(I seriously suggest we stop holding _physical_ Cypherpunks meetings for the foreseeable future. A gathering of anarchists, crypto exporters, and information terrorists like ourselves is too tempting a target for a publicized raid, with cameras rolling, to show the threat of the Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse. I for one don't plan to attend any physical meetings for a while at least. Going armed to a Cypherpunks meeting in preparation for a raid is not a cool thing.) At 6:55 PM -0800 5/18/97, Alan Olsen wrote:
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- From the Oregonian Sunday edition May 18, 1997 page D-10:
(As an interesting aside, interesting to me, I recall May 18th as being the anniversary of the Mount St. Helens detonation, back in 1980. I was living in Hillsboro, Oregon back then, just west of Portland. I didn't hear the detonation, but I saw the massively thick black column of ash/smoke going up into the clouds. And I witnessed some of the later eruptions on clearer days. And my yard was covered with about 2 inches of ash, some of which I took in to my lab to measure for radioactivity levels.)
IRS agents arrest Vancouver man who called for killing federal workers
* James D. Bell, who wrote the 10-part essay, "Assassination Politics," faces charges of interfering with a U.S. officer
By John Painter Jr. of the Oregonian staff
VANCOUVER - A Vancouver man who has written about assassination of government officials and whose home was raided in April has been arrested by IRS agents on charges of interfering with a federal officer.
(much elided) I was initially "unsurprised" by the search of Jim's house. Not necessarily because I thought his AP writings warranted a search, but because the (putative) list of local IRS agents, combined with their initial reactions to his admittedly controversial writings might lead these and other IRS to reasonably fear that they were somehow being targetted for assassination. However, I'm quite surprised things have progressed to the point of an arrest. Unless Jim was "much further along" in developing AP than any of us have given him credit for, especially given the gaps in things like digital money for the actual AP system to ever work!, I think a prosecution will fail. I don't know any of the facts about any physical attacks being contemplated, such as the "stink bombs" (!) mentioned later in the article, etc. What I know is that these attacks, even if hypothesized, have nothing directly, legally to do with the AP essay. (Yes, I know that writings can go to motive, state of mind, etc. I just don't think theoretical essays about AP have much to do with claims of stink bombs sent to IRS offices.)
Federal agents since have focused on a Bell theory that carbon fibers could be used to sabotage computer hard drives, thus disabling them. East confirmed Bell's interest in using carbon fibers as a "computer killer" but dismissed it as a "goofball idea."
Indeed, one of Jim's many goofball ideas floated on the Cypherpunks list and, presumably, elsewhere. So? In our discussions of TEMPEST, sabotage of computers in general, etc., there have been many such goofball ideas. (Some "INFOWAR" pro-government propagandists/researchers have even collected tidy research grants for studying things like HERF guns and conductive fiber atacks on computers. If Bell is implicated because of an interest in using conductive fibers to short out computers and disk drives, might as well jail all those doing work on just such things. Or does the government only allow such work, and such speculation, if DARPA and DIA are paying the bills? Wouldn't surprise me in the least.)
Jeff Gordon, a Portland-based IRS special investigator, said he discovered "Assassination Politics" among items seized when IRS agents took Bell's 1986 Honda for unpaid back taxes in February. Bell denied the car was his. An IRS tally of the items inside the car included a document about a "trial" by the Multnomah County Common Law Court in January of several IRS agents, a federal magistrate in Portland, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and an IRS commissioner, Margaret Richardson.
The fascists are running scared. Lock and load. (Also, I suggest _physical_ Cypherpunks meetings not be held for the foreseeable future. I know I plan to skip them all. A gathering of "reputed information terrorists, who have openly discussed assassination markets, C4 explosives, and the destabilization of democratic governments" would be too ripe a target for clowns like Reno, Freeh, and Kallstrom.) --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."