by Louis B.Shalako
c2010
All Rights Reserved
Ari closed the door as quietly as he could. He was probably the only inhabitant of the sleazy rooming-house, with its alkies, crack-heads, pot-smokers and retards, who cared about the noise. He kicked his shoes off in the usual place.
He paused long enough to carefully hang his threadbare sport jacket on its peg, where the fog of late-night cigarette smoke, creeping in under the door, would inevitably settle on the shoulders, staining the grey gabardine a sickly shade of juicy, reddish-yellow.
Despite the grittiness of the carpet, and the sticky spot right in front of the couch, some black tar that had seeped in through a hole in the roof structure on a hot summer’s day, he padded around in his socks. Someone in the building was cooking cabbage again.
Soon he was stripped down to his gotchies. Ari stood for a brief moment in gratitude, savoring the cool of the tiny fridge as it pushed out cold air at him. The light briefly lit up the pale, ascetic, and pinched features of Ari Sutherland. The little mirror he used to shave with caught a transient flicker of his eyes. They were his best feature, with their intelligent, sardonic gleam, of an unusual dark brown, with sharp-cornered whites, very clear. He carefully sipped his beer, for he could only have the one tonight. Later. Later he could have maybe three. He took another tiny little sip of foam. Four would be too many.
He would need a clear head in the morning. Ari had somewhere he needed to be, tomorrow.
Ari needed to be somewhere else, somewhere a long ways away, tomorrow…
The brush cut, not the most flattering for a dark, brown-haired young man, had a touch of silver around the temples and sides. With those eyes, the effect was to make him truly distinguished. A glimpse of the man he might become, but it was all fake—a little peroxide rubbed in there once a week and it was totally convincing.
Ari had caught the eye of Marilynn, a tall, attractive redhead who affected the Gothic look, but her natural good fashion sense somehow made her avoid the more extreme options. She made Goth look fresh, and youthful, vital and intriguing, without puncturing herself full of studs, tongue-brackets, rivets, and tie-down rings for long-range trucking.
He grinned at the mental image, but she was very clean-cut, not all tattooed-up in blues, greens and purples.
Momentarily, he felt sorry for her. For both of them. What a sweet, innocent girl she must have been when the Brethren found her. Sensing a lost soul, alone in the big city, with no friends and nowhere else to go, she had quickly set about saving Ari from ‘the way,’ as she so elegantly put it. And she showed him another way. For a moment he thought of her fine, pale white skin. He knew he could have loved her. And yet he didn’t…he couldn’t. He could only use her…
Now he knew it would never happen. There were too many other things in the way.
The final meeting was tonight. He was to be purified, blessed, and baptized. He would become an acolyte, a probationary member of the congregation of the faithful. Ari pulled out the bottom drawer and there, under the black socks, one pair of which he planned on wearing later, the dull gleam of the pine box was revealed. It pulled heavily at his arm.
He carefully lifted it up onto the end of the bed, and sat there beside it, noting that he had indeed latched the door properly, and the bolt was on as usual. He moved the catch, and lifted up the lid to reveal the .44 Magnum, with its speed-loader, and rows of bullets in their sockets, with the spare box of ammunition nestled in its cove, snug in the black velvet. The most powerful hand-gun in the world.
Marilynn had taken him around the chapel, explaining the ‘format,’ as she called it.
Ari and a small group would be going through what sounded like a pretty elaborate ceremony. The cult was known for their deep mysticism, she explained. A figure had walked past the end of the room, past an open door, head down and somehow beaten looking.
That’s when Ari knew for certain, that his little sister Julie was a cult member.
They shouldn’t have done that. One way or another, his sister was coming home tonight. The only thing that truly frightened Ari was the possibility that Julie wouldn’t want to go.
Before even going in there, he knew the plan was seriously flawed.
Showing posts with label Louis Shalako.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Louis Shalako.. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Editorial: Wild West in Cyber-Space
In the book ‘Sex, Law and Cyberspace,’ authors Jonathan Wallace and Mark Mangan bring out some of the evolution of cyber-law. As the title implies, sex tends to dominate the discussion, but then sex kind of dominates the fringes of the internet, doesn’t it?
Cyber sexual harassment is a crime that no one heard of just a few short years ago. The situation is a kind of ‘wild west’ in cyber-space, although there is some evidence that lawlessness will not be tolerated forever; and in some countries they’re quite forward about cutting off access to certain websites. In those countries, it is more for political reasons, in order to stifle dissent or even free discussion of relevant issues. This includes nations such as the People’s Republic of China; Myanmar, (Burma,) and others. More recently, there have been crackdowns in the west over file-sharing sites distributing pirated movies, music, and software.
