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Revision as of 01:07, 13 January 2008 by Skomorokh (talk | contribs) (+cat, infobox)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Jim Bell | |
|---|---|
| Criminal charge | Intimidation, fraud. |
| Penalty | Eleven months imprisonment |
Jim Bell (born 1958) is an American crypto-anarchist who created the idea of arranging for anonymously-sponsored assassination payments via the Internet, which he called "assassination politics".
Bell had been involved in a tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service, and came up with the idea of using digital signatures on electronic mail to create a dead pool game, "predicting" the deaths of IRS agents and other government employees. In effect, the idea would create an incentive for assassination of these agents, creating a "prize" that could be "won" by someone willing to submit an entry "predicting" a given agent's death at a particular time. The person could then kill the agent at about that time, thus winning the pool money. The purpose was to intimidate the IRS agents and others into no longer enforcing tax rulings and tax and other laws.
Bell published his idea in a ten-part essay on the alt.anarchism USENET newsgroup; most responses were negative. He was subsequently arrested, charged, tried, and convicted of various offenses including setting off a stinkbomb in an IRS office, attempting to intimidate IRS agents, and using false social security numbers in an attempt to hide assets. He was sentenced to eleven months in prison followed by three years of probation. After release, he was rearrested and sent back to prison for violations of terms of his probation.
Citations
- McCullagh, Declan (2000-11-11). "Crypto-Convict Won't Recant". Politics : Law. Wired. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - McCullagh, Declan (2000-11-11). "IRS Raids Cypherpunk's House" (news report). Politics : Law. Wired. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help)
External links
- Jim Bell Files - archive of news articles, essays, and other information on Jim Bell and his essays
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