Re: It could happen to anyone (fwd Washington Post commentary)

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

Many thanks to Paul Ferguson for posting that article from today's
Washington Post about the Randy Weaver trial.

The killing of that Fed in Idaho was fully justified, as the jury just
confirmed. I am hopeful the "defendants" in whatver Waco Shootout
trial occurs will likewise receive justice and be found innocent.

The BATF, DEA, Marshal's Service, and their kind have essentially
become a Gestapo-like band of secret police. They raid homes without
proper warrants (Phil Karn has told us of the San Diego case), they
entrap innocents, they use high tech satellite imagery to locate plots
of land they want for various purposes and then trump up charges (the
Oxnard-Santa Monica case where the County wanted a guy's land and then
drew up drug charges, raided him, and killed him...no drugs were
found), and they seize computers and modems of folks like Steve
Jackson without bothering to do their homework.

And perhaps their next target will be "crypto-terrorists" like us.
After all, many of us advocate overthrowing the fascist/socialist
government (I know I do, and many of you do, too), and many of us
believe strong crypto is the key ingredient for bypassing tax systems,
for trading weapons technology details with others (how long before
some of us are charged with aiding and abetting the enemy?), and for
creating a transnational cyberspace.

The Feds must surely come to see us as the enemy.

We need to be as prepared as Randy Weaver was!


-Tim

-- 
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Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409           | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
Higher Power: 2^756839 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available.
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