[117880] in Cypherpunks
FBI Black Bag Jobs - Re: Non sequitur. Guilty as charged, but
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bill Stewart)
Tue Sep 14 03:13:55 1999
Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19990913182355.009c9330@idiom.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 18:23:55 -0700
To: Mac Norton <mnorton@COMP.UARK.EDU>, cypherpunks@algebra.com
From: Bill Stewart <bill.stewart@pobox.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SOL.4.10.9908262117250.11171-100000@comp>
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Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Reply-To: Bill Stewart <bill.stewart@pobox.com>
At 09:19 PM 8/26/99 -0500, Mac Norton wrote, on another list:
>Let's see . . . we should add FBI agents to the number of
>people who can hack my computer, and incidentally let the
>FBI do it legally? How does this decrease the problem?
If the FBI wants to black-bag your computer, they have to
sneak in when you're not there, rather than kicking the doors down and
rushing in with their guns out the way they do when seizing your computer.
This is partially a good thing - fewer people shot during breakins,
and they don't leave your door jamb shredded and the door open
for other people to steal any stuff they leave behind
while you're being hauled off to the slammer.
On the other hand, they can get away with a lot more quiet breakins
without getting in trouble than they can SWAT team urban assaults.
On yet another paw, however,
it's tough to invite the TV folks from "C.O.P.S." along when you're
sneaking in, though I suppose the Jerry Springers of law enforcement
could do something like fuzz over the house numbers, so they can show
the Fuzzies stealing in with catlike tread without alerting the
occupants by showing them on TV.
Thanks!
Bill
Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com
PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639
