YOUTH'S COMPUTER SEIZED IN JERSEY WAS USED FOR MAGAZINE 'BULLETIN BOARD'
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   By JOSEPH F. SULLIVAN, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
   July 18, 1985

   The  editor  and publisher of a magazine for computer enthusiasts said
   today  that  one  of  the seven home computers seized last week by New
   Jersey  law-enforcement  officials  was used to maintain an electronic
   bulletin board operated by the magazine.

   He  denied  that  it  had  any  connection  with the suspected illegal
   activities linked to seven young people who used the computers.

   The  publisher  of the monthly magazine 2600, Eric G. Corley of Middle
   Island, L.I., said the computer picked up at the home of a 17-year-old
   youth in Dover contained the bulletin board, named ''Private Sector,''
   that  is  used  by enthusiasts who call themselves hackers to exchange
   information about telecommunications advances and electronics.

   Mr.  Corley  said  he had received telephone calls from computer users
   across the United States and in Britain asking about the disappearance
   of  the  bulletin  board. The magazine has about 1,000 subscribers, he
   said.

   He  said the electronic bulletin board was carefully screened each day
   and  contained no illegally obtained information. ''The bulletin board
   is simply people talking to each other, and to say it was used to move
   satellites  or  make  illegal  telephone  calls  is  simply  a case of
   people's imaginations taking off,'' he said.

   Mr. Corley said the computer seizure was comparable to shutting down a
   newspaper  because  of  something in its classified advertising. ''The
   country  wouldn't  stand  for it and we believe the same kind of First
   Amendment issue is being raised here,'' he said.

   The  Middlesex  County  Prosecutor,  Alan  A. Rockoff, said he was not
   aware  of  the  computer's  connection  with the magazine. He said the
   computer  was  seized  because  his  investigation  had  established a
   ''nexus'' between it and the suspected illegal activities.

   The  17-year-old  who  maintained the magazine's bulletin board in his
   computer said in a telephone interview today that he was not concerned
   about  the charges of conspiracy to commit theft that Mr. Rockoff said
   would  be  filed  against  him and six other teen-aged computer users.
   ''I'm  innocent  and  I  know  it,''  he  said, ''so basically I'm not
   worried.''

   The  youth, who asked that his name not be used, said he began setting
   up  the  bulletin  board  last  December and, through a mutual friend,
   agreed  with  Mr.  Corley to have it become a service of the magazine.
   There  was no charge for computer users to gain access to the bulletin
   board and read the information in it or leave messages or questions.

   The  youth  said  he  examined  the  board  each  day  and  erased any
   information  that  anyone  might add, such as credit-card or telephone
   numbers, that might be construed as illegal.

   Mr.  Rockoff  said the seven youths, who were strangers to each other,
   were  being  charged  with  conspiring  to  commit  theft because they
   exchanged  information  through  their  systems  on  how to circumvent
   telephone charges, make explosives from household chemicals, interfere
   with  satellite  communications  and  call  the  Pentagon  and defense
   contractors over coded phone systems.

   He  said  a  computer  owned by a South Plainfield youth was seized in
   June  because it was suspected of being used illegally. An examination
   of  its communications with other computers led to the confiscation of
   the six other computers in northern New Jersey.

   Mr.  Rockoff  said the seven youths would be given summonses to appear
   in juvenile court.