Robert A. Hayden writes:

If I understand, you can't sue the government for just trying to pass a law, or for even passing it. What has to happen is that somebody needs to be arrested and charged with breaking the law before you can challenge them.

Correct, insofar as American jurisprudence is concerned (and a big hello to all our friends in the rest of the world!). A few citations, hopefully relevant: "States and state officials acting officially are held not to be 'persons' subject to liability under 42 USCS section 1983." Wills v. Michigan Dept. of State Police, 105 L.Ed. 2nd 45 (1989). Title 42 of the United States Code is the section that describes the process by which one may sue a government official. However: "...an officer may be held liable in damages to any person injured in consequence of a breach of any of the duties connected with his office...The liability for nonfeasance, misfeasance, and for malfeasance in office is in his 'individual', not his official capacity..." 70 AmJur2nd Sec. 50, VII Civil Liability. So the trick is to sue the offender as an individual, and not as a government official. "A plaintiff who seeks damages for violation of constitutional or statutory rights may overcome the defendant official's qualified immunity only by showing that those rights were clearly established at the time of the conduct at issue." Davis v. Scherer, 82 L.Ed.2d 139,151. In summary: Failure to object timely is fatal. You must immediately let someone know when they are violating your rights, and what the possible penalties are, and give them the opportunity to stop, and be able to show as evidence that they continued their actions despite your clear warning of the consequences. Title 42 USC )1983: "Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or territory, or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States, or other person within the jurisdiction thereof, to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity or other proper proceedings for redress." Notice that this statute recognizes that "statutes, ordinances, regulations and customs" can violate your rights. Where they do so, it's up to you to challenge the law's jurisdiction over you. Failure to challenge jurisdiction at the first instance of a rights violation can be fatal to your case, and will be seen as an admission that the law in question does indeed have lawful jurisdiction over you. "To maintain an action under 42 USC 1983, it is not necessary to allege or prove that the defendants intended to deprive plaintiff of his Constitutional rights or that they acted willfully, purposefully, or in a furtherance of a conspiracy. . . it is sufficient to establish that the deprivation. . . was the natural consequences of defendants acting under color of law. . . ." Ethridge v. Rhodos, DC Ohio 268 F Supp 83 (1967), Whirl v. Kern CA 5 Texas 407 F 2d 781 (1968) Further, United States Code, Title 18, section 242 provides for "one or more persons who, under color of law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any inhabitant of any state, territory, or district to the deprivation of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States. . . shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year or both." This means you can sue for conspiracy if there's more than one person involved, such as a magistrate acting in collusion with a police officer. And you are able to sue them as individuals because: "...an...officer who acts in violation of the Constitution ceases to represent the government." Brookfield Co. v Stuart, (1964) 234 F. Supp 94, 99 (U.S.D.C., Wash.D.C.) On a more relevant note:

Although publishing an "Enemies of the Constitution" list all over the net, listing which congress-critters opposed the constitution (suck as Exon) might be interesting. Might even make a good web project. *ponders*

Well, the Internet Advertisers Blacklist seems to be doing pretty well, despite the obvious backlash by the likes of Marthe Siegel. The Idea Futures market also seems to be doing a hot business. The recent focus here on 'moderated' areas and whether the signal-to-noise ratio is worth the added layer of 'authority' shows the need for individual choice. I may choose to have person A forward me Cypherpunks excerpts, person B specific rec.toys.lego postings, etc. Or I can use software (getting better all the time) to act as an intelligent agent and find articles for me. Or most likely, I'll use a combination of the two, and I suspect most folks will choose this as well when they are made aware of the respective advantages and disadvantages of each method. In sum, "reputation markets" as Tim described are just starting to take off. The need for strong security tools increases with it. What if some big-name megacorp put up a page with all kinds of financial transaction options - and suffered a mass boycott because they refused to use PGP? If someone feels like creating an "Enemies of the Constitution" list, I'd certainly be interested; even more so if there were competitors doing similar projects. Folks may think the pot's boiling now, but remember: We're the frogs who, at the very least, know what's coming, even if we aren't able to jump completely out. "Forwarned is forearmed." Every time government does something stupid and outrageous, they piss off a few more people. Mass disobedience (preferably nonviolent) will become more common, and this is definitely a Good Thing. (Blatant plug: My home page has links to both the Net Advertisers Blacklist and the Idea Futures page, along with lots of other things. It's at: http://yakko.cs.wmich.edu/~frogfarm All constructive comments are welcomed.) -- frogfarm@yakko.cs.wmich.edu | To ensure ABSOLUTE FREEDOM, take RESPONSIBILITY imschira@nyx10.cs.du.edu | Encrypt! Encrypt! All-One-Key! Complete Privacy Damaged Justice | through Complex Mathematics! God's law PREVENTS Need net.help? I'm available | decryption above 1024 bytes - Exceptions? None!