At 10:43 PM 8/8/96, Duncan Frissell wrote:
So, if it turns out that TWA 800 was an accidental wing tank explosion, will they give us our civil liberties back? If not, why not?
You must be kidding. Civil rights (the real ones, not the affirmative action/antidiscrimination bullshit kind) only get constricted. The government only tightens the noose, it never loosens it. On a related note, it looks like Richard Jewell, the "Olympic Bomber," may not be charged and may even receive a page 37B "letter of clarification" from the Feds. No word on what the pack of 100 media vultures camped in his apartment's driveway will say. I suspect he will never live a normal life. Even if never charged, the splashing of private photos from his apartment--such as him cradling an AR-15 while dressed in camo--will stick in people's minds. What recourse does he have that camera crews were invited in on the searches? (*) (* In my local large city, San Jose, the cops used to invite the tabloid t.v. crews in on busts of suspected drug dealers. Kickbacks were probably involved. Anyway, the Fox network used to send camera crews in with the cops who kicked down doors, getting juicy coverage for "reality t.v." shows like "Cops." People in their underwear, people crying, people naked (Fox covered up the naughty bits digitally). After a privacy invasion lawsuit filed by one of the raided parties--I don't recall if they were ever found guilty or not, not that it matters--the cops stopped inviting the camera crews along. Judging by what I still see on t.v., other cities haven't stopped the practice. Surely a raid by cops, justified or not, does not give me, or you, or KCBS t.v. to tag along and enter a private home with our tape recorders and cameras rolling.) --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."