From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 00:30:59 +0800
To: cypherpunks@algebra.com
Subject: "The policeman inside"
In-Reply-To: <13510758714442@nac.net>
Message-ID: <v03007801af9e50fa6ea2@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


First Declan, now Ray:

At 7:10 AM -0800 5/13/97, Ray Arachelian wrote:

>Hell, the nice bomb making spam too is also a bitch being posted here.
>One could give the poster the benefit of the doubt, but it smells quite
>of the tactics used by the Postal fiends that mail child porno to an
>unsuspecting citizen unit, then arrest that citizen unit upon receipt.
>Lets not give the evil onesof the government more horsemen to ride over
>us. :(

As ur-cyberpunk Burroughs noted, we must beware "the policeman inside."

Authorities _want_ people to "police themselves," to think twice before
speaking freely, to limit the topic of their conversations, and to
generally fear the knock on the door late at night (or, in fin de siecle
Amerika, the suddent appearance of black-clad ninja in one's bedroom at 4
a.m., shooting anything that moves).

Bomb-making information is protected by the First Amendment. Period.

So is crypto information. So is saying Congressmen are vermin who need to
be taken out and shot.

Get this straight, people!

(Now whether such opinions are to one's taste, or whether the Cypherpunks
list is a reasonable forum for posting bomb-making plans...well, that's a
completely different issue, one of taste and appropriateness, than the
calls by Declan and Ray that such messages are dangerous and could invite
retaliation by the Authorities. If that's indeed the case, then by all
means we should be posting bomb-making instructions and calls for treason
trials with street justice.)

Beware the policeman inside.

--Tim May


There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
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."