From: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1996 09:42:10 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Innocent until proven guilty
In-Reply-To: <199611200231.AAA16348@prometheus.hol.gr>
Message-ID: <v03007800aeb8f3907bb2@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 1:36 AM -0600 11/20/96, snow wrote:
>> At 01:02 =EC=EC 19/11/1996 -0500, Clay Olbon II wrote:
>> >with _serious_ issues of 'unemployability'., FURTHERMORE people are NEVER
>> >guilty before PROVEN so. Guilt or Innocence is NOT a matter of 'opinion',
>
>    Huh? People are most certainly guilty before "proven" so, the government
>just isn't allowed to _assume_ their guilt, or to _act_ like they are guilty.
>
>     If you purchase LSD in America, you are guilty of a felony--Drug
>trafficing. Wether the court _finds_ you guilty or not is another story.

In this case, the putative crime is "drug trafficking" or "possession,"
depending. One is still presumed innocent until proven guilty. To wit, the
state must prove its case.

I rather suspect that any prosecutors or defense lawyers on this list will
confirm that an LSD case is hardly a case of "guilty until proven innocent."


--Tim May

"The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM
that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology."
[NYT, 1996-10-02]
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I 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,
Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."