Let’s follow a brief history of electronic communications law. In 1918; the U.S. federal government introduced the first wiretap law, at the close of the Great War. It was supposed to help federal agents to catch spies and saboteurs, the original ‘terrorists,’but it was soon used extensively to catch criminals running liquor. In 1928 came the Federal Communications Act. This prohibited the interception of radio and wireless messages. The Supreme Court held up this decision subsequently, effectively making information obtained from wiretaps inadmissible in court. When WW II intervened, President Roosevelt issued an Executive Order which permitted wiretapping for national security reasons. In the 1967 case of Katz v. The United States, the distinction that existed between planted ‘bugs,’ i.e. radio and recording devices, and wiretaps, (telephone type taps,) was erased.
“Barring reasonable suspicion and a court order, people have a right to keep private conversations private,” said Justice Louis Brandeis in a famous opinion. “The right to be let alone—the most comprehensive of rights and the most valued by civilized man.”
As the reader will no doubt agree, this seems relevant to the question of cyber-harassment.
“We have the right to be let alone.”
Sounds so simple, eh?
According to Wallace and Mangan, “The courts are faced with new questions concerning the right to privacy as new technology continues to evolve.”
“The changing medium of the internet seems to defy definition and open new gaps of interpretation.
Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies are teaming up, scrambling for position as the digital infrastructure is built…the FBI says the new telephony technology is tipping the scales in favour of the criminals…”
Now that communications are becoming fully digital, even the FBI argued it will 'Soon be incapable of performing its current level of wiretapping.'
For many years in fact, the FBI conducted about 1,000 wiretaps a year. These would be mostly organized crime figures of the classic ‘Mafia’ type, plus other criminals who entered federal jurisdiction by crossing state lines in the commission of certain offences.
Sometimes other officials get a wiretap to listen to communications between two murder suspects; one of whom has agreed to cooperate.
Canadian law differs somewhat from the U.S. In Canada if someone phones you up, and threatens you, it is oddly illegal to tape record that conversation! But even the police need a court order to get a wiretap. In Canada to possess child pornography is an offence, and the police regularly go into chat rooms online to establish contact with pedophiles; in an attempt to identify them and arrest them when it is warranted by gathered evidence.
Where does the law stand in Canada, as regards to cyber-harassment? At the very least it is a public mischief, but the penalties are such that a prosecution seems unjustified by the cost of proving it; in some professional opinions. Essentially, why spend eight, or eighty thousand dollars if the perpetrator is going to get six months probation for a first offence?
The gathering of call records, or services provided are only part of a successful prosecution. You have to prove that so-and-so actually did the crime—and sometimes a computer is used by many individuals, in some kind of public institution; or by using a stolen phone, or some other wireless communications device.
The police have to catch the person with the phone, and then prove it was in their possession at the time the call was made! This type of investigation is time-consuming, and requires a special kind of training, and effective application, and a thorough understanding of new technologies.
In a 2010 Canadian decision, an accused was not convicted due to the fact that child-porn images were not actually in their possession. They were viewed online on someone else’s host server.
In straightforward scam operations, the cyber-criminal may be harder to convict, partly 'because they don’t look like a criminal.’ It is much more sophisticated than a mugging. There is little possibility of violence, and the law has its own logic. If some ‘work,’ has been performed, it’s not fraud, and ‘civil remedies’ come into play. You have to locate someone in order to sue them. That’s not always easy on the internet; really, only law enforcement has those kinds of resources and sufficient ‘clout.’
It probably takes more ‘courage’ to swipe a pencil out of a discount store than it does to send a classmate a nasty e-mail, or whatever. Hackers costs the taxpayers and industry billions of dollars a year. To ‘out’ a classmate, whether it’s ‘true’ or not, is just a form of cruelty, and it can be extremely damaging to the victim, whose life is often endangered by this form of crime.
Other types of cyber crime include hacking to obtain personal information, online fraud, credit card theft and fraud, the creation of viral softwre and malware, and cyber terror related activities.
How to combat crime and protect the public safety at the same time as assuring privacy and preventing abuse remains to be seen. These challenges and their outcomes affects one and all.
