Underground system
The legal battle over a subway hack presentation rages on

Boston subway hack battle rages on

Students continue appeal, MBTA seeks more info

Written by Shaun Nichols in San Francisco

Advertisement

Three students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology remain mired in a legal battle more than a week after they were scheduled to give a presentation at the Defcon convention.

The students had planned to present research into a hack of the Charlie payment system used by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA).

Transit officials filed suit with a judge earlier this month to prevent the students from delivering the presentation, which the MBTA claims will allow others to manipulate the system and avoid paying fares.

The MBTA won a preliminary decision last week from a federal judge who placed a temporary restraining order on the students.

The latest round in the battle concerns whether the judge will issue an injunction to further prevent the students from disclosing the information or lift the restraining order.

MBTA attorneys argued in an interview with The Boston Globe that the students had not turned over enough information on the report and were not complying with the judge's original order.

The students claim that the MBTA had asked only for a vulnerability, which was given, and that they believed the matter to be resolved.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing the three students, has claimed that MBTA officials were given all the requested information.

The privacy group cited a filing from an MBTA Transit Police detective which suggests that the students had agreed to provide a vulnerability report and that the officers did not believe the research had violated any laws.

Related whitepapers

Related jobs

Do you agree?

IT white papers

Search vnunet IThound

Top categories

Job of the week

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Hiring now on ComputingCareers:

Related IT jobs

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Enter email address to edit your newsletter preferences

Watch

School children using PCs

14 Aug 2008

9.23 MBComputing podcast 14 August 2008 More...

Cern particle accelerator

07 Aug 2008

6.18 MBComputing podcast 7 August 2008 More...

06 Aug 2008

6.14 MBEco-Entrepreneur Podcast: Landis+Gyr More...

Poll

GARY MCKINNON EXTRADITION

GARY MCKINNON EXTRADITION

Should Gary McKinnon be extradited to the US for hacking into military computers?

Previous poll results

Spotlight

Intel

IDF: Intel outlines solid state roadmap

First products out within a month   More...

Craig Barrett

IDF: Intel shows its human side

Barrett urges innovation to help cure world's ills   More...

Google Android

Android release looms with new SDK

Update gives clearer picture on Google smartphone   More...

Pat Gelsinger

IDF: Intel touts embedded systems

Technology will disappear into the background, says Gelsinger   More...

Primary Navigation