Some months ago, I wrote an article about the raid on SteveJackson Games, which appeared in my "Comment" column in theBritish science fiction monthly, INTERZONE (#44, Feb 1991).This updated version, specially re-written for dissemination byEFF, reflects the somewhat greater knowledge I've gained todate, in the course of research on an upcoming nonfiction book,THE HACKER CRACKDOWN: Law and Disorder on the ElectronicFrontier.

The bizarre events suffered by Mr. Jackson and his co-workers,in my own home town of Austin, Texas, were directly responsiblefor my decision to put science fiction aside and to tackle thepurportedly real world of computer crime and electronicfree-expression.

The national crackdown on computer hackers in 1990 was thelargest and best-coordinated attack on computer mischief inAmerican history. There was Arizona's "Operation Sundevil,"the sweeping May 8 nationwide raid against outlaw bulletinboards. The BellSouth E911 case (of which the Jackson raid wasa small and particularly egregious part) was coordinated out ofChicago. The New York State Police were also very active in1990.

All this vigorous law enforcement activity meant very little tothe narrow and intensely clannish world of science fiction.All we knew -- and this misperception persisted, uncorrected,for months -- was that Mr. Jackson had been raided because ofhis intention to publish a gaming book about "cyberpunk"science fiction. The Jackson raid received extensive coveragein science fiction news magazines (yes, we have these) andbecame notorious in the world of SF as "the Cyberpunk Bust."My INTERZONE article attempted to make the Jackson caseintelligible to the British SF audience.

What possible reason could lead an American federal lawenforcement agency to raid the headquarters of a science-fictiongaming company? Why did armed teams of city police, corporate