[free-sklyarov] Non-US programmers (fwd)

[jenn at simegen.com]

Seth David Schoen wrote:

> Klepht writes:
>> Your mail to rejectmueller.com got forwarded to a list I'm on called
>> free-sklyarov (see the CC: line). You were asking about what people
>> outside the US can do to help free Dmitry.
>> 
>> First off, get on this list!
>> 
>>         http://zork.net/mailman/listinfo/free-sklyarov

As can be seen, I now have.

>> It seems that the danger of
>> traveling to the US is what resonates most with non-Americans.
> 
> Note also that a well-written letter of the form
> 
> 	I am afraid to travel to the U.S. and am I a person of type X
> 	whom the U.S. might like to have around...
> 
> (professor, college student, doctor, musician, rich tourist) 

'rich tourist' - I wish. :)

> Don't falsely claim that you're afraid to come, if you're not.  But if
> this incident has affected you, an account of how, and what you'll do
> about it, could help.

It's put the US in the same category as most dictatorships: the
mental 'Go if you don't mind being arbitrarily arrested' category.
Not as bad as some, but enough to be wary and leery of travelling.

I'll have to think about precisely what I'd want to say. But it's
got me wondering what I do on a regular basis (legal here) which
might be illegal in the US. Purchasing codeine tablets at the
pharmacy? Offering them to friends? (as painkillers, of course!)
Look out! Maybe I'm a drug trafficker!

Geez.



Jenn V.
-- 
     "Do you ever wonder if there's a whole section of geek culture
             you miss out on by being a geek?" - Dancer.

jenn at simegen.com     Jenn Vesperman     http://www.simegen.com/~jenn/