The Amateur Action BBS Bust   by Amateur Action BBS

THE SYSOP'S INFORMER SOURCE: --BAY AREA BUREAU-- ON FEB 3, 1994, AGENTS OF THE U.S. POST OFFICE, ACCOMPANIED BY SAN JOSE POLICE OFFICERS, RAIDED THE HOME OF MILPITAS, CA, COUPLE ROBERT ALAN THOMAS AND HIS WIFE, CARLEEN. THE COUPLE OPERATED THE AMATEUR ACTION BBS. THEY WERE ARRESTED AFTER AGENTS TOOK INTO CUSTODY "THOUSANDS OF VIDEOS, 57 VIDEO DUBBING MACHINES AND ASSORTED COMPUTERS, PARTS, EQUIPMENT, SOFTWARE AND DISKETTES." THE AMATEUR ACTION BBS, WAS AN ADULT ORIENTED BBS WHICH MADE AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS, .GIFs OF AN ADULT NATURE. BUT, THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF BBS's MAKING AVAILABLE ADULT .GIFs TO THE PUBLIC, WHY THEN, DID THE AMATEUR ACTION BBS GET BUSTED? THE ANSWER IS THAT THE U.S. POST OFFICE, IN CONNECTION WITH THE FBI, AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES HAVE JUST DEVELOPED AN UNDERCOVER STING OPERATION TO BUST AND RAID THE HOMES AND OFFICES OF ANY BBS IN THE 50 STATES OF THE U.S. WHICH CARRIES GIFs THAT DEPICT MEN OR WOMEN HAVING SEX. THE AMATEUR ACTION BBS WAS THE FIRST OF HUNDREDS THAT ARE BEING INVESTIGATED BY AGENTS ONLINE, POSING AS CITIZENS, AND THEN GATHERING THE NECCESSARY INFORMATION NEEDED TO MAKE THE BUST IF ADULT GIFs ARE MADE AVAILABLE. THIS TYPE OF COMPUTER RAIDING HAS GONE FROM ELITE FILES (COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE, ILLEGALLY COPIED AND MADE AVAILABLE) TO ADULT GIFs. THE FEDS DO NOT CARE IF IT IS YOU IN THE PICTURE OR YOUR GIRLFRIEND, ETC. IF HE/SHE IS HAVING SEX, OR TOUCHING THEMSELVES IN A SEXUAL WAY, AND THIS MATERIAL IS AVAILABLE AS A GIFs FOR ADULTS (CONFIRMED ADULTS), THEN YOU WILL BE ARRESTED IF CAUGHT. GOING BACK TO THE BUST OF THE AMATEUR BBS, WHEN DEFENSE ATTORNEYS ASKED THE JUDGE IF THIS COULD BE CONSIDERED SOME FORM OF ENTRAPMENT, ASSISTANT U.S. DISTRICT ATTORNEY CARLOS SINGH REPORTEDLY STATED, "IT DOESN'T MATTER. THE COUPLE RECEIVED THE STUFF, WE'LL PROSECUTE THEM." IN RELATED NEWS, THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION HAS RELEASED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT AS A WARNING TO SYSOPS OFFERING ADULT MATERIALS: "SENATOR JESSE HELMS (R-NC) HAS REQUESTED THAT THE FBI BECOME MORE INVOLVED IN THE FIGHT TO STOP ADULT IMAGES FROM BEING DISTRIBUTED ON ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARDS AND THE INTERNET. SENATOR HELMS STATED ON THE SENATE FLOOR THAT ADDITIONAL FUNDING HAS NOW BEEN ALLOCATED TO GIVE THE FBI OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES A GREATER ABILITY TO COMPUTER BULLETIN BOARDS AND THE INTERNET, TWO OF THE LARGEST SOURCES OF ILLEGAL PORNOGRAPHY." IT IS NOT SURPRISING TO KNOW THAT ALREADY, THE INTERNET HAS HAD AN EMERGENCY ALERT FROM THE FEDERAL RESCUE TEAM, CONCERNING A VIRUS (TROJAN HORSE) WHICH WAS JUST PLACED ON THEIR SYSTEM, BY AN UNKNOWN SOURCE. "MIKE GODWIN, WORKING WITH THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION, HAS ISSUED A WARNING TO BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEMS IN ALL 50 STATES THAT FEDERAL PROSECUTIONS WILL MORE THAN QUINTUPLE IN 1994, WITH AS MANY AS 100% OF INVESTIGATIONS LEADING TO ARRESTS LIKELY. "THE EFF HAS ISSUED A WARNING TO SYSOPS THAT THE FOLLOWING FILES, WHICH DEPICT ANY OF THE FOLLOWING ACTS, ARE ILLEGAL IN ALL 50 STATES AND CAN SUBJECT THE SYSOP TO PROSECUTION, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE SYSOP KNOWS ABOUT THE FILES OR NOT: "-- DEPICTION OF ACTUAL SEX ACTS IN PROGRESS "-- DEPICTION OF AN ERECT PENIS" THE EFF ADDED THAT THE LAW DOES NOT APPLY TO SEXUALLY-ORIENTED MESSAGES OR STORIES, JUST TO GIFs, FLIs, (PICTURES).