Tracking the RIAA Source

[Declan McCullagh]

On Thu, Oct 11, 2001 at 11:08:26AM -0700, John Young wrote:
> Declan has jumped the gun on assigning blame here, apparently
> doing little more checking than Tony Smith. But hell that

Naturally this is incorrect. I had all day yesterday to check with
folks who were supposedly there, and I've satisfied myself that the
"meeting" was a fiction.

Face it, John: You and Cryptome got suckered. Now everyone knows all
they have to do to post some document on your site is to come up with
a reasonably plausible forgery sent from a hotmail.com address or the
equivalent. Maybe some Feds will send you "leaked cypherpunk grand
jury investigation" documents that the fine friendly folks in Seattle
wrote over drinks and giggles last evening.

Now, I'm not really faulting you, since you never claimed that the
document was real, as the Register did. In fact, Cryptome's policy, as
I understand it, has not been to vouch for the authenticity of
information. Post what you get, we love it, it's a wonderful
experience in online bottom feeding, a tour of the muck and mud,
and an unprecedented lure for Feds, journalists, and cypherpunks alike.

But, my friend, if what you post turns out to be a malicious forgery,
don't get huffy about it.

-Declan