FC: More on ADL warning Feds that terrorists use e-gold

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Previous Politech message:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-04346.html

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Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2003 14:30:47 -0500
From: Mathias Wegner <mwegner () cs oberlin edu>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Cc: FRosado () adl org
Subject: Re: FC: ADL warns Feds that terrorists use e-gold to transfer $$$

>         "While we know of no links between e-gold and terrorism at the
> present time, e-gold merits serious attention given the record of Internet
> use by terrorists and the abuse of similar devices by domestic extremists,"
> said Mr. Foxman.

        This just in - terrorists have also been known to use dollars, 
pounds,
yen, marks, lira, euros, and other currency that comes printed on paper or
minted as coins.  I don't have any proof, but hey, I'd like to make it look
like I'm doing something useful.  People carrying any one of those currencies
should be stopped and interrogated until they confess...

mathias

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Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2003 16:19:39 -0600
Subject: Re: FC: ADL warns Feds that terrorists use e-gold to transfer $$$
Cc: politech () politechbot com, FRosado () adl org
To: declan () well com
From: Jim Davidson <davidson () net1 net>

Dear Declan,

Quick!  Sell your e-gold to me before it gets closed
down! <grin>  Seriously, I've been using e-gold since
1998.  Never met a single terrorist using it.

If the ADL wants to look foolish for opposing e-gold,
let them.  It takes about two minutes on a dial-up
connection to Google for Julian Dibbell's article
on e-gold and the dinar connection in _Wired_
magazine, which essay reveals that e-gold's staff
sits around the conference table with government
agents and shares donuts and coffee with them.

When subpoenae are presented at e-gold's offices,
the government gets results.  ADL is simply foolish
for supposing that e-gold represents some deep
dark money transfer scheme.  Anything recorded in
the e-gold account history of any user can be
accessed by a properly organized subpoena from a
court of competent jurisdiction, such as Florida.

I expect the ADL won't bother with a retraction.
They could, however, do themselves a favor and
stop shouting about the sky falling.

Regards,

Jim
 http://cambist.net/

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Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2003 15:14:00 -0500
To: declan () well com
From: Stephen Cobb <scobb () cobb com>
Subject: Re: FC: ADL warns Feds that terrorists use e-gold to transfer $$$

At 1/22/2003 01:55 PM -0500, you wrote:

> I accept e-gold donations to pay for Politech hosting fees:
> http://www.politechbot.com/donate/
>
> Does that make me a terrorist too?

It probably boosts your scores in the suspicious activity algorithms of TIA 
and RDC. And of course, there's another 3 letter entity that is always very 
interested in anything that suggests a US citizen is trying to get 
something of value in this life without fully declaring it.

More seriously, there are many global value transfer systems that run below 
today's regulatory radar. There are some obvious reasons for their 
existence (such as tax evasion and distrust of, or exclusion from 
"legitimate" banking systems). These sub-radar systems are often associated 
with ethnic or religious groups because they rely on a certain amount of 
implicit trust. Examples include Indian and Pakistani havala, and even 
charitable aid groups such as those exploited by the IRA and Islamic 
extremists. What is perhaps most surprising about the ADL highlighting one 
such system is the fact that the ethnic group which the ADL seeks, very 
understandably, to defend, is historically famous for providing 
alternatives to mainstream banking services.

Stephen

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Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2003 11:34:11 -0800
From: "Clinton D. Fein" <clinton.fein () apollomedia com>
To: <declan () well com>

>>"While we know of no links between e-gold and terrorism at the
present time, e-gold merits serious attention given the record of
Internet
use by terrorists and the abuse of similar devices by domestic
extremists,"
said Mr. Foxman.<<

A rather flimsy excuse for a press release, no? Note that their headline
uses the word "may". For all we know, terrorists "may" use Bank of
America for the same insidious purposes. But I guess that's why we have
"Know Your Customer" services offered by Dow Jones and Reuters. Who
needs to worry about government invasions of privacy when media
properties are doing such a fine job?

Clinton
_____________________________________

Clinton Fein
Editor & Publisher
Annoy.com
555 Florida Street, Suite 407
San Francisco, CA 94110
Phone: 415-552-7655
Fax: 415-552-7656
http://annoy.com

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Subject: Re: FC: ADL warns Feds that terrorists use e-gold to transfer $$$
From: Dan Trevino <dantrevino () wrevolution org>
To: declan () well com

Wired had a story about e-gold some months back (
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.01/egold.html ).  I find it ironic
that an organization whose goal is to "...counteract hatred, prejudice,
and bigotry" is spreading this FUD.  Pathetisad.

--
Dan Trevino <dantrevino () wrevolution org>




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