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Freedom Downtime Page #13
- UNRATED
- Year:
- 2001
- 121 min
- 34 Views
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.
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.''
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
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.
they needed to operate on me right away.
lt got all the way up to
the warden at this place.
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.
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
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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