Another Cypherpunks Investigation?

[Tyler Durden]

Tim May wrote...

"The questions being asked of Jim may have to do with the Feds making the 
only prosecution they can make: that those passing on such threats via 
mailing lists are somehow guilty of some crime. This is just speculation on 
my part."

I thought the Feds questions to Jim Choate had more to do with anti-spam 
enforcement....

-TD




>From: Tim May <timcmay at got.net>
>To: cypherpunks at lne.com
>Subject: Re: Another Cypherpunks Investigation?
>Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 14:55:07 -0700
>
>On Friday, September 12, 2003, at 06:32  AM, Jim Choate wrote:
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I had an interesting experience yesterday. I got to talk to a person
>>claiming to be with the DoJ in Philly (if memory serves). Apparently they
>>are investigating one or more posts in the Aug. time frame for something.
>>They were interested in a subpeona regarding technical information about 
>>the
>>list.
>>
>>The person didn't make it clear exactly who they were investigating. The
>>questions were focused on how the mailing list worked and where there was
>>editorial opportunity. They were also interested in mail and network logs
>>for that time frame (which I don't normally keep past 3-4 days). I was
>>very carefull to explain that IP spoofing was easy to do so that the
>>veracity or reliability of the logs was in question.
>>
>>I'm deciding not to provide the persons name and contact info since I'm
>>not sure what the effect would be. I requested they talk with my lawyer in
>>regards to future information and that I wasn't interested in getting
>>involved.
>>
>>That's about all I have on the topic at this time.
>>
>
>I was curious about which messages in August could be of interest. Seeing 
>none (via the lne.com feed I am subscribed to), I searched via Google for 
>various articles mentioning "cypherpunks" and variations on "philadelphia," 
>"pittsburgh," and "pennsylvania." And I narrowed the search to posts in 
>July and August.
>
>I got some almost immediate hits (no pun intended). I've made it easy for 
>anyone to find them via Google. Search on this search string:
>
>
>pittsburgh "professor rat"
>
>Search also on some of the names in the first article which pops up, i.e., 
>on:
>
>"Mary Beth Buchanan"
>
>
>
>My comment is that this "Professor Rat," whose posts I have not seen for as 
>long as lne.com has been my feed, is probably in some real difficulty. His 
>posts are very direct threats, not veiled in any of the vague, political 
>"politicians ought to be given a fair trial and then hanged" or even the "I 
>hope Washington is nuked" sorts.
>
>(One rule of thumb I use is to never, ever use actual names of burrowcrats. 
>Except for a few at the top, I don't even make any effort to remember the 
>names. It's hard to be charged with making a direct, credible threat when 
>no specific person is either named or alluded to.)
>
>Were he in the U.S., I'd expect he'd face serious charges. Being that he's 
>in Australia, as far as I know, I doubt extradition will occur. And even if 
>he were prosecuted, by Oz or by the U.S., his various articles indicate 
>"mental disturbance" could be a winning defense, with him ordered to get 
>back on his Prozac or Zoloft or whatever.
>
>The questions being asked of Jim may have to do with the Feds making the 
>only prosecution they can make: that those passing on such threats via 
>mailing lists are somehow guilty of some crime. This is just speculation on 
>my part.
>
>If so, the case may hinge on issues of "common carrier" status. Also, I 
>believe Congress passed a bill explicitly saying that sysops are not liable 
>for the e-mail passing through their systems...Declan will likely have the 
>latest on this.
>
>Anyway, I'll bet good money this is the series of messages in question. 
>Nothing else I have seen either rises to this level or seems to involve 
>Pennsylvania in any significant way.
>
>--Tim May

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