Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 04:26:54 GMT From: knight@eff.org (Craig Neidorf) Subject: File 2--More Background on SJG Trial Today, January 19, 1993 was to be the first day in the trial of Steve Jackson Games, et al. v. United States Secret Service. Because of predictable courtroom legal games, it has been delayed, but I wanted to remind you all of some of the history behind it. Three years ago in 1990, January 19 was a Friday. It was 4 days after AT&T shut down for 9 hours during Martin Luther King's birthday, and with reference to its significance to the SJGames proceedings, it was the day the USSS served a Federal search warrant at the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house at the University of Missouri-Columbia. I was the intended and actual victim as Special Agents Tim Foley and Barbara Golden, accompanied by Reed Newlin (Southwestern Bell security), and officers from the University police and the University's administrative office tore through my room with a legal license written so broad that they could have walked off with tv, vcr, and refrigerator. Desperately searching for traces of the public 911 information and copies of Phrack Magazine, the SS came up empty, but not before they had completely harassed and intimidated me. As the raid began, the University police physically restrained me even though I made no attempt to stop them nor did they have any reason to believe I would respond violently. I asked to see their warrant and they went inside. Unlike other USSS raids in 1990 there were no guns were drawn... but I suppose that the presence of some 30+ witnesses cramming the halls watching them, probably helped the agents keep it holstered as well. Eventually, I was allowed to seat myself on the floor outside my room where I could partially see and hear what the agents were doing and saying (diagram of my room is at end of posting). They went right to work, starting with jotting down the serial numbers of every electrical device in the room to check and see if it was stolen property. I wasn't worried about that. All of my school books and notebooks for class were checked for illegal information. After noticing a book about law schools on my shelf, the agents had themselves a good laugh about how I would never have that option when they were through with me. Agent Foley was prepared to remove my entire audio compact disc collection as evidence (of what I have no idea), until Agent Golden informed him that I could not use them in my Apple IIc 5 1/4 inch floppy drive (instead she told him I could have used them in a 3 1/2 inch drive). Copies of the Phrack subscriber list were taken along with a notebook containing newspaper clippings about Robert Morris and other noteworthy people and incidents relating to computers. The SS decided that reading the Wall Street Journal and saving some articles was at the least suspicious, if not a felony. (Among hundreds of other names and Internet addresses, the subscriber list contained an entry for an individual who was an employee for Steve Jackson Games.) And then the telephone rang... I began to get up when the police forced me back down. Agent Foley noticed the commotion and remarked "They'll call back!" And that is when the answering machine clicked on. The agents chuckled since they knew they were about to hear a private message being delivered to me. It was like they were wiretapping without a warrant. The caller didn't identify himself. He didn't need to. It was my co-editor, desperately trying to find out what was happening and letting me know his intention to drive to Columbia that evening. After the ceiling tiles had been lifted, the furniture moved away from the walls, the mattress flipped, and the carpet pulled up, the agents decided to leave (believe it or not they completely ignored the bottle of Barcardi that was sitting in there). As I plead with them not to take my Apple computer, Agent Foley declined to speak with me unless I was Mirandized again. I decided a Q&A session would be inappropriate at this time so I declined. But before he left, Foley informed me that I was not under arrest, but I was going to jail for violating the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act of 1986, for the illegal Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property, and for Wire Fraud. On February 6, 1990 (18 days later) I was indicted. As most of you should be familiar with, the First Amendment/intellectual property law battle concerning Phrack's publication of the public 911 information ended with the government dropping the case after 7 months of putting me through hell and 5 days in Federal court in Chicago. The legal battle that followed cost me over $109,000 before it was completely over. My family and I are still making payments on a monthly basis and we are far from finished. ++++++++++ Diagram is not to scale (i.e., my room was really tiny): ____________________________________ WINDOW ________ | | | | s dresser | | bed | h | | | e __________| |___________________________________| l desk | _______| v w/ | |night |<--phone e Apple | chair |table |<--ans. s comp. | |_______| machine |_______| _____ _________| s stand | | t | | | h for | | a | | | e tv/vcr| | b | | | l refrig| | l | | sofa | v_______| | e | | | e |_____| | | s |_________| | | | ______ CLOSET _________ CLOSET ______| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |__ DOOR __|_________________________________________| H A L L W A Y of fraternity house Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253