WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1992 NOV 9 (NB) -- The publisher of
a well-known hacker magazine claims a recent meeting attended by
those interested in the issues his magazine raises was disrupted 
by threats of arrest by security and Arlington, Virginia 
police officers.
 
Eric Corley, also known as "Emmanuel Goldstein," editor and publisher 
of "2600 Magazine: The Hacker Quarterly," told Newsbytes that the
meeting was held November 6th at the Pentagon City Mall
outside Washington, DC was disrupted and material was confiscated
in the raid.
 
2600 Magazine promotes monthly meetings of hackers, press, and other 
interested parties throughout the country. The meetings are held in public 
locations on the first Friday evening of the month and the groups often 
contact each other by telephone during the meetings. 
 
Corley told Newsbytes that meetings were held that evening in New 
York, Washington, Philadelphia, Cambridge, St. Louis, Chicago, 
Los Angeles and San Francisco. Corley said, "While I am sure that 
meetings have been observed by law enforcement agencies, this is 
the only time that we have been harassed. It is definitely a 
freedom of speech issue."
 
According to Craig Neidorf, who was present at the meeting and was
distributing applications for membership in Computer Professionals 
For Social Responsibility (CPSR), "I saw the security officers focusing 
on us. Then they started to come toward us from a number of 
directions under what seemed to be the direction of a person with 
a walkie-talkie on a balcony. When they approached, I left the 
group and observed the security personnel encircling the group of 
about 30 gatherers. The group was mainly composed of high 
school and college students. The guards demanded to search the knapsacks 
and bags of the gatherers. They confiscated material, including CPSR 
applications, a copy of Mondo 2000 (a magazine), and other material."