Spiked Hoax Returns
Ian Goddard
WEBSITE THAT THE FBI SPIKED IS REOPENED
(c) 12/02/99 Ian Williams Goddard
The FBI recently went into panic mode and intimidated
Mike Zieper's Internet Service Provider to shutdown
his website. While the ISP caved in at first, they
have since allowed his site to go back up. The furor
was over a video that Zieper claimed came from his
brother in the army. The video claims to be a U.S.
Army briefing pertaining to an Army plot to incite
riots at Time Square as the New Year (Y2K) arrives.
Here's the page: http://crowdedtheater.com/index1.html
About the video, Zieper's site still states: "I got it
from my cousin Steve who's in the army. ...If it's real,
then we're in really big trouble." But there's nothing
to indicate that Zieper himself created it. A report
from Zieper's ISP, and from Wired, defines the video
without question as a "spoof" created by Zieper:
http://wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,32746,00.html
Zeiper's ISP: http://www.becamation.com/crowded.htm
If it was a hoax, it was fraud and thus the FBI had
grounds to take action to shut it down, although
not without a court order. But if it's a hoax, why
would the ISP allow it to go back into operation?
It seems to me that if Zieper created the video, but
is to this day saying on his webpage "I got it from
my cousin Steve who's in the army," and claims not
to know if it's true, then it's a lie and is fraud.
Zieper's ISP, BECamation, said they got complaints
(http://www.becamation.com/crowded.htm) about their
having taken down the hoax. They said in their press
release (http://rumormillnews.com/pulled.htm) that
when the FBI contacted them, they already knew the
video "was a farce." I think that they should get
complaints about putting it back up! Put it back up,
BUT with a statement that it's FICTION. If it doesn't
say it's fiction, they're perpetrating fraud. Here's
exactly what the page has said and says to this day:
==== http://www.crowdedtheater.com/index1.html ====
Is there going to be a Military Takeover of New York
City on New Years Eve 1999?
I don't know too much about this tape you are about
to see. I got it from my cousin Steve who's in the
army. He said that copies of this tape are floating
around the base, and nobody knows who made it. If
it's fake, then there's nothing to worry about. If
it's real, then we're in really big trouble.
I posted it with Real Video G2, but it should work
with other versions of Real Video.
Go here for a free download of the Real Video software.
Click here to see the tape.
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IAN: The page clearly states that the presenter, who
is the site owner and the person who has since admitted
that he made the tape, instead received the tape. It
also clearly indicates that the presenter is unsure if
the content of the tape is what it purports to be, which
is a U.S. Army briefing. Both of those allegations made
by the site are FALSE according to the presenter and to
his ISP, which means they're willfully promoting a lie.
I'm all for free speech, but not free fraudulent speech.
It seems to me that there's a confusion here between
free speech and freedom to make fraudulent claims. All
they need to do is state that the video is fictional.
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GODDARD'S JOURNAL: http://www.erols.com/igoddard/journal.htm
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