Ted Rall's Site Among Targets of Pre-GOP Convention Surveillance

[Newsjock]

Source: Editor & Publisher

Editorial cartoonist Ted Rall's Web site was among the things the New York Police Department looked at when doing surveillance prior to the 2004 Republican National Convention in Manhattan, reported The New York Times.

... According to the Times, police documents included a Nov. 13, 2003, digest indicating that posts on Rall's site were being watched. And the police documents described Rall as "a nationally known activist figure."

Rall responded in his blog last night: "I'm no activist. I marched during the 2003 anti-Iraq War demo in New York, but before that it had been many years since I'd been active in any political organization. ... Many of my friends are activists, and I admire them for it. Next to them, I'm a mere lump on a log who opines on current events from behind my computer and drafting table."


Read more: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003586722

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. Team Member = Loyal Bushie; otherwise you're an Enemy of the State n/t

[Hissyspit]

2. Oh, brother.

:eyes:

[swag]

3. Wait, it gets even worse.

The list of surveilled groups

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003586722

includes Planned Parenthood, Greenpeace, Billionaires for Bush, cartoonist Ted Rall, the NYC Independent Media Center, the ACLU, MSNBC, the Sierra Club, NOW, the Federation of East Village Artists, and Grandmothers Against War.

via Laura Rozen.

[whyzayker]

4. (Try to) Read some of those lists

Many are heavily redacted. Big surprise.

[queerart]

5. I'm Here To Say. . . . . .

That "many" cartoon sites "are being actively watched" by the Government. . . . .

Mine that is a "Gay" cartoon site has been watched for a couple years now after I posted a cartoon here on Democratic Underground making fun of Log Cabin Republicans.......

I have had the DOJ, DOD, and other visit my site on a regular basis......

I contacted Bartcop, and the Huffington Post to see if they had the same problem. . . but sadly neither of them would relpy to my email.........

As a matter of fact, I just sent an email to a few in congress which I will add a copy of.....

They (the Govenment) are "watching" alot of us.... and that is not Tin Foil Hat stuff....

_____________________________________________________________________

CC: Sheldon Whitehouse
CC: Bill Nelson
CC: Russell D. Feingold
CC: Barbara A. Mikulski
CC: Evan Bayh
CC: Ron Wyden
CC: Dianne Feinstein
CC: John D. Rockefeller IV


Dear Sir/Madame,

I will try to be clear, concise, and get directly to the point. I am writing about the thought that Congress might allow FBI agents, and other federal investigators greater leeway to eavesdrop on foreigners, and American citizens. The US Terrorist Surveillance Program "is not" limiting their surveillance to just foreigners! I have a couple web sites, one for my personal web page (http://1and1equals2.com), and another for cartoons (http://thequartercure.com) that I like to draw (which are nonpornagraphic Gay cartoons mind you). Visits to my sites started a couple years ago after I made fun of Log Cabin Republicans, and Pat Robertson (when he said Chavez should be assassinated). So I drew a couple cartoons, and posted them on the web site "Democratic Underground". Right afterwards my logs started showing visits from the DOJ, and DOD! I was taken aback after finding out who was visiting my sites, so I contacted a couple people I know at Democratic Underground about the odd visits. They reassured me that I was making too much out of what I saw on the logs, and reminded me that Gay folks do work at both the DOJ, & the DOD. I was even aware that the DOJ was watching my eBay auctions that I had going at the time. (and I was able to discover that, as the DOJ was looking at the photos which came back with the URL for my auctions on the logs) So I just thought, well.... if I give it a little time they (DOJ, DOD) will see I'm doing nothing wrong and they will eventually leave me alone. So the visits from them (DOJ & the DOD) did in fact wane off, only to be replaced by folks like:

65.222.176.123

CustName: CYVEILLANCE
Address: 1555 WILSON BLVD
Address: STE 404
City: ARLINGTON
StateProv: VA
PostalCode: 22209-2405
Country: US
RegDate: 2005-04-13
Updated: 2005-04-13

NetRange: 65.222.176.96 - 65.222.176.127
CIDR: 65.222.176.96/27
NetName: UU-65-222-176-96-D6
NetHandle: NET-65-222-176-96-1
Parent: NET-65-192-0-0-1
NetType: Reassigned
Comment: Addresses within this block are non-portable.
RegDate: 2005-04-13
Updated: 2005-04-13

________________________

38.0.0.0

OrgName: Performance Systems International Inc.
Address: 1015 31st St NW
City: Washington
StateProv: DC
PostalCode: 20007
Country: US
Comment: rwhois.cogentco.com
RegDate:
Updated: 2005-07-13
OrgID: PSI
Address: 1015 31st St NW
City: Washington
StateProv: DC
PostalCode: 20007
Country: US

NetRange: 38.0.0.0 - 38.255.255.255
CIDR: 38.0.0.0/8

__________________________________

Here are the URL's for the cartoons in question:

http:// thequartercure.com/cartoons/26.gif
http:// thequartercure.com/cartoons/28.gif
http:// thequartercure.com/cartoons/39.gif
http:// thequartercure.com/cartoons/45.gif

(remove space)


Now keep in mind that this surveillance of my sites has been going on for a couple of years now... so finally I grew weary of them (Performance Systems International Inc, & CYVEILLANCE) running rough shod over my web sites... so I banned both of their ip chains. So guess what? They came back with:

__________________________________

166.128.0.0

OrgName: Service Provider Corporation
Address: 442 Route 202-206 North
Address: # 485
City: Bedminster
StateProv: NJ
PostalCode: 07921-0523
Country: US
Comment:
RegDate: 1993-07-09
Updated: 2005-01-07
OrgID: SPC-10
Address: 442 Route 202-206 North
Address: # 485
City: Bedminster
StateProv: NJ
PostalCode: 07921-0523
Country: US

NetRange: 166.128.0.0 - 166.255.255.255
CIDR: 166.128.0.0/9
NetName: NETBLK-CDPD-B
NetHandle: NET-166-128-0-0-1
Parent: NET-166-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Assignment
NameServer: NS1.WIRELESSDATASPCO.ORG
NameServer: NS.CDPDSPCO.ORG

...... and I'm sure it will be of no surprise to you that this ip chain is associated with "The US Terrorist Surveillance Program". Should anyone doubt this information, simply Google the ip chain "166.128.0.0 - 166.255.255.255 ", or one can visit the URL: http://cryptome.org/ip-tla.htm for more information. Now you ask, what is the point of my email? First, I would like to know from "someone", why taxpayers are paying people to watch a site of Gay Cartoons? Second, to say that FBI agents, and other federal investigators have too much power already that is being abused! They have shown that they can't be trusted with the powers that they already possess, let alone to have even more authority to do what ever they like. They are asking for more control, as they have already over stepped the bounds in their command..... and worry that Congress, & the country will find out what they have done and prosecute them. America needs a respite from being terrorized by our own government! The Republican mantra of "No Big Government, or No New Laws".... does not apply if it's a "Republican Big Government, and Republican New Laws. I kindly ask that you think long, & hard before voting to give away any more of our rights.


I Thank You In Advance!

(I removed my name and home address)

[TygrBright]

6. Well, c'mon... Agent Mike hasta do SOMETHING to earn his paycheck...

...poor guy can't find any REAL leads to "terra"-ists here on DU, and he's gotta make it look like he's doing something.

sympathetically,
Bright

[HuffleClaw]

7. scary stuff

but from an administration that proudly states, 'you're either with us or you're against us' it isn't much of a surprise.

[Blue_Tires]

8. creepy

the ghosts of Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover have snaked their way into the thought processes of the NYPD...