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1995-01-03
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Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1993 22:19:29 EST
Subject: File 1--New disclosures in 2600 case
As you may recall, last November at a shopping mall outside of
Washington, DC, a group of people affiliated with the computer
magazine "2600" was confronted by mall security personnel, local
police officers and several unidentified individuals. The group
members were ordered to identify themselves and to submit to
searches
of their personal property. Their names were recorded by mall
security personnel and some of their property was confiscated.
However, no charges were ever brought against any of the
individuals
at the meeting.
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility ("CPSR") filed
suit
under the Freedom of Information Act and today received the Secret
Service's response to the FOIA lawsuit, in which we are seeking
agency
records concerning the break-up of the meeting. I think it's safe
to
say that our suspicions have now been confirmed -- the Secret
Service
*did* obtain a list of names from mall security identifying the
people
in attendance at the meeting.
There are three main points contained in the Secret Service's court
papers that are significant:
1) The agency states that the information it possesses concerning
the
incident was obtained "in the course of a criminal investigation
that
is being conducted pursuant to the Secret Service's authority to
investigate access device and computer fraud."
2) The agency possesses two relevant documents and the information
in
those documents "consists solely of information identifying
individuals."
3) The information was obtained from a "confidential source," and
the
agency emphasizes that the FOIA's definition of such a source
includes
"any private institution which provided information on a
confidential
basis."
Taken together, these facts seem to prove that the Secret Service
wanted names, they had the mall security people collect them, and
they
came away from the incident with the list they wanted.
The agency asserts that "[t]he premature release of the identities
of
the individual(s) at issue could easily result in interference to
the
Secret Service's investigation by alerting these individual(s) that
they are under investigation and thus allowing the individual(s) to
alter their behavior and/or evidence."
CPSR, in conjunction with EFF and the ACLU, is planning to
challenge
the actions of the mall security personnel, the local police and
the
Secret Service on the ground that the incident amounted to a
warrantless search and seizure conducted at the behest of the
Secret
Service.
David Sobel
CPSR Legal Counsel
dsobel@washofc.cpsr.org
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