Freedom Downtime Page #13

was almost to make him look like the guy

who blew up the Murrah Federal Building.

To do that was an incredible leap.

But they managed to pass that of.

They made Bernie S.

look like an absolute terrorist.

The new statute that my attorney

had never heard of and neither had l...

that, in fact,

wasn't even in the law books yet...

makes it a federal felony to possess...

hardware or software...

for the modification

of telecommunications instruments...

for the unauthorized access

to telecommunications services.

l wasn't accused or alleged

to have done anything with software...

or ever cloned a cellular phone

or anything of that nature.

Just the mere possession of these things...

now constituted a federal felony

according to this new statute.

The judge ordered me held without bail...

based on the fact that books...

in fact, l think l had two books in my home...

on howfireworks, explosives are made.

That stuff has fascinated me.

l had about 2,000 books

in my personal library.

What little media attention the case got

made Bernie look like a dangerous maniac.

He had never stolen anything,

not even a phone call.

Everything used to make him look

like a terrorist, he had legitimately obtained.

When the Secret Service wants you

in prison, nobody asks them why

Not even a judge.

''Your Honor, when we initially searched

Mr. Cummings' house...

''federal agents discovered a substance...

''they believed to be C4 plastic explosives.

''While upon later analysis...

''it turned out not to be C4...

''the fact that it might have been

concerned us greatly.

''And, based on that,

we'd recommend for a stronger sentence.''

The judge didn't even blink

at that sort of a thing.

Then the prosecutor made

a startling revelation to Bernie's lawyer.

She told him

she was under a lot of pressure...

to prosecute this case

by the Secret Service...

and that, in fact, the real reason,

and that's a quote:

''the real reason'' Ed is in jail...

was not because of crystals or software

or anything like that.

lt was because of other things

that they found in my house.

Namely:

surveillance photographs

of undercover Secret Service agents.

So l made these photos available

at the 2600 meeting...

and it apparently was a coincidence

because l didn't call them...

but the local Fox television affiliate...

Fox 29 in Philadelphia, their news division,

showed up at the meeting.

Most are between their mid-teens to late 20s.

They gather every Friday night

at 30th Street Station for all to see.

lt's called the 2600 meeting,

named after a telephone frequency...

and meetings like these are advertised...

in a hi-tech magazine

you can buy at a bookstore.

Some hackers call themselves ''fighters

for the freedom of information.''

The US Secret Service

monitors some hackers.

But hackers say

it should be the other way around.

ln this photograph the Secret Service agent

is picking his nose.

The Secret Service didn't find it humorous.

Not only did they have

some of their agents' covers blown...

but they were picking their noses

on a major market television news station.

We all thought that was amusing...

until l was in federal prison...

and l found out that the real reason

l was locked up was because of that.

For a year-and-a-half...

Bernie was bounced around maximum

security prisons throughout Pennsylvania.

l think they got tired

of me filing these appeals...

because l found myself in handcufs

and shackles and taken up to...

Lehigh County Prison

which had a reputation...

amongst prisoners l had talked to

over the past year...

as probably one of the roughest prisons

in Pennsylvania.

Within a day, Bernie was attacked.

He punched me in the mouth

and l went down.

He was a big guy,

probably weighed like 220 pounds...

and l think it turned out later

he was on drugs...

coming down off crack or something.

l went down and he started

to kick me in the head...

and l put my arm up to block his kick

and it broke my arm also.

After bleeding for hours,

Bernie was finally taken to the hospital...

but the authorities refused

to let him contact his relatives.

The hospital wanted me to sign this waiver.

Whenever you go into surgery

you have to sign this thing saying...

that you understand all the risks involved.

l refused to sign the paper.

l said, not until l get a hold of my uncle...

or at least let somebody in my family

know what's going on.

The prison officials went bananas

that l wouldn't sign this waiver.

lt was a liability for them

that l wasn't getting medical treatment.

l was severely injured and

they needed to operate on me right away.

lt got all the way up to

the warden at this place.

My uncle was a known person

in the community.

He'd been the president of the city council.

They knew who he was.

He wasn't someone who'd run down there

and try to spring me out of the hospital.

Meanwhile, l was handcuffed and shackled...

to the hospital bed, which was ridiculous.

l didn't feel like going anywhere.

l was in bad shape.

With a guard sitting there with a gun...

making sure that l didn't break

the handcuffs and run away.

l was denied antibiotics for two days.

l was denied any painkillers at all...

not even aspirin which l couldn't take

because my teeth were wired shut...

and l was probably in

the most excruciating pain...

that l've ever had,

which was more than l could ever imagine...

having multiple fractures.

lt was like being in an altered state

of consciousness, this much pain.

They weren't bringing me food l could eat.

They brought solid food which

l couldn't eat because my jaw was wired shut!

l was getting to the point where....

l was starting to feel like,

''l don't care anymore.''

l was really feeling like, ''l give up.''

l was losing my will to go ahead.

l was able to get a phone call out

the next day...

tell people where l was, what was going on.

And that was when

a major telephone campaign...

and lnternet crusade started...

gaining momentum.

We had state representatives getting called.

l mean, like major politicians got calls...

and they called saying, ''What's with this?

What's this generating all the publicity for?''

Finally, the prison and the judge realized

they didn't need this publicity

They wanted to get this thing over with

and wash their hands of it. So the judge...

signed an order to have me released

on a medical furlough...

which the guards had

never even heard of before.

They said, ''What is that? People die here.

We don't even let them out!''

So this was an unusual thing.

l'm convinced...

that all the publicity

generated by 2600 Magazine...

the lnternet, their website...

radio interviews,

l even forgot to mention that.

l'd been repeatedly interviewed

on WBAl's Off The Hook show...

with Emmanuel Goldstein...

and people were following this case

from the beginning...

and it was generating a lot of attention

that way as well.

l got letters, l got hundreds of letters.

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