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A Dispatch From Outside the Prison Holding Barrett Brown
Daniel_Stuckey writes with an excerpt from his story at Motherboard: "Yesterday, I got as close as any media physically can to Barrett Brown, the American journalist that was locked up in late 2012 for pasting a hyperlink in a chatroom, which federal prosecutors alleged contained leaked credit card data from the Statfor hacks. Due to a media gag order upheld by the US District Court in the Northern District of Texas, Brown isn't allowed to make "any statement to members of any television, radio, newspaper, magazine, internet (included, but not limited to bloggers)," with the exception of Kevin M. Gallagher, who heads his defense fund. ... Earlier this week, US Attorney Sarah Saldaña filed a motion to dismiss 11 of Brown's charges, namely those related to the pasted hyperlink (including trafficking in stolen authentication features, aggravated identity theft, and access device fraud). The motion came as both a victory for Brown's case, and a sigh of relief to supporters who have continuously cited the absurdity of his charges related to hyperlinking."
No trial yet, his free speech (as a journalist) removed, why? does he have the knowledge of a WMD which can wipe out man kind? no, he pasted a link to some credit card data. Good job he not share a few mp3s, it could be much worse.
This is why I thank the Lord that I live in the greatest country in the world and not in some craphole place like North Korea or Russia where journalists can get held in prison for years for like this. We should send in the best frikkin' army in the world and free him. That'll show those commie bastards.
The charges are stupid, but the media gag order is downright scary. There is a good reason the 1st amendment was written and it was that control of information is the ultimate in power. It was recognized that when the government is allowed to shut you up that it is then that the worst abuses can occur.
But this case highlights another serious problem with the US justice system and that is where, after this is dismissed, that the prosecutors will face little or no consequences for trying to enforce the will of a corporation.
And, of course, there is even less chance that this politically well connected company or its officers will face any consequences at all.
There needs to be some mechanism where governments that try to abusively control information results in horrific penalties to those involved such as serious jail time. Otherwise those who leak, those who film police, and those who deny inconvenient freedom of information requests will just continue to hide embarrassing information using the most abusive powers at their disposal.
For example, I can't remember the last time someone was arrested for filming and anything bad happening to the police who then tried to destroy the footage. This should be minimally resulting in destruction of evidence charges, and often kidnapping charges for the arrest. So no laws need to be changed or anything in these cases, just a willingness to realize that the police are not perfect little roses and that we are all better off when they are head up to even higher standards of justice.
It amazes me that US prosecutors go full throttle going after people like Barrett Brown and Aaron Swartz, while people like Jon Corzine (who made $1.6B of customer money disappear at MF Global) and many other fraudsters in the banking industry are left alone to continue their fraud. And no one seems to care enough to do something about it.
No trial yet, his free speech (as a journalist) removed, why?
The United States of America was the country I fled to, after I got out of China.
In the China I escaped from, back then, people could be locked up, without trial, and the authority could use any trump up charge against them, and there is nothing the people could do, as China has no "Bill of Rights" nor a Constitution that guarantees the rights of the citizens.
Nowadays, in China, people are still being locked up, on trumped up charges, but at the very least, the authority has to try to prove that their trump up charge is valid (but of course everybody know that they are bullshit).
On the other hand, the very country that I fled to, the United States of America has become the United Soviet of America.
Not only the authority can lock up anyone with any trumped up charge, without any trial, the authority can also go against the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States of America, as though both documents are now as worthy as a soiled toilet paper.
What the fuck is going on, man ?
Why are the Americans, - (and I am one of them, a naturalized American) - especially those who are born and bred, letting the nation to turn into such a horrible police state ??
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
"The data dump from the HBGary hack was so vast that no one person could sort through it alone. So Brown decided to crowdsource the effort. He created a wiki page, called it ProjectPM, and invited other investigative journalists to join in" ..
