Barrett Brown, Formerly of Anonymous, Sentenced To 63 Months

An anonymous reader writes with news that a journalist linked to Anonymous, Barret Brown, has been sentenced. "Barrett Brown, a journalist formerly linked to the hacking group Anonymous, was sentenced Thursday to over five years in prison, or a total of 63 months. Ahmed Ghappour, Brown's attorney, confirmed to Ars that Brown's 28 months already served will count toward the sentence. That leaves 34 months, or nearly three years, left for him to serve. In April 2014, Brown took a plea deal admitting guilt on three charges: "transmitting a threat in interstate commerce," for interfering with the execution of a search warrant, and to being "accessory after the fact in the unauthorized access to a protected computer." Brown originally was indicted in Texas federal court in December 2012 on several counts, including accusations that he posted a link from one Internet relay chat channel, called #Anonops, to another channel under his control, called #ProjectPM. The link led to private data that had been hijacked from intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting, or Statfor."

Comments

There is no anonymity

[Taco Cowboy]

I've been on the scene since the '70s, and as much as I hope that my real identity to not be revealed to the world, I understand that once I post something online I take a risk (calculated or otherwise) of having my real identity exposed

There is no anonymity online or offline

Re:There is no anonymity

[Lumpy]

A lot of these guys get caught because they open their yaps. A lot of us old timers from the early days never got caught. When the 414's were taken down I know several people that avoided it simply because they actually listened to the "trust no one" mantra. Just like how the guys that took over WTTW never got caught because they did NOT open their big fat mouths.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...

So a tip from someone old..... earning "cred" is for noobs. Keep your mouth shut and you really reduce the risk of getting caught.

Re:Be afraid

[AHuxley]

Re "This rather random assortment of charges that make you go "huh?"
The US press and media thought it had it all after the Pentagon Papers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers#The_Supreme_Court_allows_further_publication
Now the US press has to try and stay how many hops away before publishing or commenting?
Very chilling for the US press.

It's unfortunate.

[rahvin112]

IMO he had a good case and could have won but I understand him taking the plea.

He didn't know the information was there in the link that led to this whole thing and the "threats" were hyperbole at the best. He probably couldn't afford a good attorney and he was looking at decades in prison. Typical FBI strategy is charge them with everything in the book so they plea to lessor charge you actually want.

It's a travesty what they did to him.

Re:It's unfortunate.

[Anonymous Coward]

Objectively it's smart to take the plea, too. On average people who go to court get 20% longer sentences.

Negative. I demanded a trial and my case disappeared -- not dismissed, just ::poof::, gone.

Now, the thing to watch out for is that they can and will keep resetting your court date so you're locked up awaiting a trial and achieve a substantial amount of time-served, which they then offer you. Hey, you want to get out today? Take time served by admitting you're guilty.

Fail to admit you're guilty on principal because you know you'll win? The case doesn't go to trial because it makes the DAs and prosecuter's numbers look bad. Your "people who go to court" number is the vast minority of cases. Additionally, if the defendant has a court appointed lawyer, then chances are that they are working for the DA, not the pre-trial detainee and trying to get you to plea. It's how it works: They railroad you through the system so they can pull favors for the clients they actually need to get off as innocent. I should know, I helped fire about a dozen court appointed attorneys while in jail, and out of the ~100 or so people I talked to, all of them with court appointed attorneys felt like they were working for the state's interest and not theirs. Most just didn't want to fuck up their chance at a plea deal -- The courts do seem to retaliate if you make them do their fucking jobs.

There really is no Justice system anymore. Courts are for show. Also, before any holier than thou lawyers or justices pipe up: You're part of the problem since you don't help fight the corruption of your peers.

hit somebody with his car

[Anonymous Coward]

This guy should have hit and actually killed somebody with his car, he would have faired better in court. These laws need some serious relooking.

who is he? (Al Capone the tax evader)

[raymorris]

Does anyone here happen to know who this guy is, what he did? TFS mentions what the prosecutor intended to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, but they could prove that All Capone cheated on his taxes and OJ Simpson intimidated a guy in a hotel room. They were pursued and partially sentenced based on what they DID, apart from which bits the prosecution could prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

If asked "who was Al Capone?", you wouldn't answer "a guy who cheated on his taxes". Who is this person?

Re:And now... 3... 2... 1...

[Baloroth]

Aside from the fact that that wouldn't work anyways (intent to link to the illegal material would be required, and that certainly wouldn't meet that qualification), the hyperlinking charges were dropped. Yeah, the Slashdot summary is a bit deceptive (absolutely shocking, I know).

Re: treason

[Anonymous Coward]

Rage away, little nerd. We're watching and laughing. Meanwhile the Real World shits all over you. Nobody will be prosecuted but your "heroes". Get used to it.