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update noon
Update Saturday noon. Back from seeing Robert's sons and friend pick
up his computer equipment and a 10 minute chat with Postal Inspector
Dirmeyer, and a San Jose Police officer by the name of Weidner. At
least one point is clear, David Dirmeyer and Lance White are the same
person, I simply asked him, and he admitted it. I also found out why
he was willing to talk to me during the search. He figured that
anybody who starts quoting chapter and section from the Federal Code
is a lawyer. [Dirmeyer reminds me somewhat of one of my cousins when
he was about 18. My cousin was tall and gangly, and given to putting
on a hick act.]
Dirmeyer/White seemed completely unconcerned with having generated any
liability for the government under the ECPA or the Newspaper Privacy
Protection Act (2000aa). He backed this up by being very proud of
getting the system (well, most of it anyway) back to the sysop in
under a week. [The EFF *has* had a positive effect, this is the first
time I ever heard of any LEA's caring how long they take to return a
computer.] He was very confident that a judge would dismiss any civil
lawsuit brought by the users because of what he perceived as criminal
obscenity activities by the sysop. How actions, criminal or not, of
one person (the sysop) cancels the rights of others (email customers)
to recover from those who block access to their email is beyond me. If
that did not get them off the hook, they would get out of civil
liability claims because they interrupted people's email access for
such a short time, as opposed to the lengthy time the Secret Service
kept Steve Jackson's BBS.
I can almost quote the relevant sections of the ECPA, and *I* don't
remember any time limits under which the civil penalties of law do not
apply, "But Judge, I only exceeded the speed limit for a *few* miles!"
I wonder how the Postal Service would react to locking *their* patrons
out of a local office and away from their mail boxes for a week?
I expressed my hope (as a San Jose resident and taxpayer) to Officer
Weidner that the Post Office had agreed to take responsibility for any
civil liability arising out of the case. He was close to uncivil in
stating that I had no standing in the case, and it was none of my
concern. He advised me to butt out of being involved in any way. He
asked if I had ever *seen* the material on that BBS, (my answer was
no) and expressed the opinion that I would be smeared by it and
greatly regret getting involved.
Back to Dirmeyer, I asked him about the warrant. He said what he did
is ordinary investigation practice, including sending people
unsolicited material and then picking it up under a warrant. I asked
him if the Judge knew, and he assured me the Judge was fully aware
that the person getting a warrant for "Lance White's" correspondence
was also Lance White. He also said the Judge was aware of the 2000aa
and ECPA issues, and that they were under orders not to look at
anything labeled email. For some reason, this did not reassure me.
Robert's sons and a friend got the last pieces of the computer down to
the lobby and we parted company with a few comments on my part about
Postal Service agents legally sending kiddy porn through the mail,
like the Nebraska case recently ruled entrapment by the Supreme Court.
Just one minor thing to add. Because of a persistent back injury, I
am on crutches most of the time. I was making my way across the lobby
of the old Post office nearing the doors. Dirmeyer and Weidner passed
me, opened the doors, went through and let them swing shut in my face.
I guess scum like me is below their notice.
Keith Henson