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From _The Press-Enterprise_ Saturday, Feb 24, 1990
(Posted by Alcor member Keith Henson without permission)
ALCOR FILES SUIT OVER ELECTRONIC MAIL SEIZURE
By David Bloom, The Press-Enterprise
Another legal battle has erupted between Alcor Life Extension
Foundation and the law, this time with a federal lawsuit filed by
Alcor over the seizure more than two years ago of computerized
"electronic mail" during a search of the group`s Riverside
headquarters.
Alcor members pay up to $100,000 for the privilege of have their
bodies put in cryonic suspension, frozen at temperatures hundreds of
degrees below zero, after their death. The members hope developing
medical technology will one day enable the to be revived and cured.
The group ran afoul of local law enforcement officials, however,
after the cryonic suspension of the head of Dora Kent in December
1987.
The Riverside County coroner's Office accused Alcor members of
hastening along Kent's death with a lethal dose of barbiturates in
preparation for freezing. The group has denied the accusation, saying
the provided only "care and comfort" to the 83 year-old Kent in her
last two days.
Law enforcement officers raided the Alcor headquarters on
Riverside's southwest edge in January 1988, searching for computer
equipment, software and related material, and for Kent's body parts,
and any illegal drugs.
They found the equipment, but not Kent, whose head had been
secreted away, or any illegal drugs.
The most recent lawsuit was filed last month in U.S. District court
in Los Angeles. It accuses a dozen Riverside City and County law
enforcement officials of violating the Electronic Communication
Privacy Act of 1986.
The suit says police illegally seized the electronic mail of 14
Alcor members when it seized the computer equipment. A copy of the
search warrant included as an exhibit in the suit does not mention
electronic mail.
The suit asked for at least $10,000 for each of the alcor member who
filed the suit. Most to the same members filed a claim against the
city 11 months ago, but the city allowed the claim to expire without
response after 45 days, said attorney John Porter, who is
representing the city and two policemen named in the suit.
"This lawsuit was filed in federal court," Porter said. "It
should have been filed the Twilight Zone."
The attorney for Alcor could not be reach for comment late
yesterday.