copyrights and email

[Salim Nice <snice@premhealth.com>]

Linda B. Merims wrote:

<5. Because one can not absolutely prove the source of an e-mail,
no law suit against a copyright violator can succeed.>
<Interesting argument. I wonder if the person who sent the original
Melissa virus message could have used that defense before he upped and
confessed>

Thanks for the insight on Internet copyright law.  

The point you make in your opening sentence of  argument 5 is
incorrect.  The person responsible for creating the Melissa virus
was TRACED by Microsoft.  Microsoft was recently discovered to have
inserted programming code into the Microsoft Office suite of programs
that sends a "globally unique identifier" directly to a
database at Microsoft.  Every time an Office document was created
information about the action and user was transmitted unknowingly. 
This is more an issue for users with constant Internet connections as
opposed to dial-up users.  The Melissa virus only affected Microsoft
Exchange users who also ran Microsoft Word.  Apparently, it is quite
possible to trace the exact sources of an -mail, spreadsheet, Word
document, virus...

For the full report visit:

http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2222971,00.html

For the Microsoft Statement and Patch to stop Office from creating the
globally unique identifier (GUID) visit:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/1999/03-08custletter2.htm

From the April 8, 1999 Edition of the, The New York 
Times:

STATE OF THE ART / PETER H. LEWIS
Internet Hide and Seek: Staying Under Cover

WASHINGTON -- He did his best to remain anonymous, but within
days after an expert programmer released the Melissa computer virus into
the world late last month, the police reported that his identity had been
cracked. Investigators used a tracking mechanism the Microsoft
Corporation had secretly installed in its Office software to gather
information on its customers surreptitiously. 




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