From: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Sun, 29 Dec 1996 15:04:27 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: "Structuring" of Communications a Felony?
In-Reply-To: <v02140b03aeec93ad25a9@[10.0.2.15]>
Message-ID: <v03007800aeeca89ec7b5@[207.167.93.63]>
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Another point about "anonymous speech" and its legal protections (a la the
1956 Georgia leafletting case), consider a similar "basic right": the right
to move freely and anonymously.

Well, it turns out that in the U.S. this right is thwarted by income tax
laws. Not to mention driver's license laws, Social Security laws, etc.

(Yes, as Duncan and others are fond of pointing out, there are ways to
avoid some of these laws. I won't recap them here. But these are often
difficult to bypass, at least for those not constantly watching every
action they take, and may be felonies in some cases. Loompanics and Paladin
sell various books on creating new identities, etc.)

For example, while citizen-units in the United States are free to move to
new locales without permission and without registration, unlike in some
countries, the tax collector expects a valid home (or at least mailing)
address on tax returns. (Use of a tax preparer is one workaround, though
the tax preparer probably is required by some law or another to know the
"true domicile" of a client...left as an exercise as to whether this is
ever enforced.)

My point is not to attack the notion of taxation, but to note that tax
collection often involves by necessity (for our current approach) strong
invasions of privacy...no different from when the King's Tax Collector
roamed around one's farm and household looking for things to tax. Harry
Browne makes this point eloquently in his new book, "Why Government Doesn't
Work."

I believe the various rumblings about regulation of digital cash and
electronic mail will turn out to be enacted with this kind of justification.

--Tim May


Just say "No" to "Big Brother Inside"
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: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."