FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 3, 1998
Electronic Censors Found on Library's Computers
at U.C. Berkeley's Boalt Hall Law School
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA. A team of investigators confirmed today
that the Internet computers at the law library of Boalt Hall, the
renowned law school at the University of California, Berkeley,
are configured to censor specific files in the Supreme Law
Library ("SLL") at Internet URL http://supremelaw.org/library.
While demonstrating the latest progress in this public
domain project, the webmaster and a team of associates were
surprised to find that the SurfWatch program blocked their
access to a specific press release in the SLL. Two redundant
copies of the press release entitled "Congresswoman Suspected of
Income Tax Evasion" were both censored by the latest version of
SurfWatch software. The URL's for those files are:
http://supremelaw.org/library/irc3121e.html
-and-
http://supremelaw.org/press/rels/irc3121.htm
After bringing this problem to the attention of the law
school's system administrator, Mr. Mike Levy, one investigator
was told that censorship by SurfWatch is the default behavior of
that software program, and the default must be overridden before
any user can access any blocked files.
However, when another investigator attempted to change the
default behavior of the SurfWatch program, he was unable to
override the factory default without knowing a private password
available only to Levy and a limited number of Boalt library
employees. This password is not available to law school students
or to the public.
At this time, it is not known whether or not the University
of California is paying the SurfWatch vendor for a network
license to use this method of electronic censorship on the
computers at its law library. Other Internet computers at the
Berkeley campus do not host the SurfWatch software and, thus, do
not block user access to any of the documents in the Supreme Law
Library.
Freedom of speech is a fundamental Right guaranteed by the
First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. Intentional
deprivations of this fundamental Right are misdemeanor violations
of the criminal statute at 18 U.S.C. 242. If two or more
conspire to deprive a Citizen of such a fundamental Right, it is
a felony violation of 18 U.S.C. 241. The censored press release
was written by the Supreme Law webmaster, Paul Andrew Mitchell,
a Counselor at Law, Federal Witness, Private Attorney General,
and Citizen of Arizona state.
Further investigation revealed that the redundant copies of
the blocked press release appear to be the only SLL files which
are presently blocked by SurfWatch. But time did not permit a
thorough test, because the Supreme Law Library currently hosts
thousands of individual documents in as many different computer
files.
Levy informed a project investigator that SurfWatch
censorship criteria are constantly changing with each new
release, and he also complained of the nuisance he endures when
each new release must be modified. Nevertheless, Levy has failed
to override the factory default in the very latest release now
running on Boalt Hall's library computers, resulting in the kind
of censorship prohibited by the First Amendment in the Bill of
Rights.
It is clear, therefore, that electronic censorship is now
the "default" in the library of U.C. Berkeley's famous Boalt Law
School. Project investigators plan to search deeper for the exact
words or phrases in the blocked press release which trigger the
block. Heavy Internet traffic prevented project investigators
from obtaining any comments from the SurfWatch vendor by close
of business day.
During the past year, the Supreme Law Library was certified
by home schooling advocates for containing materials suitable for
grade school children. Their certification "icon" has not yet
been installed in the home page of the Supreme Law Library,
however.
# # #
TO: Editor, Daily Cal
University of California
Berkeley, California
FROM: Paul Andrew Mitchell
Private Attorney General
DATE: December 10, 1998
SUBJECT: SurfWatch Censors at Boalt Hall
Dear Editor:
We question any editorial policy which fails to hear all
sides before rushing to print. Your haste made waste of key
facts in this complex subject matter.
The files blocked by Boalt's computers were NOT blocked by
SurfWatch Software's website test pad. This pointed to a
probable fault in Boalt's network setup, later confirmed.
More to the merits, content is paramount. Law students
across the land are routinely spoon-fed lies about IRS identity,
while trillions of earnings are laundered off-shore and into
wealthy foreign banks. This is the "service" the IRS provides.
The municipal nature of the IRC (the Internal Revenue Code,
NOT Internet Relay Chat) is worthy of open discussion and healthy
debate. This "agenda" is noble, because freedom is precious.
Academic freedom suffers a terrible setback when you rush to
judgment and derogate victims.
Do we defend a Republic, while you sustain an oligarchy?
Given the massive multi-generational fraud which is now
unraveling with clarity, Cal's Law School also has a lot of
explaining to do, with or without SurfWatch software to censor
our libraries.
Alas, fear not the winds of change.
Sincerely yours,
/s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell
Paul Andrew Mitchell, B.A., M.S.
Counselor at Law, Federal Witness,
and Private Attorney General
copy: the Internet
copyright enforcement files
hard copy: hand-delivered
# # #
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