Please understand that I wasn't picking on your item.  I had seen a bunch of flack in the last few days, from people who should have known better, braying about my postings concerning government misbehavior.  I knew that nobody would object to your posting (quite correctly!), and I took the opportunity to compare these two examples.  The peanut-gallery needs to learn that the Cypherpunks list covers not merely encryption, but issues somewhat collateral (including political) to that matter.  The reason the 'shills' object to _my_ commentary concerning my history is that there is no longer any upside for the government, and in fact there is potentially a huge downside due to past government corruption that has virtually never been covered here.  (to my knowledge; until March 2012 I lived in a 'gated community'.  <guffaw>)  In contrast, as of right now in the Ross Ulbricht situation, the government can 'ride in on a white horse', pretending to save the day from evil drug-dealers.  No downside for the government (at least not yet), and so the shills remain quiet.        Jim Bell ________________________________ From: Mike Gogulski To: Jim Bell ; "cypherpunks@cpunks.org" Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2013 2:40 PM Subject: Re: MEDIA RELEASE: Family of alleged Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht launches legal defense fund Thanks, Jim. And I've never seen your posts as spam. Peace, Mike On 11/20/2013 10:34 PM, Jim Bell wrote:

BTW, I'm not accusing this material of being 'spam', the way some of my posts on Cypherpunks are being labeled by a few.  In fact, I really think this kind of thing should be posted here. (cypherpunks@cpunks.org).  But, other than the fact that Silk Road used Tor, and thus onion routing, why would my situation and cases be any less appropriate of comment than Ulbricht's situation?  I realize that there are probably going to be some pro-government shills who simply don't like what I did, and some of them have and will continue to speak up.  But we should all be willing to pay attention to the illegal means with which government(s) promotes its interests. Particularly with Snowden's massively-important disclosures about the USG's clearly-illegal surveillance activities, it is quite clear that the Federal government has decided to treat these kinds of disputes as if they were a 'war', and to use war-like tactics on civilians. I fully expect that similar illegal activities will be used against this 'Sanjuro' guy.  Google 'Assassination Market Sanjuro'.         Jim Bell  (Veteran and one of the first POW's of the Crypto War)

------------------------------------------------------------------------ *From:* Mike Gogulski *To:* Progressbar General Discussion ; "c4ss@googlegroups.com" ; System undo crew ; "cypherpunks@cpunks.org" ; PT-Refuge@yahoogroups.com *Sent:* Wednesday, November 20, 2013 1:01 PM *Subject:* MEDIA RELEASE: Family of alleged Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht launches legal defense fund

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Defense Fund Launched for Ross Ulbricht, Accused Silk Road Marketplace Operator

New York, NY, November 20, 2013 – The family of the man accused by the US government of operating the Silk Road online marketplace has launched a fund for donations to their son's legal defense.

Ross Ulbricht, 29, was arrested on October 1st and charged with creating and operating the web marketplace Silk Road, under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts”. The allegations include a variety of conspiracies, including narcotics trafficking, computer hacking and money laundering, as well as planned acts of violence. Ulbricht denied all charges in federal court in San Francisco in October. He will appear at a bail hearing at the United States District Court, Southern District of New York at 11:00 am EST on Thursday, November 21.

On their website, the Ulbricht family states: “Our goal is to provide Ross with what every American citizen is promised: a fair trial. In the USA we are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We firmly believe in Ross’s innocence and are working hard with the best legal team to prove it.”

The family has retained New York-based attorney Joshua L. Dratel to defend their son in court. Mr. Dratel stated: “It is crucial that we have a level playing field for defending Ross, and that requires resources from the communities that support him.”

The Ross Ulbricht Legal Defense Fund LLC is a Wyoming-based corporation established by the Ulbricht family. All donations are used solely to pay attorney fees, fund accounting fees and ancillary legal expenses.

###

SOURCE: Ross Ulbricht Legal Defense Fund LLC, www.freeross.org

CONTACTS:

Joshua L. Dratel Joshua L. Dratel, P.C. 29 Broadway, Suite 1412 New York, New York 10006 United States of America jdratel@joshuadratel.com mailto:jdratel@joshuadratel.com Office: +1 212 732 0707 Fax: +1 212 571 3792 www.nycriminallawfirm.com

Ross Ulbricht Legal Defense Fund LLC www.freeross.org freerossulbricht@gmail.com mailto:freerossulbricht@gmail.com