November 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Freedomphone
by Bill Frantz 24 Nov '03

24 Nov '03

At 4:40 PM -0800 11/20/03, Ralf-P. Weinmann wrote: >Hmm.. Does this mean the users have to read of SHA-256 hash values to each >other after the connection has been established? Oh. Right. It says "Readout >hash based key authentication" on the left hand side of the spec. You probably don't have to read all 256 bits. One way this had been handled (in the Starium (sp?) phone), is to display a number derived from the hash. One person reads the first half of the number, and the other person reads the second half. If both halves verify, there is no man-in-the-middle. The length of the number determines the security, but since it is derived from the Diffie-Hellman exchange, neither side can control its value. Probably 6 digits is enough. >... There should be a means to cache credentials after an initial >trust relationship between communicating parties has been established. Cache entries would be a way for someone who obtains the phone to be able to trace your contacts. (So would a in-phone address book.) Automatic authentication also might make it easier to spoof the phone's owner. Cheers - Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | "There's nothing so clear as a | Periwinkle (408)356-8506 | vague idea you haven't written | 16345 Englewood Ave www.pwpconsult.com | down yet." -- Dean Tribble | Los Gatos, CA 95032

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e voting
by Major Variola (ret.) 24 Nov '03

24 Nov '03

Secretary of State Kevin Shelley is expected to announce today that as of 2006, all electronic voting machines in California must be able to produce a paper printout that voters can check to make sure their votes are properly recorded. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-shelley21nov21,1,847438.story?coll=…

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RE: e voting
by Trei, Peter 24 Nov '03

24 Nov '03

cubic-dog [mailto:dog3@eruditium.org] wrote: >On Fri, 21 Nov 2003, Major Variola (ret.) wrote: >> Secretary of State Kevin Shelley is expected to announce today that as >> of 2006, all electronic voting machines in California must be able to >> produce a paper printout that voters can check to make sure their votes >> are properly recorded. >Great! >Now when I sell my vote, I can produce this reciept for payment! >What a perfect system! >Umm, weren't voter "receipts" outlawed some time back >because of this exact issue? Thats not how it works. The idea is that you make your choices on the machine, and when you lock them in, two things happen: They are electronically recorded in the device for the normal count, and also, a paper receipt is printed. The voter checks the receipt to see if it accurately records his choices, and then is required to put it in a ballot box retained at the polling site. If there's a need for a recount, the paper receipts can be checked. I imagine a well designed system might show the paper receipt through a window, but not let it be handled, to prevent serial fraud. Peter Trei

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AT&T Patents Trusted Intermediaries, Sues PayPal
by R. A. Hettinga 24 Nov '03

24 Nov '03

"PayPal and eBay have infringed AT&T's U.S. patent that covers transactions in which a trusted intermediary securely processes payments over a communications system such as the Internet." I wonder what American Express, VISA (and Plus), MasterCard (and Cirrus), Diner's Club, NASDAQ, Autex, Telerate, and even Quotron -- not to mention CRESTCo, DTC, and SWIFT -- would have had to say about *that*? *This* should be fun... :-) Cheers, RAH ------ <http://www.bizreport.com/print.php?art_id=5593&PHPSESSID=7b0afc16afe9e13683…> ? Anglo-American history Thursday, November 20, 2003 AT&T Files Patent Infringement Suit Against PayPal, Inc., and eBay, Inc. AT&T Corp. today filed a patent infringement suit against PayPal, Inc. and eBay, Inc., in federal district court in Delaware. AT&T alleges that, through the use of their online payment systems, PayPal and eBay have infringed AT&T's U.S. patent that covers transactions in which a trusted intermediary securely processes payments over a communications system such as the Internet. The use of a trusted intermediary ensures that one party will not have to disclose sensitive information, such as a credit card number or bank account number, to the other party to the transaction. AT&T's lawsuit seeks compensation for PayPal's and eBay's unauthorized use of the patented technology. More than a year ago AT&T notified both PayPal and eBay that they were using technology covered by AT&T's patent in the PayPal and BillPoint payment systems. AT&T offered to license the patented technology to each of the companies. AT&T has attempted to reach an amicable agreement regarding this matter with eBay and PayPal. AT&T has invested hundreds of millions of dollars every year in research and development, and the company seeks to protect its inventions by licensing its patents to those who use its intellectual property. Because the two companies have refused to pay for a license to use the patented technology, AT&T has been forced to bring the matter to the court. AT&T's patent was originally filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 1991. In July of 1994, the Patent and Trademark Office granted AT&T U.S. Patent No. 5,329,589 for its invention. About AT&T AT&T (www.att.com) is among the premier voice and data communications companies in the world, serving businesses, consumers, and government. The company runs one of the most sophisticated communications networks in the United States, backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs. A leading supplier of data, Internet and managed services for the public and private sectors, AT&T offers outsourcing and consulting to large businesses and government. The company is a market leader in local, long distance and Internet services, as well as transaction-based services like prepaid cards, collect calling and directory assistance. With approximately $37 billion of revenue, AT&T has about 40 million residential customers and 4 million business customers, who depend on AT&T for high-quality communications. AT&T has garnered several awards for outstanding performance and customer service. The foregoing contains "forward-looking statements" which are based on management's beliefs as well as on a number of assumptions concerning future events made by and information currently available to management. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside AT&T's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. For a more detailed description of the factors that could cause such a difference, please see AT&T's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AT&T disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This information is presented solely to provide additional information to further understand the results of AT&T. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo(a)metzdowd.com

