Johanna Faust, a mixed race Jew, prefers to publish pseudonymously. She is committed: first, to preventing war, ecological disaster, and nuclear apocalypse; last to not only fighting for personal privacy & the freedom of information, but, by representing herself as a soldier in that fight, to exhorting others to do the same. She is a poet, always. All these efforts find representation here: "ah, Mephistophelis" is so named after the last line of Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, whose heretical success flouted the censor for a time.

The Economy, or, URGENT (for my loved ones back East)

ATTENTION!!

The end is very well nigh

Your money will be no good here

It looks like your government knows something you should

Some say a fast one was pulled  

others agree 

still others (with proof)

-- they might or might not have a clue --  but you need to 

This is not a drill

 



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Operation Titstorm – Anonymous declares war on Australian Censorship

From the New Zealand Herald:

.... “Operation Titstorm”, part of an assault targeting a range of government servers.... launched by hackers aligned with an internet protest group known as Anonymous.... Although the Australian government knew about the planned assault last Friday, it was powerless to prevent it. Along with the cyber-offensive there were threatening phone calls, made anonymously to high-ranking civil servants. Senior staff in the Parliamentary Services department also had their emails spammed “in spectacular ways”....

The federal government plans to introduce a mandatory filtering system by early 2011 that would block a list of banned websites... The system would make Australia one of the world’s most rigorous internet regulators.... some pornographic films are being rejected by censors because they feature women with small breasts who could be confused with under-age girls. Anonymous said in an email: “No government should have the right to refuse its citizens access to information solely because they perceive it to be ‘unwanted’. The Australian government will learn that one does not mess with our porn.”

Polls have found that the Australian public strongly supports the planned restrictions.




The flyer through which Anonymous published the event states "emails/faxes should focus on small-breasted porn, cartoon porn, and female ejaculation, the 3 types banned so far" - even if you buy the implied assumption that 'small breasted porn's women's only attraction lies in their resemblence to children,' this does not explain why female ejaculation is on the list.... never mind that such opinions are only culturally valid and thus are a flimsy basis indeed for the social stigma and possible jailtime that comes with prosecution for engaging in an activity that is no doubt far, far more ubiquitous than any results of government approved 'polls' could indicate. Even were I to trust (let's say, for the sake of argument) that these polls were actually precise, that is, sound of method and untweaked of result, I would still doubt their accuracy. What were the actual questions? With a sample dempraphic drawn heavily from the middle of the road and slightly to the right, I find it hard to believe that they asked specifically about female ejaculation.

Even if they did - and I would bet a bit of gold that is not the case - would people have answered truthfully? It is quite telling that they always start with something like this, get their foot in the door. No 'honest citizen' would protest - not if the years of corporate media brainwashing had taken. Soon they will be attempting to control and censor in other areas, either with little likelihood of protest, little publicity, or both. Then - wapishta! - then moving in for the prize, to political control. To the contraband, be it drugs or downloads. Lucrative political control.

Perhaps the Australian public is somehow immune to the epidemic mental illness crippling most Americans today; perhaps my outrage is naîve. Of course I am speaking about communitty aquired Counterargument Resistant Confundatio Iurisprudentiae (CRCI): the persistent lack of distinction between what is actually a moral good and what is merely not prohibited by law.

Actually, in the list of websites leaked when the censorship was first proposed, the merely political was already evident. They lost no time.

To my fellow Agents of Internet Freedom in Australia I say: Good luck.

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Cryptome rocks (what's left of) the Free World!

The transcript of recent emails regarding Paypal's shutting down Cryptome's account make for VERY INTERESTING READING:

From a phone call with PayPal
Cryptome said you claim to be unaware of the serious PayPal allegation of illegality by Cryptome. You claim to know only generalities not the details about how decisions are made to limit accounts. You admitted you did not know that the purpose of Cryptome is legal. You have refused to put your comments in writing. You have avoided giving believable information about how PayPal decided to limit Cryptome's account and confiscate its funds, even though the PayPal practice is widely used not only on Cryptome but in thousands of other instances. You are not credible as a spokesperson -- you have said nothing of substance over what has been previously sent to Cryptome, now posted on the site. For these reasons you are a liar aiding PayPal to conceal its unscrupulous practices.


From an email reply to a friend at ZDNet who wrote to confirm Paypal's statement, in response to inquiry, that "All funds associated with Cryptome have been released":
No funds have been released by PayPal, my account remains blocked, and funds cannot be withdrawn.

I have this morning posted on Cryptome several screen shots of my PayPal account showing evidence of PayPal's lying.

I refunded the bulks of what was in the account at the time of blockage, about $5300, on my initiative to remove control by PayPal which said it would deny access to the funds for six months, then, might release them or might not.

It is certain that PayPal attacked Cryptome for posting its secret arrangements with authorities to spy on customers

http://cryptome.org/isp-spy/paypal-spy.pdf

PayPal is following Microsoft's recent example in this attack. DMCA infringement or unsubstantiated allegations of illegality are the pretexts for these attacks when what is intended it to conceal embarrassing and unethical behavior toward the public.

Emphasis: Privacy policy is a deception to conceal corporate misbehavior against customers. DMCA is a means to censor the web as EFF and others have vigorously argued.



Paypal Shuts Cryptome Account, Cites “Risk” and Too Many Donations ...

Cryptome Suspected of Money Laundering or Worse (PayPal freezes their account)

Microsoft Takes Down Whistleblower Site, Read the Secret Doc Here

PayPal restores Cryptome for real | virtualreview.org

And just a little while ago (obviously also< href= "http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/news-as-cyberpunk/microsoft-takes-cryptome-offline-temporarily/> restored):

Cryptome.org shut down on behalf of M$FT

John Young, you are an inspiration.

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