MIT Students at Center of Free Speech Case (Updated)
Aug 15, 2008
A U.S. District Court judge in Boston decided yesterday not to lift a temporary restraining order imposed against three Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) undergrads who reportedly uncovered security flaws in the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's e-ticketing system. He also ordered them to provide more documentation about their research into how the Boston subway system can be hacked.
The 10-day gag order was issued last Saturday after the transit agency filed a lawsuit against the MIT students in an effort to prevent them from discussing their findings at the annual DEFCON conference in Las Vegas. The students are being represented in the case by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which argues that the order violates their First Amendment rights.
According to Computerworld, yesterday's "ruling reopened the schism in the IT security community over the issue of how vulnerabilities should be publicly disclosed." Read more here.
Updated (8.19.08): The gag order against the three students has been lifted.
Tags:
cyber security, Electronic Frontier Foundation, First Amendment, free speech, hacker, MIT, security
