Re: Adobe's Teeth. (Was: Re: [free-sklyarov] Re: Rallies on Monday)

2001-07-26 Thread Eugene Leitl

On Sat, 21 Jul 2001, Black Unicorn wrote:

> I would be amused to see one of these cloistered techies in a real
> encounter with police, who recognize that the best legal argument they

The only serious encounter I would risk with anything, is by means of
anonymized (including resistance to trace analysis) physical proxy. So the
threshold is pretty high.

Who do you think we are, marines?





Re: Adobe's Teeth. (Was: Re: [free-sklyarov] Re: Rallies on Monday)

2001-07-24 Thread Jim Choate


On Mon, 23 Jul 2001, Black Unicorn wrote:

> Translate as:
> 
> Use a lawyer, anonymous remailer, and enlist a PR expert.
> 
> Good advice in either example.

That's pretty constrained 'free speech'.


 --


Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, "Let Tesla be", and all was light.

  B.A. Behrend

   The Armadillo Group   ,::;::-.  James Choate
   Austin, Tx   /:'/ ``::>/|/  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
   www.ssz.com.',  `/( e\  512-451-7087
   -~~mm-'`-```-mm --'-






RE: Adobe's Teeth. (Was: Re: [free-sklyarov] Re: Rallies on Monday)

2001-07-24 Thread Trei, Peter



> --
> From: Black Unicorn[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> 
> Exercise your right to free speech.  Do it carefully.
> 
Use a spotter, protective equipment, and 
enlist a trained coach.

Do warm up exercises first  :-)

Peter






Adobe's Teeth. (Was: Re: [free-sklyarov] Re: Rallies on Monday)

2001-07-23 Thread Black Unicorn


- Original Message - 
From: "Trei, Peter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "'Black Unicorn'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2001 10:17 AM
Subject: RE: Adobe's Teeth. (Was: Re: [free-sklyarov] Re: Rallies on Monday)


> > From: Black Unicorn[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > 
> > Exercise your right to free speech.  Do it carefully.
> > 
> Use a spotter, protective equipment, and 
> enlist a trained coach.

Translate as:

Use a lawyer, anonymous remailer, and enlist a PR expert.

Good advice in either example.





Re: Adobe's Teeth. (Was: Re: [free-sklyarov] Re: Rallies on Monday)

2001-07-22 Thread Jim Choate


On Sun, 22 Jul 2001, Sampo Syreeni wrote:

> >Exercise your right to free speech.  Do it carefully.
> 
> Not carefully. Wisely.

And what pray tell is 'wisely'?



 --


Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, "Let Tesla be", and all was light.

  B.A. Behrend

   The Armadillo Group   ,::;::-.  James Choate
   Austin, Tx   /:'/ ``::>/|/  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
   www.ssz.com.',  `/( e\  512-451-7087
   -~~mm-'`-```-mm --'-






Re: Adobe's Teeth. (Was: Re: [free-sklyarov] Re: Rallies on Monday)

2001-07-22 Thread Sampo Syreeni

On Sat, 21 Jul 2001, Black Unicorn wrote:

>I would be amused to see one of these cloistered techies in a real
>encounter with police, who recognize that the best legal argument they
>have on the street is a good whack to opposing counsel's head and that
>about the most serious ramifications of this might be that the protestor
>gets off scott free after 48 hours in holding with the gang bangers.

True enough. It's easy to say things about policy when you don't have a
personal interest.

But don't forget that cypherpunks are doing a good job of implanting a 2nd
Amendment, civil disobedience and personal morality positive views into
anyone who comes by. It might well be that cops acting unconscionably will
soon enough encounter deeply cypherpunkly offenders, who just blow the cop
away if the going unjustifiably gets rough.

>Adobe's co-founder is easily spooked and Adobe has had it's run-ins with
>violence before.  This event is well publicized and Adobe knows its coming.
>Draw your own conclusions about how Adobe might prepare.  What would you do
>in Adobe's place?

What they do, of course. That just means anyone opposed to their game had
better prepare even better. How does one prepare for ideology driven hackers
stealing one's intellectual assets? Guaranteeably anonymous slander, and
inside rumour? Mass protests numbering in the tens of thousands? Snipers? A
van-full of petroleum+nitrates parked outside one's office, or home, or
one's children's school? Cleverly utilized discharges of nerve gas?

I certainly do not advocate that sort of response, but that is what
escalation is all about. It naturally happens when the going gets tough
enough. Corporations better not escalate, or they will come up with
something like the G8 protests, only with far less resources to combat the
trouble.

>Exercise your right to free speech.  Do it carefully.

Not carefully. Wisely.

