From: Mike Huben To: professor rat Sent: Saturday, 3 August 2013 8:51 PM Subject: Re: query On Aug 3, 2013, at 3:51 AM, professor rat wrote:

Dear Mike I've linked to your site for a decade or more now and regularly too, so thanks for that!

My pleasure!

Now I have a question.

If the government ( lets say the USG) were to be ever forced to operate secretly how long do you think it might last?

No clue. It wouldn't long remain as it does now: the checks and balances rely on openness. Still, it might last a long time: modern technology can enforce enslavement very well.

This query arises out of the ' Freedom through technology ' section, specifically ' Assassination Politics '

Assassination Politics Convicted tax evader Jim Bell proposes a system of anonymous ecash awards for the murder of "aggressors", such as IRS agents. See also Crypto-Convict Won't Recant. What he misses is that his system, if tolerated, would merely force government to operate secretly rather than openly.

Also ' if tolerated'. Since you wrote this years ago, I've noticed things like Bitcoin, Silk Road, distributed defence, MEGA and so on arise. Some of them are suffering regulation attempts but some , its seems, have to be tolerated. Thoughts?

The weak points of all these ideas are where they interface to the real world. That's where the NSA or other agencies can nail them. You may notice the terrorism cooperation of the Russians with the US over the Boston bombers: no country wants to be the refuge of terrorism. It's too obnoxious for other nations to bear. Even Iran has not been encouraging it. So there will not really be any international refuge for terrorists. We executed (by drone) that American who was generating Al Qaeda terrorist propaganda. The vast majority of people know which side their bread is buttered on. They like their welfare states. They like government social insurance because they are not interested in gambling their health, wealth, security from violence, and retirement benefits. They will pretty much all come together to oppose terrorism. Mike Huben http://web.archive.org/web/20130805223838/http://blurty.com/users/buttdarlin... Reposts another country where they do things covertly there