Alcor Issue 01

Published in

· 28 Dec 2019

  

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.