Editing Operation Sundevil (section)

{{Short description|US Secret Service computer crime investigation}}
'''Operation Sundevil''' was a 1990 nationwide [[United States Secret Service]] crackdown on "illegal computer [[Hacker (computer security)|hacking]] activities." It involved raids in approximately fifteen different cities and resulted in three arrests and the confiscation of computers, the contents of [[Bulletin board system|electronic bulletin board systems (BBSes)]], and floppy disks. It was revealed in a press release on May 9, 1990. The arrests and subsequent court cases resulted in the creation of the [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]]. The operation is now seen as largely a public-relations stunt{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}. Operation Sundevil has also been viewed as one of the preliminary attacks on the [[Legion of Doom (hacking)|Legion of Doom]] and similar hacking groups.<ref>{{cite book|last=Clapes|first=Anthony Lawrence|title=Softwars : the legal battles for control of the global software industry|publisher=Quorum Books|location=Westport, Conn.|year=1993|isbn=0-89930-597-0}}</ref> The raid on [[Steve Jackson Games]], which led to the court case ''[[Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service]]'', is often attributed to Operation Sundevil, but the Electronic Frontier Foundation states that it is unrelated and cites this attribution as a media error.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sjgames.com/SS/topten.html|title=The Top Ten Media Errors About the SJ Games Raid|date=1994-10-12|publisher=[[Steve Jackson Games]]|access-date=2009-03-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6042211.html|title=Geek Trivia: Gaming the (legal) system|last=Garmon|first=Jay|date=2006-02-28|publisher=[[TechRepublic]]|access-date=2009-03-09|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710235209/http://www.techrepublic.com/article/geek-trivia-gaming-the-legal-system/6042211|archive-date=2012-07-10|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The name comes from the [[Sun Devil Stadium]] of [[Arizona State University]], near the local Secret Service headquarters from where the investigation and raids were coordinated.<ref name="Sterling3">{{cite book |last=Sterling |first=Bruce |author-link=Bruce Sterling |title=[[The Hacker Crackdown]]: Law And Disorder On The Electronic Frontier |access-date=2009-03-08 |year=1994 |publisher=Bantam Books |location=New York |isbn=0-553-56370-X |chapter=Part Three: Law and Order |chapter-url=http://www.farcaster.com/sterling/part3.htm |archive-date=2009-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301003101/http://www.farcaster.com/sterling/part3.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>