Carl Johnson Warrant and Complaint

Thanks to anonymous we offer the arrest warrant and
complaint against Carl Edward Johnson:

   http://jya.com/usa-v-cej-wc.htm  (23K)

List Cypherpunks is spotlighted by the IRS complainant,
Jeff Gordon, who made Jim Bell famous. The list is 
quoted, logged, tracked, and cited for its hosting alleged death 
threat messages against federal officials, which were
PGP-authenticated and -decoded, and their style and content 
assessed for identity of the author, along with other allegations 
by the RCMP on what Carl may or may not have done up north 
and by the Secret Service on Carl may or may not have said 
out west.

We have also been told that Carl is known as "The King
of Country Porn" among admiring fans of his music.

Whether this has anything to do with the little-known person 
we're seeking information about is a mystery.

> Thanks to anonymous we offer the arrest warrant and
> complaint against Carl Edward Johnson:

I conclude:

A. There actually exist federal investigators who have nothing
   better to do with their lives than read the complete writings
   of the Performance Artists Sometimes Known as "Toto," and
   engage in endless mental masturbation over the hidden messages
   they imagine to be contained therein. 

B. When writing parody on the subject of AP, it is best not to 
   employ the names of actual federal slackers, lest the clueless
   investigators actually believe them to be targeted in some fashion. 

The part where he explains digital cash and how he clicked on the AP
Web Form almost rises to the AOL level of stupidity.  I'm amazed Arjen
Lenstra isn't in the slammer for the "DigiCrime" parody, given the
"knowlege and experience" of Mr. Investigator here. 

-- 
Sponsor the DES Analytic Crack Project
http://www.cyberspace.org/~enoch/crakfaq.html

At 9:37 PM -0500 9/8/98, Tim May wrote:
>
>I suppose I agree with Eric's earlier point (snipped above) that mentioning
>the actual names of judges or FBI agents or IRS inspectors in rants about
>AP and AP bots is not a wise move. As with Bell's stuff, it makes for a
>case that _possibly_ these agents and judges had something to fear. Were I
>one of those judges or agents, I would tend to think that _possibly_ my
>life was in danger.

	One could point out that WE have reason to beleive that our lives
and freedoms are in danger.

>Best to leave rants at the general, protected speech level, and to not get
>into specifics of names and working habits of agents.

	That, and don't plant bombs that don't go off.

>But Toto will probably make a plea, as Bell did.

	He may be nuts enough not to.

petro@playboy.com----for work related issues. I don't speak for Playboy.
petro@bounty.org-----for everthing else.      They wouldn't like that.
                                              They REALLY
Economic speech IS political speech.          wouldn't like that.

At 6:40 PM -0700 9/8/98, Eric Cordian wrote:
> I'm amazed Arjen
>Lenstra isn't in the slammer for the "DigiCrime" parody, given the
>"knowlege and experience" of Mr. Investigator here.
>

I'm sometimes surprised I was never arrested for pulling off the "BlackNet"
secrets trading scheme. (Especially as it actually worked as I described
it....and to think some of the folks here think I've never built anything.)

As for the Carl Johnson document that John Young offers, I read it with
great interest, much more interest than I ever could muster for the rants
of Toto/Human Gus-Peter/Truthmonger.

As I'd been deleting nearly all of Toto's stuff unread, I missed all the
stuff about (allegedly) threatening to bomb the RCMP. I recall seeing his
"AP Bot" and "Dead Lucky" items, which came out before I was deleting all
of his stuff.

I suppose I agree with Eric's earlier point (snipped above) that mentioning
the actual names of judges or FBI agents or IRS inspectors in rants about
AP and AP bots is not a wise move. As with Bell's stuff, it makes for a
case that _possibly_ these agents and judges had something to fear. Were I
one of those judges or agents, I would tend to think that _possibly_ my
life was in danger.

Best to leave rants at the general, protected speech level, and to not get
into specifics of names and working habits of agents.

(I make it a point not to bother learning the names of any of these folks,
except high-visibility folks like Diane Feinswine, Janet Reno, Louis Freeh,
etc. This makes it hard for any of my generalized rants to be taken as
direct threats against local judges, agents, lawyers, etc.)

And if Toto or Carl Johnson did in fact plant a bomb....I guess he'll be
extradited to Canada after his trial here in the U.S. for the charges
described. And he may well get off on the U.S. charges, as it seems likely
that experts (like us, ironically) can testify that whatever point Toto
thought he was making, there was no chance that a working "dead pool" was
being demonstrated.

But Toto will probably make a plea, as Bell did.

--Tim May

"The tree of liberty must be watered periodically with the blood of
tyrants...."
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Licensed Ontologist              | black markets, collapse of governments.

