BESS's Secret LOOPHOLE (censorware vs. privacy & anonymity)

[Seth Finkelstein]

On Wed, Aug 15, 2001 at 07:01:32PM -0700, Tim May wrote:
> ... Declan took the obvious and legal 
> steps to limit his testimony to statements of the form:
> 
> "Yes, I am a reporter for "Wired News.""
> 
> "Yes, I wrote the story you are referring to."

"Yes, I affirm under oath that the article is true"

	Once he says that, it's basically equivalent to testifying to
the contents of the article in court. Making such an affirmation is
not inevitable. People can disown articles. This not to recommend such
disowning. However, the prosecution is well aware of the risks that it
can happen.

	But if the US was a police state, Declan would not be griping
about his plane ticket as his biggest concern in such a situation. He
certainly would not be welcomed back to gather information on people
he might help put in jail in a future trial.

	I can't convey how ludicrous it seems to me. Declan is the
Fed's best friend. That's not an insult, that's a fact. He's provided
important evidence that helped obtain two convictions. He shows every
sign of repeating the performance. And nobody even seems to notice.
Everybody goes by what he posts, the politically correct (for here)
liberpunk anarcrypt cyberbilge. Not what he *does*. It's utterly unreal.

	But hey, he's a Libertarian(-type), and I'm not. So don't take
me seriously. I have my own legal risks to worry about.

--
Seth Finkelstein  Consulting Programmer  sethf at sethf.com  http://sethf.com
http://archive.nytimes.com/2001/07/19/technology/circuits/19HACK.html
BESS's Secret LOOPHOLE: http://sethf.com/anticensorware/bess/loophole.php

P.S. Regarding Jim Choate's "speculations", as far as I know, you *do*
have "lots of guns and money". Why aren't you also giving him a pass for
restating what are presumably your own true statements? As far as being
"a dangerous person", well, that depends who one thinks is your target.