Sampo Syreeni, aka decoy, mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED], gsm: +358-50-5756111
student/math+cs/helsinki university, http://www.iki.fi/~decoy/front




Re: Adobe's Teeth. (Was: Re: [free-sklyarov] Re: Rallies on Monday)

2001-07-21 Thread Declan McCullagh

On Sat, Jul 21, 2001 at 01:43:08PM -0700, Black Unicorn wrote:
> Adobe's co-founder is easily spooked and Adobe has had it's run-ins with
> violence before.  This event is well publicized and Adobe knows its coming.
> Draw your own conclusions about how Adobe might prepare.  What would you do
> in Adobe's place?  (I know you are suddenly tempted to come up with a witty
> reply.  It's a rhetorical question, smartass).

All this may be true, but it fails to recognize that most
geek-protests (and I have covered many) don't result in high
turnouts. See this anti-DMCA protest, which drew eight marchers:
http://www.mccullagh.org/image/7/dmca-protesters-1.html

Perhaps 15 were marching in front of the Supreme Court when the CDA
was being heard.

Oh, this might be larger, and I suspect it will be. And it makes sense
to consider Adobe's mindset. But the Black Bloc (or the Black Panthers)
this isn't.

-Declan




Re: Adobe's Teeth. (Was: Re: [free-sklyarov] Re: Rallies on Monday)

2001-07-21 Thread Black Unicorn


- Original Message -
From: "Declan McCullagh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Black Unicorn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "Subcommander Bob" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2001 7:26 PM
Subject: Re: Adobe's Teeth. (Was: Re: [free-sklyarov] Re: Rallies on
Monday)


> On Sat, Jul 21, 2001 at 01:43:08PM -0700, Black Unicorn wrote:
> > Adobe's co-founder is easily spooked and Adobe has had it's run-ins
with
> > violence before.  This event is well publicized and Adobe knows its
coming.
> > Draw your own conclusions about how Adobe might prepare.  What would
you do
> > in Adobe's place?  (I know you are suddenly tempted to come up with a
witty
> > reply.  It's a rhetorical question, smartass).
>
> All this may be true, but it fails to recognize that most
> geek-protests (and I have covered many) don't result in high
> turnouts. See this anti-DMCA protest, which drew eight marchers:
> http://www.mccullagh.org/image/7/dmca-protesters-1.html
>
> Perhaps 15 were marching in front of the Supreme Court when the CDA
> was being heard.

Is the glass half empty, half full or 100% in excess of optimum volume, Mr.
McCullagh?




Re: Adobe's Teeth. (Was: Re: [free-sklyarov] Re: Rallies on Monday)

2001-07-21 Thread Steve Schear

At 01:43 PM 7/21/2001 -0700, Black Unicorn wrote:
>- Original Message -
>From: "Subcommander Bob" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2001 11:20 AM
>Subject: Re: [free-sklyarov] Re: Rallies on Monday
> > >What exactly peaceful banner-carrying demonstrators on the public
> > >grounds should be afraid of ?
>
>Quite a lot actually.
>
>This is why I like most cypherpunks.  They have the most charming naiveti
>about the real world.  It's quaint.  I see it most often in their
>propensity to argue to most obscure technical-legal points with the full
>expectation that a judge isn't just going to say "that's specious
>counselor, have any real arguments?"  I love hearing things like: "Well if
>I just have the micromint transfer all its money to itself first then
>that's legally a transaction, right?" or "I'm not transferring the e-gold
>to the user, I'm transferring it to his key, so there are no taxes!" or
>"Sorry your honor, I used key splitting to put the key in 4 jurisdictions
>so I can't recover the critical financial data under subpoena.  Now you
>have to send me home.  Hee hee!"
>
>The second most frequent expression of this kind of sheltered thinking is
>in the political-societal belief that there is no such thing as "street
>justice" in the United States and that officers aren't prone to poke the
>odd protestor with a nightstick in any country except Mexico or India or
>the Middle East or some other far away and out of sight place.  "But this
>is AMERICA!" or "But I'm an AMERICAN!"  Good morning.  How was your sleep?
>
>I would be amused to see one of these cloistered techies in a real
>encounter with police, who recognize that the best legal argument they have
>on the street is a good whack to opposing counsel's head and that about the
>most serious ramifications of this might be that the protestor gets off
>scott free after 48 hours in holding with the gang bangers.
>
>It's pretty easy to get arrested in a protest situation.  Life is
>manifestly unfair to arrestees.  You decide what you want to do about it.

A lesson not lost of The Founders, many who paid with their lives and their 
fortunes even if they did keep their sacred honor.  Even if you are 
non-violently demonstrating BU is correct that you still may pay a heavy 
price.  You need to decide before you demonstrate: how important this issue 
you're protesting is, how far you're willing to take your protests and what 
you may be risking in doing so.  Then make preparations accordingly.

