Poor little child pornographer

[measl at mfn.org]

On Fri, 14 Dec 2001, Nomen Nescio wrote:

> ...the police are filthy liars.  

Um, yes, generally.  Sure, there are exceptions, but as a rule that would be
accurate.

> In fact they have gone so far as to plant child porn
> onto the computer in order to gain a conviction, in McCullagh's twisted
> narrative.

So tell me Nomen, why do you find this so far-fetched?

> Missing from this tidy story is the cost-benefit analysis from
> the part of the evil policeman.  He has supposedly committed a felony
> that could lead to decades in prison, just to avoid the difficulty of
> handing the computer back with an apology, which happens all the time
> in police work.

Examples please?  "All the time"?  I have *never once* heard of such an act
by an LEO, and my range of experience is both personal and anecdotal.  The
more usual act is that the <insert agency here> will first offer a plea, and
if rebuffed, will "decline to prosecute".  Some time thereafter, the former
defendant *may* be offered an opportunity to recover any goods siezed in the
course of the "investigation".  Good luck on these items being worth anything
if they _are_ returned.

> The real issue for cypherpunks is of course whether there is any connection
> between the child pornographer, Larry Benedict, and the local cypherpunk
> pedophile who uses the pseudonym Eric Michael Cordian.

The Cordian nym has been discussed here before, and is pretty much
acknowledged as being a composite, rather than a single individual.  A few of
the persons who comprise Cordian may be recognizable to those intimately
familiar with them, however, as far as I am aware, the Cordian persona has
never been "demasked" of it's various participants.

>  Is it possible
> that Cordian and Benedict are one and the same?

Anything is *possible*.  It's possible that mattd is actually Gary Hart sans
charisma.  This type of idle speculation is truly pointless.

-- 
Yours, 
J.A. Terranson
sysadmin at mfn.org

If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they
should give serious consideration towards setting a better example:
Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of
unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in
the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and 
elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire
populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate...
This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States
as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

The views expressed here are mine, and NOT those of my employers,
associates, or others.  Besides, if it *were* the opinion of all of
those people, I doubt there would be a problem to bitch about in the
first place...
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