>From dcleek@pharos.uwc.edu Thu Apr 4 20:17:31 1996 Return-Path: Received: from pharos.uwc.edu by mail6 (8.6.13/Netcom) id UAA21749; Thu, 4 Apr 1996 20:17:29 -0800 Received: from wshcleek.uwc.edu ([143.235.54.98]) by pharos.uwc.edu (8.6.9/8.6.9) with SMTP id WAA21537 for ; Thu, 4 Apr 1996 22:20:07 -0600 Message-ID: <3164C00A.2EAB@pharos.uwc.edu> Date: Thu, 04 Apr 1996 22:39:06 -0800 From: Dick Cleek Organization: University of Wisconsin Centers X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.0 (Win16; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Keith Henson Subject: your offer to deliver to Whyte? References: <234344Z01041996@anon.penet.fi> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Status: R Richard K. Cleek University of Wisconsin Centers 400 University Dr. West Bend, WI 53095 (414) 335-5232 Hon. Ronald M. Whyte, Federal Judge Northern District of California San Jose, CA 95113 April 4, 1996 Dear Judge Whyte: I have read the "Notice of Deposition of Defendant Grady Ward and Request for Production of Documents and Things" issued by RTC. I am horrified that this proceeding is being allowed to occur. Specifically, I am concerned that my private email to Mr. Ward will now fall into the hands of the Church of Scientology. I have not posted anonymously in any capacity to any newsgroup. I am not the author of the Scamizdat materials nor do I have any knowledge concerning who posted those materials. However, I have communicated several times with Mr. Ward concerning the illegal cancellations of postings to the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup apparently by the Church or members of it. I have been in communication with the FBI's National Computer Crimes Squad in Falls Church, Virginia on this same matter since last Spring. I am a member of the "Rabbit Hunters", an ad hoc group of netizens who ultimately tracked down, and still track down, the ongoing illegal cancellations of newsgroup postings. I testified as an expert witness in the RTC vs. FACTNET case in Denver. During cross-examination, Mr. Cooley asked me for the names of the Rabbit Hunters and I refused to tell him. Judge Kane allowed my decision to stand. My decision was based on the need to protect our group of technical experts from harassment by the Church. That decision will be mooted if the Church is allowed to rummage through Mr. Ward's email. In addition, my email to Mr. Ward, while not voluminous, may well contain personal details about me and my family. In the hands of the Church, that material puts me and my family at risk. A year ago, before I began reading alt.religion.scientology, I would have dismissed the worries I've expressed above as extreme and unwarranted. I've learned alot in this past year and I can only hope that you have too. My worries are not unfounded. They are supported by a multitude of courtroom documents, judicial decisions and the exposure of the Church in the public press. I called your clerk today in an effort to make my fears known to you. She did not understand and repeated several times that I should engage an attorney. I must protest that I do not need an attorney. I've posted nothing that violates any law, even by the Church's bizarre standards. An attorney cannot protect me from what I fear, just as attorneys have not successfully protected other critics of the Church. Just and cautious application of the law by your court and those who act in your name are protection enough. My reading of the law, and no, I am not a lawyer, is that my email is protected from being disclosed in a fishing expedition by the Church. Sincerely, Richard K. Cleek Professor of Geography and Computer Science