[109005] in Cypherpunks
Someone taking photos of my house today
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Tim May)
Mon Mar 8 18:17:56 1999
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.04.9903090555040.7840-100000@clueserver.org>
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999 14:57:21 -0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Reply-To: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
About 45 minutes ago, at 2:05 p.m., I detected the presence of a vehicle in
my driveway, about 50 yards from my house. Not too surprising, as I get
deliveries during the day. (I live at the end of a private driveway on top
of a hill in a mostly rural area...it is often obvious when a vehicle is
approaching.)
A red Mustang, California license plate "084 ERR," sat parked at the crest
of my driveway, the first place it could get a view of my house. After a
minute or two I realized it was not just someone temporarily lost and
planning to back out and go back down the hill.
I grabbed a pair of 7 x 50 binoculars and watched to see what was going on.
Three or four minutes after first appearing, a brown-bearded man got out,
stood next to his car, and aimed what looked like an older-model 35mm
camera at my house.
(Older model because it was chrome, and most 35mm cameras today are black.
Also, I saw no zoom lens. Maybe a minor zoom, e.g., up to 80 mm, but not
noticeably a zoom.)
It's not clear if he noticed me in the shadows inside my home. Had it been
a zoom, he probably would have.
He got back in his car and backed down the driveway and was gone. I wrote
down the license number and description.
What it means, I don't know. The most innocuous theory being that it was
some kind of real estate agent taking photos for possible future use. Not
overly likely, as the car looked older (the blue license plate tag implies
an age of at least 15 years or so, as California stopped maing blue tags).
And it's raining fairly hard...hardly a good day to collect real estate
photos. Most real estate agents around here drive late model cars, BMWs,
Mercedes, etc.
Likewise, the older car and older camera makes it unlikely its a government
or police operation. (Unless they're hiring cheap PIs...see next item.)
Someone casing my place for a possible robbery is also possible.
My speculation would be some kind of PI, private investigator. For what, I
don't know. Hired by whom, I can't guess.
For the record, I wasn't subpoenaed for the Toto trial.
--Tim May
Y2K: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, enjoy the ride.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments.