All Western countries fear losing the support of their middle class, tax 
paying, citizens. To the extent that the Vietnam demonstrations succeeded 
it was because they were able to elicit "police riots" in response to what 
many felt were mostly non-violent (if not legal) demonstrations and swing 
public opinion.  Of course, the release of the Pentagon Papers, which 
credibly confirmed \what many of the demonstrators had been saying of U.S. 
goals and involvement in S.E. Asia, didn't hurt either.

steve




Adobe's Teeth. (Was: Re: [free-sklyarov] Re: Rallies on Monday)

2001-07-21 Thread Black Unicorn


- Original Message -
From: "Subcommander Bob" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2001 11:20 AM
Subject: Re: [free-sklyarov] Re: Rallies on Monday

Black Unicorn Scribed:

> >> > > Adobe- owing to the kidnapping of its big wig some time ago- is
> >> > >very  paranoid.
> >> > >
> >> > > Please be aware and be cautious as they may be prone to overreact
> >> > > to taunting.
> >> > >
> >> > > (Do not taunt happy-fun-acrobat).

Someone answered:

> >> > This looks like a joke.  If so, it is really hilarious, but
> >> > otherwise sorry.

I replied:

> >> Unfortunately it's not.

> At 10:03 AM 7/21/01 -0700, Morlock Elloi replied:

> >So Adobe thugs will pour out of the building sprayng crowd with
> >machine-gun fire ? Corporate commandos will make arrests and
> >cart them to software sweatshops ?
> >
> >What exactly peaceful banner-carrying demonstrators on the public
> >grounds should be afraid of ?

Quite a lot actually.

This is why I like most cypherpunks.  They have the most charming naiveté
about the real world.  It's quaint.  I see it most often in their
propensity to argue to most obscure technical-legal points with the full
expectation that a judge isn't just going to say "that's specious
counselor, have any real arguments?"  I love hearing things like: "Well if
I just have the micromint transfer all its money to itself first then
that's legally a transaction, right?" or "I'm not transferring the e-gold
to the user, I'm transferring it to his key, so there are no taxes!" or
"Sorry your honor, I used key splitting to put the key in 4 jurisdictions
so I can't recover the critical financial data under subpoena.  Now you
have to send me home.  Hee hee!"

The second most frequent expression of this kind of sheltered thinking is
in the political-societal belief that there is no such thing as "street
justice" in the United States and that officers aren't prone to poke the
odd protestor with a nightstick in any country except Mexico or India or
the Middle East or some other far away and out of sight place.  "But this
is AMERICA!" or "But I'm an AMERICAN!"  Good morning.  How was your sleep?

I would be amused to see one of these cloistered techies in a real
encounter with police, who recognize that the best legal argument they have
on the street is a good whack to opposing counsel's head and that about the
most serious ramifications of this might be that the protestor gets off
scott free after 48 hours in holding with the gang bangers.

It's pretty easy to get arrested in a protest situation.  Life is
manifestly unfair to arrestees.  You decide what you want to do about it.

Adobe is a large and influential company in the Valley.  It may very well
be responsible for getting the Commissioner of Labor in California removed
from office simply because they disagreed with his ruling on forced
vacations for their employees.

Adobe's co-founder is easily spooked and Adobe has had it's run-ins with
violence before.  This event is well publicized and Adobe knows its coming.
Draw your own conclusions about how Adobe might prepare.  What would you do
in Adobe's place?  (I know you are suddenly tempted to come up with a witty
reply.  It's a rhetorical question, smartass).

Here is an article on the kidnapping of Adobe co-founder Chuck Geschke:

http://www.losaltosonline.com/latc/arch/9742/Exclusiv/1adobe/1adobe.html

An excerpt:
It was supposed to be a normal day at the office for Adobe Systems
president Charles "Chuck" Geschke when he pulled into the parking lot of
his Mountain View headquarters on May 26, 1992. Instead, his kidnapping at
gunpoint by two Arabic men began a five-day nightmare in which Geschke was
blindfolded and unaware of his location. His frantic family, in the
meantime, enlisted the help of the FBI in a search that was the biggest of
its kind since the kidnapping of Patti Hearst. Chuck's rescue was triggered
by daughter Kathy's drop-off of ransom money and her negotiations with the
captors. The news of the kidnapping made headlines all over the world. The
family, still, has not fully recovered from the emotional harm.

[...]

To this day, [Chuck] still has flashbacks when he drives into a parking lot
void of cars or people. And he has replayed his capture dozens of times,
both during and after captivity, questioning his decision to obey the armed
stranger.

The nightmares, which continue to this day, were just the start of a whole
new deck of fears the family had to deal with once they returned to Los
Altos after their month retreat. Chuck's insecurities about his safety
invaded all aspects of his life. The 6-foot, 1-inch, 220-pound Chuck now
scares easily.

"I see someone walking or parking in front of the house and I try to notice
if there is anything suspicious about it. I never, never had that feeling
ever in my life before. I've always been a very open person, never felt any
physical fear of any kind," he said.

end excerpt.

Following the kidnapping Adob