"Today, Brown is in prison and ProjectPM is under increased scrutiny by the DOJ, even as its work has ground to a halt. In March, the DOJ served the domain hosting service CloudFlare with a subpoena for all records on the ProjectPM website, and in particular asked for the IP addresses of everyone who had accessed and contributed to ProjectPM, describing it as a “forum” through which Brown and others would “engage in, encourage, or facilitate the commission of criminal conduct online.” The message was clear: Anyone else who looks into this matter does so at their grave peril." thenation.com
When I first read this I thought it was about a south African dictatorship, not the land of the free.
It amazes me that US prosecutors go full throttle going after people like Barrett Brown and Aaron Swartz
Do not be amazed !
The US prosecutors have become PERSECUTORS.
Instead of prosecute, the PERSECUTE.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
... this is not that different from the inquisition !!
Instead of the "Spanish inquisition", what we have here is the American Inquisition.
As though America never learn anything from the witch hunt episodes (including the burning of "witches" in the 1700's, and the "red scare" period in the 1950's) of the yesteryears.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
... the state have already 'won' by making serve so long in prison
The state have "won" simply because the Americans, me included, are morons !
It is us, the American citizens, who let the government tore up the Constitutions and we deserve any and all abuses from the government.
We are the ones who have ruined the country.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Don't you make me puke !
America is no longer the Land of the Free.
America has become the Land of the Eunuch.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
I am very sorry to say that it appears to be because the cold war is over and that the reasons we fought the cold war were being constantly repeated to us to justify the cost - "they don't have free speech, they don't have independent legal systems, they oppress minorities". Apparently now we no longer have that enemy we are fighting for those reasons its OK to openly do all the things that we were supposedly fighting against. Its very sad.
Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
Its simple, money and power.
You voted for it, well kinda. Its very easy to influence people, especially smart people. The Average american isn't stupid but are relatively smart but have been conditioned to react in predictable ways to certain triggers.
Its very easy to do its called Classical Conditioning but modified to use only images and phrases the best part is once its installed its self perpetuating, the media reinforce it without realizing, because it sells. The premise is simple, apply a emotional response to words or images by repetition and then link the response to another word or image.
Simple Example (it is not just limited to words, images & ideals can all be trained into people) ; I show you a picture of a can of tuna and say Cow, repeated enough times you automatically link the picture of the can of tuna to the word cow, over time I will no longer need to show you the picture of the can of tuna you will think of it unconsciously every time someone says the word cow.
Using this technique, you can pretty much unconsciously control a large group of people, get them to vote how you want them to vote or buy your junk.
For the police state, its because of the power, Imagine you get to say what happens... Imagine if you could make that noisy next door neighbour just go away... just use your magic word, terrorist.
Imagine you could have that 100 bedroom house you always wanted, the new car a boat or 10, private tutors for your family.. Magic, I can protect you from the terrorists
You have been conditioned to react way out of proportion to a simple word, their doesn't even need to be any proof you have been trained to think everytime someone says the word terrorist, DANGER they are coming to take whats mine, must protect. and this has been done on a massive scale it is by far the greatest feat of social engineering ever.
If I remember correctly, "They're just jealous of our freedoms" and "They oppress the Kurdish population" were used during the invasion of Iraq.
This is absolutely some bullshit, but even the most fervent Bill of Rights activist would admit Mr Brown kind of stepped on his dick when he pasted that hyperlink.
His charges and time served are being acknowledged as absurd by the US Attorney's office because of attention like this. The powers that be are not so powerful yet that some semi-organized public outrage does not still motivate them.
The poor bastards in Guantanamo have been largely forgotten... oh yeah, and they have the scarlet T on them.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Because they never had to fight for their freedom.