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Cypherpunks List Info
by cpunk＠lne.com 23 Nov '03

23 Nov '03

Cypherpunks Mailing List Information Last updated: Oct 13, 2003 This message is also available at http://www.lne.com/cpunk Instructions on unsubscribing from the list can be found below. 0. Introduction The Cypherpunks mailing list is a mailing list for discussing cryptography and its effect on society. It is not a moderated list (but see exceptions below) and the list operators are not responsible for the list content. Cypherpunks is a distributed mailing list. A subscriber can subscribe to one node of the list and thereby participate on the full list. Each node (called a "Cypherpunks Distributed Remailer", although they are not related to anonymous remailers) exchanges messages with the other nodes in addition to sending messages to its subscribers. A message posted to one node will be received by the list subscribers on the other nodes, and vice-versa. 1. 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Re: Toronto man charged with wardriving, possession of child pornography
by Major Variola (ret) 23 Nov '03

23 Nov '03

At 02:32 PM 11/22/03 -0500, Tim Meehan wrote: >On Wednesday November 19th, 2003 at approximately 5:03am, Sgt. Don Woods (7167) >of 11 Division observed the accused driving his car the wrong way on a one way >street in a residential subdivision in Toronto. The accused was investigated and >observed to be naked from the waist down. He had a laptop computer on the >passenger seat and on the screen was a young girl performing a sex act on an >older man. >The laptop had a wireless adapter card (known as a WI-FI card) allowing the >accused to access the Internet through any insecure wireless Internet signal. Interesting cultural differences. In some locales (eg New Hampshire) wardriving is legal, much like walking on land that isn't posted. Driving while naked is not, AFAIK, an offense under the CA DMV laws, although driving the wrong direction is. And in other locales (various US states) young girls (eg 14) having sex with older men is legal if they have a state license, and consensual filming and publishing of that would be legal. Only driving the wrong way harms others, ie is truly a crime, assuming that sexual activities are consensual. And of course mere *bits* don't hurt anyone. In some locales (eg under islamic law) mere images of humans are illegal. BTW, isn't it a bit chilly in Ontario to be driving half-dressed? Must have had the heater on. ----- The Taliban: A Faith-Based Organization

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Toronto man charged with wardriving, possession of child pornography
by Tim Meehan 22 Nov '03

