On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 22:14:29 -0700, Scott Abraham
Post by Scott AbrahamAttorney. Name. Address. I'd love to talk to him about your criminal
stalking.
And EXACTLY what criminal stalking is that, Scott????
Please be SPECIFIC, asshole, because I have not been to Washington
State in years!
BTW, I'm not the one that is considered a "potential risk", and I'm
not the one that was issued a restraining order by a King County
judge:
----------
Judge Bars Man From Chat Group
May Be First Time Someone Is Legally Banned From Site
Nov 99
SEATTLE (APBnews.com) -- A Seattle man, believed to be the first
person ever legally barred from participating in an online chat group,
may appeal a judge's restraining order banning him from the online
discussion devoted to skiing enthusiasts.
The case, which began with a dispute over free ski passes and spilled
over to cyberspace, includes a wild series of charges and
countercharges between two camps in the Internet usenet newsgroup
rec.skiing.alpine.
It came to a head when a judge issued an order of protection
preventing 47-year-old Scott Abraham from joining in the newsgroup
after another member, David Hobbs, accused Abraham of a campaign of
harassment. Both men are Seattle residents.
'I want him to leave me alone'
In the restraining order, Judge Pro Tem Marcine Anderson in King
County District Court not only barred Abraham from posting to the
newsgroup, but also ordered him not to contact Hobbs in any manner for
a year.
"Respondent [Abraham] is further restrained from making or responding
to postings at the Internet site rec.skiing.alpine either directly or
indirectly, in person or through others," the judge wrote.
In the anti-harassment complaint that led to the order, Hobbs said
that Abraham has "continually harassed" him since March of this year.
"He posts about me on the Internet everyday, claiming that he will
never stop terrorizing me, my employment, my friends, etc., and he
claims to be armed with guns," wrote Hobbs, who was fired from his
contract job with Boeing over his online posts after complaints were
made. "By being violent toward people like myself and my friends, I
want him to leave me alone."
Fight over ski passes
The dispute erupted last March over who should get some free ski
passes that Abraham had obtained. Abraham had given the tickets to
Anthea Kerrison and it appears that she gave the passes to someone
Abraham disapproved of.
Abraham ran into Kerrison at a ski resort in British Columbia and the
disagreement, which started in the real world, developed into a flame
war online.
It was in the newsgroup that a number of charges and countercharges
were made, with members taking sides and the tone of the argument
turning increasingly ugly, with threats and counter threats.
ACLU reviewing decision
In an interview, Abraham said he was the one being harassed and
threatened and that the ski-pass dispute is a red herring. He said
problems in the online discussion group started as a "turf war" over
who would lead the newsgroup.
"It's much more complex than it looks on the surface. There's a part
of me that says just on First Amendment grounds and just because it is
right and just, I should appeal it and probably get it overturned,"
said Anderson.
Paul Honing, public education director for the American Civil
Liberties Union in Washington state, said the ACLU is reviewing the
ruling and have not decided what, if any, action to take.
Abraham said he never threatened anyone, but did say that he would
defend himself if others tried to harm him.
"They started telling a lie that I was dangerous, that I was
threatening them and the only person who is getting threatened is me.
There were very clear death threats, very clear harassment -- we got
mail-bombed, we had people posting our addresses," he said.
PI was brought in
Jim Biesterfeld, a Los Angeles private detective, who is a friend of
Hobbs, was asked to look into the newsgroup postings, and he
recommended getting the police involved.
"[Hobbs] gave me a call. He was concerned about Scott's stability,"
said Biesterfeld. "He asked me to check into things, to evaluate what
I see and read with the postings. I monitored the situation over a
period of months and saw that Scott was obsessed with this thing. He
had an inability to get past it."
He said that before things got out of hand, he called Abraham and
asked whether a truce could be worked out regarding the ski passes,
going so far as offering to pay for them. He said Abraham declined the
offer.
"When it got to the point where the threats were becoming less
innuendo and more forceful, that's when I suggested that we contact
the police. I called Detective Leanne Shirey [of the Seattle Police
Department] and forwarded the posts to her and got her in touch with
others in the newsgroup. It was her opinion that Scott was potentially
a risk and an intervention was necessary," he said.
Police post message
Shirey even had a message posted to the newsgroup, telling it to stop
the escalating flame war.
"I am asking all participants in the RSA newsgroup to stop all
postings that do not have to do with skiing. A truce is in order.
Ignore anything that is not friendly and ski related. Not responding
in any way will make all involved the better adults," wrote Shirey.
"If they have any questions they can e-mail me or call. Please forward
this to anyone on the group. I am asking ALL parties to stop the word
war going on. I appreciate the cooperation of all parties involved. If
we can gain a truce from all, I think the group can get back on
track." She declined to comment on the case.
Safety, not First Amendment
Biesterfeld said the case is not a free speech issue. "This is not a
First Amendment issue. This is a safety issue. We are simply trying to
put a cap on it by banning him from one particular newsgroup," said
Biesterfeld.
Bert Hoff, a friend of Abraham who came to his defense, posted a
letter he sent to Shirey on his Web site, called MenWeb, about what
happened over the last several months.
"Last April and May, posters on the Usenet group rec.skiing.alpine
[RSA] began making derogatory and derisive comments about MenWeb and
male survivors of childhood sexual abuse. I began posting on RSA, in
part to object to this as off-topic to RSA and harmful to survivors --
male and female -- of childhood sexual abuse. It's a tragedy, not a
joking manner," wrote Hoff.
----------
-Astro