~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT Reply to: ssandfort@attmail.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cypherpunks, Duncan Frissell's experience with the "drain police" reminded me of a similar experience I had some years ago. I found out that the "building police" in Kansas City would be inspecting homes in my neighborhood looking for "code violations." I had put in some electrical plugs without benefit of an electrician. Also, I was still in law school, so naturally I felt like raising some (legal) hell with the Powers That Be. When the inspector showed up, I said "no thank you" when he asked if he could inspect my house. If I had poll-axed him, he couldn't have looked more surprised. Apparently, nobody had *ever* said "no." After he recovered, he asked me why not. I mentioned the Fourth Amendment and the -See- and -Camara- decisions in the Supreme Court. He never came back. I won't go into the embarrassing story of the one time I did cooperate with the police. Suffice it to say, I regretted it. Both events, however, have made it clear to me that it is almost always stupid to cooperate with the cops. To be truthful, I strongly considered leaving out the word *almost* in the previous sentence. I'm afraid some of you will outsmart yourself by thinking you can control a law enforcement situation with "clever" cooperation. Dream on. If you aren't a lawyer, it is very likely you will fuck yourself. But shouldn't you cooperate for the little things, especially when you know you are clean? No, no, no, for two reasons. First, I are you sure you are clean in the officials eyes? The one time I cooperated, the fact that I had 3-4 $100 bills on my dresser made it into the cops report (though he did add, "no other signs of drug dealing"). Are you *sure* you're clean? Second, it's great practice. You have a right to require a valid warrant. These guys (nominally) work for you. Enjoy yourself; make them jump through some hoops for you. Rights are like muscles, if you don't exercise them, they atrophy. Use it, or loose it! S a n d y

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