As the nation faced the searing memory of September 11th, a Pittsburgh college professor has put up a federally funded website that teaches lethal bomb building techniques to anyone who has access to the Internet.

Under the guise of academic freedom and freedom of speech, Carnegie Mellon Professor David S. Touretzky, has put up a copy of chilling website whose author is facing federal felony charges for publishing what essentially is a bomb making manual on the Web.

Nineteen-year-old Californian Sherman Austin, author of the “Raise the Fist” website, was arrested during an FBI raid earlier this year, held for several days of FBI questioning, and is currently facing two felony charges: distribution of information relating to explosives with the intent that such information be used in furtherance of a federal crime of violence; and possession of a firearm which is not registered to him. If convicted, Austin could serve 2-25 years.

On August 7, 2002, prosecutors offered Austin a plea agreement that included dropping other charges and only 1 month of custody in exchange for his guilty plea to violation of 18USC 842 (P) (2) (A). This law makes it unlawful to “teach or demonstrate to any person the making or use of an explosive, a destructive device, or a weapon of mass destruction with the intent that the teaching, demonstration, or information be used for or with the knowledge that the person intends to use it for an activity that constitutes a Federal crime of violence.”

However, Austin rejected the plea offer and on August 26, 2002 federal prosecutors charged him with two felony violations; distribution of information relating to explosives with the intent that such information be used in furtherance of a federal crime of violence; and possession of a firearm which is not registered to him.

Apparently attempting to taunt the FBI, Touretsky, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, copied the offensive portions of the “Raise the Fist” website in what is called a “mirror”. The cmu.edu website funded by the University now has the following statements, “…Many readers will find their content objectionable…. The information provided in these pages may be technically unsound. No one lacking proper training in munitions technology and safe handling of explosives should attempt to carry out the activities described herein. …. Much better information on explosives is available at your local public library, or from booksellers, so please do not rely on anonymous political radicals for amateur chemistry advise.” Following this “disclaimer” the site goes on to give “basic chemistry” instructions including construction directions for Molotov cocktails, smoke bombs, fuel-fertilizer explosives, pipe bombs, Drano bombs, soda bottle bombs, and match head bombs.

While Prof. Touretzky states on his controversial federally funded site that he doesn’t encourage anyone to use the information, he gives Internet links and addresses for other websites that in his opinion offer “better” information on bomb making.

Instructions include comments such as “These will create an overwhelmingly large explosion and should be practiced in large faraway places like the desert being used. Make sure that you will not injure anyone that you do not intend to injure” and “Don’t blow yourself up, or any of your comrades! Don’t get caught!”

Touretzky’s site includes links to purchase copies of such books as Home Workshop Explosives, Improvised Munitions Black Book, Silent Death (book on chemical and biological weapons manufacture & distribution), and the Anarchist Cookbook.

Touretzky’s controversial site, which exists on a university website funded almost exclusively by federal and state grants, raises several serious questions.

What will Carnegie Mellon University’s grant makers do when they discover public funds are being used to support the publication of information that could be used to kill hundreds or thousands of innocent Americans?

How can federal funds be used to prosecute Sherman Austin on the one hand for publishing his online bomb manual, yet on the other, fund Touretzky’s publication of Austin’s potentially deadly material? Shouldn’t Touretzky also be prosecuted?

In the current climate of fear and concern, why would any loyal American publish such information on the Web? Indeed, as we reflect on the anniversary of the September 11th terrorist strike, including the tragic crash of United Flight 93 in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, less than 100 miles from Carnegie Mellon University where Touretzky teaches, one can only wonder what his true intentions really are.

Dave Touretzky's Page

Who, what, where?

I'm a Principal Scientist in the Computer Science Department and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mellon University.

Addresses and phone numbers.

Research interests: Neural representation of space in rodents (e.g., hippocampus), and in robots. Computational neuroscience. Animal learning.

Recent publications.

Personal: Commercial pilot and certified flight instructor. I own a twin-engine Piper Seneca II, nicknamed "The Beast". As a volunteer pilot I occasionally transport organs or patients for local hospitals. Fly acrobatics when an acro plane is available. I'm also a parrot lover, and currently live with a yellownape amazon and a cockatiel.

Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at CMU

Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition
Class 15-883: Computational Models of Neural Systems (next offered Spring 2003)
Class 15-496/782: Artificial Neural Networks (next offered Spring 2004)
HHsim: Hodgkin-Huxley simulator program

The DMCA and other First Amendment Issues

DeCSS decryption software for DVDs: should private economic interests be allowed to override the First Amendment?
Visit the Gallery of CSS Descramblers.
Visit the Gallery of Adobe Remedies.
Visit the Gallery of DMCA Abuses.
Do-It-Yourself DMCA Counter Notification Letter
What the FBI doesn't want you to see at RaisetheFist.com.
Why you should boycott PetsWarehouse.com: foes of free speech.

