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RAIN 02/24 Weekly Update: Litigation, Audits and more (28)



Andersen/Enron lead the news again, but Napster is back.


Newsweek 2/17/02
No Accounting For It
Exclusive: Documents show Enron hid a disastrous bookkeeping error from investors
By Allan Sloan and Mark Hosenball
Feb. 25 issue — Isn’t it amazing that no one seems to have been responsible for the collapse of America’s seventh largest corporation?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/709343.asp



AP 2/15/02
Giuliani Records to Be Handed Over
Fri Feb 15, 6:34 AM ET
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Records from the Giuliani administration will be handed over to a private archivist for processing under a new plan by city officials.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020215/ap_on_re_us/giuliani_records_7



AP 2/17/02
Andersen Denies Shred Responsibility
Report: Andersen's Top Managers Not Responsible for Shredding at Enron
CHICAGO (AP) -- An internal investigation by Arthur Andersen LLP has determined the accounting firm's top managers were not responsible for the shredding of documents at Enron, according to a published report.
http://biz.yahoo.com/apf/020217/andersen_shredding_1.html



New York Times 2/17/02
States Eye High - Tech Changes for Drivers' Licenses
By REUTERS
Filed at 12:12 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The humble state driver's license is being sized up for a make-over as lawmakers and government agencies look for ways to reduce identity fraud in the wake of Sept. 11.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-tech-id.html


The Times-Picayune 2/17/02
Court fire causes trial delay
Public defender has ‘almost nothing left'
02/17/02
By Steve Cannizaro
St. Bernard/Plaquemines bureau/The Times-Picayune
Among the casualties of the Jan. 12 fire that destroyed the Plaquemines Parish
Courthouse were the records of criminal cases handled by the parish's public
defenders, including a case that drew national attention -- that of Alvin Latham, a
shrimp boat deckhand who allegedly killed his captain over a sinking boat's only
life jacket in July 2000.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/newsstory/latham17.html


Federal Computer Week 2/18/02
Park Service back online
BY Megan Lisagor
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0218/news-park-02-18-02.asp


Chicago Tribune 2/19/02
Accounting giant close to finishing investigation
By Delroy Alexander
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/printeditio...02190104feb19.story?coll=chi%2Dprintbusiness%2Dhed


Chicago Tribune 2/19/02
Questions linger on Andersen
Shredding issues: What happened, who knew what?
By Cam Simpson
http://chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0202190081feb19.story?coll=chi%2Dbusiness%2Dhed



WashTech.com 2/19/02
Supreme Court to Weigh in On Copyright Laws
By Gina Holland
Associated Press Writer
The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to intervene in a fight over copyrights, deciding whether Congress has sided too heavily with writers and other inventors.
The outcome will determine when hundreds of thousands of books, songs and movies will be freely available on the Internet or in digital libraries.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32412-2002Feb19.html


VUNET.COM 2/19/02
Criminal Records Bureau set to go live
By Steve Ranger
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1129333


USA Today 2/19/02
Enron case could be largest corporate investigation
By Edward Iwata, USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO — Beyond the congressional circus and shredded documents, the fate of the Enron case — and most investigations of suspected corporate crime — rests in the hands of computer forensic experts and forensic accountants working quietly behind the scenes. The sheer scope of the Enron case, believed to be the largest computer forensics case in history, dwarfs other financial probes. Investigators will pore through 10,000 computer backup tapes, 20 million sheets of paper and more than 400 computers and handheld devices, according to legal papers. The electronic data is up to 10 times the size of the Library of Congress.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/energy/enron/2002-02-19-forensic-detectives.htm


New York Times 2/20/02
Justices to Review Copyright Extension
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/20/national/20RIGH.html


Hollywood Reporter 2/20/02
High court joins congressional copyright flap
By Brooks Boliek
WASHINGTON (The Hollywood Reporter) --- The U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) agreed Tuesday to decide whether Congress went too far when it lengthened by 20 years the time the studios and other copyright holders can have an exclusive right to control their works.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/bpih...bpihw/high_court_joins_congressional_copyright_flap


