http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,42860,00.html DOJ: Cypherpunk Threatened Feds by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com) 9:00 a.m. Apr. 5, 2001 PDT TACOMA, Washington -- A federal prosecutor said on Wednesday that an Internet essayist spent months illegally compiling information about IRS agents through CD-ROM databases and conversations with members of a mailing list of "cypherpunks." Robb London, an assistant U.S. Attorney, said in court that Jim Bell was not conducting a legitimate investigation of government wrongdoing last year but instead was a disturbed person who had never renounced a political treatise he wrote entitled "Assassination Politics." "It's still on the Internet today," London said during the second day of the trial in federal district court. "He has not retracted it." Bell is best known for writing the long-winded thought experiment predicting how future technologies including untraceable digital cash, encryption and anonymity should allow anyone upset with the feds to bet on when a certain government agent will die. The winner, presumably the assassin, wins the pool of money. London said that while Bell may not have directly threatened IRS agent Jeff Gordon, "he has done it indirectly through 'Assassination Politics.'" Bell has pleaded not guilty to five counts of interstate stalking that allegedly took place last year, saying he was legally assembling information about government agents he thought were participating in a conspiracy involving illegal surveillance. He is not accused of making direct threats or seeking physical confrontations. As evidence of Bell's malicious intent, London showed the jury a photograph of four guns that Bell legally owned up until the IRS raided him in April 1997 during a prior prosecution. The weapons: Two SKS rifles, a Smith & Wesson 629 pistol, and a Ruger mini-14 rifle. London characterized this as a collection of assault weapons that amounted to "serious firepower" and said, "That's what the agents were afraid of." That prompted an objection from Bell's attorney, Robert Leen. "(You're) asking the jury to draw an adverse infrerence from what was, at the time, an exercise of a constitutional right," Leen said. The government has not alleged that Bell owned firearms more recently than 1997. Bell pleaded guilty in July 1997 to interfering with IRS agents and using false Social Security numbers. U.S. District Judge Jack Tanner allowed the government to show to the jury photos of the weapons Bell once owned -- one rifle had a bayonet mounted on it -- and warned Bell that if he made any additional outbursts, he would be muzzled or hauled out of the room. Bell had interrupted Leen a few times and pounded on the table two or three times to get Leen's attention. Bell also wrote "SHAM" on a white pad of paper and held it so spectators could see. London complained that some people were downloading public documents through the Pacer service provided by the federal court system, translating the graphical TIFF images into text, and posting the documents on a website. He warned that soon everything will be "splashed all over the Internet for all to see." The prosecutor likened it to an illicit activity: "Transferring court documents from our computer onto the Internet." That got the attention of Tanner, an 82-year-old jurist with little patience for lawyers and even less patience for online open-records activists. He sealed the entire court file, including public documents like the charges against Bell, saying that "anything that's filed" will remain in his chambers. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if it remains intact. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- End forwarded message -----