Humans are kinda odd. They are quite willing to give away what they take for granted to get something they think is valuable, not considering that for the promise of the latter they could easily lose the former. For reference, see Native Americans, their land and glass marbles. Or current Americans, their freedom and security. Same raw deal.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Not that amazing. The US government has been sold off to the highest bidders. They just interpret the Constitution to mean what they want it to mean so it doesn't get in their way anymore. At least they're smart enough to know there are limits to what they can do without waking up the apathetic majority. As long as they don't go too far most people are content to ignore the danger of a government that has slipped it's leash.
"Leaks from Edward Snowden earlier this year have lead to hundreds of stories by the Guardian and other news outlets that examine the tension between personal privacy and national security. Our reporting has sparked a global debate about the full extent of the NSA's actions to collect personal data. Our latest story, published Monday, is about MARINA, an NSA application that stores the metadata of millions of web users for up to a year. Read through the full NSA Files archive here." ref
The next thing you know, Slashdot will start calling bank robbers "independent banking security researchers".
Personally, I find this to be the single most infuriating aspect of the financial crisis -- in any country. Every single time I hear about public time and money being wasted on frivolous prosecutions, I am keenly reminded that these are the same police services and directors of public prosecutions who won't investigate the banks. Not who can't; who won't -- Refuse to even. it would be one this if the justice system was simply universally inept. But cases like this shows they can and do act with extreme prejudice when they have a mind to.
It's shambolic, slipshod, corrosive to the justice system and ultimately seditious. It's the clearest indication of the justice system which has been seized by political interests, and which refuses to perform its stated function to maintain the rule of law.
P.S.
Regarding Corzine. The money did not "disappear". Corzine stole it out of customer accounts to covers his bills at JP Morgan. He knew exactly where it went; and the SEC and the Justice Department know exactly where it went but refuse to do anything about ti. They're too busy perusing basement dwelling geeks and beatniks to investigate those cases which actually rock the foundations of commerce and law. Stellar job there Mr Holder; Kudos.
May the Maths Be with you!
"This is absolutely some bullshit, but even the most fervent Bill of Rights activist would admit Mr Brown kind of stepped on his dick when he pasted that hyperlink."
Why is sharing a URL a criminal act? In many of the articles written on my blog there are hyperlinks. I am not responsible for the content at the other end of the hyperlink which may change between the time I "approve" the hyperlink and some time in the future when the original content creator modifies said content to something other than the version I read. If I post a hyperlink to the misdeeds of the Government and the Government sends its prosecutors after me, is that fair and legal? No.
They have convictions, a moral compass, and often political aspirations.
A case like this is guaranteed press coverage and (hopefully) some camera time on cable news.
There was a prosecuter in NYC who made a pretty stellar career off of high profile prosecutions.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
If you help someone robbing a bank you have committed conspiracy. But if you help someone stealing private data you're a journalist.
A better analogy would be linking to an article on how exactly the bank was robbed.
No, a better analogy would be driving the getaway car. When did driving a car become a crime?
I am keenly reminded that these are the same police services and directors of public prosecutions who won't investigate the banks. Not who can't; who won't
No, they really can't. If they did, they would find themselves jobless rapidly.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
And Jon Corzine lied to congress, and there's event proof of it. But he seems to be immune from jail.
France has examining judges, Canada and the U.S. have special prosecutors, in part to ensure that political pressure can't shut down a prosecution. Examining judges are mostly automatic of serious crimes, but special prosecutors are rare and unusual, and appointing one often take considerable political power.
Solved problem in jusrisprudence, just not our jurisprudence!
davecb@spamcop.net
Didn't they pull that old sneaky stunt where he "wasn't officially sworn in" before testifying, and therefore it's not perjury? They always seem to "forget" to swear people in when that person is politically well connected and they want the case swept under the rug.
The corruption is becoming more and more blatant.
"Yesterday, I got as close as any media physically can to Barrett Brown"
Gross.
ôó
First Amendment rights don't extend to threats and trafficking stolen financial instruments ...please.
Fifth Amendment rights are clearly satisfied; the motion practice described above indicates he was charged and habeas corpus is not an issue.
