On Fri, 14 Dec 2001, Nomen Nescio wrote:
...the police are filthy liars.
Um, yes, generally. Sure, there are exceptions, but as a rule that would be accurate.
In fact they have gone so far as to plant child porn onto the computer in order to gain a conviction, in McCullagh's twisted narrative.
So tell me Nomen, why do you find this so far-fetched?
Missing from this tidy story is the cost-benefit analysis from the part of the evil policeman. He has supposedly committed a felony that could lead to decades in prison, just to avoid the difficulty of handing the computer back with an apology, which happens all the time in police work.
Examples please? "All the time"? I have *never once* heard of such an act by an LEO, and my range of experience is both personal and anecdotal. The more usual act is that the <insert agency here> will first offer a plea, and if rebuffed, will "decline to prosecute". Some time thereafter, the former defendant *may* be offered an opportunity to recover any goods siezed in the course of the "investigation". Good luck on these items being worth anything if they _are_ returned.
The real issue for cypherpunks is of course whether there is any connection between the child pornographer, Larry Benedict, and the local cypherpunk pedophile who uses the pseudonym Eric Michael Cordian.
The Cordian nym has been discussed here before, and is pretty much acknowledged as being a composite, rather than a single individual. A few of the persons who comprise Cordian may be recognizable to those intimately familiar with them, however, as far as I am aware, the Cordian persona has never been "demasked" of it's various participants.
Is it possible that Cordian and Benedict are one and the same?
Anything is *possible*. It's possible that mattd is actually Gary Hart sans charisma. This type of idle speculation is truly pointless. -- Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin@mfn.org If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they should give serious consideration towards setting a better example: Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate... This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The views expressed here are mine, and NOT those of my employers, associates, or others. Besides, if it *were* the opinion of all of those people, I doubt there would be a problem to bitch about in the first place... --------------------------------------------------------------------