Subject: HELENA KOBRIN CALLED ME TODAY... Date: 4 Apr 1995 04:35:33 GMT Dear Folks, I rece

From: homer@poly.math.cornell.edu (Homer Wilson Smith) Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology,comp.org.eff.talk,misc.legal Subject: HELENA KOBRIN CALLED ME TODAY... Date: 4 Apr 1995 04:35:33 GMT Organization: I SPEAK ONLY FOR MYSELF Message-ID: <3lqial$rt1@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu> Dear Folks, I received a polite call from Ms. Helena Kobrin today, legal counsel for the Church of Scientology, concerning a recent post of alleged Church copyrighted trade secrets through my Free Zone remailer at homer@rahul.net She asked if I knew who posted it, and I told her that it had been chained. She also asked if I could cancel it, and I said no, but I meant more that it would be politically inexpedient to cancel it, rather than a physical impossibility. I told her that she could have it canceled, and she responded by saying 'Well *I'm not canceling anything.' (not an exact quote.) I told her that I have placed my remailer into moderation mode concerning a.r.s. and a.c.t. and all known gatesways leading to them, including mail to news gateways, so that any future posts through my remailer to these two groups will come to me for consideration. I also directed her to my various responses to the posting along the SCAMIZDAT subject thread. I am highly annoyed that I have been put in this position. I do not know what my proper course of action is. I probably can cancel the posting, I certainly would expect the Cancel Poodle IV to do so, and frankly he has my blessings on this one. ... I just received a second call from Ms. Kobrin. She asked me if I could tell her what remailer the posting came to my remailer through. I told her that she was pushing it asking for that data. We talked a bit about the present situation on the net and possible solutions to it, but she was unwilling to discuss the various strategies they are planning, and frankly I have no bright ideas about how to stop the postings. She then pressed me on the subject of canceling the posting again, and I said I would do it. The posting will get reposted anyhow over and over whether or not I cancel it, it has all already been posted multiple times, so basically to show good faith, along with moderation of the remailer, I have agreed to cancel the posting. Homer ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homer Wilson Smith ART MATRIX homer@rahul.net FRACTALS! (607) 277-0959 http://www.rahul.net/homer/ ------------------ From: "Homer W. Smith" Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology,comp.org.eff.talk,misc.legal Subject: HELENA KOBRIN CALLS 3rd TIME... Date: 4 Apr 1995 04:42:32 GMT Organization: I SPEAK ONLY FOR MYSELF Message-ID: <3lqino$emm@hustle.rahul.net> I recevied a 3rd call from Ms. Helena Kobrin. She was interested in talking me into giving them the name of the earlier remailer that the posting SCAMIZDAT #3 came through. I explained that my sworn written policy was that such data would only be given out with a court order. She mentioned that this could get 'expensive' for me. I told her I have no choice in the matter, my reputation would be destroyed on the net if I renegged on the written statement in my remailer intro. 'This is SACROSANCT'. The whole matter of why I keep logs comes up again. The primary justification for doing so, besides an effort to be somewhat responsible with a loaded gun, is the fact that Rahul Dehsi keeps sendmail logs like most systems do. Thus if I am pestered to forward a complaint to a sender, which is reasonable, I can forestall people from bothering Rahul with it, because I have the data at hand. Ms. Kobrin pointed out that if I do not cooperate with handing over the sender's address, it will end up on Rahul's desk anyhow. I don't know what Rahul will do, he won't appreciate the situation, fortunately we will be leaving Rahul shortly for our own site. Whether I will be running a remailer there, I really don't know. This is creating serious PTSness for me. In any case, finding the posting FOR SURE that came into me that eventually went to a.r.s. from the send mail logs will be dicey at best because the To: line will say homer@rahul.net, the sendmail logs do not record the Anon-To: a.r.s. etc. Secondly by now, I am sure most of the remailer operators have burned their logs since they know a posse if coming for them. Anyhow even if me and Ms. Kobrin do the 'expense tango', they will merely get a name of another remailer and they will go bother them. Most remailers do not keep logs, many not even send mail logs, and the probabilities are very high that they will run into a blank wall. However they will use the data to further harass the remailers in turn to get to the earlier remailer. The end result will be the harassment of the remailer operators, and not the original poster. Which is why SOME solution to this problem must be found and fast, lest the entire remailer network go out of existence. So I am sort of on the firing line. Again. There is no easy way out of this one, although I told her that if she got a court order or something signed by a real judge I would hand over the name of the prior remailer. Of course I might have gotten the name wrong, or the prior remailer could even have been a total forge. In any case its almost sure that there will be no logs at that remailer, as I am the only remailer that I know that keeps logs, for just such an occasion. A lot of good it is doing me. Homer ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homer Wilson Smith ART MATRIX homer@rahul.net FRACTALS! (607) 277-0959 http://www.rahul.net/homer/ -- Homer W. Smith