For those of you who do not want/cannot interact with Paypal, donations to the legal defense fund can also be sent to:
Christopher Soghoian
School of Informatics
Indiana University
901 E 10th St
Bloomington, Indiana 47408
USA
Please put my name as payable to.
The legal advice I've gotten thus far has been to not talk to the press for now.
Good luck. When I got raided a few years back, it was a scary time. Hang in there.
ReplyDeleteChris, they never like their pants pulled down.
ReplyDeleteYou'll be alright, and this will cause quite a shake up some where else besides your life.
Have you contacted either the ACLU or the EFF yet?
ReplyDeleteYou had the right to remain silent.
ReplyDeleteYou had the right not to represent.
You had the right not to waive rights.
Legal advice is something had from one beholden to your adversary. Reference: attorney in Corpus Juris Secundum in the law library. Attorney at law is not attorney in law, either, is it ?.
You've got love on my blog.
ReplyDeleteBoing Boing is following your case quite closely as well.
You'll beat these thugs. Don't worry.
Here's what I find interesting:
ReplyDeleteIf you Google search for Chris (and I have) you'll see he has quite a Web presence as a concerned information-security professional. He's not a no-name script-kiddie, he has an extensive professional history in this field.
Second: This security "hole" was never a very big problem to begin with. Other people (including Sen. Chuck Schumer) mentioned it years ago, and if you read verious news accounts from both before and after Chris's script went up, you'll see that even spokespersons of the TSA state that this hole is not a major concern.
Why?
Because even if someone exploits this hole, they STILL can't bring anything dangerous with them onto an airplane. (Any more than they could before.)
What I'm saying is, this hole does not actually endanger anyone. At best it allows people to ride on airplanes who couldn't due to the no-fly list; but those people couldn't do anything dangerous anyway unless they can magically hoodwink the security scanners.
I would like to repeat that TSA spokespersons have confirmed that this is not a dangerous security hole. For example, see this story, where "TSA spokesperson Carrie Hanson" is quoted as saying "'Is this a threat to security? The answer is no.'"
At worst, Chris made it marginally easier to exploit a known low-priority security hole that was already ridiculously easy to exploit.
And for this he gets his door broken and house ransacked by the FBI? You can see why I would be shocked and dismayed by this. If this gets as far as a grand jury I will be horrified.
The general legal advice is to not talk to the press. It's generally a good idea to stay silent, since anything you say can be used against you.
ReplyDeleteSuggestion: Look into whether or not it makes sense to ignore it here. If you can get adequate press attention, it can (a) do a lot of good for the world (b) pressure the government into laying off of you.
That may end up overwhelming the legal issues.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteSomewhere out there is a Vonage box with your name on it. Maybe when the dust settles you can help Vonage make their next commercial.
It's up to us, the public, to generate the media frenzy to put the pressure on the Department of Justice and FBI to drop this matter. That way C.S. won't incriminate himself and the required message will get out that someone blowing a whistle on the sham of aviation security is being punished for speaking truth to power.
ReplyDeletehere's one reason why lawyers recommend that you don't talk to the press:
ReplyDeleteif the govt/authorities have made a mistake and/or overreacted and want to back track and the charged party makes a big stink and attracts even more attention, then the govt/authorities feel a need to keep pressing forward just to show they're not weak... its a matter of saving face... if you want to take on the fight, then go for it, but if you'd like to see it all go away and you become only an interesting entry in some wiki somewhere, then if you're lawyer thinks there's a chance that the prosecutors will drop their case if you don't make them look like idiots, then don't make them look like idiots.
its important to choose your battles carefully and fight the ones -you- want to fight and not those others want you to fight for them!
good luck
I can only recommend two things to you (IANAL, for the record).
ReplyDelete1. Do not ever say anything without a lawyer's advice on it. It is simply a matter that they WILL use it against you if they can. Pass everything through a capable lawyer. This is a matter of self-preservation.
2. Contact the EFF. They may or may not feel like they should help you, but my feeling is they will. It doesn't cost anything.
- Nils
I just hope "Soh-Goy-An" you are an arian Christian type or God knows what Georges Stooges may try to do to you.
ReplyDeleteIts not that the loop hole is very useful its just that after 5 years it makes the organ grinders look like village idiots for their performance thus far. It also makes you wonder what other loopholes there still are just waiting to be used.
If the service your website provided was not actually illegal then how did the Stooges decide that they could just come and kick in your doors and steal your PC? I thought that was the kind of thing Saddams boys would have done!
I have a slightly deviant suggestion. Go get some of those tiny video transmitters and hide them around your place. Leave the recording devices devices a distance away where they wont be found. That way if they come calling again you can make'em famous on You Tube!
Seriously, you are playing against The State. It has muscles and teeth and it may want to make an example of you. As others have stated right now be VERY careful about saying anything to anyone.
You might care to go to the Wikipedia and read about Frederick Forsyth, a British author and how in "The Day of the Jackal" some 30 years ago he wrote about obtaining a genuine birth certificate in somebody elses name which leads to a passport in that name. I dont believe MI5 came calling at 2am over that though!
Doubtless my IP will be tracked and I'll be placed on a watch list for offering solace to someone like you but for what its worth, you have my respect.
Good Luck.
Dominic