Br'er Tim and the Bug Hole

[Tim May]

At 5:45 PM -0700 11/11/97, Monty Cantsin wrote:

>As Michel Foucault used to say, "The only guarantee of freedom is
>freedom itself."  Put another way, "rights which are not exercised are
>lost."  We don't see Freeh and Reno backing off so they don't become
>poster children for cryptoanarchy, do we?

Just so. The notion that we have to tone down, moderate, and soften our
words so that the Authorities won't get angry at us is 90% of the problem
in America today. (And a problem in most other countries, where one finds
otherwise reasonable folks talking about the need to restrain habits like
chewing gum, practicing Scientology, and seeking birth control information.
Not to mention "voluntary mandatory" silence about the Holocaust.)

>Just because free speech is a right guaranteed under the Constitution
>does not mean that is necessarily a safe right to exercise.  Let us
>hope that Tim does not come to harm.  But, let us also give him the
>credit he deserves for having the courage to speak his mind.

Thank you. And contrary to what Hettinga claimed in one of his posts, I did
not call for a judge to be killed. (Though, as I understand the law, that's
not in and of itself illegal.) What I said was that the judge(s) in the
Paladin case had committed a capital crime. Saying, for example, that OJ
committed a capital crime is not uncommon, so why should judges be exempt
from similar opinions?

What we are seeing with Hettinga's anguished armchair analysis of me and my
motivations is a lot of overly personal, even fixated, attention on me and
my life. He pretends to know my social life, pretends to understand why I
won't just tone down my comments and not rock the boat. Utter nonsense.

....
>People said exactly the same things that Hettinga is saying here.  If
>they would only behave (i.e., go along with anything), then they
>wouldn't have to be censored.
...
>A few courageous people doing the right thing at the right time make a
>big difference.  This does not happen by kowtowing to whichever
>malfeasant tyrant happens to be in power.  When you are asked to wear
>a yellow star, you can be pretty sure that doing so will not save you.
>
>Also, let us not pretend that Tim's gun collection is much protection.
>It may delay capture or raise the price of execution of a no-knock
>warrant, but if the Powers That Be don't want Tim around, then he's
>gone.  It could be a "lone nut" with a sniper rifle, it could be a
>"heart attack", it could be a rock star's plane "accidently" hitting
>the house: there are many ways to take care of troublemakers.

I fully agree, and have not said I expect a full-scale assault on me, nor
have I said I would expect to win such a war. The context of my recent
comments about guns was the Gun Shows recently.

(I haven't seen Hettinga foaming at the mentions by certain other
Cypherpunks of the Cypherpunks Shooting Club (which I am too far away from
to attend, by the way). Nor did I see him remonstrate against the list
member who brought his AR-15 carbine to a Cypherpunks meeting and held it
up, like any good revolutionary holding up his Kalashnikov.)

It happens that a lot of totalitarian moves are happening at this time. My
"Mad as Hell" article lists a bunch of them. CDA clones, new crypto
legislation, Clinton banning importation of fully-compliant foreign
weapons, etc.

And the rumors are mounting about a series of possible raids around the
holidays this Thanksgiving Day. The FBI has acknowledge the fax sent out as
legitimate.

While militia members and Cypherpunks may not be able to withstand a full
out war for very long, the mere willingness to defend oneself can itself
act as a deterrent. This is basic game theory, basic strategy.

Scared bunny little rabbits who tone down their words so as not to make
their masters angry at them will not be any safer, ironically enough.

--Tim May

The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^2,976,221   | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."