Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 09:17:35
>From: jmcmullen@well.sf.ca.us
Subject: File 5--Confusion About Secret Service Role D.C. "Raid"
 
((The following will appear on Newsbytes. Newsbytes is a copyrighted
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article is posted with the express permission of the authors.))
 
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1992 NOV 7 (NB) -- In the aftermath of an
action on Friday, November 6th by members of the Pentagon City Mall
Police and police from Arlington County, VA in which those attending a
2600 meeting at the mall were ordered from the premises, conflicting
stories continue to appear.
 
Attendees at the meeting have contended to Newsbytes that members of
the mall police told them that they were "acting on behalf of the
Secret Service.". They also maintain that the mall police confiscated
material from knapsacks and took film from someone attempting to
photograph the action and a list of the names of security officers
that one attendee was attempting to compile.
 
--More--[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]Al Johnson, chief of security for the mall, denied these allegations
to Newsbytes, saying "No one said that we were acting on behalf of the
Secret Service. We were merely enforcing our regulations. While the
group was not disruptive, it had pulled tables together and was having
a meeting in our food court area. The food court is for people eating
and is not for meetings. We therefore asked the people to leave."
 
Johnson denied that security personnel took away any film or lists and
further said "We did not confiscate any material. The group refused to
own up to who owned material on the tables and in the vicinity so we
collected it as lost material. If it turns out that anything did
belong to any of those people, they are welcome to come in and, after
making proper identification, take the material."
 
In a conversation early on November 9th, Robert Rasor, Secret Service
agent-in-charge of computer crime investigations, told Newsbytes that
having mall security forces represent the Secret Service is not
something that was done and, that to his knowledge, the Secret Service
had no involvement with any Pentagon City mall actions on the previous
Friday.
 
A Newsbytes call to the Arlington County police was returned by a
--More--[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]Detective Nuneville who said that her instructions were to refer all
questions concerning the matter to agent David Adams of the Secret
Service. She told Newsbytes that Adams would be providing all
information concerning the involvement of both the Arlington Police
and the Secret Service in the incident.
 
Adams told Newsbytes "The mall police were not acting as agents for
the Secret Service. Beyond that, I can not confirm or deny that there
is an ongoing investigation."
 
Adams also told Newsbytes that "While I cannot speak for the Arlington
police, I understand that their involvement was due to an incident
unrelated to the investigation."
 
Marc Rotenberg, director of the Washington office of Computer
Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR), told Newsbytes "CPSR
has reason to believe that the detention of people at the Pentagon
City Mall last Friday was undertaken at the behest of the Secret
Service, which is a federal agency. If that is the case, then there
was an illegal search of people at the mall. There was no warrant and
no indication of probable illegal activity. This raises constitutional
issues. We have undertaken the filing of a Freedom of Information Act
--More--[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.](FOIA) request to determine the scope, involvement and purpose of the
Secret Service in this action."
 
2600 meetings are held on the evening of the first Friday of each
month in public places and malls in New York City, Washington,
Philadelphia, Cambridge, St. Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles and San
Francisco. They are promoted by 2600 Magazine: The Hacker Quarterly
and are attended by a variety of persons interested in
telecommunications and so-called "hacker issues". The New York
meeting, the oldest of its kind, is regularly attended by Eric Corley
a/k/a Emmanuel Goldstein, editor and publisher of 2600, hackers,
journalists, corporate communications professionals and other
interested parties. It is known to have been the subject of
surveillance at various times by law enforcement agencies conducting
investigations into allegations of computer crime.
 
Corley told Newsbytes "While I'm sure that meetings have been observed
by law enforcement agencies, this is the only time that we have been
harassed. It's definitely a freedom of speech issue." Corley also that
he plans to be at the December meeting in Washington "to insure that
it doesn't happen again."
 
--More--[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]------------------------------
 

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