CDR: Re: Domestic surveillance: infilatration

[Bill Stewart]

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. 

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.

>	 In recent interviews after their release from jail, people
>      who were inside the warehouse said that they had suspected early on
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 at pobox.com
PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF  3C85 B884 0ABE 4639