Security News > 2005 > July > Lawsuit claims law firm hacked into Net library site

Forwarded from: Marjorie Simmons http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2005/07/18/story5.html Larry Rulison Staff Writer Philadelphia Business Journal July 18, 2005 VALLEY FORGE -- An intellectual property law firm here is being sued in federal court, accused of hacking into a well-known Internet library to get evidence for a separate civil lawsuit it was defending for a client. The law firm, Harding Earley, Follmer & Frailey, is vehemently denying any wrongdoing, although it admits it legally searched the library, known as the Internet Archive, for old Web site pages produced by Healthcare Advocates Inc., a Philadelphia company that sued Harding Earley's client in federal court in 2003. In that lawsuit, Healthcare Advocates sued a Blue Bell company with a similar name called Health Advocate Inc. for misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, fraud and copyright and trademark infringement, among other allegations. Both companies help consumers deal with health insurance companies and claims. The judge in the case ruled in favor of the defendants earlier this year before it even went to trial, a decision that is now under appeal. Although it has saved a whole host of digital material, including texts, audio, moving images and software, the Internet Archive is well-known among researchers and journalists for its popular search engine called the Wayback Machine that allows people to look at old Web pages that have since been changed or updated. The Internet Archive is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, and use of the Wayback Machine is free. Web site owners can contact the group if they do not want their pages archived. On July 8, attorneys for Healthcare Advocates from the firm of McCarter & English sued Harding Earley and the Internet Archive, claiming that employees at the law firm hacked into the Wayback Machine to produce old Healthcare Advocates Web pages for discovery in the 2003 civil case. Among the allegations are violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by hacking into the Wayback Machine. The company is also alleging that the Internet Archive did not adequately protect the company's Web pages from viewing after the company took recommended steps to block viewing in 2003. The McCarter & English lawyer leading the case is Scott Christie, a former federal prosecutor who most recently headed the computer hacking and intellectual property unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey. Christie said the case is unlike any other he has ever seen. He does not know of any other case where a law firm had been sued over this type of allegation. "Computer hacking is not an acceptable discovery technique," Christie said. "I was sort of surprised by the prospect that a law firm would be involved. Hacking, for whatever purpose, is unacceptable." Although it has not been served with the lawsuit yet, Harding Earley is denying the allegations. Partner John Earley said this week in an interview that the suit was "merit less" and that no one at the firm hacked into the Wayback Machine; instead, employees merely used the Wayback Machine search engine as anyone else would. He said his employees were looking for old Healthcare Advocates Web pages to help prove his clients' case, but they never did anything illegal to get to any information that was blocked. "What didn't come up, we didn't get," Earley said. "Certainly, we didn't do [hacking]. It's kind of ridiculous." Officials at the Internet Archive were not available for comment before deadline this week. The group has not been served with the lawsuit, a spokeswoman said. lrulison at bizjournals.com | 215-238-5136 _________________________________________ Attend the Black Hat Briefings and Training, Las Vegas July 23-28 - 2,000+ international security experts, 10 tracks, no vendor pitches. www.blackhat.com

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