Technology Review March 2002
The Death of Digital Rights Management?
By Wade Roush
It’s an e-business enigma. PC owners are looking for more and more of their
entertainment online, as Napster and its subscription-based successors have shown. And
many of the companies that own today’s most popular songs, books and movies are
eager to sell their content over the Internet—if only they can find a way that’s both
convenient for customers and profitable for copyright owners. Yet many of the “digital
rights management” companies that were founded to provide just such an online
marketplace are shrinking or even disappearing from sight.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/innovation10302.asp



Houston Chronicle 2/20/02
Auditors tell county to return HUD grants
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/metropolitan/1262332



Chicago Tribune 2/21/02
Andersen execs offer leads on shredding
By Flynn McRoberts
HOUSTON -- Two partners in the Andersen accounting firm's office here have given what
plaintiffs' attorneys described Wednesday as a road map to help determine who ordered Enron documents destroyed and why they did it.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/printeditio...02210257feb21.story?coll=chi%2Dprintbusiness%2Dhed



Bradenton Herald 2/21/02
Parks' file to be unsealed
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradentonherald/news/local/2715398.htm



CNEWS February 22, 2002
Alta bank seeks green light on bribery case after files lost in 9-11 attack
EDMONTON (CP) -- The Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center destroyed some of the files needed for a bribery lawsuit against the owners of the giant West Edmonton Mall,
says a bank's investigator who is trying to speed up the tangled case.
http://www.canoe.ca/NationalTicker/CANOE-wire.Mall-Bribery-Lawsuit.html


Orange County Register 02/22/02
Andersen partner: Shredding a stunner
In deposition, suspended manager Michael Lowther says press release was first he knew of charges.
By JEF FEELEY
Bloomberg News
Houston -- Arthur Andersen LLP partners were livid when they learned from a company press release that Enron Corp. audit documents were improperly destroyed, a former manager of the accounting firm said in a court-ordered sworn deposition.
http://www.ocregister.com/business/shred22bcci.shtml


Washington Post 02/22/02
Judge Says Officials 'Duped' Court
Closing Remarks Made in Indian Trust Fund Contempt Trial
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48884-2002Feb21.html



New York Times 02/22/02
Mortuary Investigated Over Caskets
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:27 a.m. ET
HILO, Hawaii (AP) -- The owner of a funeral home is denying allegations that the
home buried corpses in body bags instead of caskets purchased by customers.
Authorities seized hundreds of business records from Memorial Mortuary after
receiving at least three reports of the allegation at the funeral home, officials said
Thursday.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Mortuary-Investigation.html



New York Times 02/22/02
SUNY Classics Professor Is Accused of Plagiarism
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/22/education/22SUNY.html


CNN.com FindLaw Center 02/22/02
FindLaw Forum: Should bookstore purchase subpoenas be enforced?
by Julie Hilden
(FindLaw) -- During the past few years, bookstores small and large -- from the Tattered Cover in Denver, to Amazon.com and Borders -- have, with increasing frequency, received and fought subpoenas for their customers' book purchase records from prosecutors who say they need these documents to help prove their cases.
Unfortunately, the booksellers have been forced to wage an uphill battle, hoping for a
sympathetic judge.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/02/columns/fl.hilden.bookstore/index.html



Washington Post 02/23/02
Shredding Knowledge Denied
Andersen Workers Say Little During Enron Suit Depositions
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55489-2002Feb23.html



New York Times 02/23/02
Agency Files Suit for Cheney Papers on Energy Policy
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/23/business/23ENER.html



Washington Post 02/23/02
GAO Sues Administration For Task Force Records
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54736-2002Feb22.html



New York Times 02/23/02
Napster Wins One Round in Music Case
By MATT RICHTEL
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 22 — America's major record companies, which successfully sued to shut down the online music-swapping service Napster, suffered a setback today as the judge in the case allowed Napster to seek evidence that the record companies colluded to monopolize the digital music market.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/23/technology/23MUSI.html



Los Angeles Times 02/22/02
Record Firms Must Show Proof in Suit
By RON HARRIS, Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO -- The record industry must provide documented proof it owns copyrights to scores of popular music works it seeks to protect in its lawsuit against Napster, a federal judge ruled in an order released Friday.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/ats-ap_technology10feb22.story?coll=sns-ap-toptechnology



Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
pakurilecz@aol.com
Richmond, Va