Re: Jim Bell 6

[Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com>]

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At 09:43 AM 7/7/97 -0700, Alan wrote:
>Reminds me of some of the "government is dead" threads of a couple of
>years back.  My response was something to the effect of "The government is
>not like an old man dying in a corner.  It is more like an old man having
>an epeliptic seizure in a crowded mall with lots of guns.".  If the
>govenrment is on the way to losing its power over the people, they are
>going to take as many of us down with them on the way out.

Though neither the USSR nor the DDR did when they "went out."  Likewise the 
Catholic Church when it "went out" (as a secular political power in Europe) 
at some point between 1400 and 1900.  

Those three institutions killed the bulk of their victims in their earlier 
more virile phases than they did in their senesence.  That seems likely with 
our government as well.

Single incidents like Bell's arrest prove nothing.  Operation Sun Devil 
looked big at the time but did not lead to an effective government crackdown 
on cyberspace.  It was actually a tactical and strategic loss for them.  If 
Bell gets a dismissal or pleads to minor charges, it will be a loss for the 
Feds as well.  Their losses against Phil Z and Jake Baker exposed the 
weakness of their control regimes when applied to the Net.

DCF
 


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