[WICHITA, Kan] Subpeona:For Information On 6 People Who Posted Messages (my title)

thekansascitychannel.com ^ | April 22, 2004

[Freedom2specul8]

Police Subpeona BTK Info From Newspaper Internet Board

Investigators Want Information On 6 People Who Posted Messages

POSTED: 1:27 pm CDT April 22, 2004

UPDATED: 1:30 pm CDT April 22, 2004

WICHITA, Kan. -- The Wichita Eagle has agreed to turn over to investigators information on six people who posted messages on the newspaper's Internet message board about the BTK serial killings. At the request of Wichita police and assisting investigators, a court ordered Knight Ridder Digital, a subsidiary of the newspaper's parent company, to deliver the information. Eagle Managing Editor Sherry Chisenhall said terms of the discussion board advise users that Knight Ridder Digital reserves the right to disclose information "necessary to satisfy the law, regulation or government request."

Between 1974 and 1978, the killer known as BTK -- the name stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill" -- killed at least seven people. Last month, shortly after the 30th anniversary of the first murders, BTK sent a letter to The Eagle claiming responsibility for a 1986 killing. The newspaper started the BTK message board after it received the latest letter. The subpoena asks for all subscriber information on those six people, including profiles and credit card information. It also asks for copies of all posts as well as any information that would show the location of the computer from which they were sent. It was signed by Sedgwick County District Judge Gregory Waller. Police would not comment on the subpoena, or why they focused efforts on the six message posters. The Eagle's Thursday editions did not publicly identify the "screen names" of the six posters or the content of their messages; Chisenhall said doing so might hinder the investigation or falsely identify someone as a suspect. Hundreds of messages have been posted to the board concerning a wide range of topics related to the case, including speculation on whether a psychologist might be in the best position to catch BTK, news on an unrelated serial killer case in Kansas City, and even invitations to parties hosted by and for message board posters. The newspaper received an average of 40,000 hits per day on the message board during the first three weeks after the reports surfaced of the BTK letter to the newspaper. The board gets an average of more than 300 posts a day.

[Freedom2specul8]

Interesting info!!

[Freedom2specul8]

The sniper pinglist
The van dam pinglist
The OLD pinglist for the peterson trial
a few friends..

Of course most of us know that message boards can be of use..but I am curious as to what those 6 people did to get the attention of authorities.

I thought this would be interesting to you all for various reasons. I hope you don't mind. If you want off or on any of my lists, please let me know and I will remove you as soon as possible.

[Future Useless Eater]

Well I can understand if a murderer visits websites and leaves
clues, and LE wants to subpoena that website for EVERYTHING
they might know to capture the felon.

But most of us here have the more obvious question.
If someone like Hillary were back in the white house, and
wanted to crack down on her political enemies...

Or if a greasy lawyer wanted to shut down his opponents...

Or a lawsuit-happy con-artist/murdering husband in Florida
(hypothetically speaking of course ;-) ....
were to want to SUE in CIVIL COURT for words posted here...

--- could they succeed in getting Freeper names?

---Could we all put Jim Robinson on LEGAL RETAINER by
sending him $1.00 or more each?
(thus lawyer-client priviledge)?

The recording industry's lawsuits over mp3 downloaders should
serve as an example that people may need to seek ways
to become more anonymous online.

[archy]

Of course most of us know that message boards can be of use..but I am curious as to what those 6 people did to get the attention of authorities.

I don't know either, but considering the death squad culture exhibited by the Wichita cops, it's a fair bet that the killer could be one of them.

And this could be their way of silencing any witbnesses against them.

[archy]

The sniper pinglist

Ping! Snipers UP!

[blackbag]

While I agree this could chill the freedom of anonymous posting I will sleep well because if it was a real concern then I would take precautions before I ever posted something I couldn't stand by.

[Future Useless Eater]

>>...take precautions before I ever posted something I couldn't stand by.


Yes, but when there is OBVIOUS judicial corruption, along with
a lawsuit-happy monster, and a greedy ambulance chaser all
teamed up....

...It no longer seems to matter if what you're saying is 'right'
because these slime feel their ends justifies their means.
Just look at the flagpole homeowner in Jupiter FL who
nearly lost his house, even though he 'won' his case.

Some places, especially Florida, are ripe with judicial disrepute.

[UCANSEE2]

Please, I am honored you keep me in mind.

[Peach]

How very curious.

I wonder if some armchair detectives did such good speculating that it made authorities suspicious.

[Jackie-O]

Thanks for the ping Kim!

[runningbear]

scary thought! Gads, sometimes the internet is fantastic, this makes me wonder on invasion of privacy? Well, we all know the internet has no privacy.....;o)

[muggs]

Thanks for the ping.

[Devil_Anse]

Thank you, Kim, I do find it very interesting.

I think the investigators think the killer, or someone who knows the killer's identity, has posted there. Notice that it took a court order to make the internet forum host have to turn over whatever info they have.

If I were the owner of a forum, and I got a court order to turn over what I knew of certain posters, I'd probably do it... but what if I started being inundated with such court orders? I would begin to find it disruptive, and I would then talk to my lawyer. If it got to be routine that people could get courts to order such sharing of information, then I think forum owners would start to fight it--and in many cases, I think the forum owners would win, based on free speech protections.

I think it all comes down to how important it is that the information be turned over. Given that this is an investigation into several torture-murders, I'd say in this case, it is VERY important.

[MizSterious]

That was one of my thoughts; another was, I wonder if someone was posting false clues, claiming some kind of inside info. I've seen things posted on some topics that made me wonder if the posters were doing that. (Anyone remember Quidam?)

[MizSterious]

Your concerns are good ones, and do consider that there are calls from some quarters to have the U.N. take over the internet. There's a chilling thought for you...

[Valpal1]

Hi Kim!

I hope they actually find a link to the BTK killer from one or more of these six.

Doesn't bother me at all that they get court orders to get information. That's considerbly less than the IRS has to do in most circumstances.

Doubt seriously that the killer registered with real info (if he posted), I'm sure they can identify the computer, but can they identify where that computer is?

[Yaelle]

Fascinating, Kim; keep me on your ping list.

I suppose that if something terrible were to happen to Hillary, and there were a thread about it on FR, and someone mentioned something that the cops knew ONLY the killer and they would know (and the poster was not one of them), they'd look up that poster fairly quickly.

But it looks bad that they have taken 6 posters. Surely all 6 were not involved. There has to be a 1st amendment defense for some or all of those posters.

[Freedom2specul8]

That's true...

I haven't gone over to the website yet to check it out..but was wondering if maybe they were checking to see if it was the same person...

[Freedom2specul8]

"Could we all put Jim Robinson on LEGAL RETAINER by
sending him $1.00 or more each?"

What a great question for an attorney. I think that since JimRob's not an atty, it wouldn't work. We are allowed to defend ourselves in court..but I am thinking non-atty's cannot defend someone else.

[Freedom2specul8]

It's nice to see you!