Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority V. Anderson

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority V. Anderson

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority v. Anderson, et al., Civil Action No. 08-11364, was a challenge brought by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) to prevent three Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) students from publicly presenting a security vulnerability they discovered in the MBTA's Charlie Card automated fare collection system. The case concerns the extent to which the disclosure of a computer security flaw is a form of free speech protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The MBTA claimed that the MIT students violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and on August 9, 2008 was granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the students to prevent them from presenting information to DEFCON conference attendees that could have potentially been used to defraud the MBTA of transit fares. The MIT students contended that submitting their research for review and approval by a government agency before publication is unconstitutional prior restraint.

The case garnered considerable popular and press attention when the injunction unintentionally became a victim of the Streisand effect, increasing the dissemination of the sensitive information of the students' presentation because the slides had been both distributed to conference organizers in the weeks before the injunction as well as inadvertently posted to the district court's public website as exhibits to the MBTA's original complaint.

On August 19, the judge rejected the MBTA's request to extend the restraining order and the TRO likewise expired, thus granting the students the right to discuss and present their findings.