A Brief History of http://www.animalrightsmilitia.com
by Ann Christine Berlin

The domain name was purchased by Craig D. Burton at the suggestion of the promoter of his fictional comedic detective novel "A Hatful of Pain" (the novel's protagonist was a member of the ALF).

On the website Mr. Burton placed historical data and articles about the ALF. The commercial concept was for anyone searching for information about the ALF to learn about his novel.

The novel was published in about 1998. Prior to that, from 1992 thru 1997, Mr. Burton had contacted folks (via the Internet) who claimed to be affiliated with the ALF. He was interested in their stories, true or false.

One of those contacts was me. Based on what I told him, "Ann Berlin" became a character in his novel. Another ALF contact was Virginia Haven, an English woman.

Beginning in 1985, myself and others were using the Internet to store information of interest to the ALF. Much of our information was identical to Mr. Burton's information.

In 1999, Virginia contacted Mr. Burton and asked if she could have the domain name and web space (when he was done with it) so she could consolidate the ALF information. Mr. Burton cautiously agreed to turn over only the website's password (with the understanding that it would be changed). He warned Virginia that if the content of the website didn't reflect the philosophy of the ALF, he'd redirect the site to another ISP and start over.

The first person to have the password was Virginia. I believe she gave it to 5 trusted others (in Korea, Singapore, Canada, the United States, and to me (also in England)).

Virginia died in 2003. We know at least one other person who has the password, and we suspect there are several others. We don't know the identity of any of these webmasters. We monitor the site to ensure its content reflects the ALF's credo and mission statement.

Web host's "Terms of use" require that no threats be made, real or implied, to specific individuals. Therefore the webmasters are careful not to mention specific ALF targets except as they appear in other news sources.