Out From the Shadows

by Morris Bracy IV

David A. Lynn — he of the plans to stick it to The Man by steering volunteers away from the upcoming political conventions in Boston and New York City — emerged from his "Shadow Convention" cyberspace lair on Monday. At the Green Line Cafe, 43rd and Baltimore, he told the handful of people assembled of his plan urging citizens to exercise their right to peaceful protest. Specifically, he's asking them not to fulfill their volunteer obligations at the events. ["The Shadow Knows," Daryl Gale, April 29, 2004].

"I hope," the avid Democrat says, "to accomplish chaos."

The house was far from packed, but state Rep. James Roebuck and West Philly Democratic Club coordinator Bruce Andersen were among those who braved the wet weather and witnessed the shadow.

Lynn is a 37-year-old computer consultant and University of Pennsylvania grad who describes traditional street protests as "a waste of time." (Events of the 2000 Republican National Convention helped craft that philosophy, he says.) Though before Monday much of his work was done via his Web site, www.shadowprotest.org, and countless letters and e-mails to media outlets, Lynn has still apparently earned some enemies.

On April 27, immediately prior to his first bits of media coverage in both the City Paper and The New York Times he received an e-mail threat inviting him to "show up at the NYC GOP convention! This way we can beat you to death!" The message was signed by a "US Marine tired of spineless faggots."

Though Lynn identifies his foe in correspondences to the media, the Federal Bureau of Investigation would not verify the sender's identity. The regional FBI spokeswoman, Jerri Williams, says that an initial investigation was performed to track down the internet assailant but that the U.S. Attorney General's Office recently decided not to prosecute. Without specific knowledge as to why they refused, Williams speculates that the Attorney General's Office may not have found the threat to be serious enough to prosecute. He added that Internet death threats are "very difficult to prosecute."

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