Talk:Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service

Untitled
Silly me, I asked for a link to the Wikipedia article on the book about this case, The Hacker Crackdown, and it's right there in the references. I guess it would make sense to mention it in the body of the text if someone were so inclined, and it might satisfy a few of the "citation needed" notes. Sorry, and thanks. -- Pzriddle (talk) 14:20, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

I've altered the text of the article to clarify that the raid on Steve Jackson Games was not a part of Operation Sundevil. I have considered removing the portion of the article which mentions Operation Sundevil and it's relative success, rather than "lamp-shading" it in this way, but I want to give the editor who added it the benefit of the doubt and the opportunity to clarify its connection. 198.236.244.101 (talk) 04:12, 25 May 2010 (UTC)


 * I think since the EFF lists this as one of the Top 10 misconceptions by the media about this case that it is worthwhile to specifically point out that this case was NOT part of Operation Sundevil (as you have done) and a citation to "The Top Ten Media Errors About the SJ Games Raid". Electronic Frontier Foundation. 1994-10-12. http://www.sjgames.com/SS/topten.html should be added to help correct this misperception. Brianwc (talk) 23:49, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Actually, I just pulled that citation from the Operation Sundevil page and looking more closely there's no indication that the source is EFF. Instead it looks like something written by SJ Games itself. So the authorship in the citation in the Operation Sundevil article should probably be corrected too.Brianwc (talk) 23:51, 26 May 2010 (UTC)

Unclear
What was the gov't attempting to prosecute in their raid on Steve Jackson Games? I think it's a pretty significant leap from games to criminal hacking. The substance of the charges is not made clear here. Kortoso (talk) 21:23, 29 August 2017 (UTC)
 * There's information on the raid below, though it was removed from the article because it was never properly sourced. Another editor recently tried to add a similar section, also without sources. DonIago (talk) 13:04, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

Who actually "published" the file?
Who (or what entity) actually published the text file in question? Was it published in Phrack, which was then made available on the The Phoenix Project BBS? Or had some user simply posted the text to the BBS? I've studied the relevant paragraph, and I can't figure it out. Here's the wording that I'm concerned with:
 * "He had run a Bulletin board system (BBS) from his home called The Phoenix Project, which had helped distribute the popular underground ezine Phrack. In 1989 it published the contents of a text file, stolen from BellSouth..." (emphasis added)

What is "it?" If multiple interpretations are possible, pronouns are supposed to refer to the last candidate noun written before the pronoun. In other words, the way this is written suggests that Phrack published the text from the stolen file. I was assuming whoever "published" the file was more directly associated with the BBS or Blankenship. Or did Blankenship also run Phrack, therefore having some legal exposure in either case? Dcs002 (talk) 04:59, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

Unsourced Material
Article has been tagged for needing sources since 2008. Please feel free to reincorporate the below material with appropriate references. DonIago (talk) 15:48, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

Here are the sources. What is the problem? jnestorius(talk) 15:45, 30 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Looks much better now! Thanks for your efforts! DonIago (talk) 16:25, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

External links modified (January 2018)
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Links at the bottom of the page
The link to the article about GURPS Cyberpunk says that it's a role-playing game by William Gibson. This is false, but I don't know how to edit the text in a link. Metarob (talk) 05:34, 6 August 2020 (UTC)

Secret Service
This is mystifying to a casual reader like me. OK Bell South found that one of their proprietary documents had been posted on line: and they called the Secret Service. What's it got to do with the SS who, AFAIK, have primary objectives of keeping the President alive and stopping fake currency? This is never explained and it should be. Cross Reference (talk) 13:19, 6 March 2023 (UTC)


 * The Secret Service is tasked to protect the payment and financial systems of the United States, which includes a remit to investigate cyber crime. &mdash;  The Hand That Feeds You :Bite 15:34, 6 March 2023 (UTC)