--- Begin Message ---
>From: Sanho Tree <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: DOJ�s Dot-Narc Rave Strategy
>Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 09:40:12 -0500
>
>http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50550,00.html
>
>DOJ's Dot-Narc Rave Strategy
>
>By Brad King
>
>2:00 a.m. March 13, 2002 PST
>
>Jason Corona lives in California's Mojave Desert, a teenage wasteland if
>ever there was one.
>
>It's a two-hour drive to the nearest rave, which in earlier years might
>have presented a problem when it came to finding out where the best DJs are
>spinning records on the hottest dance floors.
>
>These days, the Internet makes finding those raves easy. Corona scans
>message boards and websites for local clubs, looking for party information
>so he and his friends don't waste a precious Saturday night driving around.
>
>But rave enthusiasts aren't the only ones with peering eyes. Law
>enforcement agencies have distributed an updated version of Reefer Madness,
>the 1936 cult movie about the dangers of marijuana. The new film introduces
>police agencies to the DOJ's version of raves. Several clubs have been
>busted over the past two years as a result of the Department of Justice's
>tactic of raiding raves as part of its war on drugs.
>
>On top of that, a new report suggests the DOJ is actively working on an
>Internet strategy to target the Web as a source for infiltrating raves, as
>part of its crackdown on ecstasy, LSD and GHB, commonly called "club
>drugs."
>
>That has set off alarm bells at the American Civil Liberties Union.
>
>"Much of what the government seems interested in is protected by the First
>Amendment," said ACLU lawyer Graham Boyd, who is in charge of tracking the
>government as it begins a crackdown on the electronica dance scene.
>
>"Where a party is, information about the effects of ecstasy, information on
>harm, and measures to protect yourself if you are taken; that is all legal.
>It's just speech. One thing that is fundamentally American is that we don't
>attack the music, we attack the drugs."
>
>Much of the concern centers on a report by the National Drug Intelligence
>Center (NDIC), an arm of the DOJ, that said "the openness of the Internet,
>its global reach and its ease of access" allows drug users to push their
>products on unsuspecting young people. With over 85 percent of American
>teenagers using the Web on a regular basis, the government sees the news
>groups and message boards that house rave discussions as a source for the
>latest information on drugs.
>
>Since ISPs are largely insulated from revealing user information and host
>computers can be masked, the study recommends monitoring and tracking
>websites that post information about drugs.
>
>The NDIC said five types of people should be targeted, including previous
>drug offenders, legalization advocates, anarchists and people promoting "an
>expanded freedom of expression" that pushes the boundaries of the First
>Amendment.
>
>The NDIC can't dictate policy, but its recommendations are considered by
>the Justice Department. Representatives from the DOJ did not return several
>phone calls over three weeks regarding this matter.
>
>While an active law enforcement stance hasn't been developed yet, there is
>little argument that the rave and electronica scene have become targets.
>Last year, several promoters around the country were prosecuted under the
>"crack house" law meant to punish landlords who let rental properties
>become rife with drug lords.
>
>The most ominous case revolved around three New Orleans, Louisiana, rave
>promoters who were brought up on charges after Drug Enforcement
>Administration agents raided a party looking for evidence of drug use --
>evidence that included paraphernalia such as glow sticks and bottled water.
>The three, Rob Brunet, Brian Brunet and James Estopinal, were ready to
>plead guilty until the ACLU got involved.
>
>The trio was acquitted, but a chilling effect has come to the rave scene.
>Several cities have already passed bills outlawing the dances.
>
>With the specter of Internet raids on the horizon, Boyd said it's more
>important than ever to protect the rights of individuals. Instructions for
>making drugs or soliciting sales is most likely illegal, Boyd said, but
>that doesn't give the government carte blanche when it comes to regulating
>the Internet.
>
>The threat of a crackdown could cause sites with legitimate information on
>the effects of club drugs to shut down, Boyd said. That threat is very real
>for one woman who became a website moderator after her son overdosed on
>drugs in 1996. She asked to have her name withheld because she doesn't want
>to bring government scrutiny to her site.
>
>She found the message board while looking for information on raves, trying
>to find out what her son did. She was skeptical at first, figuring most of
>the people wanted to get high and dance. Instead, she found an eclectic
>group whose age range spans several decades.
>
>"I found a community of interesting, intelligent, committed, normal young
>people with great love for music and dancing," she said. "A small minority
>of them had worrisome drug-abuse issues, but most of them seemed to have
>their heads on far straighter than many of my age-mates had during the '60s
>or '70s."
>
>She is concerned the government will come calling, leaving the 1,200
>message board members without a place to talk. Eliminating the social scene
>would ultimately leave kids without anyone to help guide them.
>
>"Some representatives of the government would love to shut down sites and
>lists like ours," she said. "The government has the right to target drug
>use, but that means arresting drug dealers and people who possess drugs.
>Shutting down raves doesn't stop, or even slow down, drug use. Shutdowns
>just make the events more dangerous."
>
>The ravers themselves have also banded together to form the Electronic
>Music Education and Defense Fund, an organization that raises money for
>people who have been charged with crimes for hosting raves.
>
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Yes I remember the time in Oklahoma
you tried to blame an Arab
but the whitey was the bomber
you be jumpin' to conclusions
I think you spent your whole life
watchin' cable in seclusion
illusions 'bout what's outside your door
--Spearhead
http://www.absurd.org/
http://www.thisisdemocracy.org/
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