The Unpatriotic Act

I've started wading through the ACLU's recently released papers in the case against an internet service provider by Ashcroft's Justice Department. Here's the article that got me started on it. The ACLU has gotten the judge to allow them to release some of the legal papers, but the identify of the company targeted by the Justice Department can only be referred to as "John Doe."

I'm playing one of those lawyer games, trying to figure out the name of the company by looking at how long the blacked-out portions of the legal papers are. My first thought was, I wonder if it is one of the blogger sites? After looking at the papers I'm not so sure. The organization's name is (I think) abbreviated after the first few pages, to some acronym that can't be more than three letters. AOL? MSN? But the article about the case refers to John Doe as a company run by an individual who is frustrated by the gag order. The abbreviation could even be "Doe", I suppose.

A few weeks ago there was an article about a computer program, developed by a graduate student, that figured out some of the blacked-out words in the August 6th PDB (that famous non-warning, "Bin Ladin Determined to Attack In United States).

I hope someone applies this program to the ACLU papers so we can find out which ISP the Justice Department is targeting.

I hate John Witchcroft. Atrios says he's toast, on his way out the door before the elections. Will that mean the statue of Justice can take off her blue robe and show her breasts again?

More importantly, who would get the job after Witchcroft? Gonzales, the White House Counsel, who thinks the Geneva Conventions are "quaint"? If they're going to follow with someone in the Ashcroft mode, maybe they'll try to appoint Senator Imhofe of Oklahoma -- the idiot who is "outraged about the outrage".

Oh, who replaces Witchcroft doesn't really matter, does it. Kerry in a landslide. Like father, like son: One term. I believe.

6/1/04 update: Here's an interesting article LINK on vastlyimportant.com about the "Dublin Project" and how it works to identify blocked out text.