Maker of Cyber Patrol settles with hackers who spilled secrets But ACLU argues deal couldn't bar others By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff, 3/28/2000 Microsystems Software has settled its copyright lawsuit against two computer hobbyists who wrote software that defeats the Framingham company's popular Internet filter, Cyber Patrol. But the fight isn't over, because of the intervention of the American Civil Liberties Union. The Cyber Patrol case has attracted national attention to the question of whether programmers have the right to ''reverse-engineer'' software made by others, in order to publicize how that software works. The controversy began when Eddy Jansson of Sweden and Matthew Skala of Canada deciphered the code that makes Cyber Patrol work. They then wrote a program called CPHack, which enables the user to read a complete list of all Internet sites blocked by Cyber Patrol. CPHack also reveals the master password for Cyber Patrol, so that a user can simply switch off the program, which filters out pornography and other objectionable material. Microsystems went to court, charging that Jansson and Skala had violated their copyright by creating and distributing CPHack. Last week, a federal judge in Boston, Edward Harrington, issued a temporary injunction against Jansson and Skala and their Internet service providers. The four defendants were ordered to stop posting CPHack on the Internet. They quickly complied. Over the weekend, Microsystems attorneys worked out a deal with Jansson and Skala that was announced yesterday in court. They agreed to stop distributing CPHack and to refrain from hacking future versions of Cyber Patrol. They also gave Microsystems the ownership rights to CPHack, enabling the company to launch copyright lawsuits against anyone else who distributes the program. The ACLU, though, has gone to bat for a number of Internet activists who have published CPHack on their Web sites. ACLU attorney Chris Hansen said that his clients are just ''mirroring'' the original CPHack program. Since they didn't reverse-engineer Cyber Patrol themselves, Hansen said, they're doing nothing wrong. ''My clients didn't commit a copyright violation, even if you accept every word they [Microsystems] said,'' Hansen argued. The dispute turned what might have been a brief hearing into an hour of complex disputation between Hansen and Irwin Schwartz, the attorney for Microsystems. Schwartz informed the judge of the settlement with Jansson and Skala and asked him to formalize it with a permanent injunction. But that injunction would have applied not only to Jansson and Skala, but to operators of mirror sites that offer CPHack to the public. Hansen opposed this, on behalf of three mirror site operators who had asked the ACLU to represent them. They are not defendants in the original lawsuit, Hansen said, and should not be covered by the injunction. Hansen noted that Microsystems now owns the copyright to CPHack, as part of the settlement with Jansson and Skala. If Microsystems wants to force them to stop distributing CPHack, Hansen said, the company should have to file a separate copyright suit against the operators of the mirror sites. ''Why don't you go away and make life easy?'' Harrington joked with Hansen at one point. But in the end, the judge indicated he saw some merit in Hansen's arguments. He said he would rule in a few days. This story ran on page E06 of the Boston Globe on 3/28/2000. � Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.
