By Art Kramer
STAFF WRITER, Atlanta Journal Constitution

A trade association's efforts to halt software piracy has targeted a small Marietta Internet service provider.

Intergate will begin monitoring its 170 subscribers' online communications and Web sites for infringements of software copyrights in the wake of an investigation by the Software Publishers Association.

Intergate, the first Georgia target of the trade group's nationwide anti-piracy campaign, agreed to an SPA audit after the trade association alleged that a subscriber's Web page was helping hackers steal copyrighted software.

Company president Jeffrey McGough said he disagreed with the group's demands, but had little choice in complying.

"I'm an easy target. The legal issues take more time and money than I could ever spend," he said Monday.

But McGough rejected SPA demands that he identify the subscriber, who calls herself "Tapu."

McGough took her Web site, "The Strange World of Tapu," off Intergate's computers, but copies of it have appeared elsewhere on the World Wide Web. It's a directory that points "hackers and crackers" to areas where they can find serial numbers, secret codes and computer programs used to defeat copyright protections built into software.

"It's ridiculous that the SPA would apply the copyright law this way," McGough said. "The knowledge is not illegal, the use of it is."

Legal experts say the SPA campaign is based on a doctrine not fully tested in court -- especially as it applies to the Internet.

"Copyright law is not very clear on this," said Jeff Kuester, an Atlanta trademark, copyright and patent attorney.

The SPA has contacted more than 25 Internet service providers as part of its campaign, and all have cooperated with the group, according to SPA litigation coordinator Joshua Bauchner.

The SPA e-mailed McGough last week, suggesting he agree to an SPA audit and mentioning its ongoing litigation program.

A spokeswoman for Atlanta-based Mindspring, one of the largest national providers, said Mindspring cooperates with appropriate legal authorities, "but could not agree to an audit that made us responsible for monitoring what our users put on their personal Web pages."