[IP] more on Hard time? Not for cyber criminals
Begin forwarded message:
From: "John S. Quarterman" <jsq@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: August 18, 2004 8:22:20 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: "John S. Quarterman" <jsq@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Ip <ip@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Hard time? Not for cyber criminals
For IP.
How does this item fit into the discussion about sentencing?
http://www.eff.org/br/20030807_eff_pr.php
For Immediate Release: Thursday, August 7, 2003
Activist Gets Year in Jail for Hosting, Link to Bomb Info
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Sentence Doesn't Match Crime
Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today
criticized
the sentencing on August 4 of political activist Sherman Austin to one
year in jail for hosting a website describing bomb-making and for
linking
from his RaiseTheFist.com website to that website.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson sentenced Austin to triple the
sentence term the prosecutor had recommended under a binding plea
bargain agreement, along with three years of probation. He faces strict
restrictions and monitoring of his use of computers, a $2,000 fine for
restitution, and a prohibition from associating with any person or group
that "espouses violence or physical force as means of intimidation,
or achieving economic, social, or political change."
"Although settled with a plea bargain, Sherman Austin's jail sentence
for distributing bomb-making information raises serious First Amendment
questions," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien. "Leaving aside
the question of the constitutionality of the bomb-making information
distribution law, a year in jail and the onerous probation conditions
Austin now faces are out of sync with the character of the alleged
crime."
Although information on how to make bombs is commonly available
in libraries, universities, and on the Internet, the U.S. Justice
Department charged Austin under a law sponsored by Senator Dianne
Feinstein (D-CA) and passed by Congress that prohibits "distribution of
information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons
of mass destruction with the intent that such information be used
in furtherance of a federal crime of violence." A charge related to
possession of the components of a Molotov cocktail was dropped as part
of the plea bargain agreement.
Austin, who took a plea bargain rather than face a potential 20 years
in jail due to enhanced terrorism penalties, said yesterday he intends
to surrender to the authorities on September 3 to begin serving his
prison sentence.
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