Transit Authority Jumps In Front Of Train, Publishes Confidential White Paper

Las Vegas (NV) - Court cases are a wonderful thing because almost all the evidence and filings become public record. The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority is suing MIT University and three students for hacking its fare system. The three students, Zack Anderson, 21, Alessandro Chiesa, 20 and Russell"RJ" Ryan, 22, were also hit with a temporary restraining order that forbids them from giving their scheduled speech at Defcon on Sunday afternoon. But unfortunately for the MBTA, its attorneys included a confidential white paper about the hack ... a paper that was supposed to be, well, confidential. Of course, we’ve included that document below. In a previous article, we published all the slides from the cancelled talk.

Electronic Frontier Foundation attorneys and the students held a press conference Saturday afternoon to inform attendees that the talk was cancelled. The EFF is representing the students and senior staff attorney Kurt Opsahl told the audience that he believed Judge Douglas Woodlock was wrong in issuing the injunction. The students stayed fairly quiet, but did says that they had faith in the justice system and were very grateful to the EFF for the help.

Legal documents by their very nature contain specific language and that specificity can come back to bite the MBTA. In a question and answer session, attendees suggested several creative ways of getting around the gag order.

The injunction is specifically against the three students and MIT University, so someone else could give a talk about the hack. In addition, since the MBTA is the organization that was granted the injunction, the students could possibly talk about another subway system. Attendees laughed and cheered when Defcon officials announced that they are seeking some "creative" ways to fill the now empty Sunday afternoon slot. Things that make you say hmmmm ...

Click here for the slides