CDR: Re: Jim Bell arrested, documents online

[Eric Cordian]

Alan Olsen wrote:

> I disagree.  I don't believe Jim really was willing to consider 
> the social implications of his scheme.

The implications are that in a society where the government has not made
personal privacy and private communication illegal, you can't be an
asshole to countless millions of people without winding up with a price on
your head.

This seems to be a natural example of the doctrine that people who make
peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable.  Clearly, the
remedy here is for people in power to not act like assholes, rather than
to make personal privacy and private communication illegal, as governments
seem wont to do.

> He seemed to think that the only target of this would be the government.

I think this is a reasonable observation.  You really have to be acting
under color of authority to strongly alienate enough people, who have so
litle recourse against you, that millions will bet a buck on your
continued good health in the hopes that an anonymous assassin will prove
them wrong and collect the pot.

> Think about it.  If you had the chance to have people killed without any
> posibility of capture, who would it be?

I can't think of anyone I would have killed.  My personal moral system is
such that I only think it is reasonable to kill someone if they pose an
immediate danger of death or serious injury to oneself, or someone one is
obligated to protect, and retreat is impossible.

However, I recognize that the world contains many people with different
ethical codes, and if they want to issue a Fatwah at the drop of a hat,
that is their business and not mine.

> I think that there are more people out there who would go after Bill
> Gates or John Tesh than there would for various little known public
> officials. (This could be a case where fame could have an even bigger
> downside. About six feet down.)

Oh come now.  You have real recourse against Bill Gates and John Tesh
short of killing them.  Bill Gates and John Tesh don't claim they have
God's authority to kill you if you don't do what they say.  They don't
order your house raided, and your children terrorized at gunpoint.  They
don't force you to choose between going to prison or going to war.  They
don't accuse you of treason and try to have you executed if you tell their
dirty little secrets.

I don't think Bill Gates and John Tesh have a thing to worry about from
AP.  Janet Reno, on the other hand... :)

> One of the reasons that this country is so fucked up is that few pay
> attention to what their leaders actually do.  You tell them about laws
> that are already on the books and they don't believe you. They still buy
> into the myth that America is the "Freest Country in the World(tm)".

Well, as ts elliot once observed, what we need is a system so perfect that
it does not require that people be good.

Any government that requires me to pay attention to what it does, in order
to function efficiently, is a lost cause.  I mean, I don't have to pay
attention to Federal Express for it to perform well.  McDonalds manages to
make burgers without my participation.  I am not mailed a ballot to choose
the President of Domino's, and then told that everything is my fault if
the guy screws up, or that I have no right to criticize roaches in the
pizza if I didn't exercise my right to vote.

> And what about those people who have lots of money and little or no
> personal ethics?  Say that you have a company whos rival has a bunch of
> engineers that you want.  They won't work for you, so you have them done
> in.  (Or maybe the prosecutors in a big anti-trust trial.)

People can hire hit men to do such things now.  I don't see piles of dead
engineers all over silicon valley. 

There are only two classes of people the typical person would pay money to
see dead.  Relatives who piss them off, and government officials who have
dishonestly cost them everything they have, and are untouchable because
they are operating under color of authority.

People hire people to kill their shrewish wives, and to kill witnesses who
have put them in prison for 150 years by lying.

Disputes with employees, and displeasure over Windows needing frequent
rebooting, really don't rise to this level of visceral discontent.

> Just because you can do something, does not mean that you should.

Unlike episodes of "Columbo," very few murders that involve any careful
planning are ever solved, and then only if someone rats out the perp.

AP would permit vast numbers of strangers to financially support the
misfortune of a despised individual, just as small numbers of wealthy
non-strangers might decide to do now.

It is extremely unlikely it is going to change in the least the "who" or
"why" of contract killing.  I really don't think everyone is going to
start murdering their bosses, their landlords, or their local prosecutor.

Which is why the government's overreaction to Jim Bell's speculative
essay on ways of combatting tyranny is so telling. 

"If it doesn't apply to you..."  They keep on proving day after day that
it applies to them. :)

-- 
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
"Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"