Re: Jim Bell raid

[Sergey Goldgaber <sergey@el.net>]

On Thu, 3 Apr 1997, Greg Broiles wrote:

-> A southern Washington newspaper, The Columbian (apparently published in
-> Vancouver) provides a "greeked" (e.g., squiggles instead of text) version of
-> its front page at http://www.columbian.com (you'll have to pick the frame for
-> "The latest Columbian headlines") - and today's page one above-the-fold
-> headline is "Affidavit: Internet essay solicits murder".
-> 
-> It looks to me like this is real. Yow. Jim Bell is a goddamn loon, but I
-> haven't seen him write anything that I thought was criminal.

I read the essay when it was published (a year or two ago?).  As I remember
it, it simply extrapolated the consequences of encryption and anonymity to
their logical conclusions.  Specifically, that social control could be
exerted through a "lottery" for "predicting" the dates of death for certain
unpopular politicians.  He stressed the untraceability, unaccountability,
and as far as possible, legality of everything proposed in his essay.

There was some debate concerning the essay which I did not follow.  So, I
don't know what concensus was finally reached.  But, his proposal seemed
generally workable to me.  I would definately not consider the essay to
be evidence of him being a "goddamn loon" anymore than Greg Broiles' post
being evidence of him being a goddamn idiot.  However, the majority of the
public who form their oppinions through newpaper headlines and the like 
certainly are.

Jim Bell's essay is, IMO, definately free speech.  And, as you can see from
the IRS Inspection report, he was not charged with anything relating to the
essay itself.  In fact, the raid happened a long time after he published
the essay, and may truely be unrelated.


 ............................................................................
 . Sergey Goldgaber <sergey@el.net>      System Administrator        el Net .
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 .   To him who does not know the world is on fire, I have nothing to say   .
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