We've filed a motion to quash my subpoena from the DoJ

[Bill Stewart]

Declan - Do you know how to reach this clueless reporter's editor?
Does Wired News _have_ editors that check this stuff out?

"Assassination Politics" is, of course, not a site, just an essay,
and while Bell may be an obsessive wacko, he does know the
technology well enough to know that digital cash and
anonymous remailers aren't sufficiently developed or deployed
to actually implement AP.  The web page that the article points to,
on John Young's Cryptome archive site, is not an assassination service,
but merely a copy of Bell's essay.

Given the current trial, this sort of irresponsible reporting is
not only potentially libelous, it could endanger Bell's
ability to get a fair trial if read by any potential jurors.

         Bill Stewart



>From: Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com>
>Subject: FC: We've filed a motion to quash my subpoena from the DoJ
>To: politech at politechbot.com
>Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 09:30:53 -0500
>X-URL: http://www.mccullagh.org/
>X-URL: Politech is at http://www.politechbot.com/
>User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.2i
>
>
>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 -----