The Privacy/Untraceability Sweet Spot

[Ray Dillinger]

On Tue, 28 Aug 2001, Aimee Farr wrote:

>It wasn't serious, Mike! 

Yes. It is serious.  It is, in fact, dead serious.  Starting with the 
"Sweet spot" discussion, and well into the pissing contest that you 
and Tim seem to have started over it, we've been seeing nothing but 
absolutely dead serious opportunities to get roped in on some thought-
crime charge or other, a couple of months or a couple of years or a 
decade from now. 

I've composed a dozen responses, considered the subpeona and the trial 
that could result from posting each, and wiped them.  There's your 
"chilling effect on political discussion" if you're interested. This 
one, I'm going to post, so I'm being very careful what I say. 

For most of the list participants, a simple, direct word:

The focus of the US intel community is shifting, at the current time, 
to "domestic terrorism".  That makes political speech of the kind 
which has in past years been entirely normal on this list orders 
of magnitude more dangerous to the participants than it was at that 
time.  Taking part in this discussion in a style "traditional" for 
this list could be very dangerous.  Remember, one out of every 
fifty Americans is in jail, and if you think you're in the most 
radical two percent of the population, there are implications, 
aren't there?

For Tim: 
Why are you attempting to provoke public discussion about things 
that could get people jailed or worse for discussing them?  It's 
interesting to see you post your "sweet spot" message and then call 
someone *else* an agent provocateur.

For Aimee, a message couched in her own style of bafflegab:

I both read, and Read, your more oblique communications.  Nice work, 
and fun, but not useful on this list.  You are playing a game where 
the white chips count for houses, and the red chips count for lifetimes. 
Don't ask directly about the blue chips, because you run the risk that 
someone will answer you just as directly.  And *especially* don't ask 
about the markers; you don't have time.  The only way to win this game 
is to be the dealer.  Oh, you may go a ways as the dealer's moll, but 
I'm talking about winning, not just amusing yourself.  Look out for 
confusing mirrors; some of the players may have looked into your hand 
and seen their own.  Be careful not to make the same mistake.

Now, I shan't be participating in the rest of this thread, I don't 
think.  Instead, I shall spend my time writing code.  Code which I 
do not intend to release in a form traceable back to me.  I encourage 
those who can, to do the same.

				Bear