22 Nov '03

http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/release.php?id=4732 November 21, 2003 - 01:20 pm CHILD PORNOGRAPHY ARREST USING STOLEN INTERNET SIGNAL Corporate Communications 416-808-7100 On Wednesday November 19th, 2003 at approximately 5:03am, Sgt. Don Woods (7167) of 11 Division observed the accused driving his car the wrong way on a one way street in a residential subdivision in Toronto. The accused was investigated and observed to be naked from the waist down. He had a laptop computer on the passenger seat and on the screen was a young girl performing a sex act on an older man. The laptop had a wireless adapter card (known as a WI-FI card) allowing the accused to access the Internet through any insecure wireless Internet signal. (known as War Driving) The accused was taken to 11 Division and members of the Child Exploitation Section of the Sex Crimes Unit were called in. A lengthy investigation revealed that the accused also had been downloading child pornography using KaZaa, a peer to peer file sharing program and had been posing as a younger man in chatrooms to meet young girls. With the assistance of the O.P.P.s Project P, a search warrant was executed at the residence of the accused in Delhi, Ontario. 10 Computers and hundreds of compact discs containing hundreds of thousands of images and movies of child pornography were recovered. Accused : Walter NOWAKOWSKI 36 years Delhi, Ontario Charged : Possession of Child Pornography (2 Counts) Accessing Child Pornography Distribute Child Pornography Theft of Telecommunications Make Child Pornography The accused is in custody and will appear in courtroom #101 at Old City Hall, on Monday November 24th, 2003, at 10:00 a.m. for a bail hearing.. The public is reminded that if they are operating a wireless network at their home or business, their system needs to be secured against such actions. Sgt. Jim Muscat for Detective Sergeant Paul Gillespie and Staff Inspector Bruce Smollet

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Idea: GPG signatures within HTML
by Thomas Shaddack 22 Nov '03

22 Nov '03

Sometimes a problem appears with publishing information on the Web, when the authenticity of document, especially a widely-distributed one, has to be checked. I am not aware about any mechanism available presently. A trick with HTML (or SGML in general) tag and a comment, a browser plugin (or manual operation over saved source), and a GPG signature over part of the HTML file should do the job, with maintaining full backward compatibility and no problems for the users not using this scheme. It should be possible to make this HTML construction: <HTML> <BODY> blah blah blah blah blah unsigned irrelevant part of the document, eg. headers and sidebars which change with the site design <SIGNED SCHEME="GPG"> comments are used to hide the signature from the user in standard browsers. The scheme is designed to allow signing only parts of documents, so they could be published in fast-changing environments like blogs or on dynamically generated pages, and to have many different signed parts on one page. It should also allow manual checking of the signature, eg. by curl http://url | gpg --verify Feel free to use the idea if it is good. Opinions, comments?

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Drug policy activist *searched and detained* by notorious South Carolina principal after being invited onto school grounds
by Tim Meehan 22 Nov '03

