The Thread

fabertong · Post by **fabertong** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:14 pm

3200

dtravel · Post by **dtravel** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:14 pm

ORIGINAL: fabertong

Fish Vindaloo......................I'll say no more.....

And yet, somehow, you said too much....

Mynok · Post by **Mynok** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:15 pm

Ahhhhhhhh.... [:D] [:D]

My sympathies. One would think that the icy water would cool that off a bit, no?

Mike Solli · Post by **Mike Solli** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:15 pm

In my world it means: Brigade Support Area.

Mynok · Post by **Mynok** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:16 pm

ORIGINAL: dtravel

ORIGINAL: Mynok

Maybe that explains why the BSA went after Steve Jackson games! Somebody got fragged!!

BSA?

Business Software Alliance.

Microsoft's goon squad........

Redmond's Comfy Chair Administrators......

Mike Solli · Post by **Mike Solli** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:16 pm

ORIGINAL: Mynok

Ahhhhhhhh.... [:D] [:D]

My sympathies. One would think that the icy water would cool that off a bit, no?

If he sticks his butt in it.....

Arstavidios · Post by **Arstavidios** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:18 pm

Uh, time to join the crowd of the faithful...

dtravel · Post by **dtravel** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:19 pm

ORIGINAL: Mynok

ORIGINAL: dtravel

ORIGINAL: Mynok

Maybe that explains why the BSA went after Steve Jackson games! Somebody got fragged!!

BSA?

Business Software Alliance.

Microsoft's goon squad........

Redmond's Comfy Chair Administrators......

When was this? I haven't kept up with SJG for some years. I know at one point the Secret Service seized all their computers (can't remember if they ever even found out why), but I think this is the first I'm hearing of BSA. Especially since Steve Jackson Games produced role-playing and desktop/board games, not computer games.

Mynok · Post by **Mynok** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:21 pm

After checking, you are correct. It was the Secret Service, not the BSA....at least in name. [:D]

dtravel · Post by **dtravel** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:28 pm

They ever find out why the Secret Service went after them? I remember that at the time the SS wasn't saying anything. Wouldn't even tell them if they were the target of the investigation or not.

RUPD3658 · Post by **RUPD3658** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:36 pm

I am glad someone explained what BSA was. I couldn't think why the Boy Scouts of America would have a problem with a game.

Mynok · Post by **Mynok** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:39 pm

ORIGINAL: dtravel

They ever find out why the Secret Service went after them? I remember that at the time the SS wasn't saying anything. Wouldn't even tell them if they were the target of the investigation or not.

I just glanced hurried at a couple articles from reputable sources, but there appears to be a bunch of stuff out there. I'm certain you could find an answer.

dtravel · Post by **dtravel** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:43 pm

Maybe if I remember when I get back from the eye doc. (Annual checkup time.)

rtrapasso · Post by **rtrapasso** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:18 pm

ORIGINAL: dtravel

ORIGINAL: Mynok

ORIGINAL: dtravel

BSA?

Business Software Alliance.

Microsoft's goon squad........

Redmond's Comfy Chair Administrators......

When was this? I haven't kept up with SJG for some years. I know at one point the Secret Service seized all their computers (can't remember if they ever even found out why), but I think this is the first I'm hearing of BSA. Especially since Steve Jackson Games produced role-playing and desktop/board games, not computer games.

Steve Jackson (who was in my dorm a year or two behind me at Rice) had a government goon squad seize all his company's computers when he started doing a game about hackers (which may have been called Hackers - (edit: actually called Cyberpunk.) The government claimed it was promoting hackers, or some such nonsense*. Jackson eventually beat off the bizarre government attack, but it almost bankrupted his company...

"More than three years later, a federal court awarded damages and attorneys' fees to the game company, ruling that the raid had been careless, illegal, and completely unjustified. Electronic civil-liberties advocates hailed the case as a landmark. It was the first step toward establishing that online speech IS speech, and entitled to Constitutional protection... and, specifically, that law-enforcement agents can't seize and hold a BBS with impunity."

*EDIT : Originally, they claimed that Steve Jackson & company WERE a bunch of hackers, but this quickly fell apart under scrutiny...

Speedysteve · Post by **Speedysteve** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:47 pm

Hi Robert,

Would this be the same Steve Jackson whose co-writer was Ron (?) Livingstone? As in they wrote the 'fighting fantasy' series of books? If so I read/played most them in my early teens.

Regards,

Steven

rtrapasso · Post by **rtrapasso** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:47 pm

In researching this (trying to refresh my decrepit memory), it turns out one of the people working at Steve Jackson Games was the target of the Secret Service because he ran a computer Bulletin Board System that published a hackers E-zine (called Phrack, which i think only recently became defunct) and apparently knew some alleged hackers.

Bruce Sterling (a sci-fi writer noted for doing Cyberpunk stories) wrote a book about this whole mess, and it (the book) is now online at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

rtrapasso · Post by **rtrapasso** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:53 pm

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Hi Robert,

Would this be the same Steve Jackson whose co-writer was Ron (?) Livingstone? As in they wrote the 'fighting fantasy' series of books? If so I read/played most them in my early teens.

Regards,

Steven

He gets confused with this guy (who is British) and the US Steve Jackson actually wrote three books in the series. This from Wikipedia:

"Jackson is a 1974 graduate of Rice University.

He is often mistaken for Steve Jackson, a British gamebook and video game writer, by those new to the hobby. The confusion is exacerbated by the fact that while the UK Jackson was co-creator of the Fighting Fantasy Game Books series, the US Jackson also wrote three books in this series (Scorpion Swamp, Demons of the Deep, and Robot Commando)."

Speedysteve · Post by **Speedysteve** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:42 am

Interesting stuff my friend. You learn something new every day!

On that note it's bedtime over here. Night all.

Steven

dtravel · Post by **dtravel** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 1:24 am

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso

ORIGINAL: dtravel

ORIGINAL: Mynok

Business Software Alliance.

Microsoft's goon squad........

Redmond's Comfy Chair Administrators......

When was this? I haven't kept up with SJG for some years. I know at one point the Secret Service seized all their computers (can't remember if they ever even found out why), but I think this is the first I'm hearing of BSA. Especially since Steve Jackson Games produced role-playing and desktop/board games, not computer games.

Steve Jackson (who was in my dorm a year or two behind me at Rice) had a government goon squad seize all his company's computers when he started doing a game about hackers (which may have been called Hackers - (edit: actually called Cyberpunk.) The government claimed it was promoting hackers, or some such nonsense*. Jackson eventually beat off the bizarre government attack, but it almost bankrupted his company...

"More than three years later, a federal court awarded damages and attorneys' fees to the game company, ruling that the raid had been careless, illegal, and completely unjustified. Electronic civil-liberties advocates hailed the case as a landmark. It was the first step toward establishing that online speech IS speech, and entitled to Constitutional protection... and, specifically, that law-enforcement agents can't seize and hold a BBS with impunity."

*EDIT : Originally, the claimed that Steve Jackson & company WERE a bunch of hackers, but this quickly fell apart under scrutiny...

I wonder if SJG ever collected or if it is still tied up in court. [8|]

rtrapasso · Post by **rtrapasso** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 2:14 am

I wonder if SJG ever collected or if it is still tied up in court.

i am thinking he collected. The amount of money for the the government was piddling for them ($50,000 plus court costs, etc.) but considerable for Steve Jackson games. It's been over a dozen years since they had the award made by the court, and there was no mention of an appeal in the articles i saw.

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