CoS supoenas records of all anonymous remailers? (Unverified)

[FWIW, Biased Journalism is a reasonably reputable source.  --Declan]

---------- Forwarded message begins here ----------

Date: Tue, 9 Apr 1996 18:27:02 -0700
To: fight-censorship+@andrew.cmu.edu, eric@remailer.net,
        farber@cis.upenn.edu (Dave Farber)
From: jwarren@well.com (Jim Warren)
Subject: (fwd fyi - NOT verified!!)  very urgent news

Seems like it's just a tad overbroad, if true.  Another example of, "all
the 'justice' that one can buy"?

--jim



>Date: Tue, 9 Apr 1996 15:44:52 -0700 (PDT)
>From: shelley thomson <sthomson@netcom.com>
>Subject: very urgent news
>To: jwarren@well.com
>
>Hello, Jim Warren:
>
>        The church of scientology plans to subpoena the records of every
>anonymous remailer in the USA.
>
>        I publish a news/black humor magazine on the net called **Biased
>Journalism**.  As a journalist I have covered the collision between the
>church of scientology and the net.  My last three issues have focused on
>legal action by the church against Grady Ward and Keith Henson.
>
>        Today I had a note from Grady Ward, whose deposition was finished
>today.  He said that they asked him a lot of questions about me, and
>warned me that they may issue a subpoena for me and a demand for my
>email.
>
>        The church presumably intends to claim that I am not a real
>journalist because I only publish on the net.  I need to prepare a legal
>defense, and needless to say, can't afford a lawyer.  If you can direct
>me to any resources, I would appreciate it very much.
>
>        On the basis of events today, Ward believes the church will
>issue subpoenas for the records of every anonymous remailer in the USA.
>
>        If these records are delivered to the church, our First Amendment
>rights go with them.
>
>        Shelley Thomson
>
>        publisher, **Biased Journalism**
>        800-731-0717 voice message
>

On Tue, 9 Apr 1996, Declan B. McCullagh wrote:

> [FWIW, Biased Journalism is a reasonably reputable source.  --Declan]


Thank you, Declan.  

Grady is a sharp guy and he spent hours with the church lawyers.  If he 
thinks this is likely to happen I would take the possibility seriously.  
I sent the note to Jim Warren because I thought the community should know 
of the possibility.  A little advance notice might enable someone to 
prepare a legal defense.  I hope that remailers will resist turning over 
their records even if there is no useful information in them.  

We'll probably know in a few days whether Grady's guess is correct.  

Meanwhile, if you are going to pass my letter around please snip the 
personal stuff.  

Shelley