22 Nov '03

Report by Dan Goldman (dan(a)ssdp.org) of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (http://www.ssdp.org) Forwarded from Loretta Nall (alabamamjparty(a)graffiti.net) of the US Marijuana Party (http://www.usmjparty.com) Loretta said: This just in from my buddy Dan Goldman who is still on the ground in South Carolina --- Now I promised you a good story and here it is... On Thursday when I went back to Stratford High School, I had a rather unexpected encounter. I started the day out as usual, passing out DPA's information, SSDP's stickers and a few of the SSDP t-shirts that I had left. At one point, a pair of teachers walked passed and I offered both of them the pamphlet and booklet. One of them asked "What is it?" and one of the students around him answered, "It has to do with keeping our school drug-free." A heavy-set man whose name I later learned was Mr. Green, took both the pamphlet and the booklet. The man next to him, a younger, smaller teacher whose name I later learned was Mr. McCombs refused my offer. In my youthful exhuberance, I said some snide remark to the effect of, "Way to set an example for your students by remaining ignorant." I know I shouldn't have said something like that and I didn't even think he heard me, but I was mistaken. Read on... Now, after most of the students dispersed, I did what I did the day before and walked through a muddy foot path, about 30 feet over to the school grounds to pass out a few more flyers. As I was walking back through the foot path to my car, I saw both of the teachers again and I kindly offered my last pamphlet to Mr. McCombs, who had neglected to take it before. This time he was very upset. He wanted to know why I would say what I said to him about staying ignorant. He said, "I've been to college and I've been teaching for 4 years, don't you think I may know a little something about keeping kids drug-free?" I said, "You may know a little something, but you probably haven't been exposed to what's in this pamphlet, so why don't you take one and find out?" He told me he didn't have time to read one and I suggested he do what most people do and put it in his pocket to read when he does have time. Mr. McCombs continued to wonder aloud why I thought it was necessary to undermine him in front of students and I continued to wonder to myself how one snide comment can undermine the authority of a teacher who has their attention every day for an hour? Now at this point, the two teachers began threatening me with this whole issue of tresspassing on school grounds. Since I was in fact on school grounds momentarily without permission, I really didn't want to get into it with them. I was about to leave with the excuse of another appointment (which was true, Ian Mance was arriving around 4:30pm and I wanted to see him as I've been staying at his parents' house for the last week) but then they made me an offer I couldn't refuse.... They offered to take me to see Principal McCrackin. Now, last week Mr. McCrackin had sent home a letter to parents offering to meet with any of them that still had concerns about the drug raid. However, according to the parents I've spoken with who've tried to meet with him, he's always busy. So I didn't think I would have the chance to meet the man behind the myth, and when the chance just presented itself like that, I thought it was too good to be true. Well, like everything too good to be true... It was! As I walked through the school, continuing my witty banter with the two teachers, we entered the principal's office and to my surprise, there were two officers of the law instead of one Principal. Immediately, one of them, a very big man named Cpl. Aucoin demanded my identification. Now having just seen BUSTED, I wasn't immediately inclined to give it to him. However I did tell him my name and I showed him the materials I was distributing. I asked Cpl. Aucoin if I was free to go and he said, "No," that he was detaining me. The two teachers insisted they caught me tressassing and I corrected them and explained they encountered me in between the back of strip mall and the school grounds on that muddy foot path. Then, in came McCrackin... I'm not sure how many of you have seen a picture of George McCrackin, but he's in his mid to late 50's, I would guess, dark hair that's greying but looks like he colors it. He's about 5 ft. 7in tall and maybe 170 lbs. He's a short, stout man, the kind with a Napolean complex of sorts. He looks tired beyond his years, like a man who has been at his job for too long. He's been principal of Stratford High School since it opened 20 years ago and before that he was assistant Superintendent of Schools in North Charleston and a principal and teacher for years before that, so the man has been in education for quite some time -- his entire adult life, in fact. That he cares for children was evident from speaking to many people in the community, but that he pre-judges people and labels them "good" or "bad" and then acts towards them accordingly, was also quite evident from speaking to his students, especially those who were at one time "good", but then did something to get themselves labeled "bad". They speak quite insightfully about how he treats his students. Upon speaking to Mr. McCrackin and being threatened with an arrest for tresspass, I decided to give up my ID. Cpl. Aucoin ran my ID as Mr. McCrackin disappeared with his two teachers to persumably view the videotape from one of the school's 70 surveillance cameras. He came back and said he had evidence I was "on his campus." I admitted to passing out a few materials to 6 students, said as much to him and apologized for not knowing I needed his permission to pass out flyers. (It wasn't as sarcastic as it sounds when you read this, honest.) He then asked me where I was parked, I think because he wanted to nail me for