INTERNET

Larry Benedict's chilling tale makes me hesitate

by Bonnie Bucqueroux

INTERNET The Web Doctor

Most of the spam that clogs my e-mail each day is easy to ignore. No, thanks, I do not want to increase the size of my penis. But the other day, I received a message inviting me to click on a link to view images of women having amorous adventures with horses, goats and eels (eels?).

Curiosity tempted me to click (electric eels?). But then visions of the FBI's Carnivore program made me think twice. Would one click set off an alarm bell somewhere in Washington, signaling John Ashcroft to dispatch a team of clear-eyed FBI agents to my door?

Or am I just paranoid after talking with Larry Benedict, who has spent the past seven years defending himself against federal charges of child pornography?

Larry called me months ago to ask for my help, in my capacity as executive director for Crime Victims for a Just Society <www.crimevictims.net>. Larry told me that he had been caught in the net while exchanging pirated computer games with a man named Michael Bollander, an admitted and convicted child pornographer. Larry, a lifelong computer geek, admits to poor judgment in trading copyrighted games with Bollander through the mails, but he denies any involvement or interest in child pornography.

Seven years ago, Larry was a senior engineer with Xerox in upstate New York, engaged to marry the woman he hoped would make his life complete. But then Larry returned home one night to find FBI agents, state police and postal inspectors carting off his computer gear. His name had cropped up when agents investigating Bollander found packages of computer disks from Larry awaiting pickup in Bollander's post office box.

Larry says those disks were copies of pirated games he sent to Bollander. But the disks were destroyed before any expert had a chance to check them - the postal officials stored the packages in a leaky basement, making the files irretrievable.

The government expert who examined the computer seized from Larry's home failed to find any incriminating photos. But then, on the eve of recent court hearings, the government announced that it had found 11 illegal images on Larry's hard drive - though even the government's experts apparently concur that the zipped files were never opened (which would mean that even if they were there all along, Larry never saw them).

In a message forwarded to me by his brother (Larry is under government order not to use the Internet), Larry wrote, "This is like them saying 'look what we found in the bottom of the box we took from your house six a half years ago . . . a pound of crack . . . and a signed confession . . . gee, silly of us for missing it.'"

Is Larry an innocent trapped in a web woven by overzealous government agents? I passed what I knew about Larry's case to Declan McCullagh, Wired magazine's renowned reporter on computer privacy and first amendment issues. He wrote five articles that raise questions on both sides <this is the link to the first article in the series at Wired online -- it includes links to the others www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,48946,00.html>.

It looks bad for Larry that he agreed to a plea agreement which he is now trying to undo. On the plus side for him is the news that convicted pedophile George Bollander has admitted to trading illicit images with many men nationwide but never with Larry.

If Larry is blameless, it has cost him seven years of worry and fear, along with his marriage and his job. The $200,000 in legal expenses incurred so far also cost him his home, and Larry's dad has had to borrow money to help. (Larry's dad maintains a website on the case at <members.home.net/grbenedict/Larry2/Larry.htm>.)

"What is even more shocking to me is how easy it is for one person to set up another person to a child pornography crime," writes Larry. "With about fifteen minutes of computer work, one person can just totally destroy another person's life and be totally undetectable. The lynch mob mentality of the government will be right there to help pound the accused into the ground."

I will admit that my stomach lurched the first time I heard from Larry. What if he is guilty? Would I want to risk helping someone who would exploit prepubescent boys? Then my stomach lurched again -- what if he is innocent?

I also know the government has poured millions of dollars into uncovering and prosecuting child pornography and that puts enormous pressure on those involved to produce results. Agents immersed in dealing with creepy people who abuse kids for their own pleasure are always at risk of letting their moral outrage cloud their judgment. It is easy to see why they might want to cut corners to ensure not even one guilty person gets away.

Meanwhile Larry awaits final determination of whether he can rescind his plea bargain and get his day in court or go to prison. Even if he is completely vindicated, would the stain ever completely wash away?

And I keep on deleting those intriguing e-mails. Curiosity may not kill the cat, but the threat of never-ending government scrutiny and surveillance might make me glad that I don't have nine lives to live.

Among many career paths and interests, Bonnie Bucqueroux acts as Web doctor for Web specialists Newslink Associates (designers of City Pulse Online). E-mail us your questions and she will try to answer them in future columns.