Know anything about this guy Jim Bell?

[Stallheim]

Does anyone know anything about this guy? I am only really acquainted Rothbardian Anarcho-Capitalist theory not so much this Agorist stuff, so I guess I missed hearing about him back in 2000. I found his name while reading about the Cypher-punks who seem to have faded into the historical mist all at once. It sounds like he got a year of jail time for writing a theoretical essay and then when he tried filing civil suites against what he alleged was a corrupt process he started being heavily surveilled and he claims hassled. He looked up the names of an LE officer that was monitoring him and published it online and then I believe he used the officer's own tracking device to monitor his movements. He got 10 years and just got out this past summer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bell

Why isn't there a movie about this guy? Every detail of this case just screams fictional drama/thriller and it could be replayed in different period settings. This is fictional gold! I am actually frightened to look up the essay and read it, if it got him prison time it seems like it must be dynamite. But I am also intrigued, 10 years for writing an essay. This is like the forbidden book in The Name of the Rose.

And what of the cypher punks, they seemed really interesting too. Anyone know what happened to this whole public crypto movement?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypherpunk#Noteworthy_cypherpunks

Some of these guys were Austrian Econ students too.
I am feeling really nostalgic for this period of tech-cool married to Austrian Economics.

[Stallheim]

I had trouble finding my own post, is this the right place for it, or would it be better to place it in General Politics?

[jct74]

I had trouble finding my own post, is this the right place for it, or would it be better to place it in General Politics?

Either one works, but I'll move it to GP for you.