Tim May writes:
> As I'd been deleting nearly all of Toto's stuff unread, I missed all the
> stuff about (allegedly) threatening to bomb the RCMP. I recall seeing his
> "AP Bot" and "Dead Lucky" items, which came out before I was deleting all
> of his stuff.

It is kind of amusing that this FBI agent has been methodically
analysing Toto's posts when few if any here have read them all.
Particularly the one which apparently was sent to the list encrypted
with the password included -- I wonder if this FBI agent was pretty
near the only person who read it!  (I don't recall seeing the
message.)

It would seem that Toto's tendency for magical thinking, and his
theories on `synchronicity' are contagious, and that the FBI agent
ended up being drawn into Toto's magical thinking, conspiracy theory
filled world and imagining all kinds of hidden meanings in Toto's
posts.

Most of Toto's messages were fictional works such as `WebWorld', and
the others, cynical rants, conspiracy theories, etc.  No one here had
the faintest idea that any of this stuff was connected with reality.

One wonders about the Xenix chainsaw massacre, and the suitcase
nuke... fact or fiction :-)

Adam

At 8:40 PM -0500 9/8/98, Eric Cordian wrote:
>> Thanks to anonymous we offer the arrest warrant and
>> complaint against Carl Edward Johnson:
>
>I conclude:
>
>A. There actually exist federal investigators who have nothing
>   better to do with their lives than read the complete writings
>   of the Performance Artists Sometimes Known as "Toto," and
>   engage in endless mental masturbation over the hidden messages
>   they imagine to be contained therein.

	He <allegedly allegedly allegedly> planted a bomb. Like Mr. Bell,
this is a very dumb thing to do, especially when the bomb didn't go off.


>B. When writing parody on the subject of AP, it is best not to
>   employ the names of actual federal slackers, lest the clueless
>   investigators actually believe them to be targeted in some fashion.

	If they had a sense of humor, they wouldn't work for the government.

petro@playboy.com----for work related issues. I don't speak for Playboy.
petro@bounty.org-----for everthing else.      They wouldn't like that.
                                              They REALLY
Economic speech IS political speech.          wouldn't like that.

Well, there's a little more to the "bomb" incident than that. Read
tomorrow's Netly News report on the Nutly News bomber for more info...

-Declan


On Wed, 9 Sep 1998, Petro wrote:

> 
> At 8:40 PM -0500 9/8/98, Eric Cordian wrote:
> >> Thanks to anonymous we offer the arrest warrant and
> >> complaint against Carl Edward Johnson:
> >
> >I conclude:
> >
> >A. There actually exist federal investigators who have nothing
> >   better to do with their lives than read the complete writings
> >   of the Performance Artists Sometimes Known as "Toto," and
> >   engage in endless mental masturbation over the hidden messages
> >   they imagine to be contained therein.
> 
> 	He <allegedly allegedly allegedly> planted a bomb. Like Mr. Bell,
> this is a very dumb thing to do, especially when the bomb didn't go off.
> 
> 
> >B. When writing parody on the subject of AP, it is best not to
> >   employ the names of actual federal slackers, lest the clueless
> >   investigators actually believe them to be targeted in some fashion.
> 
> 	If they had a sense of humor, they wouldn't work for the government.
> 
> petro@playboy.com----for work related issues. I don't speak for Playboy.
> petro@bounty.org-----for everthing else.      They wouldn't like that.
>                                               They REALLY
> Economic speech IS political speech.          wouldn't like that.
> 
> 
> 
> 
>

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Hash: SHA1

I read the arrest warrant and a couple of things strike me as 
strange.

1. Why would anyone post an encrypted message along with the password 
to decrypt it?

2. I thought the public portion of a key was required to authenticate 
a signature, the secret part is only used to sign a message.

I believe that anyone who is now subscribed to the cypherpunks list 
is now under surveilance. I suspected that this might be true but now 
my belief is confirmed.

Edwin



At 07:40 PM 9/8/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Thanks to anonymous we offer the arrest warrant and
>complaint against Carl Edward Johnson:
>
>   http://jya.com/usa-v-cej-wc.htm  (23K)
>
>List Cypherpunks is spotlighted by the IRS complainant,
>Jeff Gordon, who made Jim Bell famous. The list is 
>quoted, logged, tracked, and cited for its hosting alleged death 
>threat messages against federal officials, which were
>PGP-authenticated and -decoded, and their style and content 
>assessed for identity of the author, along with other allegations 
>by the RCMP on what Carl may or may not have done up north 
>and by the Secret Service on Carl may or may not have said 
>out west.
>
>We have also been told that Carl is known as "The King
>of Country Porn" among admiring fans of his music.
>
>Whether this has anything to do with the little-known person 
>we're seeking information about is a mystery.
>
>
>
>
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