Armed with guns and search warrants, 150 Secret Service agents staged surprise raids in 14 American cities one morning last May, seizing 42 computers and tens of thousands of floppy disks. Their target: a loose-knit group of youthful computer enthusiasts suspected of trafficking in stolen credit-card numbers, telephone access codes and other contraband of the information age. The authorities intended to send a sharp message to would-be digital desperadoes that computer crime does not pay. But in their zeal, they sent a very different message -- one that chilled civil libertarians. By attempting to crack down on telephone fraud, they shut...
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