Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 09:17:34
--More--[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]>From: jmcmullen@well.sf.ca.us
Subject: File 3--Reports Of "Raid" On 2600 Washington Meeting
 
((The following will appear on Newsbytes tomorrow. Newsbytes is a
commercial copyrighted service and this article is posted with the
express permission of the author (reposting is prohibited)))
 
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1992 NOV 7 (NB) -- Eric Corley, a/k/a
"Emmanuel Goldstein", editor and publisher of 2600 Magazine: The
Hacker Quarterly has told Newsbytes that the Friday, November November
6th 2600 meeting held in the Pentagon City Mall, outside of
Washington, DC. was disrupted by threats of arrest by mall security
officers and Arlington, VA police.
 
2600 Magazine promotes monthly meetings of hackers, press and other
interested parties throughout the country. The meetings are held in
public locations on the first Friday evening of the month and the
groups often contact each other by telephone during the meetings.
Corley told Newsbytes that meetings were held that evening in New
York, Washington, Philadelphia, Cambridge, St. Louis, Chicago, Los
Angeles and San Francisco. Corley said "While I am sure that meetings
have been observed by law enforcement agencies, this is the only time
--More--[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]that we have been harassed. It is definitely a freedom of speech
issue."
 
According to Craig Neidorf, who was present at the meeting handing out
applications for Computer Professionals For Social Responsibility
(CPSR), "I saw the security officers focusing on us. Then they started
to come toward us from a number of directions under what seemed to be
the direction of a person with a walkie-talkie on a balcony. When they
approached, I left the group and observed the security personnel
encircling the group of about 30 gatherers. The group was mainly
composed of high school and college students. The guards demanded to
search the knapsacks and bags of the gatherers. They confiscated
material, including CPSR applications, a copy of Mondo 2000 (a
magazine) and other material.  They also confiscated film from a
person trying to take pictures of the guards and, when a hacker called
"HackRat" attempted to copy down the names of the guards, they took
his pencil and paper."
 
Neidorf continued, "I left to go outside and rejoined the group when
they were ejected from the mall. The guards continued challenging the
group and told them that they would be arrested if they returned. When
one of the people began to take pictures of the guards, the apparent
--More--[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]supervisor became excited and threatening but did not confiscate the
film."
 
Neidorf also said "I think that the raid was planned. They hit right
about 6:00 and they identified our group as "hackers" and said that
they knew that this group met every month."
 
Neidorf's story was supported by a Washington "hacker" called
"Inhuman", who told Newsbytes "I arrived at the meeting late and saw
the group being detained by the guards. I walked along with the group
as they were being ushered out and when I asked a person who seemed to
be in authority his name, he pointed at a badge with his name written
in script on it. I couldn't make out the name and, when I mentioned
that to the person, he said 'If you can't read it, too bad.' I did
read his name, 'C. Thomas', from another badge."
 
Inhuman also told Newsbytes that, while he did not hear it said, he
was told by a number of people that the guards said that they were
'acting on behalf of the Secret Service. "I was also told that there
were two police officers there from the Arlington County Police
present but I did not see them."
 
--More--[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]Another attendee, Doug Luce posted an account of his on an NY BBS and
gave Newsbytes permission to quote Luce wrote "I also got to the DC
meeting very late; 7:45 or so. It seemed like a coordinated harassment
episode, not geared toward busting anyone, but designed to get people
riled up, and maybe not come back to the mall. A couple of the things
I overheard:  someone had brought a keyboard to sell, and the cops had
harassed him about it, saying 'You aren't selling anything in my mall
without a vendors permit!' Blaize (another attendee) says that maybe
his handcuffing Hack Rat might have set the cops off; or maybe it was
the Whisper 2000 that the cops were convinced was a stun gun. The word
is that there was stuff taken and not given back, wires and soldering
tools.  There is also the rumor that the cops were going through
everyone's bags and belongings, and that some people were detained.
While the thrust of the effort seemed to be mall security, there are
conflicting reports about supporting personnel.  Some people said that
the SS (Secret Service) might have been there, others thought the FBI
or plainclothes city officers were assisting (or coordinating).
Supposedly, several of them had removed their name tags before moving
in."
 
Luce's reference to possible Secret Service involvement was supported
by a 19 year-old college student known as the "Lithium Bandit", who
--More--[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]told Newsbytes "I got to the mall about 6:15 and saw the group being
detained by approximately 5 Arlington County police and 5 security
guards. When I walked over to see what was going on, a security guard
asked me for an ID and I refused to show it saying that I was about to
leave. The guard said that I couldn't leave and told me that I had to
see a police officer. When I did, the officer demanded ID and, when I
once again refused, informed me that I could be detained for up to 10
hours for refusing to produce identification. I gave in and produced
my school ID which the police gave to the security people who copied
down my name and social security number."
 
Lithium Bandit continued "When I asked the police what was behind this
action, I was told that they couldn't answer but that "the Secret
Service is involved and we are within our rights doing this. I and
some others later went to the Arlington police station to attempt to
get more information. I was told only that there was a report of the
use of a stolen credit card and 2 officers sent to investigate -- they
later admitted that it was 5. While I was detained, I heard no mention
of a credit card and there was no one arrested."
 
Marc Rotenberg, director of CPSR's Washington office, told Newsbytes
"I have really no details on the incident yet but I am very concerned
--More--[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]about the reports and confiscation of CPSR applications, if true, is
outrageous.  I will find out more facts on Monday.
 
Newsbytes was told by the Pentagon City Mall office that any
information concerning the action would have to come from the director
of security, Al Johnson, who will not be available until Monday. The
Arlington Country Police referred Newsbytes to a "press briefing
recording" which had not been updated since the morning before the
incident.
 
Corley told Newsbytes "there have been no reports of misbehavior by
any of these people. They were obviously singled out because they were
hackers.  It's as if they were being singled out as an ethnic group. I
admire the way the group responded -- in a courteous fashion but it is
inexcusable that it happened. I will be at the next Washington meeting
to insure that it doesn't happen again."
 
The manager of one of New York state's largest malls provided
background information to Newsbytes on the rights of malls to police
those on mall property, saying "The primary purpose of a mall is to
sell. The interior of the mall is private property and is subject to
the regulations of the mall. The only requirement is that the
--More--[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]regulations be enforced in an even-handed manner. I do not allow
political activities in my mall so I could not make an exception for
Democrats. We do allow community groups to meet but they must request
space at least two weeks before the meeting and must have proper
insurance. Our regulations also say that groups of more than 4 may not
congregate in the mall. We would ask groups larger than that to
disperse. We would also ask for identification from those who violate
our regulations so that we may bar them from the mall for a period of
6 months."
 
She added "Some people feel that mall atriums and food courts are
public space. They are not and the industry is united on this. If the
malls were to receive tax benefits for the common space and public
service in snow removal and the like, it could possibly be a public
area but malls are taxed on the entire space and are totally private
property, subject to their own regulations. If a group of 20 or more
congregated in my mall, they would be asked to leave."
 
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