis had been running his board... for three years... The board
averaged about 100 calls a day, and about 40 messages daily were posted on
it, he said. Over the three years, about 3,500 people had called it more
than 75,000 times.
...
"According to Los Angeles Police Detective Damon Loomis..., the message
read, `Current ATT telephone credit card is ### ### #### #### [sic]. Don't
use it from your home phone, though obviously enjoy.' Signed `Anonymous.'
"The Pacific Bell investigators gave Loomis a search warrant that they
had obtained from San Fernando Superior Court Judge Robert Fratianne.
"On the morning of May 16, Loomis, accompanied by the Pacific Bell
investigators, went to Tcimpidis' home to get his equipment.
"Tcimpidis said there were a tense few minutes before he was able to
convince them that he is a genuine hobbyist with a legitimate bulletin
board and was not involved in telephone fraud.
"`I tried to cooperate with them in every way possible. It seems to
me it would have made everybody's life easier if they said, `Look, we have
a problem.' Instead they carry a big club (the search warrant) and ask
questions later.'
"Because the offending message was old, his system already had deleted
it from the file that callers are able to read. But Tcimpidis said he was
able to find it and determine that it had been posted in mid-April by someone
who had joined the bulletin board under the name Darrel Sullivan. Tcimpidis
gave the authorities the telephone number the person had given when he
became a member.
"New members must type their names and telephone numbers into the
computer when they join the board, but Tcimpidis said he makes no attempt
to verify the information. In fact, it is common for callers, especially
those who make illegal phone calls, to give fictitious names and numbers.
"Despite Tcimpidis' cooperation, Loomis seized the Heath computer and
hard disk drive that were used to operate the bulletin board, plus three
boxes containing about 150 floppy diskettes of computer programs and data
unrelated to the bulletin board, seizures that were proper under the authority
of the search warrant.
"Tcimpidis was not arrested, and Loomis allowed him to keep a second
computer and numerous other diskettes in the same room, which Tcimpidis
uses in his business.
"`This man is a hobbyist,' Loomis told The Times. `As far as we can tell,
he had no criminal intent on his part. He claims he didn't know they (the
credit card and several other telephone billing code numbers) were in there.
That's certainly possible. As far as we know, it wasn't used by him.'
"Asked whether prosecutors plan to file charges against Tcimpidis,
Loomis said, `I kind of doubt that they will.'
...
"As for Tcimpidis' fate, [Deputy District Attorney] Seldeen said he
has determined that no felonies were committed and has referred the matter
to the city attorney for a decision on whether to file a misdemeanor charge.
"The applicable statute provides that any person who publishes the
number or code of a credit card with the intent that it be used or with
the reasonable knowledge that it will be used to avoid lawful telephone
or telegraph charges is guilty of a misdemeanor, Seldeen said.
...
I hope this clears up most of the relevant details in the case so that we
can have discussion of issues instead of hearsay.
--Darryl Richman
...!cca!ima!ism780!darryl
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