Jim Bell

This article is about the American crypto-anarchist. For other people named Jim Bell, see James Bell.
Jim Bell
Born
James Dalton Bell

1958 (age 65–66)
Akron, Ohio[1]
Occupation(s)Scientist, engineer, inventor, essayist, author, political dissident
Known forEssay "Assassination Politics", conflict with the federal government of the United States and its agents

James Dalton Bell (born 1958) is an American crypto-anarchist who created the idea of arranging for anonymously sponsored assassination payments via the Internet, which he called "assassination politics".[2] He was imprisoned on felony charges of tax evasion in 1997.[2] In 2001, Wired called Bell "[o]ne of the Internet's most famous essayists"[3] and "the world's most notorious crypto-convict".[4]

In April 1995, Bell authored the first part of a 10-part essay called "Assassination Politics", which described an assassination market in which anonymous benefactors could securely order the killings of government officials or others who are violating citizens' rights. Following an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Bell was arrested and subsequently jailed for 11 months on felony charges of harassment and using false Social Security numbers.

After his April 2000 release, Bell publicly announced that he believed that there was extensive Federal Government corruption associated with his 1997–2000 criminal case, and that he was going to research the facts and file a lawsuit. Bell filed this lawsuit in 2003.[5] Bell was put under heavy surveillance and rearrested for harassment and stalking of federal agents. He was charged with intimidation and stalking and was convicted and again imprisoned, this time for a decade-long sentence. Bell protested vociferously against the conduct of the trial, going so far as to file civil lawsuits against two judges, at least two prosecutors, his former probation officers, and his defense attorneys, but ultimately to no avail.[5] He was released in December 2009, only to be rearrested in July 2010 for violating his supervised release conditions. Bell's parole violation hearing resulted in another sentence, and Bell was released on March 12, 2012.[6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference freedefense was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b McCullagh, Declan (2000-11-11). "Crypto-Convict Won't Recant". Wired. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  3. ^ McCullagh, Declan (2001-12-01). "Gay Site Halts Death 'Advice'". Wired. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
  4. ^ McCullagh, Declan (2001-04-06). "Assassinate this". Wired. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
  5. ^ a b James Bell (14 July 2003). "James Bell 2003 lawsuit". Retrieved 14 February 2010.
  6. ^ Release Date on BOP Site Archived 2013-10-31 at the Wayback Machine", 2012-04-30.