[Reader-list] HAL2001 'polemics'... (fwdfye)

[Patrice Riemens]

It all started with the 'no connectivity' policy at the Slackers Salon,
geeks raising to - what they thought was a - technical challenge (GSM
jammers etc), the use of possible illegal devices, hacks, police politics
etc., all this with Rop Gonggrijp's now famous sKrIpT kIDdiE piece in the 
background.
Nice post by Paul W., proving himself once again the CIE (Chief 
Ideological Engineer) of the hippiesfromhell movement... ;-)

NB: 'staatsgevaarlijke anarchisten' = anarchist enemies of the state.


----- Forwarded message from Paul Wouters <paul at xtdnet.nl> -----

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 23:41:41 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Paul Wouters <paul at xtdnet.nl>
To: <discussion at hippiesfromhell.org>
Subject: Re: We won't have that to 'protect' the Slackers Salon...


On Fri, 3 Aug 2001, Reinoud van Leeuwen wrote:

> and next: the jammer might be an excuse for some ppl that we *know*
> will be present at HAL to have an axcuse to arrest somebody and score
> big in the media

Why do all people around me think that the authorities can actually
afford it to "score" HAL. They can't. Not for something as silly
as testing a gadget, pingflodding whitehouse.gov, taking a pill,
dancing to loud music, or baring their breasts in the sun.

First of all, how will they entertain 3500 people who are all hacking
wildely to "defeat censorship of the facist Dutch police" after getting
their party disrupted? I think the police learned a lesson when they told
people on Queensday that they couldn't take a train at Amsterdam CS. The
police doesn't want to face a HAL mob.

Second, if you overuse a law, it becomes less effective. Just like
Dimitri's arrest has majorly hurt the DMCA, the computercrime law won't
be used to cut off HAL. And don't get me wrong, the BEST thing for
HAL would be to have its connection cut. And don't whine you want to
have internet at HAL. Instead of checking your email, you could like,
attend one of the talks about our threatened freedoms. The link at
HAL is meaningless, it is as another hippie called it, "luxury". Arrest
the Klaphek for "hacking" the ABN-AMRO, and the next day there will be
OpenBanking, Forbid playing movies you own on some software, the next
day there is DeCCS.  Governments always tolerate the petty crime, even
if they write laws that cover illegal sneezes.

Third, with all the journalists around, who witness the happy innocent
people having fun with tech gadgets, talks, music and sun, do you think
the police will look good at the 8 o'clock news when these friendly
people try to explain why there were censored or arrested? Because our
government thinks system administrators are staatsgevaarlijke anarchisten?
Entire trains and busses are destroyed by holligans, and still the game
will start. And one scriptkiddie will ruin our connection?  House parties
now have small stands which advice on how to safely use drugs, a few
pills of xtc at HAL won't be enough to justify a campus raid. And downloading
a few MP3's won't get us killed either.

In a normal situation you wouldn't get away with that, and now we even
have most of the NL's active freedom of speech people there who are used
to talk to the press there available for the journalists. Operation
Footbullet if you ask me.

The *most* stupid thing the police could do is to kill the event while it
is in progress. They've had their change to kill it before it started,
and they failed. By now it is too late. Invasion of the sympathetic
staatsgevaarlijke anarchisten. Hackers are cool, police is not hip.

People seem more concerned about their precious three day party then about
the real meaning and content of this event.

And to get back to the topic, the GSM jammer. HAL will be the best connected
place in the NL, that even has its own first aid teams around. There will be
landlines, porto's, and a truckload of people, including security.
If there is a little spot where GSM's wont work, it won't hurt anyone. We're
not banning the swimming pool either you know, and I've never heard of a
company that went bankrupt because one of its employees missed a call or
because a GSM cell went dead.

As for rights to have coverage, who has given you the right to radiate my
body for your coverage to begin with? :)

Gosh, is everyone jumpy or what?

Paul
-- 
Brian: "You are all individuals!"
Crowd: "Yes! We are all individuals!"
Lone man: "I'm not."
                        --- Life of Brian, Monty Python

----- End forwarded message -----