Berkeley Daily Planet
Animal Researcher Cyber-Stalking Cited as Long Haul Raid Rationale
By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday September 16, 2008
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue...-Raid-Rationale

UC Berkeley police, joined by federal and county law enforcement,
raided the Long Haul Infoshop Aug. 27 in search of the source of
threats to university researchers who experiment on animals.

The affidavit filed with Alameda County Superior Court Judge Judith
Ford on Sept. 8 revealed that the search resulted from e-mails
reportedly sent from the Infoshop's computers in March and June.

Two civil liberties organizations are working with the Long Haul to
challenge the warrant: The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and
the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the National Lawyer's Guild.

The search warrant affidavit, written by UCPD Detective Bill Kasiske
and signed the day before the raid, followed previous warrants served
on Santa Rosa-based Internet provider Sonic.net by fax on March 20 and
July 22 and on e-mail provider Google on June 16.

According to Kasiske's affidavit, many of the e-mails targeted Yang
Dan, a professor of neurobiology specializing in the study of brain
circuits used in the processing of visual information.

Her research figures in one website targeting 27 campus faculty
involved in animal research, while a second website identifies her as
the first among the six faculty members included in the "UC Berkeley
Hall of Shame" for "stupid research on animals."

Police seized six computers from the Infoshop Internet room and nine
other computers from offices in the building, including several taken
from padlocked rooms, including one used by the nonprofit East Bay
Prisoner Support.

Also taken were two freestanding hard drives—including one that
belonged to Berkeley Liberation Radio—as well as an assortment of CDs,
cassettes and one plug-in flash drive.

According to the warrant, "Since September 2007, UCPD has documented
at least nine separate incidents when animal rights activists have
targeted" Dan's home.

Kasiske's affidavit cited one specific incident of vandalism at the
residence on March 10, when city and campus police were called to her
home in the Berkeley hills at 9:17 p.m. after a garbage can lid was
thrown onto her roof and a window was broken.

Investigators found chalked messages and stickers "relating to animal
rights," Kasiske declared.

According to campus police records, a second incident of vandalism at
another researcher's home had been reported four minutes earlier at
the home of Professor Stephen Glickman, targeted because of his
research involving female hyenas.

At 8:30 p.m. that same evening, police had been called to the home of
a third targeted research, Professor Jack Gallant, who has conducted
research using Macaque monkeys.

Dan had also been the target of a one of two animal rights
demonstrations held on Jan. 27, where Kasiske stated he had heard one
of the protesters warn, "We are the friendly, above-ground activists.
The next visit may not be so pretty."

The detective also said that protesters invoked the initials ALF, or
Animal Liberation Front, a leaderless international organization which
has raided labs to free animals and targeted researchers with protests
and graffiti.

The group's initial were painted on the walls of the UC Davis John E.
Thurman Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in 1987 after a $4.5 million
blaze demolished the building. No arrests were ever made in the
incident.

In the 12 months ending in July 2008, UC Berkeley officially reported
"more than 20" incidents of damage to the homes and cars of campus
researchers.

A UCLA researcher's home was firebombed on Feb. 7, less than four
months after the house had been flooded with a garden hose, and a van
used to transport faculty was burned June 3, with the ALF taking
credit in that incident.

The most recent acts of violence aimed at California academics doing
animal research came in Santa Cruz on Aug. 2, when a firebombing
destroyed one researcher's car followed by a second incendiary attack
on the home of another, which forced the family to flee the house
through a second floor window. The ALF claimed responsibility for both
attacks.

The ALF website lists incidents for which affiliates have claimed
responsibility. See www.animalliberationpressoffice.org/ for details.

For more on the UC system's approach to animal research protests and
violence, see www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/animalresearch/

E-mails

According to Kasiske's affidavit, several researchers were sent
abusive e-mails between March 19 and 25, using fake accounts set up in
the researchers' own names.

"The messages had subject lines such as, 'Hey animal killer,' and 'Why
do you torture and kill animals?'," Kasike wrote. He cited one example
of what he described as the "obscene comments" contained in the e-mail
texts: "The blood is on your hands you speciesist scum. They die. You
profit. Sick [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot]."

Kasiske traced the source of the message to an Internet address
assigned to Sonic.net, and the subsequent warrant identified the
source as the Infoshop.

In his affidavit, the detective said that he knew the Long Haul "is a
resource and meeting center for radical activists. I know that animal
rights activists have held meetings at the Long Haul."

On June 15, Dan forwarded six more e-mails to the detective sent to
her the day before between 6:10 p.m. and 7:16 p.m.

According to the affidavit, the first declared "im a crazy [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] and im
watching YOU ... YOU HAD BETTER STOP KILLING THOSE [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] ANIMALS OR
I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT I HAVE IN STORE [redacted] AND IT AIN'T [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot]
PRETTY."

The subsequent e-mails warned that the sender knew her credit cards
numbers, the movies she had rented, and where she shopped.

The fourth message asked "havent you been paying [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] attention to
the news and what is happening at UCLA ... quit torturing animals or
you're next to receive that and MUCH worse you [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] murderous scum"

The final message demanded she publicly renounce animal experiments:
"EITHER YOU DO THAT OR I WILL [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] YOUR LIFE UP," the anonymous sender
declared.

Kasiske cited the e-mail texts as the basis of his determination that
the sender had violated section 646.9(a) of the state penal code,
which declares "Any person who willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly
follows or willfully and maliciously harasses another person and who
makes a credible threat with the intent to place that person in
reasonable fear for his or her safety, or the safety of his or her
immediate family is guilty of the crime of stalking."

Oh for the love of...
OK what exactly were thse profs. doing? Were they shredding these thigns alive or were they doing something way less severe?
Some of the activist really need a reality check.