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US Drops Link Sharing Charges Against Barrett Brown

Posted by samzenpus on from the on-second-thought dept.

In a followup to our story yesterday, Bismillah writes "It seems US prosecutors agree that just publishing a link doesn't amount to transmitting actual files. Brown is not out of the legal woods yet though, and still faces further charges. The EFF released this statement about the decision: 'We are relieved that federal prosecutors have decided to drop these charges against Barrett Brown. In prosecuting Brown, the government sought to criminalize a routine practice of journalism—linking to external sources—which is a textbook violation of free speech protected by the First Amendment. Although this motion is good news for Brown, the unnecessary and unwarranted prosecution has already done much damage; not only has it harmed Brown, the prosecution—and the threat of prosecution it raised for all journalists—has chilled speech on the Internet. We hope that this dismissal of charges indicates a change in the Department of Justice priorities. If not, we will be ready to step in and defend free speech.'"

5 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. Too Bad. by rmdingler · · Score: 2
    A precedent might have been set had the case been heard and tried.

    IANAL, but I doubt the dismissal will become case law.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:Too Bad. by SpankiMonki · · Score: 4, Interesting

      A precedent might have been set had the case been heard and tried. IANAL, but I doubt the dismissal will become case law.

      Well, if the judge actually had the time to rule on Brown's attorney's motion for dismissal, the ruling would've made it into case law. As it happened, the US prosecutors *dismissed* the eleven counts related to the linking charge before the ink on Brown's motion was dry.

      I wonder why the US prosecutors would do such a thing? [rolleyes]

    2. Re:Too Bad. by SpankiMonki · · Score: 2

      I stand corrected. Mods, hit me with "Overrated".

    3. Re:Too Bad. by SpankiMonki · · Score: 2

      ...oh yeah, mod AC up!

  2. Re:Then move to Russia if you think that is bad by uCallHimDrJ0NES · · Score: 2

    1965 called and wants its catchphrase back, citizen.

    --
    Cloudiot: A person who does not see offsite storage as a way to lose control over access to his or her own data.