Re: [Off-Topic] "Curfews"

[Blake Wehlage <jwilk@iglou.com>]

At 07:08 PM 5/31/96 -0700, Timothy C. May wrote:
>Cypherpunks,
>
>This is off-topic for the list, but I want to share it anyway. It touches
>on issues of increasing police surveillance, and also touches on the issue
>of "age credentials" (in the sense that how else is a cop who stops a young
>person for "curfew violation" to determine if a violation has occurred when
>most 14- and 15-year-olds carry no driver's licenses?)
>
>The "curfew" meme is spreading quickly, with Clinton calling for a federal
>curfew, at least in cities, and Dole trying to outdo him with even more
>draconian curfew laws. Many communities already have them, including San
>Jose, New Orleans, and other large cities. And my own community, Santa Cruz
>County, ironically begins a curfew program on Saturday, tomorrow.
>
>I wrote this item for our local newsgroup, scruz.general, announcing that
>"my household" will not abide by this law. I didn't come out and say "my
>kids" would not abide by it, inasmuch as I have no kids. So I elliptically
>referred to "parents and guardians"...after all, my sister visits with her
>husband and son, and in theory I could be the guardian of this kid. And
>friends bring their kids.
>
>My point is to send a "warning" to the Sheriff's office that at least some
>households think this crackdown on the movements of children is
>unacceptable. Children have the right to travel, especially as the parents
>permit it, without being stopped, questioned, forced to state their
>destinations, and, if the answers don't satisfy the cop, taken into
>detention at some children's equivalent of a "drunk tank."
>
>(Some purists claim that children are exempted from normal constitutional
>protections, such as the right of free association, the right to be free
>from unwarranted searches and seizures, the right of free speech, etc.
>Especially this comes up in debates about rights in public schools (speech,
>locker searches, movements are controlled, etc.). But I think a public
>school environment is a dramatically different situation, whatever one
>thinks of these claims about rights, from a kid walking on a public street.
>To claim that such a child may be stopped, interrogated, taken to a
>detention center, without a crime having been committed, is a clear
>violation of his or her rights.)
>
>As I said, should such curfews become widespread, children will of course
>need forms of age identification, and this opens yet another door for
>universal I.D. cards. And for "travel papers."
>
>Maybe it would be easier to just put a tattoo on their arms--especially as
>the younger generation is so into tattoos these days. "Pappieren, bitte.
>Macht schnell!"
>
>Here's what I sent in to scruz.general tonight:
>
>
>So Santa Cruz begins its own fascist crackdown on the free movements of
>persons. The "curfew" begins Saturday night.
>
>Allegedly these persons are children, but it is up to parents and
>guardians to control the movements of their children or charges in public
>places, NOT the function of the police to detain these children or
>charges. (Initially a "warning," but the child's name is recorded in
>police data bases....if the child is detained a second time, he or she may
>face detention time, community service, fines on the parents or guardians,
>and so forth.)
>
>ANNOUNCEMENT: I am responsible for the children in my household or in my
>custody or guardianship. Not the cops. Not the Sheriff. Not the CAMP
>helicopters. Not the narcs. Not the vice squad. Not anyone but me.
>
>I am instructing those in my household or who visit to IGNORE all
>interrogations by cops. I am telling them not to let the cops search their
>bags, not to let the cops ask where they are going, not to let the cops
>demand that they give a reason for being out. If they pick up people from
>my household, I expect the children to remain silent and to just fill up
>the god-damned jail cells until I eventually raise a ruckus and (maybe)
>pick them up.
>
>If some kids are out and about and making mischief, the cops should
>concentrate on catching _those_ children! Don't immobilize all kids  for
>the sake of supposedly cutting down on the activities of the perps. As
>with so many do-gooder laws, the effect will largely be felt on the "good"
>kids and will be ignored or evaded by the "bad" kids.
>
>As to the claims that children have no valid reason to be out after 9, or
>11, or whatever, this is not for anyone but the parents and guardians to
>decide. The god-damned cops are not the ones to decide what a valid reason
>for being out is.
>
>(I have heard that "religious worship," a la "Midnight Mass," is one of
>the valid reasons for a child to be out after curfew. Fine, religion is
>then the stated reason those in my household are out! I will tell them to
>tell any nosy cops or Sheriff's Deputies that they are worshippers of
>Baal, and Baal requires them to be out to appreciate the darkness. If the
>cops claim this is "not a valid religion," I will recite to them the First
>Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, where it says: "Congress shall make no
>law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free
>exercise thereof.")
>
>I moved to the rural part of Santa Cruz, Corralitos, to escape this
>fascist and socialist nonsense, and now I find it primarily the
>Sheriff-dominated parts of this county which will now claim to tell
>parents and guardians they no longer control their children.
>
>Fuck this.
>
>--Tim May
>
>--
>Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
>We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
>---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
>Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
>tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
>W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
>Licensed Ontologist         | black markets, collapse of governments.
>"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."
>
>
>
>

Timothy, 

For the first time in my life I agree with you. I am 13 and the cop here a
assholes. I have been caught about 13 times, yelled at me called my parents
who could give a rat's ass. I feel spend tax payer's money on more cops to
catch the bastard who kill people, not on the kids who just like to take a
walk with my girlfriend. Or when I'm going to the corner store to buy a
6-pack. A 6-pack of coke. Well as the old saying goes, fuck this and
everything that has to do with it!!!!!!!!   
          
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Blake "Pokey" Wehlage     Gaa- 3.69
<jwilk@iglou.com>         Record- 2-4-4
Age- 13                   Final Standings- 2nd Place (Beat in Championship)
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Current Girlfriend(s)- Lindsey Wilcox, Laura Schubring
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