nettime: (Fwd) press release

["buro Jansen & Janssen" <respub@xs4all.nl>]

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Thu, 7 Mar 1996 08:18:54 -0500
From:          Emmanuel Goldstein <emmanuel@2600.com>
To:            hanneke@xs4all.nl
Subject:       press release

March 7, 1996

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Bob Hardy
(516) 751-2600

HACKER PROSECUTION RESULTS IN EXPOSED "SECRETS"

2600 Magazine, a publication put out by computer hackers since 1984,
has released information on the United States Secret Service in
response to that organization's continued prosecution of one of its
writers. The information is accessible over the Internet through the
World Wide Web.

"For the past year, the Secret Service has been engaged in a ruthless
attack on Ed Cummings (known in the hacker world as Bernie S.), one of
our most technically adept and knowledgeable writers," says 2600
Publisher Emmanuel Goldstein. "They have succeeded in imprisoning him
with some of the nation's most ruthless criminals for the mere
possession of hardware, software, and reading material."

Cummings has never been accused of committing illegal acts with these
items. Rather, the Secret Service has prosecuted him for having items
which "could be used" for illegal activity. It has been proven on
numerous occasions that there are many legitimate purposes for such
items and that possession of controversial reading material is by no
means an indication of criminal activity. Nevertheless, the Secret
Service has managed to keep Cummings locked away with no bail for
nearly a year as if he were a mastermind of terrorism.

2600 Magazine is making available to the public the same documents
that the Secret Service claims as proof that Ed Cummings is a danger
to society. This information includes the whereabouts of Secret
Service offices, their phone numbers, the radio frequencies used by
the agency, as well as photographs and codenames used for everything
from the President of the United States to buildings, agencies, and
objects.

"We find it ironic that all of this information will now be accessible
to millions of people around the world," Goldstein says, "all because
the Secret Service thought one person having it was a threat."

The information, though never before as widely accessible as this, has
always been easy for anyone to obtain. There are no laws against its
possession. However, the adamance of the Secret Service's contentions
were enough to taint the credibility of Ed Cummings in the eyes of the
court.

In addition to information about the Secret Service themselves, the
site contains full documentation on other cases that have involved
mistreatment by the Secret Service, including one in which the victim
won a lawsuit. Information on other cases can be submitted to the site
by emailing secrets@2600.com.

Says Goldstein, "We don't consider the launching of this site to be an
act of retribution. Rather, it is an affirmation of our freedom and a
demonstration of our willingness to protect it."

The World Wide Web site can be reached at: http://www.2600.com


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