From netcom.com!ix.netcom.com!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!portal.gmu.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!freenet.vcu.edu!cabell.vcu.edu!not-for-mail Sun Jan  1 22:31:55 1995
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From: phy4dls@cabell.vcu.edu (David L. Smith Jr.)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy
Subject: ALERT!...YOU MUST READ THIS!!!
Date: 6 Dec 1994 13:18:34 -0500
Organization: Virginia Commonwealth University
Lines: 136
Distribution: WORLD
Expires: 01/31/95
Message-ID: <3c29tq$38f@cabell.vcu.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: cabell.vcu.edu

JUST PICKED THIS UP! IT MUST BE SPREAD!!


    
                                    ALERT!
                                       

-=> Note:
Forwarded (from: netmail) by Terry Liberty-Parker using timEd.
Originally from Glen Todd (1:128/203.0) to Terry Liberty-Parker.
Original dated: Dec 04 '94, 16:22

=============================================================================
* Forwarded by Glen Todd (1:128/203)
* Area : CSPRINGS (Colorado Springs (Net-128) sysop)
* From : Tia Darrow, 1:128/68 (04 Dec 94 14:00)
* To   : All
* Subj : Please post and make public aware
=============================================================================
@MSGID: 1:128/68 2ee1cb96
@PID: GED G0615
@TID: FastEcho 1.41/g 7610
While I do not carry anything illegal on my board, hard on the heels of the
Thomas McCullock hoorah, this makes me VERY VERY nervous!!!
=============================================================================
* Forwarded by Tia Darrow (1:128/68)
* Area : TO/FROM-SYSOP (TO/FROM-SYSOP)
* From : Steven Stepp, 1:128/1320 (Sunday December 04 1994 13:32)
* To   : Tia Darrow
* Subj : Please post and make public aware
=============================================================================
Well, kids... this just in.... you heard it HERE first...

There were 25 BBS systems operating in Pennsacola, FL day before yesterday.
Yesterday at approximately 17:00, there were TEN FEWER.

The FBI descended on ten bulletin boards in the Pennsacola area. Using tactics
reminiscent of the Nazi's in WWII, they terrorized and vandalized at will.

One sysop, a paraplegic was HELD by two armed thugs by the arms and grilled
with questions for 30 minutes while they ransacked his apartment.

AFTER the first thirty minutes, they sat him down in a chair in the middle of
his front lawn (NOT his wheelchair) without a jacket or coat. It was 43 degrees
in Pennsacola yesterday. And he sat. And sat. And sat. For two hours. In 43
degree weather, winds... and watched as they wheeled his equipment away.

In another case, 30-odd storm troopers descend on a Pennsacola computer store,
as the customers scattered. AFTER they had succeeded in ruining the businesses
reputation in its entirety, they moved to the Sysops home. Equipped with search
warrants, they took his home apart and put it back together, again confiscating
equipment... all the way down to the PENCILS on his DESK. And in the process,
they found that the man had a bag of marijuana tucked away in a nightstand in
his bedroom. Even though the search warrant made NO mention of DRUGS (a search
warrant must be specific in nature; anything siezed which is NOT the purpose
for the warrant is SUPPOSED to be inadmissible in court). In spite of this, he
spent the night in jail.

Another area SysOp in Pennsacola was held, with his wife and two children (age
5
and 7) at GUNPOINT, forced to lie face-down on the floor in the living room,
hands behind their heads, while the FBI raid took place. Some of these people
are gonna need THERAPY before they can put this ordeal behind them. Can you
imagine the effect this had on those KIDS?

One SysOp was held at gunpoint, as the thought police continued their raid,
REFUSING to allow him to phone his lawyer.

At issue on Donnie Lee's system were the ALT.BIN files which broadcast in
nightly from Planet Connect as a part of the UUCP internet feed. The SAME files
the local university there in Pennsacola carries. And... you guessed it - the
University was NOT one of the systems busted. Why would the government bust
themselves for the SAME "crimes against the state"?

C'MON, guys... these folks aren't common criminals. They're not muggers,
rapists, or thieves. They're just SysOps like you and me. SysOps who made the
mistake of putting a CD onto their BBS systems, a CD which went against the
beliefs of the church and state. A CD which any 12-year-old can buy across the
counter at any software store or through mail order.

And suddenly, the world is much smaller. These are NOT just SysOps in some
faraway land. Two of them are OUR SysOps. And four more arrests are set to
follow today.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation was all over Pennsacola by 8pm. I phoned
Steve Graves and he was on his way to Pennsacola this morning, along with a
representative from AOP (the Association of Online Professionals). Also called
in a favor from a buddy at BoardWatch who once lived here... so the press is
descending on Pennsacola today, in SPITE of the media blackout (local tv,
radio,
and newspapers are banned from reporting any of this until the OTHER four busts
are completed TODAY).

So, out of 25 boards, there remain 11, most of them turncoat. And our
government
no longer serves the people. The people serve IT. Something is terribly
terribly
WRONG with this picture.

At gunpoint? Abusing a paraplegic? Terrorizing a family? Refusing ones rights
to
have legal counsel present? For WHAT? THIS isn't murder. It isn't rape. It's
not
even GANG violence. It's a gross misuse and Abuse of power.

Is THIS the government YOU pledged allegiance to in second grade?

Sigh.

Not me, pal. I'm all in favor of declaring CyberSpace it's own sovereign state,
a nation all its own, a nation without physical boundaries. And why not? Isn't
that what the Church is? A nation unto itself, immune to the interference of
the
government? Seems to me that the transfer of ideas and concepts is what the
CHURCH stands for, in the most basic of terms. Seems to me that CyberSpace
needs
to unite and form its OWN government.


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-+- RA 2.02+/FASTECHO 1.41G+
 + Origin: The Renaissance Woman BBS/C. Springs, CO/719-475-7427 (1:128/68)
SEEN+BY: 14/625 128/16 22 68 86 88 109 110 128 171 173 175 182 201 203
@PATH: 128/68 182 109
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Bright the day, Terry!


                                        Wind to thy wings,
                                                        Glen

___ GoldED 2.42.G0615



