RE: Zooko on JYA, cpunks, and surveillance (was: Re: Can't tell the kooks without a scorecard? Re: Monkey Wrenching the Echelon Engine)

[Fisher Mark <fisherm@tce.com>]

Zane Lewkowicz writes:
>As far as i can tell, only people who 
>threaten feds with physical danger are getting busted.  
>Threatening feds with the possibility of a future society in 
>which their roles are obviated apparently doesn't work. 

This matches what I've seen.  Mr. Bell made the big mistake of directly
attacking the IRS (the mercaptan [sp?] attack).  I've had some dealings with
local government people on real estate issues (who have generally been
reasonably helpful), and the set of people who like practical jokes has a
(nearly?) null intersection with the set of people who go into government
service.  Especially when you do something to send people to the doctor
because of chemical-induced vomiting...

If Tim May gets picked up, I expect it to be a result of a Chinese Cultural
Revolution-type action (all intellectuals, all programmers, all engineers,
etc.).  As long as Tim isn't entrapped, he is probably pretty safe from
being picked up.  However, there's going to be a lot of changes in the near
future (e$, Y2K, Internet fall-out, biochemoelectronics, etc.), so I advise
that everyone batten down the hatches -- we're in for a stormy ride into a
[likely] glorious future.
==========================================================
Mark Leighton Fisher          Thomson Consumer Electronics
fisherm@indy.tce.com          Indianapolis, IN
"Their walls are built of cannon balls, their motto is
'Don't Tread on Me'"