Sixth Amendment rights are muddied by the aforementioned motion practice - I am positive that if he had wanted a trial by now, he'd have one. I think the point is that he'd get convicted of something, hence the delay.
Eighth Amendment - someone with a bunch of stolen credit cards available has resources, so evaluating 'excessive bail'
Woodward and Bernstein weren't instrumental to the Watergate case, they were simply public relations arms. The case was proceeding without them, and would have ended up in pretty much the same place if they'd been run over by a bus. Despite the mythology, the principals would have found some other reporter to feed data to. The independent prosecutor was the key to the case beyond February 1973, initially Cox and later Jaworski. It is important to remember that initially, the press reports of Watergate were not considered a large issue by the White House. The potential testimony of the burglars themselves was the primary issue initially, hence the hush money delivered until after the 1972 election.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
And Afganistan, when 'they hate our freedoms' was commonly cited as a reason the Taliban were so hostile towards the US.
It's not an entirely inaccurate claim, but still a great oversimplification.
Not saying the government hasn't been bought. But by Occam's razor, a simpler explanation is that little fish like Brown and Swartz don't have the funds to mount a persistent and comprehensive legal defense. Prosecutors see them as a way to score a quick and easy victory, compared to bringing charges against Corzine and being tied up in court for a decade or more with a questionable outcome. I'd even go so far as to say there are probably lots of Browns and Swartzes you've never heard about who are in prison. Their case didn't generate enough publicity for organizations like the EFF to catch wind and offer legal counsel.
In other words, the problem is that the legal system is too expensive. The same thing likely would have happened even if the government wasn't/isn't bought.
Do the people he threatened with murder have rights?
Because the guy that's locked up in this case Threatened an FBI agent and his family with harm . A CREDIBLE threat, BTW.
No - more like holding a gun on a security guard while the other guys rob the bank.
and the fed
There I said it. These people along with the warbugs and other banking families want a 90% population reduction so they can be the kings of the earth
this illusions of the united states and freedom was lost somewhere in the mid 18th century during Andrew Jackson when the bankers took the last parts of their pie (extended foreign banking stuff until 1913 when they owned us for good)
Yes and the FBI has always performed numerous illegal tactics, false testimony, false statements, in order to make sure bullshit cases that have really no evidence to the offending charges, can go to trial or entrap someone to make a plea deal.
"making threats to an FBI agent and his family." what could have said did he actually threaten to kill him and his family? Or did he threaten to write up a story on him and his family to drag him thru the mud? SO its okay for the feds to do it, but not okay for someone to fight fire with fire?
He is a journalist, and was suppose to have protections, hiding the laptops protects any information either about people involved, or incriminating evidence that he knows will be used against him. Freedom of Press allows that. [it used to anyway]
Whether you like the guy or not, it is these types of cases that have allowed the government to take away more and more freedoms from not only the press [the mainstream press peddle government BS anyway and really are worthless] but from the people.
Corzine raised a lot of money for Obama's reelection bid. This has made him immune from any real prosecution. If he were a Republican he'd be in a Supermax prison by now.
Prosecuters are lawyers who ... have ... a moral compass,
LOL, good one! I havent laughed that hard in a while!
people really should read the so-called gag order in full, he's not prohibited from speaking to the media, he's prohibited from trying to taint the jury pool by continually spreading misinformation about the case to any media outlet that will listen-- he is specifically allowed to speak to any media outlet providing he stays to statements of fact, and not typical barrett bs.
Typical BB BS is more or less this summary, where its being pushed that his rights are being infringed and he's prevented from speaking to the media, id est "any statement to members of any television, radio, newspaper, magazine, internet (included, but not limited to bloggers)," which is totally and entirely false. He's only prevent from spewing half-truths to the media, but if he wanted to say, contact the NYTs and tell them his next court date and what phase of the trial he is in, or other _statements of fact_, then that is totally permissible.