CDR: Re: police IR searches to Supremes

[Tim May]

At 3:10 PM -0400 9/28/00, Harmon Seaver wrote:
>           I'm having a very difficult time comprehending how plant
>lights could even remotely be construed as "probable cause" -- don't the
>courts have any idea of the millions of little old ladies (and whoever)
>who use plant lights for their house plants? Or of the multitudes who
>use them to jump start gardens every Spring, or the many who actually
>grow veggies hydroponically in their basement?
>

Beside the point, from their point of view.

"Probable cause" is a an excuse, not a requirement to act. Meaning, 
if they subpoena the records of Alice's Hydroponics or Bob's Lamp 
Shop and discover that the purchases were made by a little old lady, 
they don't _have_ to launch a S.W.A.T. raid and call in the napalm 
strikes.

But if they cross-correlate the list they get from the subpoenaed 
records with other lists they have, they may find some ripe targets 
for a raid.

Similar to what happened here in Santa Cruz County, where a 
Soquel-based hydroponic company had its parking lot staked out by 
narcs with binoculars. Likely-looking perps (long hair, VW vans, 
whatever) entering the store had their license plates recorded. The 
home addresses were quickly found. A few months later the electric 
company had its billing records subpoened. Those who had shown a 
nonseasonal jump in electricity usage following their visits to the 
hydroponics store were considered for raids. Several folks were 
raided.

(Apparently no shoot outs with the narcs, as these were mostly 
hippy-dippy potheads, no doubt afraid of having babyklling assault 
weapons.)

By the way, imagine what Big Bro will be able to do by further 
cross-correlating these lists with lists of rifle owners (courtesy of 
our new gun registration laws), and with other records. No wonder 
Oracle is selling so much software to LEAs.

--Tim May
-- 
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Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
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