Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Hawash, Monomania, Rocketships
Yes, charges are nice after six weeks of unexplained incarceration. purdue_thor writes "The various news agencies (CNN, FoxNews) are reporting that after being held for six weeks, software engineer Mike Hawash has finally been charged. His detainment as a material witness and subsequent incarceration without formal charges was discussed previously on /. Friends of Mike Hawash have created a website to publicize his case and have released a statement regarding the charges."
Randolpho adds "The Free Mike Hawash website has released the following affidavit (PDF file) received from the Federal Terrorism Task Force. The affidavit states that Hawash traveled to China in 2001 with several co-conspirators 'in an attempt to enter Afghanistan to fight against United States forces.'"
This just in from the cork-topped bottle. danny writes "One of the disadvantages of living in Australia is that my review copies arrive late. But my review of Google Hacks may be of interest, even after honestpuck's earlier review."
Free as in books. Author John F.X. Sundman writes: "PDFs of the complete Acts of the Apostles and Cheap Complex Devices are available for free download from wetmachine.com under the Creative Commons license."
And Robotech_Master writes "Remember the Honor Harrington CD-ROM, which Baen packaged with its most recent Honor Harrington book? The one that included over three dozen e-books and came with explicit permission to copy and share but not sell?
Well, Baen's done it again. The new CD comes with the fourth book in John Ringo's Aldenata trilogy, Hell's Faire . It includes still more free e-books, mp3s, and even a D20 Aldenata roleplaying game in electronic form. The book hits the stands this month, and the ISO is already available on-line. (Scarywater guy, please take note. :) Download it, burn it, give it to your friends...or buy the book and support one of the most Internet-clueful publishers out there today."
Free as in "you pay money." An anonymous reader submits "The original Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, was first a book, then a radio series. Adams edited both. All 7 hrs and 30 minutes of the Radio series have been released by the BBC in MP3 CD format. If you only caught the TV series this is a must."
I wish more audio books would arrive like this (compressed, so as to occupy fewer disks), though I'd choose a better method of audio compression ;) If you want to hear the HHGttG, though, a few minutes on Google will probably turn up some fan sites with recordings from the BBC broadcasts. (innocent whistling)
Yeah, but there's no Epcot Center. Sacarino writes "Las Vegas is *almost* on par with Disney now. The regularly-updated Monorail Society website has tons of pictures of the progress. Vegas' monorails are the same type as Disney's (Bombardier Mark VI), only with inwardly opening doors... slick! Also mentions the old MGM-Bally's monorail that's getting absorbed into the new automated network."
Is this what Microsoft thinks of viral licensing? Vagary writes "One of my friends just got a Microsoft router and asked me to check the security features for it. The ping denial doesn't work, which is good because a port scan found some pretty interesting things, including this string in the TCP/IP fingerprint: 'i586-pc-linux-gnu'. Does that mean Microsoft must provide Linux source to purchasers of this product?"
Can anyone confirm, deny or explain this interesting claim?
Click here to discuss the size of a fictional spacecraft ... photozz writes "The infamously slashdotted site comparing the relative sizes of several hundred starships from various Sci-Fi series has been mirrored to a somewhat more robust server. So cool. It's in draggable format, so you can put King Kong on top of Deep Space 9 and re-create a dream I had last night......."
HH was a radio series first, then a book.
I recommend "Don't Panic" for the whole story...
He was held for weeks if not months without charge. That is a breach of due process and a breach of his rights. As for indisputable evidence that is for a court, a civilian court to decide.
The fact that he worked/works in the IT sector has got nothing to do with the fact that the government is increasingly moving towards a totalitarian ideal and is not worried about following those rules which mean the west can boast an independant judicial system, free from harrasement and influence from the executive.
If you cannot see this then I suggest you remove your rose-coloured glasses and take a real good look at what is happening.
I've always agreed to the concept of voting with my wallet. If I don't the a company I don't buy their products.
The reverse of that is of course, companies that have a clue(tm) get my hard earned cash.
I picked up the new John Ringo book this Sunday and wrote John Baen a thank you e-mail on Monday.
As a matter of minor irony, if they hadn't had the CD in the latest Honor Harrington, I wouldn't have read the first John Ringo book, and wouldn't had subsquently dropped $25 for the latest. But, so far the e-book thing is working well for me. Ten of the last fifteen books I've purchased have been electronic versions from Baen online bookstore.
