http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,42735,00.html When Reporting Becomes Testifying by Farhad Manjoo 2:00 a.m. Mar. 30, 2001 PST Declan McCullagh -- the Wired News reporter who on March 8 was subpoenaed by the Justice Department to testify in the case against cypherpunk Jim Bell -- filed a motion on Thursday with the U.S. District Court to quash the subpoena, claiming it would violate the First Amendment protections accorded to journalists. Bell, who is famous for popularizing "Assassination Politics," a site that incorporated digital cash and encryption in a scheme to anonymously off political figures, has been charged with two counts of violating federal stalking laws. The trial is set to begin on Tuesday in Tacoma, Washington. McCullagh has covered the Bell saga for Wired News, and the government says it only needs him to verify the statements attributed to Bell in two of McCullagh's stories, according to an e-mail sent to McCullagh from Assistant U.S. Attorney Robb London. But "that would leave a lot of leeway for the defense to ask me questions -- and that's where it starts to get really messy really quickly," McCullagh said on Thursday from his home in Washington, D.C. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if it remains intact. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- End forwarded message -----