From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ca.general,comp.org.eff.talk Subject: EYENET: Don't shoot the senator Followup-To: eye.general,comp.org.eff.talk Date: 29 May 1996 19:58:33 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 129 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4oiob9$6lu@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@eye.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY May 30, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EYENET EYENET DON'T SHOOT THE SENATOR by K.K . CAMPBELL Last week, the police were hot on the trail of the net.inspired Watermelon Bombers of Edmonton. "A reign of exploding fruit terror!" Well, the terror never stops online. Now a kid has been arrested for "terrorism" in California because he posted a suggestion to Usenet that a California senator who supports hunting mountain lions for fun should himself be declared open season for hunting. On March 6, a 19-year-old college student in El Paso, Texas, Jose Eduardo Saavedra (zuma@primenet.com), contributed a post in a Usenet thread about hunting mountain lions: "Let's hunt Sen. Tim Leslie for sport ... I think it would be great to see this slimeball, asshole, conservative moron hunted down and skinned and mounted for our viewing pleasure. "I would rather see every right-wing nut like scumface Leslie destroyed in the name of political sport, than lose one mountain lion whose only fault is having to live in a state with a fucked up jerk like this shit-faced republican and his supporters." It seems making the hunting of mountain lions legal is a hot issue in California. Leslie supports such hunting. Saavedra is apparently an animal-rights/anti-hunter activist, and so proposed hunting the senator instead. And he sent that proposal to newsgroups talk.environment, sci.environment, talk.politics.animals, rec.pets, ca.politics, rec.pets.cats, rec.animals.wildlife, rec.food.veg and alt.save-The-Earth. On March 13, Saavedra reappeared in the ca.general (general shit about California) newsgroup saying a California reporter had seen a copy of his original post and was just wondering if he really wanted people to kill the senator. Saavedra clarified his position: "I recently was contacted by a reporter for a northern California newspaper wanting to know if I really meant what I said about hunting Tim Leslie. Since it appears that the post has frightened some people -- let me offer some clarification," and he ends his post with this statement: "Would I hunt down Tim or anyone else -- no. Would I support such an action -- no. Would I be happy if some nut actually did such a thing? YES, just like a German Jew would have celebrated the death of Hitler. So -- If California would pass a law allowing the hunting of hunters -- then, and only then, would I go out, buy a gun, and become a hunter." On the morning of May 8, Saavedra was arrested on a no-bail warrant based on felony charges alleging that he made "terrorist threats and threatened a public official," according to Sgt. Don Marshall of the El Paso County Sheriff's office. The student was taken into custody in El Paso County Jail on a "Fugitive from Justice" warrant issued by the Sacramento district attorney's office. On May 10, the Sacramento Bee ran a story headlined "Internet Threat to Leslie Brings Arrest." It quoted Leslie: "I hope the message to the public is that it is not legal to abuse the Internet." The paper noted that Saavedra refused to waive extradition, so California would have to execute a governor's warrant to drag him there for trial. On May 11, the San Francisco Examiner ran an AP story titled "Net threat is traced to student." Free speech activists everywhere couldn't believe it was true at first, it was so ludicrous. But it was true, so they began analyzing Saavedra's posts with a legal eye. On the fight-censorship list, Jay Holovacs (holovacs@ios.com) noted: "This statement is so obviously sarcastic that I don't think any reasonable person reading it would actually believe he is planning to kill Leslie. If however, after this statement was made, someone took pot shots at Leslie, then it would be basis for investigation." EFF counsel Mike Godwin (mnemonic@well.com) made the comment that what Saavedra was doing was not very different from other "protected" political speech, like wearing a T-shirt emblazoned "Fuck The Draft." Leslie, meanwhile, told the press he was "relieved" an arrest had been made -- whew! He says Saavedra's case raises "big new issues" about the net. The senator also says it's a "very serious matter" to "threaten or intimidate or extort others in a public forum like this." OK, class -- having read the senator's observations, do you think he is a regular user of Usenet? Ann Beeson (beeson@nyc.pipeline.com), from the ACLU's National Office, says the ACLU of Northern California has agreed to take Saavedra's case. "The ACLU attorneys in North California are strategizing with Saavedra's attorney, a public defender in Texas," she says. The Sacramento DA's office says cops located Saavedra through information from the student's Internet provider, Arizona's Primenet. Beeson and the ACLU understand these kinds of cases are far bigger than just one student angry about the slaughter of mountain lions, or an asshole sitting in the U.S. senate. It's about the entire structure of the Internet and how quickly Internet service providers will pull down their pants when the cops come calling. How ready is your own ISP to just hand over access to all your email when John Law appears at their door asking for "cooperation" against whatever they are labelling you: terrorist/child pornographer/anarchist/drug dealer, etc.? "In addition to the obvious infringement on Saavedra's free speech rights, we are curious to learn just how much info PrimeNet of Arizona turned over to law enforcement to enable the arrest," Beeson says. "There may be a privacy issue here as well." California Senator Tim Leslie's office can be reached at (916) 445- 5788. Timmy... get yer gun... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.eye.net Mailing list available eyeNET archive --------------> http://www.eye.net/News/Eyenet eye@eye.net "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421