Research Projects

Skinnerbots are trainable robots that can be taught like animals, using operant conditioning.
The Biological Basis of Incremental Learning, with Julie Fiez, Tai Sing Lee, Jay McClelland, and Bill Skaggs.

NIPS and CNS Conferences

I was the local arrangements chair for CNS*99, held in Pittsburgh. Visit the CNS 2002 Home Page. I was also the Program Chair of NIPS*94 and General Chair of NIPS*95, and presently serve on the board of directors of the NIPS Foundation. Visit the NIPS web site for information about this and past years' NIPS conferences.

Lisp-Related Stuff

Common Lisp: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation (Addison-Wesley / Benjamin Cummings, 1990), is unfortunately now out of print. But the book is available on the web for free. I also have some free software for Lisp educators.
I serve on the editorial board of Higher-Order and Symbolic Computation, which carries lots of material related to Lisp and Scheme.

Ethics, Aviation, and Other Stuff

Ethics and Etiquette In Scientific Research: notes from a lecture to computer science graduate students. Rules of conduct for persons in authority. How to avoid improprieties; how to tell if you're being screwed. (PDF version)
American Technologies Group: What are they up to? Dubious scientific claims, charges of consumer fraud...
CP4break and the decryption of CyberPatrol's ban list.
Business travel using GA aircraft: an information resource
Information of interest to CMU aviators
Tutorials on various subjects. (Currently: information theory, and MATLAB programming.)

The Church of Scientology's Wacky Secrets

Sure, Scientology is a rich and vengeful religious cult based on a bizarre form of psychotherapy and a belief in reincarnated space aliens. But that doesn't mean we can't have fun with them.

Secrets of Scientology. Xenu the space alien, subtle thought control techniques, sacred lie detectors, and more. Everything the Church of Scientology (and John Travolta) don't want you to know. I am currently receiving legal threats from Scientology lawyers over this site, and was even picketed at work once.
The Secret Library of Scientology, founded by Dean Benjamin. The books L. Ron Hubbard would not want you to read.
A Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed, by Jonathan Atack. Read it online.
Amway Sucks! Includes a mirror of Amway: the Untold Story, by Sidney Schwartz. Amway is a multi-level marketing scam with interesting cult-like aspects. (And Scientology is often called "the Amway of religions".) Amway's lawyers have promised to sue me over this page.

David S. Touretzky Computer Science Department & Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3891 dst+@cs.cmu.edu

Linked from the professor's university-based website:

http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/raisethefist/

What the FBI Doesn't Want You to See at RaisetheFist.com

News reports about the raisethefist.com case:

Judge wants Austin to serve a year in jail (RTF, October 1, 2002)
Judge rejects plea agreement (LA Indymedia, 2002-Oct-01)
Author may serve jail time (The Tartan, September 30, 2002)
Austin arraigned, released on bond (RTF, September 24, 2002)
RTF webmaster to be convicted (RTF, September 22, 2002)
Anonymous libel sent to CMU faculty (September 5, 2002) [probaby by Scientology]
Prosecutors keep deal on table (RTF, August 29, 2002)
Feds to indict RTF webmaster (RTF, August 27, 2002)
Email update, 2002-Aug-12 (Austin charged; plea bargain offered)
Newsbytes, 2002-Mar-12 (teen anarchist back online)
Newsbytes, 2002-Feb-15 (charges dropped... for now)
Slashdot, 2002-Feb-15 (off the hook for now)
Newsbytes, 2002-Feb-07 (FBI commandeers his AIM accounts?)
Cryptome, 2002-Feb-06 (excerpts from Cyberia-L discussion)
New York Post, 2002-Feb-05 (Austin arrested in NYC at WEF protest)
Politechbot, 2002-Feb-01
Newsbytes, 2002-Jan-31 (good summary of the case)
Slashdot, 2002-Jan-31 (most intelligent discussion; read at level 4)
LA Weekly, 2002-Jan-31 (scroll down)
Politechbot, 2002-Jan-29
Politechbot, 2002-Jan-26
Kuro5hin.org, 2002-Jan-26
SF Indymedia, 2002-Jan-25
SF Indymedia, 2002-Jan-25

Search Warrant and
Affidavit of Special Agent John I. Pi

This is the search warrant and affidavit filed by the FBI prior to the raid on Sherman Austin's home in Sherman Oaks, California. (Document provided by cryptome.org.)

