At 05:27 PM 9/7/00 -0400, A. Melon wrote:
Search-warrant affidavits reveal an undercover operation aimed at activists in Philadelphia for the GOP convention. By Linda K. Harris,, Craig R. McCoy and Thomas Ginsberg INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
I can't say I'm surprised. A decade or so ago, I went to an anarchist convention in Philly that was being watched by guys in suits in a big American car, who were identified as the Philly Police Red Squad. I'd been surprised such things still existed. We moved from the Quaker school where the main convention was to an anarchist coffeeshop, and they reappeared. (A Quaker friend of mine said "It's not a *real* anarchist meeting unless somebody brings them coffee and doughnuts." "Yeah, I offered to do that, but they'd brought their own thermos" :-)
The operatives also reported that "persons indicated they
would be
throwing pies, bottles and cardboard boxes filled with
water at the
police," the affidavits stated.
...
The request for the search warrants for the warehouse and
lengthy
affidavits detailing police intelligence-gathering was made
yesterday, a
month after Municipal Court President Judge Louis J.
Presenza approved
the searches.
At the request of the District Attorneys Office, the
warrants were sealed
- barred from public inspection - for a month as soon as
they were
issued. The legal request for the warrants maintained that
premature
"disclosure of this affidavit could endanger the lives" of
the undercover
operatives.
That sounds like a clear case of libel.
The affidavits cite sweeping police intelligence-gathering
before the
convention. This included monitoring of unspecified
"electronic
messages" sent among demonstrators, an apparent reference
to police
scrutiny of Web sites and electronic mailing lists.
Any chance of the ECPA applying to this surveillance?
The police documents identified what investigators viewed
as the key
protest groups and their goals. Funds for one group
"allegedly originate
with Communist and leftist parties and from sympathetic
trade unions" or
from "the former Soviet-allied World Federation of Trade
Unions,"
according to the affidavits.
In recent interviews after their release from jail, people who were inside the warehouse said that they had suspected early on
Yup. Red squads. Nice that they can occasionally find a *real* Red to be paranoid about, though I'm not sure where they can find a Communist party with any funding. that
four undercover officers were working among them. Four men - known as Tim, Harry, George and Ryan - showed up together at 41st and Haverford about a week before the convention, introducing themselves as union carpenters from Wilkes-Barre who built stages, several demonstrators said.
...
Soliman Lawrence, 20, of Tallahassee, Fla., worked closely with the
four
on a massive satirical float built for a protest march. "They gained our trust," Lawrence said. "The fact that we didnt know them very well wasnt a big deal. "I remember thinking to myself, Why does everyone who looks like that have to be a cop? " Lawrence said. "I didnt like that I thought like
that." PGP was of course designed for environments similar to this - people you've met in person introducing other people they've met in person, particularly in the heavily infiltrated anti-nuke movement. On the other hand, it was oriented towards True Names, where you're usually pretty sure that if Bob signs a key for Carol who signs for Dave, that you're really sending email to the Dave you thought you were sending it to, though Dave may or may not be a Fed. Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639