From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 13:02:35 +0800
To: cypherpunks@Algebra.COM
Subject: Re: More Government Sanctioned Theft
In-Reply-To: <65k64e$coq@snews3.zippo.com>
Message-ID: <v0310280eb0a9349c58b7@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 2:16 PM -0700 12/1/97, Igor Chudov @ home wrote:
>[This message has also been posted.]
>In ok.general, Jerry Morgan <jmorgan@galstar.com> wrote:
>* easttom@redriverok.com (Chuck Easttom) wrote:
>* >   2.  What the hell legit reason is there for a man to be driving
>around with
>* >132 K in a truck??
>* >
>*
>* The simple possession of any amount of money is not subject to "police
>* approval", unless of course we are living in a police state.
>*
>* As I understand the "story" the police stopped the guy, searched the
>* car, found the money, seized it and then let the guy go without
>* charging him with anything.  A nice cool 132K profit for a few minutes
>* work, just like an armed robbery.  It would appear that this "cops and
>* robbers scenario" has the cops playing both roles.S

This is becoming all too common (cf. online reports, and some good t.v.
investigative shows which detailed how this shakedown operation works in
many states).

As to the question above, "2.  What the hell legit reason is there for a
man to be driving around with * >132 K in a truck??," this shows the dire
state we are in today.

After all, what the hell business is it of government/police to tell a
person what they may do with their money? If I want to push my money around
in a wheel barrow, it may be stupid, but if cops seize it then they are
just thieves, plain and simple.

(Arguments that the money "must have" been stolen, or to be used for an
illegal transaction, or whatever, are meaningless. Unless the money can be
shown to be stolen, or unless the person being stopped is actually shown to
be in an illegal transaction (not that I support such laws, mind you), the
cops can do nothing.)

However, cash is on the way toward being outlawed. De facto, if not de jure.

--Tim May

The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^2,976,221   | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."