FC: FBI is investigating an alleged "Black Bloc" threat sent to Politech
Declan McCullagh
declan at well.com
Wed Jul 4 11:53:55 PDT 2001
The FBI is investigating an alleged threat against the Cato Institute, the
world's leading free-market think tank, sent to Politech.
Chuck0 <chuck at tao.ca> sent a message to Politech that I forwarded -- as
part of an ongoing discussion about privacy and globalization -- on Monday:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02214.html
The message said: "Cato's little insult of the black bloc means that we'll
be paying Cato HQ a visit this coming September. People who work in glass
buildings shouldn't throw the first rhetorical stones."
The Cato Institute was reportedly vandalized in January during the Bush
inauguration protests.
(http://www.mccullagh.org/theme/2001-bush-inauguration-highlights.html) It
is a prominent building with a huge glass atrium at 10th and Mass. Ave. in
downtown Washington.
The insult directed at the Black Bloc appeared in an article written by
Aaron Lukas, an analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy
Studies. It was published in the National Review and I reposted it to
Politech with Aaron's permission. Aaron wrote that "vandalism, violence,
and harassment are acceptable behavior for the Black Blockheads and
Ruckus-Societarians of the world." (http://www.politechbot.com/p-02210.html)
The Black Bloc is difficult to define, but it has been described as a
revolutionary anti-capitalist action group, and also as a collective of
black-masked anarchists who are the "special forces" of the movement. A
Washington, DC "Anarchist Neighborhood" site
(http://www.infoshop.org/hood/dc.html) that lists Chuck0 as a contact says
World Bank/IMF protests are scheduled for the city in September.
FBI Agent Dave Dawson in the agency's headquarters is investigating
Chuck0's message sent to Politech.
Politech is a journalistic enterprise protected by the First Amendment, and
I generally treat email sent to me in confidence, as a news organization
would treat a confidential source. When someone sends me mail and indicates
they would like it redistributed to the list -- typically done by emailing
both declan at well.com and the politech at politechbot.com list address, as
Chuck0 did -- the relationship is akin to someone writing a letter to the
editor of a newspaper and asking that it be published.
While I do not countenance attacks on property, responsible journalists
don't like to chat with law enforcement about people who talk to them or
send letters to the editor. It makes their readers less likely to trust
their independence in the future.
I have not yet spoken with Agent Dawson. If we speak, my response will be:
1. I will not reveal information about Politech subscribers. Politech's
privacy policy (http://www.politechbot.com/info/privacy.html) says: "We do
not sell or rent information you provide us. We intend to challenge any
subpoena or other legal process seeking access to the limited information
we do store."
2. I will not reveal any other information I may or may not possess (such
as complete headers of email messages or other correspondence that may or
may not exist between me and Chuck0 or anyone else on this topic).
3. I will describe in general terms, such as I would at a speaking
engagement, in an article or in conversation with a colleague, what
Politech is and how long I have been editing it.
-Declan
Editor, Politech
This message will be archived at:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02218.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- End forwarded message -----
More information about the cypherpunks-legacy
mailing list