<nettime> FC: The U.S. Department of Justice has served me with a subpoena

["R. A. Hettinga" <rah@shipwright.com>]

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Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2001 16:55:41 -0500
To: politech@politechbot.com
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject: FC: The U.S. Department of Justice has served me with a subpoena
Sender: owner-politech@politechbot.com
Reply-To: declan@well.com

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The U.S. Department of Justice served me with a subpoena about 15
minutes ago.

Two Treasury Department agents walked into the main Computers,
Freedom, and Privacy conference hall here in Cambridge and handed me a
one-page subponea to testify in the April criminal trial of
_U.S. v. James Dalton Bell_. I have written about the case in a series
of news articles.

Bell is a former subscriber to the cypherpunks mailing list who has
been charged with two counts of violating federal stalking laws while
apparently researching information on government agents. Bell, who
was 42 years old at the time of his arrest last year, is best known
for his "Assassination Politics" idea that involves using digital cash
and anonymous messages to eliminate miscreant federal officials.

The subpoena says I must appear in the U.S. Courthouse in Tacoma,
Washington on April 2: "You are commanded to appear in the United
States District Court at the place, date, and time specified below, or
any subsequent place, date and time set by the court, to testify in
the above referenced case." The trial is schedled to begin April 1.

It also orders me to bring with me two Wired News articles I wrote in
the last year about Bell:

   Crypto-Convict Won't Recant / April 14, 2000
   http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,35620,00.html

   IRS Raids Cypherpunk's House / November 11, 2000
   http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,35620,00.html

Two agents, who said they were from the Treasury Department, walked up
to me after the CFP Carnivore panel ended and I was in the front of
the room talking with the panelists. The agents identified themselves
as Kim McDowell and Tom Caldwell.

I will discuss my options with my editors, and, I presume, our legal
counsel. But as a general rule, I do not believe it is desirable for
journalists to disclose information or interviews that were gathered
or performed for news purposes. I'd welcome advice from those
knowlegeable about the relevant laws.

- -Declan
Cambridge, Mass.
March 8, 2001
declan@well.com

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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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