Re: AA BBS - Thomases are going to jail...

[hkhenson@cup.portal.com]

We have a Problem . . .  

H. Keith Henson 

Part of the Federal Government's law enforcement mechanism is under 
the control of the Religious Right.  

By reaching out thousands of miles through cyberspace connections, the 
RR is using Federal power to suppress constitutionally protected 
activities which they find offensive. 

I expect the RR people involved feel that what they are doing is fair 
return for Federal power being used to suppress the school Christmas 
pageant in a thousand sleepy little towns in middle America--and less 
dangerous than offing abortion doctors, or killing gays. 

Most of you reading these groups are familiar with the AA BBS case.  

In a nutshell, a postal inspector in Memphis called Amateur Action BBS 
in California, downloaded a dozen files, ordered other stuff, shipped 
the sysop some unsolicited kiddy porn, then arrested the sysop (Robert 
Thomas) and his wife (Carleen) for kiddy porn and (by Memphis standards) 
obscenity.  They were tried in Memphis last summer by an obviously 
biased court.  (The judge and prosecutor made no attempt to hide their 
longstanding mutual admiration.)  The Memphis jury found the sysop 
and his wife guilty of obscenity, but even they couldn't buy the kiddy 
porn charges, and acquitted on that charge.  Friday (Dec. 2, 1994), in 
the worst perversion of justice I have ever witnessed, the sysop and 
his wife were sentenced to three years. 

They were lucky to get that little time. 

I got a look at the pre-sentencing report.  (I may be able to post 
some of it later.)  The recommended sentence included about twice this 
amount of time based on the kiddy porn charge they were *acquitted* 
of.  

Those reports are simply *amazing*.  They cover family members and 
history out a generation or so in all directions, not to mention 
school, medical records, tax filings, and any police record--even if 
you were found innocent!  It seems to be the function of these things 
to put your entire life in the worst possible light. 

Someone should take the form and do one for Christ just prior to the 
Crucifixion.  It would run something like: 
 
   ". . . questionable father, . . low class occupation (carpenter), . 
   . . accused of impersonating a doctor by healing sick, . . . known 
   to associate with low class persons, . . . travels about 
   (vagabond), . . ." 

Back to the problem. 

I find the situation intolerable--without having a clear idea of how 
to deal with it. 

With little more effort (though a lot more skill than the postal 
inspector demonstrated) the RR-controlled Feds can create crime and 
venue problems for just about anyone running a BBS or net node. 

Certainly *any* system which carries alt.sex.* is subject to the same 
treatment by the Religious Right (in the guise of the Memphis Feds) as 
AA BBS.  In fact, the very .gifs that were found obscene in Memphis 
were made "freely distribute," by Robert and have been posted *many* 
times to the net. 

Could we use economic retaliation?  I won't use Federal Express any 
more because it and Graceland (and the cat houses near Graceland) seem 
to be the economic mainstays of Memphis.  Unfortunately, even a very 
effective economic boycott is not going to have an effect on the 
zealots, and depressing that area further might make it an even *more* 
repressive backwater because the last of the intelligent/tolerant 
people would move out.  On the other hand, economic pressures might 
induce the more sensible part of the community to pressure the zealots 
into being more tolerant (at least of people 3 time zones away!).  In 
recent years economic pressure has induced two states to change laws.  
A positive sign that economic pressure might be effective is that the 
local newspaper did *not* support the prosecution.  Research question:  
Why did the Memphis Feds back off after the Deep Throat trials? 

Is the law any help?  After nearly a year of watching the process, I 
am *quite* pessimistic.  In its own way, the court system is deeply 
corrupt.  I think even the RR folks know this is a political case and 
not a criminal one.  In political cases, leaving a person out on bail 
during appeal is normal, but in this case, it is very much in the 
government's interest to have Robert out of circulation so he cannot 
pursue the Electronic Communication Privacy Act suit and other causes 
of action against them in civil court.  Robert's motion for bail 
during appeal was denied.

Are there political routes?  Yes, but chancy.  It is possible that a  
political fight with the RR might backfire and result in heavy 
restrictions on the nets.  Coming down hard on the nets would be very 
popular with the Administration forces after the Clipper debacle.  The 
power of the net to organize political force must be quite worrying 
to those in power. (It is clear to me that modern day revolutions, 
anywhere in the world, and peaceful or not, would be organized through 
the net.  In some places this has already happened.)  It may be that a 
general cutting down on the powers of the Federal Government is in 
order.  This has pros and cons, and support (in some areas) even from 
the RR.  How *does* one shrink the unshrinkable?  Tax revolts (in the 
form of massive political pressure) seem to come about when the tax 
rates get as high as they are now.  Another possibility is that the 
formation of private money may greatly shrink the ability of 
governments everywhere to collect taxes. 

Should people start thinking about direct action?  I hope we don't 
come to this!  There is nothing I can think of worse than arousing the 
technically knowledgeable to take the infrastructure apart.  Problem 
is that pinpoint damage (like taking the 901 area code down for a few 
days or weeks) is somewhere between impossible and probably 
impossible.  (Though ATT managed to take down their entire phone 
network for a day with a missing "case" statement.) 

Your thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.  Please post 
encrypted through a remailer chain if you absolutely *must* post ideas 
about the last paragraph!
S
,.