Special Agent James Castano said the call he made to me
was his first for matter like that. He was friendly, open, answered
all my questions the best he could, and asked others if he didn't
know. We chatted about the DeCSS trial here in NY. His unit he
said deals with computer crime, IP violations, trademarks, so he
knew about DeCSS and the trial.
It was when he passed me to his supervisor, Special Agent
Dave Marzigliano, to asnwer a question about publicing their
e-mail address, that the tone changed, slightly af first as he
repeated what James told me but in a somewhat more
commanding fashion, then closing with the threat -- which by
the way was not connected with the Japanese request or the
list of names, but with the revelation of the agents' names. That
is what surprised me: why their names needed to be concealed,
not for personal privacy as I had originally thought and had offered
to do, but for some unexplained reason which apparently jumped
to Dave's attention and caused him to aggress. James never
acted aggressive, nor did Dave during most of his remarks --
he said he appreciated my First Amendment position on the
lists.
Now it may have been a good/bad guy routine, but at first there
was no bad from either, only at the end. Was I offensive, maybe,
but I was excited about finally getting the official poop on these
gov-gov favors and wanted to tell a full account. Jeeze, maybe
I sounded like a real reporter, waffling on keeping a promise, and
Dave picked up the signal based on his wiser experience than
young James had. Maybe Dave smelled a trap, maybe he was
being monitored, after the NY office got burned a few months
back for browbeating an ISP to yank a site. Certainly when James
told me to hold for his supervisor there were a lot clicks setting
up the recorder for what Dave would say -- which may be why he
repeated the Japanese request in officialese, then barked the
threat, almost as if he was being semaphored to do so.
Thanks for the support, but I don't think much will come of the
threat. It was part of the favor, to make a persuasive tape for the
Japanese. Now if only the Japanese will come acalling.
BTW, we were told this morning that the lists had been sent
to alt.security.espionage at the same time they were sent to
us, that they had been previously published in Japan (the FBI
said this too), and that the person who distributed them is known
in Japan. So the stuff is fairly widely distributed, not quite as much
as DeCSS but moving fast.
Related docs are still coming in, though, every few days, so
Carnivore is getting its feed.
