Reprinted from: Compuserve's Online Today FEDERAL PRIVACY SUIT AGAINST BBS OPERATOR (March 26) An electronic bulletin board system user has filed a $112,000 lawsuit against a BBS and its system operator claiming that the sysop did not properly safeguard private electronic mail. The lawsuit could prove to be a landmark since a court ruling would be the first one handed down under the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. The ECPA mandates privacy protection of electronic communications, including the electronic mail found on commercial services and bulletin board systems. Linda Thompson filed a pro se complaint in the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. The civil action alleges that Bob Predaina, doing business as the Professional's Choice Bulletin Board, violated federal or Indiana state law on 10 counts. According to the complaint obtained by Online Today, during December of 1987, Predaina allowed others to access and view the contents of all electronic communications in a private message portion of the subscription BBS. Previously deleted private messages were also restored so that others could read them. Apparently, Thompson`s private e-mail was among the messages made available to others. Again, in January, 1988, the sysop "intentionally or recklessly intercepted and restored to the public portion of the board," a private message of Thompson's that she had previously deleted. In subsequent action, the sysop denied Thompson access to the board even though she had paid one year subscription to the BBS. When Thompson requested that the sysop refrain from actions that "were contrary to the law," Predaina refused. The last two counts of the complaint could be the most damaging and state that on January 6, the sysop "intentionally, maliciously or with reckless disregard for the truth, made statements which on their face are damaging to the professional and personal reputation of [Thompson] in public and to another person, subjecting the Petitioner to humiliation, personal anguish and ridicule." In the suit, Predaina is charged with making similar statements in the form of publicly posted BBS messages. Predaina did not respond to phone calls from Online Today for a reaction to the lawsuit. However, callers to Predaina's BBS are greeted with a public apology to Thompson. "Generally sysops are good at policing themselves and their boards," Thompson told Online Today. "The reason for the lawsuit was that there apparently was going to be no resolution between [Predaina and myself]. I think that if you have a board that has a facility for private mail, you have a right to expect that private mail stays private and is not spread all over." --James Moran