BIG BROTHER (qoute without comment)

----- Forwarded message from A.Fullerton -----

anonymous wrote:

 I've got a little story I'd like to tell.
 There's been a thread in the scanner newsgroups lately about Radio
Shack
 giving their sales lists to the FBI. Now, I KNOW a lot of baloney
 circulates through the newsgroups. This particular thread is said to
 have started with the Richard Jewell Atlanta bombing case when the FBI
 investigated electronics parts purchases at Radio Shack. And, I don't
 break the law with my scanner, so I don't care who knows that I have
 one. But let me tell a story that happened about a month ago.
 I got up very early one morning and turned on my scanner and heard the
 police that serve the warrants ("We like to pick up everyone before
 breakfast" is a quote from a local warrant server). The dispatcher said
 that the FBI had located a friend of mine who was staying in a local
 Motel 6 and that there was a warrant for his arrest. He was picked up
 (it was a mistake) and when he asked how they knew he was there, they
 told him that Motel 6 gives their guest list to the FBI every day. I
 could not belive this! I told him that there was any number of ways
that
 they could have found him. But about a week ago, I heard one of the
 warrant servers say something about Motel 6 and their FBI arrangement.
I
 am absolutely appalled that this goes on. I don't appreciate the fact
 that if I stay at any motel, that an FBI agent might view my name on a
 guest list.
 It's nobody's business where I sleep (or buy a battery from an
 ill-informed salesman).
 Whew........I feel better.
 Thanks for allowing me to rant.
 I posted a similar post to the thread in the newsgroup (anonymously) so
 escuse me if you've already read this.
 Thanks,
 Andy Fullerton

----- End of forwarded message from A.Fullerton -----

Dave Emery <die@pig.die.com> writes:

>  There's been a thread in the scanner newsgroups lately about Radio
> Shack
>  giving their sales lists to the FBI. Now, I KNOW a lot of baloney
>  circulates through the newsgroups. This particular thread is said to
>  have started with the Richard Jewell Atlanta bombing case when the FBI
>  investigated electronics parts purchases at Radio Shack. And, I don't
>  break the law with my scanner, so I don't care who knows that I have
>  one. But let me tell a story that happened about a month ago.
>  I got up very early one morning and turned on my scanner and heard the
>  police that serve the warrants ("We like to pick up everyone before
>  breakfast" is a quote from a local warrant server). The dispatcher said
>  that the FBI had located a friend of mine who was staying in a local
>  Motel 6 and that there was a warrant for his arrest. He was picked up
>  (it was a mistake) and when he asked how they knew he was there, they
>  told him that Motel 6 gives their guest list to the FBI every day. I
>  could not belive this! I told him that there was any number of ways
> that
>  they could have found him. But about a week ago, I heard one of the
>  warrant servers say something about Motel 6 and their FBI arrangement.
> I
>  am absolutely appalled that this goes on. I don't appreciate the fact
>  that if I stay at any motel, that an FBI agent might view my name on a
>  guest list.
>  It's nobody's business where I sleep (or buy a battery from an
>  ill-informed salesman).
>  Whew........I feel better.
>  Thanks for allowing me to rant.
>  I posted a similar post to the thread in the newsgroup (anonymously) so
>  escuse me if you've already read this.

A couple of related items (neither one quite crypto-relevant).

I used to work with a guy (who no longer lives in the U.S. - lucky him :-)
who has a company building high-end custom electronic gear. (I used to
hack up the device drivers and other software for his hardware.) He used
to get regular visits from the LEAs asking for the lists of people who
bought certain kinds of eq from him. In particular, anyone who bought
eq capable of writing magentic strips on credit cards was immediately
closely scrutinized... Note that he didn't come to them - they came to him.

I also used to work in the publishing industry (one good thing about
consulting is that you learn a lot about different industries :-) and
I have little doubt that the FBI does take a look at people who buy
mail-order books from outfits like Aegean Press and Loompanics.

In New York City, the police regularly collect high school yearbooks and
add students' photographs to the collections they show crime victims,
hoping they'll identify a suspect.  This year one of the city's newspapers
published a memo from the police commissioner ordering cop to collect
yearbooks from each school. As the result *some* school principals are
announcing that they won't turn their yearbooks over to the cops unless
one of their students is a suspect in a concrete crime (and that's
probably the case in almost every school, causing every other student's
picture to go to NYPD; and in a few schools where there are no suspects,
they'll be able to get the yearbooks from the students.)

---

Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

Dave Emery wrote:
> 
>  I got up very early one morning and turned on my scanner and heard the
>  police that serve the warrants ("We like to pick up everyone before
>  breakfast" is a quote from a local warrant server). The dispatcher said
>  that the FBI had located a friend of mine who was staying in a local
>  Motel 6 and that there was a warrant for his arrest. He was picked up
>  (it was a mistake) and when he asked how they knew he was there, they
>  told him that Motel 6 gives their guest list to the FBI every day. I
>  could not belive this! I told him that there was any number of ways
> that
>  they could have found him. But about a week ago, I heard one of the
>  warrant servers say something about Motel 6 and their FBI arrangement.

Dave,
  Around 20 years ago, I found out that the RCMP, during the course
of their evening shifts, regularly cruised motel parking lots, taking
down all of the license numbers and running checks on them.
  I found this out from first-hand experience, waiting to be booked
for the crime of having a name vaguely similar to someone they were
looking for.

  I have no doubt that many law enforcement agencies, including the
RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police for you non-frostbacks), have
made this kind of prying more efficient by enlisting the aide of
the motel management in their quest to follow every movement of
everyone, everywhere, at all times (except during donut-breaks).
-- 
Toto
"The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre"
http://bureau42.base.org/public/xenix/xenbody.html

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

At 01:42 PM 4/3/97 -0600, you wrote:
|
|I found this out from first-hand experience, waiting to be booked
|for the crime of having a name vaguely similar to someone they were
|looking for.

This is believable; in Georgia and many other southern states many men are
named Bubba.

Alec
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 4.5

iQCVAgUBM0QhsCKJGkNBIH7lAQGKIQQAq4I7lHTvRRlxtGtpRq5twMYp4Nxixqdh
291dWEPDYrKkrHsh5meoNo7oxd/a5rBoEWXBXog1hU05EzKxruS0uKWwDFborsEd
ARAmExDOiwfJxgsb4QGaytiTZ6A8+9m/ECMclqXnC1eegSWj4659/7HjQdIu01EJ
yoJZmG0MpYE=
=mNw/
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Dave Emery wrote:
>  told him that Motel 6 gives their guest list to the FBI every day.

I'd find this fairly surprising, though the Fedz can obviously
get it by subpoena or warrant if they feel like it.
However, notice that most hotels you stay in want to know
your name, address, company, etc.  Some of it's for marketing reasons
(so they can sell your name to advertisers), but I'd guess that
in many jurisdictions there are legal requirements to collect it.
Otherwise, all your basic motel needs to check is that the
cash or credit card you pay them in advance is good (if it's not,
they can evict you). (Modulo a few phone bills.)
Immediate clearing works fine, no need for book entry or names.

Of course, there are countries where they want to see your
Citizen-Unit ID Card, or else your passport, and if you're a
foreigner they'll keep your passport overnight to register it with
the police.  GAK...

#			Thanks;  Bill
# Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts@ix.netcom.com
# You can get PGP outside the US at ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/pgp
#     (If this is a mailing list, please Cc: me on replies.  Thanks.)