parking in "his lot" as well, but unfortunately as I told him, I was parked in the strip mall parking lot, which is off school grounds. Cpl. Aucoin asked if I saw the sign that said "For Customers Only" and I explained that I had purchased my lunch at the Subway in the strip mall, so I was indeed, a customer. Now at this point things got really weird. See earlier that afternoon, as school let out, a bunch of kids were speeding around the parking lot and burning the rubber on their tires. Then the police came and chased one of them. I believe Mr. McCrackin was rightly concerned with this incident, but seemed to place the blame in a strange place. (Does this sound framiliar?) When I told them I bought my lunch at Subway, he went on about how he was going to have that place closed down and what a dangerous situation it was causing. I couldn't understand how a sandwhich shop could be responsible for high school kids doing stupid things in their cars, but I guess it makes sense somewhere in McCrackin World. After he ended his subway tirade, I got to explaining about the "Safety First" philosophy and from what he said to me in response, I can say with 100% certainty that this man has lost his grip on reality. He told me he knew "Just Say No" wasn't working because they have Red Ribbon Week at school and although it's a school of 2700 people, there were 20-30 who were just going to do what they wanted to do anyways. I was honestly shocked that this man who has been an educator all his life, believes that there are only 20-30 students using drugs at his school. I spoke to at least 20-30 kids every day after school and I know I'm not hitting the lion's share of the drug using population at that school (most of whom are overwhelmingly marijuana smokers only), just the ones who happen to walk home that way or hang out in that area after school. So with what must have been a look of stupified incredulity on my face, the unexpected happened... George McCrackin told me to turn around and put my hands on my head with my fingers crossed. He said he was going to search me, as he had the right to search anyone in his school. He asked me if I had anything in my pockets I shouldn't have. The whole time I'm in utter disbelief that I'm being detained and searched by the principal of Stratford High School, Mr. George McCrackin. The irony was too much. After emptying my pockets and picking my pants back up for me (my belt wasn't tight enough) and not finding anything of interest in my pockets other than cash, keys and scraps of paper, I was told to sit down. He was still looking through my stuff when he asked me, "Who's Steve Silverman?" (I had Steve's name on a list of voicemail messages to return.) I told him "Mr. Silverman works for an organization called "Flex Your Rights" out of Washington, DC. It teaches young people to assert their constitutional rights during police encounters." Neither the cops nor the principal looked too thrilled to hear about that. There was another cop in the room this whole time, but he never said much. His name was Detective Brooder, and he used to work for the NYPD's bomb squad. He took much more interest in my ID than anyone else and kept bending it, I suspect to see if it was fake. (Earlier, when I was pulling out my ID, Cpl. Aucoin thought my expired International Student ID card was another license and he wanted to see that as well.) These folks in Goose Creek law enforcement just aren't too bright. At least on these two most recent searches, they're 0 for 2! Before I left, Mr. McCrackin took two copies of DPA's pamphlet and an SSDP sticker. He told me he would read the pamphlet even if I didn't believe him (which I assured him I did) and I apologized for not having anymore copies of the "Safety First" booklet on me to give to him. I then realized he took the copy of the pamphlet that had the names of the teachers and staff I had just encountered written on the back and when I asked for it back, in exchange for a different pamphlet, I was told, "I didn't need to have the names of his teachers." As if it was going to be so difficult to remember all four names. A tresspass warning was filled out with my name on it and my picture was taken by Cpl. Aucoin. ("No smiling!" he told me.) After he snapped my mug, I was given the warning which I was told to sign and I was reminded that it didn't have to be this way, they could have had me arrested, if they wanted. Now, having not lined up local counsel in advance, I wasn't too eager to spend an evening in the Berkeley County jail and frankly, I'm glad it didn't have to come to that. Before I left, I was also told to stay away from the strip mall behind the school and that I would be "run out" if I tried to come back there again. I guess tomorrow we'll see about that! I left the principal's office, walked off campus towards my car and on my way I ran into a few more students back in the strip mall parking lot. I told them what happened and we had a nice laugh. Dan Goldman McCrackin Victim #108 --- Dan Goldman is a 2001 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he received a B.A. in history. He has been active in SSDP since the first meeting of the UW-Madison chapter in the fall of 1999. Since then he has attended every national SSDP conference, and in the spring of 2001, he organized SSDP's first regional conference for SSDP activists throughout the midwest. Upon graduating, Dan worked for the Drug Reform Coordination Network in Washington, DC and most recently, he was the September 11th Detention Coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee's Immigrant Rights Program, in Newark, NJ. Dan currently resides in Madison, WI, where he is working on his first book. -- Tim Meehan, Communications Director Ontario Consumers for Safe Access to Recreational Cannabis tim(a)ocsarc.org * http://www.ocsarc.org * 416-844-2431

