America the Damned

[Nomen Nescio]

http://law2.house.gov/uscode-cgi/fastweb.exe?getdoc+uscview+t17t20+1050+18++%28sedition%29

U.S. Code Title 18, Chapter 115:

    Sec. 2384. Seditious conspiracy

      If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place
    subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to
    overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the
    United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force
    the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the
    execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize,
    take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the
    authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or
    imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.


    Sec. 2385. Advocating overthrow of Government

      Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or
    teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of
    overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or
    the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession
    thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by
    force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any
    such government; or
      Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any
    such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates,
    sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed
    matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity,
    desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any
    government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts
    to do so; or
      Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society,
    group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the
    overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or
    violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any
    such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes
    thereof -
      Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
    twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by
    the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five
    years next following his conviction....

These laws broadly forbid organizing to use force to attack the
government.  But the cypherpunks movement was originally conceived
as a way to evade government, not to attack it.  Using cryptography,
people could communicate freely and avoid government regulations; they
could make voluntary agreements without the government being able to
interfere; they could exchange goods and services of value without the
government being able to take a share.  None of this involved using
force in any way.  At most it would make the government irrelevant by
giving people the opportunity voluntarily to move their activities out
of its sphere of influence.

It was only when Tim May turned away from cryptography and shifted his
focus to firearms and Y2K and violent fantasies of revenge that the tone
of the group changed.  It is very likely that many of his writings fit
the definition above, being made "with intent to cause the overthrow
or destruction of any such government," and "advocating, advising, or
teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing
or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence".
Tim May has advised us many times to kill judges and police officers,
congressmen and jail guards.  He has said endlessly that the U.S.
government needs to be overthrown by violence.

All of us will agree that such statements should be legal, on the
principle of freedom of speech, even if we find the sentiments abhorrent.
But these calls for violence have nothing to do with the cypherpunk
movement.  They don't belong here.  Tim May has turned this mailing list
into his personal toilet, an outlet for his impotent revenge fantasies.
In doing so he has not only destroyed what was once one of the finest
discussion forums in the world; he may have endangered other subscribers,
if those outdated and unconstitutional laws are ever put back into force.