Alex Miller

Alex Miller testified for the government on Day 8 about Stack Overflow records connecting a programming question concerning a Tor hidden service with an account formerly displaying the name Ross Ulbricht. The Stack Exchange employee explained how registration information, posts, responses, and account changes were recorded and retained. His testimony developed the account's history without establishing who personally registered it.

On direct examination, Miller described a March 16, 2013 question and a display-name change from Ross Ulbricht to Frosty less than a minute later. He also described an April 4 revision to the question's URL and code, followed within a minute or two by an email-address change. He qualified his identification of the email addresses and his recollection of registration timing. The court overruled defense hearsay and Vayner objections and admitted Government Exhibits 1200, 1205, and 1204, covering the question, an answer and response, and the revision history.

Cross-examination focused on the difference between account information and personal identity. Miller agreed that someone could register using another person's email address and that the records would not identify the actual registrant or determine whether access involved a covert redirect attack. He clarified that Facebook Connect had automatically supplied the registration email and acknowledged limits to his technical knowledge of possible vulnerabilities. After an initially conflicting timing answer, he agreed that the screen name changed approximately 30 seconds after the March 16 post. He confirmed that original records remained available by subpoena; the court sustained objections to the defense's closing characterizations of those records.

On redirect, Miller confirmed the active Facebook login requirement and addressed the registration timeline; the court overruled a foundation objection. On recross, he explained that the 2013 login used Google's OpenID verification of email control. He nevertheless acknowledged that he did not know who was using the Facebook account when registration occurred.