Second Affidavit from John I. Pi

This second affidavit from FBI special agent John I. Pi, dated February 5, 2002, contains information from his interview of Sherman Austin during the January 24 raid. (Document provided by cryptome.org.)

Plea Agreement

Sherman Austin signed this plea agreement in preparation for his guilty plea on September 30, 2002. But the judge rejected the plea agreement.

On January 24, 2002, the FBI raided the home of Sherman Martin Austin, the 18 year old owner/operator of the anarchist web site RaisetheFist.com. A few days later, Mark Burdett published an email interview in which Austin stated:

"They [the FBI] told me the main reason for the raid was because of the content on the site, and they wanted to see who was looking at it. This was not the main reason. It was an excuse. The alledged content which they claim they were so concerned about is from the Reclaim Guide."

I have mirrored the Reclaim Guide at Carnegie Mellon.

The search warrant does refer to the file reclaim.html and several associated files. But it also cites evidence that Austin has hacked into computer systems, defaced web sites, launched denial-of-service attacks against other computer systems, and operated a web site for selling stolen stereos. A subsequent Newsbytes article revealed that Austin has admitted to defacing web sites in order to spread his political message. That alone seems adequate reason to arrest and charge him.

I'm a registered Republican, so needless to say, I don't agree with Sherman Austin's politics, much less his actions. But I'm curious why the FBI would include this Reclaim Guide as part of their justification for raiding a private citizen's home and carting off all his computers and political literature. Since when is it illegal to write about explosives? According to the search warrant, Austin was violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 842(p), which makes it unlawful to:

"teach or demonstrate to any person the making or use of an explosive, a destructive device, or a weapon of mass destruction, or
to distribute by any means information pertaining to ... the manufacture or use of an explosive, destructive device, or weapon of mass destruction ...
with the intent that the teaching, demonstration, or information be used for ...
or with the knowledge that the person intends to use it for ...
an activity that constitutes a Federal crime of violence."

A well-written government report on the constitutionality of this statute has been made available by Cryptome, along with some background information on how Senators Feinstein and Biden got the statute passed back in 1997.

Since I personally do not advocate any type of violent behavior, and my intent in mirroring the Reclaim Guide is not to facilitate such behavior, but rather to encourage public scrutiny of the government's application of the statute, my mirror does not appear to violate the statute.

The public scrutiny I desire has in fact occurred, as can be seen in discussion board postings at Slashdot and Cryptome, for example.

I think the statute is silly. It cannot be an effective deterrent to dissemination of information about explosives, because you can purchase plenty of good info at Amazon.com, such as Home Workshop Explosives, or Improvised Munitions Black Book. And don't forget William Powell's 30+ year old Anarchist Cookbook; be sure to read the this Salon article and the author's own comments posted on the Amazon page. For weapons of mass destruction (chemical and biological), Amazon offers Silent Death, Second Edition, the reference supposedly used by the Aum cult.

Public libraries are also much better sources of explosives information than the pathetic Reclaim Guide. This does not mean the above statute has no use, however. It can be used to pile additional charges on someone whom the government wants to prosecute for other reasons. Whether that is a legitimate purpose for a statute is, I think, worthy of public debate.

Austin's crucial mistake would seem to be putting the explosives information on the same web site as his anarchist protest rhetoric. Publishing the same information on a different site would apparently have shielded him from prosecution.

An interesting feature of the seizure procedure described in the search warrant, pointed out by John Young at Cryptome, is this wording:

iii. Any data that is encrypted and unreadable will not be returned unless law enforcement personnel have determined that the data is not (1) an instrumentality of the offense, (2) a fruit of the criminal activity, (3) contraband, (4) otherwise unlawfully possessed, or (5) evidence of the offense specified above.

On what legal basis can the government refuse to return a private citizen's files merely because they are encrypted?

Besides the Reclaim Guide, an additional file from the same exit directory on Sherman Austin's site can be found here. Some files that I was not able to find in Google's cache or at www.archive.org are www.raisethefist.com/exit/1.html through 7.html. If you have these files, I'd appreciate a copy. Email preferred, but hardcopy can be mailed to:

Dr. David S. Touretzky
Computer Science Department Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3891

Visit my other free speech projects: Secrets of Scientology, Gallery of CSS Descramblers, Gallery of Adobe Remedies, and Amway/Alticor/Quixtar Sucks!

Court Stuff, from Cryptome

Court Docket

2-7-2002: Detention Hearing Transcript

Dave Touretzky

Last modified: Tue Oct 1 22:53:56 EDT 2002

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