Legal Issues - The Art of the Prank

July 17, 2009December 15, 2023

FBI Probes PrankNET Over Hotel Pranks

FBI probes PrankNET over thousands of dollars in damage caused to hotels and restaurants
by Tom Leonard
Telegraph.co.uk
15 July 2009

The FBI is investigating an anonymous prank-calling internet group which has reportedly duped people into causing thousands of dollars of damage to hotels and restaurants.

0_1443529c-200 Some former fans of PrankNET have expressed misgivings about the increasingly violent nature of the pranks

PrankNET posts its “greatest hits” on YouTube and streams its calls live on internet radio.

Investigators say its creators are difficult to identify due to the diffficulty of tracing prank calls placed online.

Dex, the pseudonym for the group’s purported leader, has claimed credit for various expensive scare calls, although others have been attributed to “copycats”. Continue reading “FBI Probes PrankNET Over Hotel Pranks”

August 12, 2008January 15, 2019

MBTA: Don’t Sue These Students, Hire Them!

Court blocks MIT students from showing subway hack
1010WINS
by Oskar Garcia
August 11, 2008

Las Vegas (AP) — A federal judge ordered three college students to cancel a Sunday presentation at a computer hackers’ conference where they planned to show security flaws in the automated fare system used by Boston’s subway.

The temporary restraining order, issued by a U.S. district judge in Massachusetts, prevented the Massachusetts Institute of Technology students from demonstrating at the Defcon conference in Las Vegas how to use the vulnerabilities to get free rides.

The Electronics Frontier Foundation, which is representing MIT students Zack Anderson, R.J. Ryan and Alessandro Chiesa, plans to fight the order, said Jennifer Granick, the group’s civil liberties director.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said in a complaint filed Friday that the students offered to show others how to use the hacks before giving the transit system a chance to fix the flaws. MIT is also named in the suit.

But Granick told The Associated Press on Sunday that the students were simply trying to share their research and planned to omit key information that would make things easier for anyone who actually wanted to hack the payment system. Continue reading “MBTA: Don’t Sue These Students, Hire Them!”

July 28, 2008January 15, 2019

Striptease Performance – Art or Tart?

Iowa case raises question: Is stripping an art?
by Melanie S. Welte
1010WINS
July 27, 2008

Des Moines, Iowa (AP) — Iowa doesn’t have any all-nude strip clubs – but it does have performing arts centers where women dance naked.

However, the loophole in the state’s public indecent exposure law that allows nude dancing at “art centers” is under attack in the small community of Hamburg, a town of 1,200 just across the Missouri River from Nebraska.

The case pending before a Fremont County judge effects only one business in Hamburg, but if he agrees with the prosecutor, it could eventually threaten the legal standing of nude dancing clubs across the state.

District Judge Timothy O’Grady heard arguments in a one-day trial on July 17 and took the case under advisement.

It all began on July 21, 2007, when a 17-year-old niece of Sheriff Steven MacDonald climbed up on stage at Shotgun Geniez in Hamburg and stripped off her clothing. Owner Clarence Judy was charged with violating Iowa’s public indecent exposure law.

Judy responded that the law doesn’t apply to a “theater, concert hall, art center, museum, or similar establishments” devoted to the arts or theatrical performances.

“Dance has been considered one of the arts, as is sculpture, painting and anything else like that. What Clarence has is a club where people can come and perform,” said his lawyer, Michael Murphy.

Murphy noted that the club has a gallery selling collectible posters and other art, and it provides patrons with sketch pads. Read the rest of the article here.

photo: Blogs.KansasCity.com

June 11, 2008January 15, 2019

Artist Steve Kurtz Cleared of all Charges!

We’re very pleased to post following press release received today:

Artist Cleared of all Charges in Precedent-setting Case
Department of Justice Fails to Appeal Dismissal
Kurtz Speaks about Four-Year Ordeal
June 11, 2008

Buffalo, NY–Dr. Steven Kurtz, a Professor of Visual Studies at SUNY at Buffalo and cofounder of the award-winning art and theater group Critical Art Ensemble, has been cleared of all charges of mail and wire fraud. On April 21, Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara dismissed the government’s entire indictment against Dr. Kurtz as “insufficient on its face.” This means that even if the actions alleged in the indictment (which the judge must accept as “fact”) were true, they would not constitute a crime. The US Department of Justice had thirty days from the date of the ruling to appeal. No action has been taken in this time period, thus stopping any appeal of the dismissal. According to Margaret McFarland, a spokeswoman for US Attorney Terrance P. Flynn, the DoJ will not appeal Arcara’s ruling and will not seek any new charges against Kurtz.

For over a decade, cultural institutions worldwide have hosted Kurtz and Critical Art Ensemble’s educational art projects, which use common science materials to examine issues surrounding the new biotechnologies. In 2004 the Department of Justice alleged that Dr. Kurtz had schemed with colleague Dr. Robert Ferrell of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health to illegally acquire two harmless bacteria cultures for use in one of those projects. The Justice Department further alleged that the transfer of the material from Ferrell to Kurtz broke a material transfer agreement, thus constituting mail fraud. Continue reading “Artist Steve Kurtz Cleared of all Charges!”

May 16, 2008January 15, 2019

Old Adage – “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” – To Be Challenged in Federal Court

Neighbor Indicted in MySpace Sucide Hoax
by Scott Michels and Mary Fulginiti
May 15, 2008

Lori Drew Faces Federal Charges for Alleged Online Hoax That Led to Girl’s Suicide

A Missouri woman was indicted Thursday on federal charges for allegedly perpetrating an online hoax that led to the suicide of a 13-year-old girl.

Lori Drew was indicted by a grand jury in Los Angeles for her role in allegedly creating a fake MySpace page, in the name of “Josh Evans,” that was used to contact Megan Meier.

Meier committed suicide in October 2006 and her parents have said their daughter’s death was the result of the rapid decline of her online relationship with “Josh,” whom she believed to be a 16-year-old boy who first flattered the self-conscious girl and then taunted her.

She hanged herself an hour after Josh allegedly said he no longer wanted to be her friend and told her the world would be a better place without her, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

Drew, 49, knew the Meiers and lived down the street from them for years. She was charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress on Megan. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in prison. Continue reading “Old Adage – “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” – To Be Challenged in Federal Court”