Judge sides with Net filtering firm in copyright case

A federal judge in Boston today clamped down on three young Web operators who posted a program allowing children to get around Internet sites blocked by filtering firm Cyber Patrol.

The order by U.S. District Judge Edward Harrington came a day after two computer experts settled their copyright case with Cyber Patrol subsidiary Mattel, in which they were accused of cracking into the company's software.

The so-called mirror sites, whose administrators were represented by veteran American Civil Liberties Union attorney Chris Hansen, had argued that they were not breaking copyright laws because they simply distributed the descrambling program someone else created.

The judge found otherwise, describing the mirror sites as working in concert with the original two defendants.

Defendants Bennett Haselton, operator of Peacefire.org, along with two other members, face fines or jail time if they violate the judge's order.

In his three-page ruling, the judge pondered the broader issue involved in the copyright dispute.

"This case involves more than a complex and significant legal issue relating to copyright law," Harrington wrote. "It raises a most profound societal issue, namely, who is to control the educational and intellectual nourishment of young children--the parents or the purveyors of pornography and merchants of death and violence?"

Hansen could not immediately be reached for comment.

Mattel filed its lawsuit March 15 after learning that two computer experts broke into the home version of Cyber Patrol's filtering software. That case was resolved in a no-cash settlement yesterday.