Cyber sexual harassment is a crime that no one heard of just a few short years ago. The situation is a kind of ‘wild west’ in cyber-space, although there is some evidence that lawlessness will not be tolerated forever; and in some countries they’re quite forward about cutting off access to certain websites. In those countries, it is more for political reasons, in order to stifle dissent or even free discussion of relevant issues. This includes nations such as the People’s Republic of China; Myanmar, (Burma,) and others. More recently, there have been crackdowns in the west over file-sharing sites distributing pirated movies, music, and software.
Let’s follow a brief history of electronic communications law. In 1918; the U.S. federal government introduced the first wiretap law, at the close of the Great War. It was supposed to help federal agents to catch spies and saboteurs, the original ‘terrorists,’but it was soon used extensively to catch criminals running liquor. In 1928 came the Federal Communications Act. This prohibited the interception of radio and wireless messages. The Supreme Court held up this decision subsequently, effectively making information obtained from wiretaps inadmissible in court. When WW II intervened, President Roosevelt issued an Executive Order which permitted wiretapping for national security reasons. In the 1967 case of Katz v. The United States, the distinction that existed between planted ‘bugs,’ i.e. radio and recording devices, and wiretaps, (telephone type taps,) was erased.
“Barring reasonable suspicion and a court order, people have a right to keep private conversations private,” said Justice Louis Brandeis in a famous opinion. “The right to be let alone—the most comprehensive of rights and the most valued by civilized man.”
As the reader will no doubt agree, this seems relevant to the question of cyber-harassment.
“We have the right to be let alone.”
Sounds so simple, eh?
According to Wallace and Mangan, “The courts are faced with new questions concerning the right to privacy as new technology continues to evolve.”
“The changing medium of the internet seems to defy definition and open new gaps of interpretation.
Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies are teaming up, scrambling for position as the digital infrastructure is built…the FBI says the new telephony technology is tipping the scales in favour of the criminals…”
Now that communications are becoming fully digital, even the FBI argued it will 'Soon be incapable of performing its current level of wiretapping.'
For many years in fact, the FBI conducted about 1,000 wiretaps a year. These would be mostly organized crime figures of the classic ‘Mafia’ type, plus other criminals who entered federal jurisdiction by crossing state lines in the commission of certain offences.
Sometimes other officials get a wiretap to listen to communications between two murder suspects; one of whom has agreed to cooperate.
Canadian law differs somewhat from the U.S. In Canada if someone phones you up, and threatens you, it is oddly illegal to tape record that conversation! But even the police need a court order to get a wiretap. In Canada to possess child pornography is an offence, and the police regularly go into chat rooms online to establish contact with pedophiles; in an attempt to identify them and arrest them when it is warranted by gathered evidence.
Where does the law stand in Canada, as regards to cyber-harassment? At the very least it is a public mischief, but the penalties are such that a prosecution seems unjustified by the cost of proving it; in some professional opinions. Essentially, why spend eight, or eighty thousand dollars if the perpetrator is going to get six months probation for a first offence?
The gathering of call records, or services provided are only part of a successful prosecution. You have to prove that so-and-so actually did the crime—and sometimes a computer is used by many individuals, in some kind of public institution; or by using a stolen phone, or some other wireless communications device.
The police have to catch the person with the phone, and then prove it was in their possession at the time the call was made! This type of investigation is time-consuming, and requires a special kind of training, and effective application, and a thorough understanding of new technologies.
In a 2010 Canadian decision, an accused was not convicted due to the fact that child-porn images were not actually in their possession. They were viewed online on someone else’s host server.
In straightforward scam operations, the cyber-criminal may be harder to convict, partly 'because they don’t look like a criminal.’ It is much more sophisticated than a mugging. There is little possibility of violence, and the law has its own logic. If some ‘work,’ has been performed, it’s not fraud, and ‘civil remedies’ come into play. You have to locate someone in order to sue them. That’s not always easy on the internet; really, only law enforcement has those kinds of resources and sufficient ‘clout.’
It probably takes more ‘courage’ to swipe a pencil out of a discount store than it does to send a classmate a nasty e-mail, or whatever. Hackers costs the taxpayers and industry billions of dollars a year. To ‘out’ a classmate, whether it’s ‘true’ or not, is just a form of cruelty, and it can be extremely damaging to the victim, whose life is often endangered by this form of crime.
Other types of cyber crime include hacking to obtain personal information, online fraud, credit card theft and fraud, the creation of viral softwre and malware, and cyber terror related activities.
How to combat crime and protect the public safety at the same time as assuring privacy and preventing abuse remains to be seen. These challenges and their outcomes affects one and all.
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