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Drug policy activist *searched and detained* by notorious South Carolina principal after being invited onto school grounds
by Tim Meehan 22 Nov '03

22 Nov '03

Report by Dan Goldman (dan(a)ssdp.org) of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (http://www.ssdp.org) Forwarded from Loretta Nall (alabamamjparty(a)graffiti.net) of the US Marijuana Party (http://www.usmjparty.com) Loretta said: This just in from my buddy Dan Goldman who is still on the ground in South Carolina --- Now I promised you a good story and here it is... On Thursday when I went back to Stratford High School, I had a rather unexpected encounter. I started the day out as usual, passing out DPA's information, SSDP's stickers and a few of the SSDP t-shirts that I had left. At one point, a pair of teachers walked passed and I offered both of them the pamphlet and booklet. One of them asked "What is it?" and one of the students around him answered, "It has to do with keeping our school drug-free." A heavy-set man whose name I later learned was Mr. Green, took both the pamphlet and the booklet. The man next to him, a younger, smaller teacher whose name I later learned was Mr. McCombs refused my offer. In my youthful exhuberance, I said some snide remark to the effect of, "Way to set an example for your students by remaining ignorant." I know I shouldn't have said something like that and I didn't even think he heard me, but I was mistaken. Read on... Now, after most of the students dispersed, I did what I did the day before and walked through a muddy foot path, about 30 feet over to the school grounds to pass out a few more flyers. As I was walking back through the foot path to my car, I saw both of the teachers again and I kindly offered my last pamphlet to Mr. McCombs, who had neglected to take it before. This time he was very upset. He wanted to know why I would say what I said to him about staying ignorant. He said, "I've been to college and I've been teaching for 4 years, don't you think I may know a little something about keeping kids drug-free?" I said, "You may know a little something, but you probably haven't been exposed to what's in this pamphlet, so why don't you take one and find out?" He told me he didn't have time to read one and I suggested he do what most people do and put it in his pocket to read when he does have time. Mr. McCombs continued to wonder aloud why I thought it was necessary to undermine him in front of students and I continued to wonder to myself how one snide comment can undermine the authority of a teacher who has their attention every day for an hour? Now at this point, the two teachers began threatening me with this whole issue of tresspassing on school grounds. Since I was in fact on school grounds momentarily without permission, I really didn't want to get into it with them. I was about to leave with the excuse of another appointment (which was true, Ian Mance was arriving around 4:30pm and I wanted to see him as I've been staying at his parents' house for the last week) but then they made me an offer I couldn't refuse.... They offered to take me to see Principal McCrackin. Now, last week Mr. McCrackin had sent home a letter to parents offering to meet with any of them that still had concerns about the drug raid. However, according to the parents I've spoken with who've tried to meet with him, he's always busy. So I didn't think I would have the chance to meet the man behind the myth, and when the chance just presented itself like that, I thought it was too good to be true. Well, like everything too good to be true... It was! As I walked through the school, continuing my witty banter with the two teachers, we entered the principal's office and to my surprise, there were two officers of the law instead of one Principal. Immediately, one of them, a very big man named Cpl. Aucoin demanded my identification. Now having just seen BUSTED, I wasn't immediately inclined to give it to him. However I did tell him my name and I showed him the materials I was distributing. I asked Cpl. Aucoin if I was free to go and he said, "No," that he was detaining me. The two teachers insisted they caught me tressassing and I corrected them and explained they encountered me in between the back of strip mall and the school grounds on that muddy foot path. Then, in came McCrackin... I'm not sure how many of you have seen a picture of George McCrackin, but he's in his mid to late 50's, I would guess, dark hair that's greying but looks like he colors it. He's about 5 ft. 7in tall and maybe 170 lbs. He's a short, stout man, the kind with a Napolean complex of sorts. He looks tired beyond his years, like a man who has been at his job for too long. He's been principal of Stratford High School since it opened 20 years ago and before that he was assistant Superintendent of Schools in North Charleston and a principal and teacher for years before that, so the man has been in education for quite some time -- his entire adult life, in fact. That he cares for children was evident from speaking to many people in the community, but that he pre-judges people and labels them "good" or "bad" and then acts towards them accordingly, was also quite evident from speaking to his students, especially those who were at one time "good", but then did something to get themselves labeled "bad". They speak quite insightfully about how he treats his students. Upon speaking to Mr. McCrackin and being threatened with an arrest for tresspass, I decided to give up my ID. Cpl. Aucoin ran my ID as Mr. McCrackin disappeared with his two teachers to persumably view the videotape from one of the school's 70 surveillance cameras. He came back and said he had evidence I was "on his campus." I admitted to passing out a few materials to 6 students, said as much to him and apologized for not knowing I needed his permission to pass out flyers. (It wasn't as sarcastic as it sounds when you read this, honest.) He then