At 11:04 PM -0700 9/11/97, James S. Tyre wrote:
What we _can_ do is prepare for a long guerilla war with the bastards. 80% of the population will willingly trade away their rights ("what have I got to hide?") for more perceived security. Ben Franklin saw this 230 years ago.
It's war. Too late for a public relations campaign so that some future Congress will slightly relax their laws.
And in a war, gotta break some eggs.
--Tim May
Mostly, I agree -- at least as far as Congress is concerned. I place more hope in the courts, which could be because I've been practicing con. law for 19 years (many on f-c know this, but I do not assume that Tim knows much about me).
Thanks for providing a better picture. As we "cross-fertilize" these two lists, Cypherpunks and Fight Censorship, it's apparent we share many of the same views, but also have differing outlooks (in some collective sum of views).
But even though I work within the law, this may become a by any means necessary situation. As I type, I'm remembering when the FBI raided my office about a dozen years ago, without so much as a warrant, thank you very much, accusing me of violating national security laws. Technically, they were right; legally, they were wrong, but they didn't give a shit. Nice reminder (coming from a liberal, for those who've just been asking what liberals think) that a little civil disobedience now and again is not such a bad thing.
The "liberals" have been remarkable silent on this issue. Most of the outrage is coming from militia movements (which, I can tell you, are being briefed daily on this latest ZOG outrage), from anarchist libertarians, and from conservative groups ("mark of the Beast" and all that). Perhaps if it were J. Edgar Hoover doing this instead of Democrat Louis Freeh, we wouldn't see "nominal" liberal Ron Dellums, amongst so many others, standing shoulder to shoulder with the fascists. (Not that I ever though Dellums was anything other than a fascist, mind you.) Perhaps if it were former CIA director George Bush pushing this (in his alternate universe second term) there would be more outrage from liberals. I'm beginning to think Federal Bureau of Inquisition Director Unfreeh must, as rumors have long had it, have the goods on Janet Reno and Bill Clinton. Left to our imagination what these items may be. How else to explain how a nominally "civil liberties President" is presiding over the full transition to a national security state? This from the draft-dodging, dope-smoking Oxford hippie who claimed he would be the civil liberties President. Nothing left to do but nuke the bastards, figuratively. (I'd say "literally," but I don't have access to the suitcase nukes now available in the Middle East. And, as we talked about in Cypherpunks, the suitcase demolition charges are pretty good for knocking out dams and closing mountain passes, but pretty crummy for leveling buildings several hundred meters away.) Monkeywrench GAK, put "Big Brother Inside" stickers on Brother's mandated equipment, sabotage the corporate GAK efforts (we have supporters buried deeply in nearly all crypto efforts at nearly all crypto and computer companies, as anyone can confirm), and establish closer links to other organizations opposed to the U.S. government. This may sound radical, but look at the utter radicalism of banning private communications, of felonizing the use of a damned crypto program, of allowing intelligence agents to access medical files without court order, and on and on and on. Fuck them all. Lock and load. Rock and roll. --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."