anecdote about Prodigy

[L. Detweiler]

ah, the perils of surveillance & censorship...

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Subject: Prodigy intrusiveness causes bogus security scare
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 93 19:52:17 -0700

Subject: 14-year-old's computer 'joke' sets off alarms nationwide
Date: 19 Aug 93 23:51:17 GMT

         SEATTLE (UPI) -- A seemingly innocuous joke sent by a 14-year-old girl
over a computer network didn't get any laughs at the New York City
Police Department, or with the Baltimore Orioles or Kingdome officials
in Seattle.
         In an attempt to get a rise out of her boyfriend in New Jersey, the
teenager typed out a phony death threat Monday against Baltimore Orioles
superstar Cal Ripkin, Jr.
         The young girl knew her boyfriend was an avid Orioles fan and that
Baltimore was playing the Seattle Mariners in the Kingdome.
         But Prodigy security personnel picked up on the message in their New
York headquarters and called police. They notified the Orioles and the
Kingdome, where security was immediately tightened.
         Police staked out the address from where the message had come for 16
hours before the girl, whose parents were on vacation, returned home
with her 28-year-old sister.
         The girl received a stern lecture, but no charges were filed. Police
said she was ``very embarrassed and apologetic'' and added, ``By the
time her sister got done chewing her out, that was enough.''





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