Security researcher faces jail for finding bugs
A French security researcher who published exploit codes that could take advantage of bugs in an antivirus application could be imprisoned for violation of copyright laws. In 2001, French security researcher Guillaume Tena found a number of vulnerabilities in the Viguard antivirus software published by Tegam. Tena, who at the time was known by his pseudonym Guillermito, published his research online in March 2002.
However, Tena's actions were not viewed kindly by Tegam, which initiated legal action against the researcher. That action resulted in a case being brought to trial at a court in Paris, France. The trial kicked off on 4 January, 2005, after being deferred from its initially scheduled start date of 5 October, 2004. The prosecution claims that Tena violated article 335.2 of the code of the intellectual property and is asking for a four month jail term and a €6,000 fine. Additionally, Tegam is proceeding with a civil case against Tena and asking for €900,000 in damages.
Accoridng to Tena's Web site, his research "showed how the program worked, demonstrated a few security flaws and carried out some tests with real viruses. Unlike the advertising claimed, this software didn't detect and stop '100 percent of viruses'."
