Judgment in
U.S. v. Jeffrey Lee Parson

Introduction

On 11 August 2003, the first version of the Blaster (also called MSBlast or Lovsan) worm was found. Subsequently, many variants of this worm appeared. On 13 Aug 2003, Jeffrey Parson, then a few weeks past his 18^th birthday, released the Blaster.B worm from his house near Minneapolis. On 19 Aug 2003, federal agents searched Parson's house on suspicion that he had released a malicious computer program, and Parson was arrested on 29 Aug 2003. On 11 Aug 2004, Jeffrey Lee Parson pled guilty. On 28 Jan 2005, Parson was sentenced. This document is an HTML version of the official Judgement in U.S. v. Jeffrey Lee Parson.
I have posted this Judgment from the Blaster.B case because:

prosecution and punishment of people for writing or releasing a computer virus/worm has been rare;
the Judgment has not been published and I could not find a copy on the Internet in March 2005;
I hope that readers will see the seriousness of writing or releasing malicious computer programs, such as a virus or worm; and
I hope to assist professors of computer science to teach ethical behavior to their students.

Because I believe that this historical document should be readily available, I acquired a photocopy from the court clerk of the U.S. District Court in Seattle, scanned it, used optical character recognition software to convert the document to ASCII text, formatted the text in HTML, and posted it on the Internet at my website.

I have deleted the portions of the Judgment form that do not apply to Jeffrey Parson's case.

Ronald B. Standler
27 March 2005

Judgment Page 1 of 6

U.S. District Court

Western District of Washington

United States of America v. Jeffrey Lee Parson

Judgment in a Criminal Case

Case Number: CR03-0379P

Carol Koller and Nancy Tenney, Defendant's Attorneys

THE DEFENDANT:
pleaded guilty to count(s) One (1) of the Indictment (Date of Plea: August 11, 2004)

The defendant is adjudicated guilty of these offenses:

18 U.S.C. §§ 1030(a)(5)(A)(i), 1030(a)(5)(B)(i), 1030(b), 1030(c)(4)(A)
Intentionally Causing and Attempting to Cause Damage to a Protected Computer
Date Offense Concluded: September 10, 2003

The defendant is sentenced as provided in pages 2 through 6 of this judgment. The sentence is imposed pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984.

It is ordered that the defendant must notify the United States attorney for this district within 30 days of any change of name, residence, or mailing address until all fines, restitution, costs, and special assessments imposed by this judgment are fully paid. If ordered to pay restitution, the defendant must notify the court and United States attorney of material changes in economic circumstances.

/signed/
Annette L. Hayes, Assistant United States Attorney
Marsha J. Pechman, U.S. District Judge
January 28, 2005

Judgment Page 2 of 6

IMPRISONMENT

The defendant is hereby committed to the custody of the United Stases Bureau of Prisons to be imprisoned for a total term of: eighteen (18) months.

The court makes the following recommendations to the Bureau of Prisons:
That the defendant serve his sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Duluth, Minnesota, or Yankton, South Dakota.

The defendant shall surrender for service of sentence at the institution designated by the Bureau of Prisons:
as notified by the Probation or Pretrial Services Office.

Judgment Page 3 of 6

SUPERVISED RELEASE

Upon release from imprisonment, the defendant shall be on supervised release for a term of: Three (3) Years.

The defendant must report to the probation office in the district to which the defendant is released within 72 hours of release from the custody of the Bureau of Prisons.

The defendant shall not commit another federal, state or local crime.

The defendant shall not unlawfully possess a controlled substance. The defendant shall refrain from any unlawful use of a controlled substance. The defendant shall submit to one drug test within 15 days of release from imprisonment and at least two periodic drug tests thereafter, as determined by the court.

The defendant shall not possess a firearm, destructive device, or any other dangerous weapon.

The defendant shall cooperate in the collection of DNA as directed by the probation officer.

If this judgment imposes a fine or restitution, it is a condition of supervised release that the defendant pay in accordance with the Schedule of Payments sheet of this judgment.

The defendant must comply with the standard conditions that have been adopted by this court as well as with any additional conditions on the attached page.

