CoS supoenas records of all anonymous remailers? (Unverified)

[FWIW, Biased Journalism is a reasonably reputable source. --Declan] ---------- Forwarded message begins here ---------- Date: Tue, 9 Apr 1996 18:27:02 -0700 To: fight-censorship+@andrew.cmu.edu, eric@remailer.net, farber@cis.upenn.edu (Dave Farber) From: jwarren@well.com (Jim Warren) Subject: (fwd fyi - NOT verified!!) very urgent news Seems like it's just a tad overbroad, if true. Another example of, "all the 'justice' that one can buy"? --jim
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 1996 15:44:52 -0700 (PDT) From: shelley thomson <sthomson@netcom.com> Subject: very urgent news To: jwarren@well.com
Hello, Jim Warren:
The church of scientology plans to subpoena the records of every anonymous remailer in the USA.
I publish a news/black humor magazine on the net called **Biased Journalism**. As a journalist I have covered the collision between the church of scientology and the net. My last three issues have focused on legal action by the church against Grady Ward and Keith Henson.
Today I had a note from Grady Ward, whose deposition was finished today. He said that they asked him a lot of questions about me, and warned me that they may issue a subpoena for me and a demand for my email.
The church presumably intends to claim that I am not a real journalist because I only publish on the net. I need to prepare a legal defense, and needless to say, can't afford a lawyer. If you can direct me to any resources, I would appreciate it very much.
On the basis of events today, Ward believes the church will issue subpoenas for the records of every anonymous remailer in the USA.
If these records are delivered to the church, our First Amendment rights go with them.
Shelley Thomson
publisher, **Biased Journalism** 800-731-0717 voice message

On Tue, 9 Apr 1996, Declan B. McCullagh wrote:
[FWIW, Biased Journalism is a reasonably reputable source. --Declan]
Thank you, Declan. Grady is a sharp guy and he spent hours with the church lawyers. If he thinks this is likely to happen I would take the possibility seriously. I sent the note to Jim Warren because I thought the community should know of the possibility. A little advance notice might enable someone to prepare a legal defense. I hope that remailers will resist turning over their records even if there is no useful information in them. We'll probably know in a few days whether Grady's guess is correct. Meanwhile, if you are going to pass my letter around please snip the personal stuff. Shelley
participants (2)
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Declan B. McCullagh
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shelley thomson