Secondary Chilling Effects: Cryptome Chilled by the FBI

The Associated Press report yesterday by Tom Hays quoted Cryptome on the "chilling" effect of the FBI visit in November 2003. What we should have made clear was not that Cryptome was chilled but that telling about the visit chilled others from having dealings with Cryptome. It's that secondary chilling which probably accounts for why many people do not reveal being approached by authorities.

After we reported the FBI visit several persons who were corresponding with Cryptome broke off contact, expressing fear that the FBI had approached Cryptome in order to learn about them. Our assurance that the FBI asked about nobody but Cryptome was not soothing.

What we see here is a secondary chilling effect that inhibits the free flow of border-line information and also causes more activists to not report visits by the authorities. That is, the original posters have not been chilled due to their stoic composition in the face of government pressure. However, now people dealing with cryptome have cut off contact.

I can imagine this secondary chill is even worse in the realm of chilling effects than the more traditional chilling effect... one is a restriction on speech, the other is a restriction on others speaking to you.