On Wed, 2 Jul 2003, Declan McCullagh wrote:
I received a phone call today from a newspaper reporter who's writing an article on mattd/proffr and wanted background on the cypherpunks group or movement, as he put it. The reporter -- who covers crime, law enforcement, and the courts -- wanted to know whether mattd/proffr was representative of the group or an outlier, and stressed that two other cypherpunks have been imprisoned for their actions in this area.
I would tell your reporter friend (?) not to bother wasting his cycles on a lunatic. Whether or not he's still spewing his shit (like you I [attempt] to filter all his crap) is really irrelevent, since he's [by definition] not capable of spewing an actual "position". Do reporters write articles about street people who scream at walls? So why write one about a nutcase that somehow stumbled across cypherpunks? He's merely found an outlet where the word "kill" doesn't get much of a reaction, and he likely feels extra-manly using it, so...
Anyway, the Feds apparently are neither confirming nor denying that an investigation is in progress, except to say that they are "aware" of mattd/proffr's post.
How could they *not* be? The fact that they haven't even bothered to arrest him says it all - even *they* realize that mattd is just a blathering psych patient in search of a rubber room.
This is what I learned from the phone call. I have no firsthand knowledge.
Nice disclaimer...
-Declan
-- Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin@mfn.org "...we are part now of a dubious troika in the war against terror with Vladimir Putin and Ariel Sharon, two leaders who do not shrink in Palestine or Chechnya from carrying out acts of gratuitous and senseless acts of violence. We have become the company we keep." Christopher Hedges 15-year veteran of foreign war coverage for the New York Times