FBI Confiscates Students' Computer In Cornell Crackdown on Illegal Use

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents raided the dormitory room of two Cornell University freshmen last week, according to the Cornell Daily Sun. The students suspected of unauthorized intrusion into a computer system, have not yet been criminally charged.

The ongoing FBI investigation at Cornell is one of 15, all involving a break into the Virginia-based GTE Telemail system. FBI spokesman James E. Mull said this week that the computer confiscation "was not part of a major crackdown," but merely an investigation requested by the communications service.

Patrick Maddden and Joseph Peterson, the alleged "hackers," refused comment this week, as did Cornell officials. Dan Meyer, one of the students' dormmates said, "It was just a case involving the FBI. We're more worried about prelims [exams]. If you ask most people, they won't even know what hacking is."

Another Cornell student, Nick Acker, said, "No one even suspected it was going on at Cornell." The raid, however, came as no surprise to the University administrators. Mull said, because they were probably informed of FBI plans beforehand.

He added that though the students gained access to unclassified material, their equipment will be analyzed to determine "malicious intent." Prosecution will not be a possibility for a few months, if at all, and "there is always a possibility that the students will get their equipment back," Mull said.

Alan B. Langerman '85, a Harvard computer expert, reacted to the Cornell caper with a chuckle. "Security precautions make me laugh when I read about them," he said this week, explaining. "There guys didn't know enough. There are ways so cover your tracks. It's a contest of programming skill between the guys who are trying to break in and the guys who are trying to catch them... The latter are getting a lot better."

The GTE Telemail system is a communications service with 17,000 individual customers. Manager of Public Affairs Claudia Houston could not speculate on why her company has been the object of fifteen separate computer intrusions.

Happened Elsewhere

She did say that "this sort of thing has happened before in our other division. With 2000 computer systems involved in all facets of the economy, problems are par for the course." Houston added that security measures would be updated.