[you can just bet that law enforcement agencies monitor this website and similar websites for clues to illegal activities involving firearms.]
John:
Whoa, I just felt like I entered a conspiracy theory zone reading that. LOL! I have had a computer and modem for many years, well back into the middle 80s, and it never ceases to amaze me how many times I’ve read something like that on a BBS or Internet Web site. This sense of paranoia is especially prevalent on sites that cover anything to do with the history of the Third Reich. John, I don’t think there are any government “law enforcement agencies” reading the public messages on this, or any other reasonable site.
Back in the mid 80s there was a notorious case were the Secret Service got serious egg on its face doing this kind of thing. It involved a small gaming company in Austin, Texas called Steve Jackson Games. Many of you may remember this case. You see, SJ Games was writing a sourcebook for its game GURPS (Generic Universal Role-Playing System) called Cyberpunk. Many of the rules in this sourcebook dealt with the computer hacking skill. While writing the draft manuscript, the company took advice and feedback over its message board, called the Illuminati BBS. I’ll never forget this BBS, it was not accessible by the Internet, and only had two phone lines to it. (Ah, the good old days!) Anyway, many people posted public messages on this BBS dealing directly with the most up-to-date programs and tactics for computer hacking of the day. Note that this was just for incorporating realistic data into its new gaming book. Somehow, the Secret Service heard of this, and had one of its agents pose as a kid to get access to this BBS. This sneaky agent nosed around the BBS and saw these postings. Before they know it, the author of the draft Cyberpunk manuscript (Loyd Blankenship) had been arrested and the company raided by federal agents. SJ Games had all of its computers confiscated.
To all of us that use a computer daily, this may sound completely ridiculous, with all the outrageous postings that we see all over the Internet these days. But in 1985 this was all very new. Anyway, SJ Games won a big lawsuit against the Secret Service and the Feds ended up looking like complete idiots because they based their search warrant on what a bunch of kids had posted on a gaming BBS that dealt with an imaginary situation. In the 17 years since then I have not heard were the Feds pursued a case based on “evidence” from a message board. Kids these days, (hell, even adults, LOL!) post all kinds of hogwash all over the Internet, and I’m sure the Fed is super loath to investigate any of it.
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