*A)bort, R)etry, I)nfluence with large hammer.*
Nonetheless, I'm going to withhold judgement on the Mike Hawash case, because at this point, assuming the evidence is as presented in the articles I have read, there certainly sounds like enough, that with some dotted I's and crossed T's, adds up to at least probable cause. I just wish our government would abide by its own rules in the way it prosecutes cases like this, and just show the evidence that lead them to make a detention in the first place. If the guy is really a flight risk, or potential danger to others, and there isn't enough to hold him on, then they could have him followed and monitored until the evidence is available, the same as is done with other criminals and potential criminals. I worry about all the exceptions that are made for terrorism, when increasingly, membership in certain non-terrorist organizations, or computer crimes, or other "mysterious" or "destructive" behavior seems to get bunched in with terrorism.
I'll be the first person to tell you that terrorism is never legitimate, and always criminal, and that we should arrest and prosecute and punish terrorists and attempted terrorists to the fullest extent of the law, and Americans who travel to fight in illegal combat with other terrorists get no sympathy from me. But how can we use different standards of evidence and prosecutorial conduct for cases that we don't _know_ are terrorism until they have gone through the courts? Due process doesn't mean due process when we feel like it - it applies to all citizens and residents, and even others within our borders.
You'll find you can't drag the buildings/ships/monsters in the browser who was forced to change their logo at the request of a certain GODZILLA who just happens to appear in the comparison.
Coincidence? I THINK NOT!
Victory! Isn't that what every one wanted, for Mike to be charged or released? So now he's charged. And he's in some deep shit too.
> The ping denial doesn't work, which is good because a port scan found some pretty interesting things, including this string in the TCP/IP fingerprint: 'i586-pc-linux-gnu'. Does that mean Microsoft must provide Linux source to purchasers of this product?
Answer: No.
I'm 99% certain that you've misinterpreted nmap's output. When nmap doesn't find a matching fingerprint, it displays the parameters in a parsable format used in nmap-os-fingerprints. More recently (i.e. not originally, but it's been this way for some time), nmap also prints out the OS it was compiled on (presumably to weed out any OSs that mangle the data and prevent bad fingerprints from being distributed with nmap.) This information is printed out in a line like:
SInfo(V=3.20%P=i586-pc-linux-gnu%D=4/29%Time=3EAF1 974%O=-1%C=80)
I'm guessing that this was seen and the submitter jumped to conclusions... At any rate, I believe they'd be required to give source (if they changed it) to anyone per the GPL.
It is a much different thing than someone being held as a material witness as a matter of public record, and later charged. We will know of the happenings with Mr. Hawash. Call it being held without charges, call it a suspension of habeas corpus (though again you'd be wrong for other reasons), but don't him one of the disappeared. I wasn't saying simply that it could be worse, I was saying that the terminology was being applied incorrectly for emotional effect.
As Orwell would probably say, the dilution of language that comes from overstatement and misuse is a bigger danger, and I'm not suggesting "tolerating" the little injustices, just keeping them in a proper sense of scale.
taken! (by Davidleeroth) Thanks Bingo Foo!
He was held as a material witness. Nice and legal. And let's not mince words, people here are interested in him because he works in "our" industry. It's inconcievable that an IT worker, (and an American citizen, no less!) would want to answer the call to jihad. Nope, he makes money in computers, so he must be innocent. Note the deafening silence regarding his conspirators.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
[Lyle] You'll be given cushy jobs!
[Crowd] Monorail! Monorail!
--Simpsons episode 9F10
All your rights are belong to U.S.!
-- John Ashcroft
Nothing to see here; Move along.
I am not claiming there is a black and white delineation between peacetime and wartime, but there is a black and white delineation between a suspect picked up on US soil and a guy with a gun picked up in the Afghan mountains. If somebody is determined a "spy" or enemy combatant on US soil, I believe that determination should be made using our courts and due process, not summarily made behind closed doors, allowing the military to dispose of them as they please. I don't give a fuck if the Supreme Court upheld doing it once in WWII, it's still wrong. If the person is so clearly a spy, we should be able to prove that in court, THEN execute them.
Umm not being an American I may be wrong about this, but doesn't the constitution garauntee against exactly this sort of thing? I thought government wasn't allowed to detain citizens without pretty good evidence that they had actually committed a crime. Also doesn't it allow something called freedom of association?
Oh I get it, it's alright to hang out with Fundamentalist Christian Militias but not with Fundamentalist Islamic Militias (if in fact that is what he did, nothing has been proved yet).
The scariest part of that 43 page affidavit is where some of the evidence came from. On page 7:
Since when does the FBI collect trash as evidence based on the recommendation of a random neighbor? Or is this a special exception since it contained, huge shock, Arabic writing?
