From: madscientist at wyoming.com (Philip Stortz)
Subject: no good deed ever goes unpunished

all on this list should read the following article, and carefully consider the consequences and stupidity of current law and law enforcement, and how quickly those in power abuse their power to strike back at those who point out their flaws, however well intentioned.  this is scary, the lawmakers and courts clearly need to be educated, or stop trying to regulate what they don't understand.  and people with vulnerable systems should be punished, not those who warn them.  geez, am i breaking the law by blocking ad servers and internet trackers?  <http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net/jump/theregister.co.uk/sechome;area=sechome;tile=1;sz=336x280;ord=123456789?>  how about when i edit the html request string by changing the number of items to display on ebay?  it saves me and them time, but of course i am modifying how data is presented.  also note the wonderful gestapo tactics employed by the fbi and others, not to mention the "no knock warrant", something i find offensive as an american, if you wake me from sleep in the middle of the night and are hostile, how am i supposed to know if you really are the police and why shouldn't i shoot you down?  such things have happened.  

giving up rights does not increase security, it simply facilitates the ability of others to arbitrarily violate your security on a whim simply because you've embarrassed them by exposing the stupidity of their conclusions or opposing their views effectively.  activist of all sorts in the u.s. are already being harassed, if you don't care now, there may be no one left to care when they come for you.  it has happened before, and it can happen here, the fastest way to make it happen is by being foolish enough to believe "it can't happen here", in new jersey, marshal law is automatically declared if the "terrorist threat level" goes to red, no civil liberties, no liability for the jack booted thugs with their sub machine guns and snipers, no one to sue when a tank drives over your car instead of going around it.....  it's a slippery slope, any downward movement is likely to turn into an out of control tumble down hill and severe injury or death, it's time to climb back up folks.  for the "rule of law" to have any meaning, it must apply above all to those charged with it's enforcement and too often privileged and protected from even the most obvious and severe abuses.  just ask that intel programmer, if any one ever sees him again....

-- 
philip stortz -- To be nobody but yourself when the whole world is trying its best night and day to make you everybody else is to fight the hardest battle any human being will ever fight. -- ee cummings

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