STANDARD CONDITIONS OF SUPERVISION

the defendant shall not leave the judicial district without the permission of the court or probation officer;
the defendant shall report to the probation officer and shall submit a truthful and complete written report within the first five days of each month;
the defendant shall answer truthfully all inquiries by the probation officer and follow the instructions of the probation officer;
the defendant shall support his or her dependents and meet other family responsibilities;
the defendant shall work regularly at a lawful occupation, unless excused by the probation officer for schooling, training, or other acceptable reasons;
the defendant shall notify the probation officer at least ten days prior to any change in residence or employment;
the defendant shall refrain from excessive use of alcohol and shall not purchase, possess, use, distribute, or administer any controlled substance or any paraphernalia related to any controlled substances, except as prescribed by a physician;
the defendant shall not frequent places where controlled substances are illegally sold, used, distributed, or administered;
the defendant shall not associate with any persons engaged in criminal activity and shall not associate with any person convicted of a felony, unless granted permission to do so by the probation officer;
the defendant shall permit a probation officer to visit him or her at any time at home or elsewhere and shall permit confiscation of any contraband observed in plain view of the probation officer;
the defendant shall notify the probation officer within seventy-two hours of being arrested or questioned by a law enforcement officer;
the defendant shall not enter into any agreement to act as an informer or a special agent of a law enforcement agency without the permission of the court; and
as directed by the probation officer, the defendant shall notify third parties of risks that may be occasioned by the defendant's criminal record or personal history or characteristics and shall permit the probation officer to make such notifications and to confirm the defendant's compliance with such notification requirement.

Judgment Page 4 of 6

ADDITIONAL SUPERVISED RELEASE TERMS

The defendant shall cooperate in the collection of DNA as directed by the probation officer.
The defendant shall he prohibited from possessing a firearm or destructive device as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 921.
The defendant shall submit to mandatory drug testing pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3563(a)(5) and 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d).
The defendant shall submit to a search of his person, residence, office, property, storage unit, or vehicle conducted in a reasonable manner and at a reasonable time by a probation officer.
The defendant shall participate as directed in a mental health program approved by the United States Probation Office. The defendant must contribute towards the cost of any programs, to the extent the defendant is financially able to do so, as determined by the U.S. Probation Officer.
Restitution shall be determined at a hearing on February 10, 2005.
[Standler's note: The amount of restitution was resolved on 4 April 2005.]
The defendant shall provide his probation officer with access to any requested financial information, including authorization to conduct credit checks and obtain copies of defendant's Federal Income Tax Returns.
The defendant shall be prohibited from incurring new credit charges or opening additional lines of credit without approval of defendant's U.S. Probation Officer.
The defendant shall notify the probation officer of all computer software owned or operated by the defendant at the commencement of supervision, and report any additional software purchase, acquisition, or use during the course of supervision.
The defendant shall consent to the United States Probation Office conducting ongoing monitoring of his computer(s), hardware, and software. The monitoring may include the installation, at the defendant's expense, of hardware or software systems which allows evaluation of his computer use. Monitoring may also include the retrieval and copying of all data from his computer(s) or other electronic devices/media. The defendant shall also comply with the requirements of the United States Probation Computer Monitoring Program as directed.
The defendant shall be prohibited from incurring new credit charges, opening additional lines of credit, or obtaining a loan without approval of the defendant's U.S. Probation Officer.
The defendant shall only use computers and the Internet for educational or business purposes. The defendant shall be prohibited from using computers or the Internet for any other purpose, including any entertainment purpose (e.g., computer games, or chat rooms). To the extent that the defendant uses computers or the Internet to communicate with anyone, he must only communicate with people that he has met in some contacts other than the Internet.
The defendant shall complete one hundred (100) hours of community service that involves direct contact with people. The defendant may fulfill his community service hours by studying for the SAT or ACT in a classroom setting, or by taking any one of these exams.

Judgment Page 5 of 6

CRIMINAL MONETARY PENALTIES

The defendant must pay the total criminal monetary penalties under the schedule of payments on Sheet 6.
Assessment $100.00
Fine $ -0-
Restitution
The determination of restitution is deferred until 2/10/05. An Amended Judgment in a Criminal Case ([form] AO 245C) will be [filed] after such determination.

[Standler's note: Amended Judgment ]

The court determined that the defendant does not have the ability to pay interest and it is ordered that:
the interest requirement is waived for the restitution.

The Court finds that the defendant is financially unable and is unlikely to become able to pay a fine and, accordingly, the imposition of a fine is waived.

Judgment Page 6 of 6

SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

Having assessed the defendant's ability to pay, payment of the total criminal monetary penalties are due as follows:

PAYMENT IS DUE IMMEDIATELY. Any unpaid amount shall be paid:

During the period of imprisonment, pursuant to the Bureau of Prisons' Inmate Financial Responsibility Program.
During the period of supervised release, In monthly installments amounting to not less than 10% of the defendant's gross monthly household income, to commence 30 days after release from imprisonment.
The payment schedule above is the minimum amount that the defendant is expected to pay towards the monetary penalties imposed by the Court. The defendant shall pay more than the amount established whenever possible.
The defendant must notify the Court, the United States Probation Office, and the United States Attorney's Office of any material change in the defendant's financial circumstances that might affect the ability to pay restitution.

this document is at http://www.rbs2.com/parson1.html
13 April 2005

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Judgment inU.S. v. Jeffrey Lee Parson