In Reply to: Re: this isn't russia. is this russia? this isn't russia posted by Hank on November 11, 1999 at 20:07:59:
hank, i have no doubt that you know things that i don't; but if you post messages like, "I DO NOT KNOW ANY MORE THAN WHAT I STATED ABOVE," and you do in fact know more, then your statement is misleading at best.
not for very long. you can't be held for longer than 48 hours without being charged and then once you are, what's your bail going to be? assuming you don't have past felonies, about one not-wheresgeorged dollar. then the new york times gets all over this piece. then taxpayers say, "i'm paying money for this?" wheresgeorgers start a letter writing campaign. then things getting *really* ugly. it won't happen, and if "they" are implying it will, you're being bullied. in fact, it may not be a bad idea to go back to your pals at the times right now -- the press loves this kind of stuff.
the absolute most you could reasonably expect to see from a site like this is a "cease and desist" order ... and that i definitely could see.
as for enforcement against the "crimes" i can tell you this with absolute certainty: the bep and the frb don't have police arms, they can't shut you down ... they have to go to outside branches, someone like the u.s. marshalls for warrants.
the secret service certainly has the ability to, but again not without warrant. i've sat in the counterfeiting division of the san francisco secret service for about two hours once and have interviewed special agents twice -- unless things have changed a lot in the last six months, those guys seem like they have way more important things to do than worry about wheresgeorge stampers ... (then again, maybe your deep throat is a guy/gal who's having a really slow week.)
in fact, there's no doubt in my mind that this site could serve a very valuable service for the government; specifically a very close look at the wash and circulation of money -- they also have the ability to track/locate individual bills as necessary. if any part of the government *does* pay any attention to your site, i'm sure they would find it marginally beneficial if anything.
which i guess is to say that if it is real message (and at this point it's apparently considered to be bad form to even suggest otherwise) it was a scare and/or force tactic and it worked.
or looking at it another way, it didn't work, because the site's still here and you can still buy a "wheresgeorge" stamp.
i certainly understand the not-make-waves approach hinted at by you and stated more directly by some others here, but ghandi and martin luther king were right ... i'm 39 and in my lifetime i've seen a lot of personal liberties go away with no new ones granted. erosion of freedom, or a general strong arming by the government, in any form is troubling ... yes, even if it's something as stupid as stamping a dollar bill. remember, those faces on the bills you stamp aren't just some pretty pictures of some 2 dimensional guys a long time ago -- they (with the exception of grant) were people that believed strongly enough in what they thought was right that they spoke up when they felt oppression from the government ... this isn't just some lame piece of propaganda, it's the fundamental foundation of our country; one that continues to slip.
for what it's worth, and yes i'll shut up now,
m.
p.s. i live and work in the silicon valley, and have access to a ton of very sophisticated internet tools, sniffers and minds. if you have any reason doubt those messages, feel free to send me a header and my pals and i can take a look at it.