asked me where I was parked, I think because he wanted to nail me for parking in "his lot" as well, but unfortunately as I told him, I was parked in the strip mall parking lot, which is off school grounds. Cpl. Aucoin asked if I saw the sign that said "For Customers Only" and I explained that I had purchased my lunch at the Subway in the strip mall, so I was indeed, a customer. Now at this point things got really weird. See earlier that afternoon, as school let out, a bunch of kids were speeding around the parking lot and burning the rubber on their tires. Then the police came and chased one of them. I believe Mr. McCrackin was rightly concerned with this incident, but seemed to place the blame in a strange place. (Does this sound framiliar?) When I told them I bought my lunch at Subway, he went on about how he was going to have that place closed down and what a dangerous situation it was causing. I couldn't understand how a sandwhich shop could be responsible for high school kids doing stupid things in their cars, but I guess it makes sense somewhere in McCrackin World. After he ended his subway tirade, I got to explaining about the "Safety First" philosophy and from what he said to me in response, I can say with 100% certainty that this man has lost his grip on reality. He told me he knew "Just Say No" wasn't working because they have Red Ribbon Week at school and although it's a school of 2700 people, there were 20-30 who were just going to do what they wanted to do anyways. I was honestly shocked that this man who has been an educator all his life, believes that there are only 20-30 students using drugs at his school. I spoke to at least 20-30 kids every day after school and I know I'm not hitting the lion's share of the drug using population at that school (most of whom are overwhelmingly marijuana smokers only), just the ones who happen to walk home that way or hang out in that area after school. So with what must have been a look of stupified incredulity on my face, the unexpected happened... George McCrackin told me to turn around and put my hands on my head with my fingers crossed. He said he was going to search me, as he had the right to search anyone in his school. He asked me if I had anything in my pockets I shouldn't have. The whole time I'm in utter disbelief that I'm being detained and searched by the principal of Stratford High School, Mr. George McCrackin. The irony was too much. After emptying my pockets and picking my pants back up for me (my belt wasn't tight enough) and not finding anything of interest in my pockets other than cash, keys and scraps of paper, I was told to sit down. He was still looking through my stuff when he asked me, "Who's Steve Silverman?" (I had Steve's name on a list of voicemail messages to return.) I told him "Mr. Silverman works for an organization called "Flex Your Rights" out of Washington, DC. It teaches young people to assert their constitutional rights during police encounters." Neither the cops nor the principal looked too thrilled to hear about that. There was another cop in the room this whole time, but he never said much. His name was Detective Brooder, and he used to work for the NYPD's bomb squad. He took much more interest in my ID than anyone else and kept bending it, I suspect to see if it was fake. (Earlier, when I was pulling out my ID, Cpl. Aucoin thought my expired International Student ID card was another license and he wanted to see that as well.) These folks in Goose Creek law enforcement just aren't too bright. At least on these two most recent searches, they're 0 for 2! Before I left, Mr. McCrackin took two copies of DPA's pamphlet and an SSDP sticker. He told me he would read the pamphlet even if I didn't believe him (which I assured him I did) and I apologized for not having anymore copies of the "Safety First" booklet on me to give to him. I then realized he took the copy of the pamphlet that had the names of the teachers and staff I had just encountered written on the back and when I asked for it back, in exchange for a different pamphlet, I was told, "I didn't need to have the names of his teachers." As if it was going to be so difficult to remember all four names. A tresspass warning was filled out with my name on it and my picture was taken by Cpl. Aucoin. ("No smiling!" he told me.) After he snapped my mug, I was given the warning which I was told to sign and I was reminded that it didn't have to be this way, they could have had me arrested, if they wanted. Now, having not lined up local counsel in advance, I wasn't too eager to spend an evening in the Berkeley County jail and frankly, I'm glad it didn't have to come to that. Before I left, I was also told to stay away from the strip mall behind the school and that I would be "run out" if I tried to come back there again. I guess tomorrow we'll see about that! I left the principal's office, walked off campus towards my car and on my way I ran into a few more students back in the strip mall parking lot. I told them what happened and we had a nice laugh. Dan Goldman McCrackin Victim #108 --- Dan Goldman is a 2001 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he received a B.A. in history. He has been active in SSDP since the first meeting of the UW-Madison chapter in the fall of 1999. Since then he has attended every national SSDP conference, and in the spring of 2001, he organized SSDP's first regional conference for SSDP activists throughout the midwest. Upon graduating, Dan worked for the Drug Reform Coordination Network in Washington, DC and most recently, he was the September 11th Detention Coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee's Immigrant Rights Program, in Newark, NJ. Dan currently resides in Madison, WI, where he is working on his first book. -- Tim Meehan, Communications Director Ontario Consumers for Safe Access to Recreational Cannabis tim(a)ocsarc.org * http://www.ocsarc.org * 416-844-2431

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