« Spammin' is slammin' | Main | More ISP lawsuits against spammers »

October 27, 2004

Davis Hawke, election saboteur?

The FBI called the other day. The agent wanted to know whether I thought Davis Hawke (one of the central figures of Spam Kings) was likely to try to disrupt the approaching presidential election. Apparently FBI field personnel have been instructed by headquarters to go through their lists of miscreants and identify any who might pose a threat to the balloting process. Hawke's name came up because of his neo-Nazi past (back when he called himself "Bo Decker").

I told the FBI agent that, as far as I could tell, Hawke no longer has the slightest interest in politics, let alone messing with election results. Since becoming a spammer in late 1999, Hawke's been driven mostly by a desire for money. (The agent seemed to share this view, that Hawke wasn't plotting any kind of election sabotage.) Anyway, even when he was head of the Knights of Freedom, Hawke didn't advocate violence.

Right now, I'd guess Hawke is primarily motivated by a desire to stay warm. Winter is approaching fast here in New England, and, according to his friends, Hawke is hiding out in the woods somewhere up north. Then again, maybe they're just covering for him. Maybe he's taken his greenbacks to a tropical island somewhere.

Posted by brian at October 27, 2004 1:09 PM