More on page 36:
So, let's get this straight. The first neighbor called the FBI because he recognized that one of the people who had been arrested had been to Hawash's house. That, I can almost understand, especially if there was media attention from the first arrests (seems likely).
The second neighbor, on the other hand, called the FBI because.. why? Let's see, first, Hawash spent more time at home after 9/11. Gee, yes, that's suspicious, only like 80% of the people I know decided to spend more time with their family after that. And second, he wasn't as friendly as usual. But gee, huge tradgedies usually make people so *cheerful*, what could be his problem?
Then, when the FBI actually followed up on this inane call, they found that he started attending a Mosque, dressing in "eastern" clothes, grew a beard, and became withdrawn from his neighbors, in turn associating with other Muslims. Gee, that certainly sounds like he found religion, doesn't it? And while that's arguably not the brightest thing to do, last time I checked it wasn't illegal, even if it's an officially unpopular religion like Islam.
This whole thing is sick. Yes, there's other evidence in there that links him to the other people, that's fine. I'm not saying he's innocent. But the fact that the points above, particularly the 'second neighbor', made it into the report is just wrong.
>>Hawash's neighbors became suspicious after the September 11 terrorist attacks and called the FBI, according to the affidavit. One of the neighbors said Hawash, who worked for Intel, was "spending more time at home following September 11, 2001" and "was not as friendly as usual."
Given the rampant anti-Arab sentiment after 9/11, is this any surprise?
Actually, he was held without charge but with the public's knowledge. The parent post is right, this isn't even close to being disappeared, and it's inappropriate to distill the meaning lest we forget what being disappeared really means.
Reminds me of PETA a few months back likening pictures of animals being slaughtered to jews in concentration camps during Nazi germany (they showed the photos side-by-side with some comments about how it was just as bad). The worst part of it is that the local news (I'm around Norfolk) interviewed the president of PETA and she really didn't understand the problem, giving some off-the-cuff (i.e. poorly thought out) answer about how she thought it was a good comparison.
The fact that he worked in a computer related field does in fact have a lot to do with this. A lot of computer professionals are very left-leaning. Worse yet, many are young and naive. While most liberals are not young and naive, it seems the majority of young and naive people are liberals.
The really sad part is that both the liberal and conservative camps have their fair share of good ideas, but hard-liners are too opposed to different thinking and instead are just looking for a fight.
You see it on Slashdot every day. Irrational discussion does not bode well for the represntative democracy that we have. It takes compromise. Furthermore, it takes a well-informed (not well-brainwashed) public.
Making statements about how our country is rapidly heading towards totalitarianism does not bode well with the general public. Statements likening holding someone with public knowledge to holding someone without public knowledge do not fare well either. Nobody wants to hear this crap. It makes people feel helpless. It makes people feel like there's nothing they can do. It is that feeling that is really driving this country towards totalitarianism.
Reminds me of a great Beatles song: "You say you want a revolution, well you know we'd all love to see the plan." ... "But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow!"
And it's only a few steps until Kevin Bacon is locked up.
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.
I, for one, would like to head the Nazis off at the pass.
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
"Actually, he was held without charge but with the public's knowledge. The parent post is right, this isn't even close to being disappeared,"
Actually, the government wouldn't even admit that they had him for several weeks. And he certainly wasn't given access to legal representation. Then the government declared a fair bit of the information surrounding his case was "secret" and therefore did not have to be revealed in court.
Except for the "never seen again" part, that sounds pretty damn close to "disappeared" to me.
And now that the time initially set by the judge was about to expire, and the court would likely set him free, the feds have charged Hawash with every crime the can think of (If he were a little older, no doubt he would also be charged with the Lindburgh kidnapping) figuring that they can hold him for another year before it is even likely to come to trial.
Then, in 6 months or so, they might offer him a plea bargain "he can't refuse", all the while making noises about executions, life imprisonment, taking away his family's citizenship, etc. Then, once they extort a guilty plea from him, he won't even be able to appeal!
I don't know what we have here, but it sure ain't justice.
Even if he is guilty, which would be very unfortunate especially in this case, that is entirely beside the point. The important point here is the loss of rights under which US citizens can now be detained in this manner. This is what people are protesting, and the point stands that this is a serious problem whether or not he is actually guilty in this case.
Sadly, if it turns out that he is guilty, then many people will forget the important point here - because they will inevitably confuse the concept of defending his basic rights (that all US citizens are supposed to share), with the concept of defending him.