Official: Software audit for defender limited

By AMY HERDY and GRAHAM BRINK

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 30, 2000

TAMPA -- For two weeks, Hillsborough County Public Defender Julianne Holt has pointed to an outside audit as proof her office never pirated computer software, a claim made recently by a former employee.

She said the audit, by David Rosen of Software House International in New Jersey, reviewed all the software in her office and found no wrongdoing.

Thursday, Rosen stood behind his findings, but acknowledged he was working with limited information, all of which came from Holt's office.

He said his company was unable to obtain many of the records it needed from Microsoft and other vendors to verify Holt's software licensing.

"I can't say it's entirely accurate," Rosen said of the audit.

Holt would not answer questions about the audit.

She commissioned the audit as the Times prepared a story about her former chief computer technician, Scott Moore, who claims he illegally copied software with Holt's approval during his 2 1/2 years as her employee. Moore said Microsoft is investigating and that he was fired May 4 because he questioned the practices.

The Times story appeared June 16, and Holt defended herself by saying Moore was a disgruntled ex-employee she had fired for accessing private computer files. After ignoring the Times' repeated requests for a copy of the audit, Holt released it Wednesday, a day after the newspaper sued her in Circuit Court, accusing her of violating the state's Public Records Law.

The audit shows Holt requested it a week after a May 23 public records request was made by the newspaper asking for documents concerning her office's use of software.

On May 31, Holt authorized $7,000 for an audit by Software House.

From June 6 to June 8, the company installed the auditing software on 159 machines in the Public Defender's Office and eight computer file servers, Rosen said.

On June 21, Holt released a letter to television stations and the Tampa Tribune written by Rosen that said her office was clear of any software piracy.

"During our audit, we contacted Microsoft to verify records as well. We conclude that the Public Defender's Office purchased Microsoft software through valid volume license contracts," the letter said.

Wednesday, Rosen said the Microsoft office in Tampa had told him that they did not have any records of purchases made by the Public Defender's Office. He said his letter was not meant to imply that Microsoft had cleared Holt of pirating its software.

The documentation they used for the audit, Rosen said, was purchase orders from the Public Defender's Office, which Microsoft would not consider "legally acceptable" as proof software licenses had been purchased. Microsoft officials would not comment Thursday.

Rosen said a couple of the audit's objectives were to obtain outside verification from vendors and from Microsoft. He said he regretted not getting that information when conducting the audit. According to the information he was given, he said, the Public Defender's Office did not show "institutional piracy."

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