[ale] Linux apparently illegal in MA

Wed Apr 22 19:28:57 EDT 2009

1. The reason for the police interest likely was suspicion of a
   "hate crime" against a gay person.  (I don't know what this week's
   definition is in MA.)

2. Data encryption has become popular to hide evidence of crime,
   especially among those handling child pornography.

3. Those who assume that anyone objecting to groundless searches
   or making encryption illegal may want to read the Constitution's
   4th amendment, which reads exactly as:

     The right of the peole to be secure in their persons, houses,
     papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,
     shall not be violated and no Warrants shall issue, but upon
     probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly
     describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things
     to be seized.

4. Think you're law abiding?  You are not if any of the following:

   1. You loaned you car to your teenager or your brother in law and he
      or she left drugs in the car and a legal search is conducted.

   2. You have handcuffs to "spice" up your personal life.  That is
      considered part of a "rape kit" and is illegal in Georgia and
      elsewhere.

   3. Your brother-in-law gives a beer to your teenager in your house.

   4. Any of a gazillian other scenarios.

5. Today the Supreme Court upheld the 4th Amendment by decided that
   police no longer can search one's car after they'be been arrested
   and handcuffed (without a warrent).

6. The police can search your "person and your immediate area" to
   allegedly look for a weapon (gun or knife) you might lunge for
   to hurt them.  This is the excuse for many searches.

   They may NOT search areas not immediately accessable, such as a
   locked trunk without a search warrant or probable cause.  Hint, hint.

7. If you have concerns about a search or may be arrested, leave your
   concerns in your car, get out and lock the door behind you and step
   away from your door.  REFUSE TO UNLOCK THE DOOR.  This is NOT
   resisting arrest.  The officer may not enter the vehicle without a
   warrant.  If he breaks the window,  your claim that you did not
   give consent to a search will be very strong.

8. Never, ever give consent to a police officer requesting to search
   your vehicle.  In Georgia they often will ask.  If you say "yes",
   then anything they find of an illegal nature will get you in jail.
   They will threaten to use dogs otherwise that will rip up your car.
   It's an empty bluff, especially if the car is locked!  That search
   warrant problem again.

9. If the police show up at your front door 'cause your party is "too
   loud", do NOT let 'em in.  You don't know what drugs your guests
   have.

   Instead, lock the front door, send a sober guest who does not live
   there out the back door to go around outside to the front door to
   talk with them.  The guest can relay the request to quiet down.

   The guest will politely refuse the cops' request to "come in side
   and look around", explaining that since he does not live there he
   does not have the authority to do so.

10. Have a look at:

    FlexYourRights.org

    to learn more.

Bob Toxen
bob at verysecurelinux.com               [Please use for email to me]
http://www.verysecurelinux.com        [Network&Linux security consulting]
http://www.realworldlinuxsecurity.com [My book:"Real World Linux Security 2/e"]
Quality spam and virus filters.
Quality Linux & UNIX security and SysAdmin & software consulting since 1990.

"One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring
them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond where
the shadows lie...and the Eye is everwatching"
-- The Silicon Valley Tarot Henrique Holschuh with ... by Bob

On Sat, Apr 18, 2009 at 05:43:01PM -0400, Robert Reese~ wrote:
> > On Sat, Apr 18, 2009 at 02:09, Robert Reese~ <ale at sixit.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Are you suggesting he's in the top 10 people in the entire Boston
> >> area, including those enrolled in CS majors?
> >
> > No.  Apparently they had an interest in him in order to discover
> > him with all his equipment (yes, I'm aware that in itself sounds
> > gay however that wasn't my intention).
> 
> That isn't what you said earlier about him being a Top 10 suspect due to his 
> skills. ;c)
> 
> But you bring up the interesting question as to WHY they had an interest in him.  
> According to the affidavit signed by the detective, it boils down to he 
> allegedly does technologically advanced things with his, and others', computers.
> 
> And more, part of it really boils down to a very old and incorrect believe: if 
> someone is using encryption, they must have something illegal to hide.  However, 
> if mystically that were somehow true, the Fourth Amendment gives protection even 
> in that event.
> 
> 
> >> Yes, I was paying attention, perhaps more than the average person
> >> (but for different reasons).  And it was absolutely moronic back
> >> then; as if a terrorist would plant a brightly-lit,
> >
> > Apparently you weren't paying attention back then.  The devices
> > weren't brightly lit.  The devices were wired with timers to light
> > at a later point in time.
> 
> One focuses on trees, another on the forest.  Doesn't mean that one or the other 
> wasn't paying attention.  My focus is and was on the impact of civil liberties; 
> I don't give a rat's ass about protecting the people whilst violating the 
> Constitution as that is NOT the role of government despite its claims.
> 
> As for the devices, it was obvious to all non-paranoids that the devices were 
> harmless.  Furthermore, no laws except perhaps trespassing on private property, 
> were actually broken.  Well, no Constitutionally valid laws, this is.  It was 
> reminiscent of moronic schools administrations with their No Tolerance stances 
> which lead to such things as expulsions for plastic cutlery and Tweety Bird 
> wallets with a small chain for clipping onto crystal-clear backpacks by 
> 11-year-olds.
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/c4hn4h
> <http://tinyurl.com/c4hn4h>
> 
> http://preview.tinyurl.com/c4hn4h
> <http://preview.tinyurl.com/c4hn4h>
> 
> http://books.google.com/books?id=80rKWMTNTpMC&pg=PA101&lpg=PA101&dq=&source=bl&o
> ts=XSzNGC-qoT&sig=bwlDLPL3Yd8uN3redqjjszDc0oI&hl=en&ei=BUbqSfSHItKJtgen6ISbBg&sa
> =X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6
> 
> <http://books.google.com/books?id=80rKWMTNTpMC&pg=PA101&lpg=PA101&dq=&source=bl&
> ots=XSzNGC-qoT&sig=bwlDLPL3Yd8uN3redqjjszDc0oI&hl=en&ei=BUbqSfSHItKJtgen6ISbBg&s
> a=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6>
> 
> 
> These incidents indicate an increasing banality of our government in regards to 
> both civil liberties and technology these past few decades and it is only 
> getting worse regardless of which party is in control.  Time to start watching 
> our collective technologically-sophisticated backs as government gets more 
> technologically and common-sensically stupid, or to start running for office 
> ourselves.
> 
> And in Massachusetts, it seems that Witch Hunting is once again a favorite 
> past-time....
> 
> Cheers,
> R~
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale