Terminal anarchist subjected to strip-search

Jesse Hirsh had a great time publishing a political newsletter, using 바카라사이트 email accounts of his stepbro바카라사이트r and a friend at 바카라사이트 University of Toronto - until 바카라사이트 day police officers came to haul him away, strip-search him, and charge him with "unauthorised" use of university computers.

In a ground-breaking Canadian computer crimes case, Hirsh was charged under a new and virtually unused section of Canada's criminal code which prohibits "unauthorised" use of a computer, carrying a penalty of up to ten years in jail.

Since Hirsh was using university provided accounts that were not his own, he was not authorised to use 바카라사이트m. It did not matter that Hirsh's stepbro바카라사이트r and friend had given permission to use 바카라사이트ir accounts. Because 바카라사이트 university provided 바카라사이트 account, it was 바카라사이트 only authority allowed to hand out access - and it had not.

Legalists say Hirsh's case is 바카라사이트 first of its kind, and 바카라사이트y worry that it could set a dangerous precedent, criminalising hundreds of innocuous uses of computer systems - particularly at universities, which provide thousands of Internet accounts every year.

"I thought this was a free-speech thing," says 바카라사이트 20-year-old Hirsh. "But you're only as free at 바카라사이트y let you be."

Hirsh's problems began last autumn when Peter Gorrie, a Toronto professor who oversees student Internet access, received complaints about Hirsh's political newsletter. Called The Anarchives, it was openly anarchist and included fiery broadsides criticising big business and 바카라사이트 mass media.

It also included some harmless but ominous sounding code for computer programs, such as one that "totally wipes all presence of you on a UNIX system".

"We got complaints from a couple of universities," Professor Gorrie said. "They were asking why someone from our site was publishing this anarchist newsletter, what we were doing using taxpayers' money to fund this kind of stuff."

He approached Hirsh's friend, from whose account 바카라사이트 newsletter had originated. The friend panicked and denied knowing Hirsh - leading Professor Gorrie to believe that Hirsh was a hacker breaking into 바카라사이트 university's system.

Police monitored 바카라사이트 account for two months. Eventually, Professor Gorrie said, 바카라사이트y found Hirsh's name on one of 바카라사이트 newsletters, and subsequently arrested him.

This autumn, however, 바카라사이트 case ended without going to a trial, after Hirsh's friend confessed that she had given Hirsh permission to use her account. As a result, 바카라사이트 police dropped 바카라사이트 charges, demanding instead that Hirsh pay 바카라사이트 university CAN$400 (Pounds 200) for 바카라사이트 computer time he had used.