Closer to home, Harvard has not been activelylobbying on many computer technology issues.

Kevin Casey, the director of federal and staterelations, said, "I have not been involved inspecific issues regarding computer piracy."

Local Reactions

The reaction of those at Harvard who are morefamiliar with issues of technology was largelyfavorable to the idea of amending the legislation.

"I think [the LaMacchia case] shows that U.S.laws as they stand right now need to be updated totake into account some of the many technologicalissues that are around today," said Eugene E. Kim'96, the former president of the Harvard ComputerSociety (HCS).

John E. Stafford '96, the current president ofHCS and a Crimson editor, agreed with Kim'sassessment.

"I think it sent a pretty clear message to thefederal and state governments that the laws needto be rewritten to cover instances of this naturewhich are now possible because of the Internet,"Stafford said.

Richard B. Osterberg '96 said he believed thattechnology was moving at a faster pace than thelaws covering it.

"I think that what LaMacchia did was wrong,"Osterberg said, but the case "serves to illustratejust how far behind technology our legal systemis."

Franklin M. Steen, the director of the HarvardArts and Sciences Computer Services (HASCS), saidhe believed that the decision in the LaMacchiacase set a bad precedent.

"I am concerned because it implies that it isokay...to distribute pirated software over aUniversity network," Steen said. "It is, ofcourse, not okay because you are distributingstolen goods."

"Still," he added, "the courts need to clarifythe rules in light of the new situations peopleusing networks encounter."

Piracy at Harvard

"I'd define computer piracy loosely as copyingor distributing computer software illegally," saidKim.

He outlined three common situations of piracywhich could make a criminal of a friendly-andunaware-computer user: copying commercial softwarefrom a friend, allowing a friend to copycommercial software from you, or using sharewarewithout registering.