State of siege?

NIELS PROVOS doubts that the police will come knocking on his door anytime soon. If at all. Still, the University of Michigan computer science graduate student moved his research from the school's Web server to one in Holland. Just as a precaution. Provos, who is from Germany, is an expert in the burgeoning field of STEGANOGRAPHY: the art of secreting messages online, as well as detecting hidden data and ferreting out possible hackers. But Michigan lawmakers recently enacted a copyright protection act that Provos thinks is worded so vaguely it could make him liable to prosecution. The law was initially aimed at stopping cable-service theft, but-at the insistence of the Motion Picture Association of America-was broadened to help fight video and film piracy. What bothers Provos is language that prohibits the developing of devices that "conceal the existence or place of origin or destination of any telecommunications service." That, he says, limits his research. It's a "badly drafted law," he adds, because it doesn't address intent. State legislators say the law wasn't meant to chill research, and there is talk of revising the act to make it clear that steganographic and other computer science research can continue unimpeded.

Provos understands the need for copyright protections, but thinks this law is unnecessary. "It (copyright theft) is already illegal." The school's lawyers have told him not to panic, and he admits it's unlikely he would be charged with a crime. But he worries how law enforcement officials in the future might use such a law if it's left on the books as is. And just to be on the safe side, he's not giving up the Dutch Web servers any time soon.

Copyright American Society for Engineering Education Sep 2003
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