And just got done listening to how a local child molester was sentenced to probation.
Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison
41–50 of 105 posts
Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison
#42Barrett's response to today's sentencing:
“Good news! — The U.S. government decided today that because I did such a good job investigating the cyber-industrial complex, they’re now going to send me to investigate the prison-industrial complex. For the next 35 months, I’ll be provided with free food, clothes, and housing as I seek to expose wrondgoing by Bureau of Prisons officials and staff and otherwise report on news and culture in the world’s greatest prison system. I want to thank the Department of Justice for having put so much time and energy into advocating on my behalf; rather than holding a grudge against me for the two years of work I put into in bringing attention to a DOJ-linked campaign to harass and discredit journalists like Glenn Greenwald, the agency instead labored tirelessly to ensure that I received this very prestigious assignment. — Wish me luck!”
Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison
#43The US government's system of justice seems increasingly opaque, arbitrary, and solely for the purpose of maintaining the status quo and those already in power. Meanwhile, much worse crimes by those in power such as torture go unpunished.
Institutionalized and organized torture programs are a monstrous offense, so by implication you're saying it's immoral to enforce laws against all lesser offenses, not just the ones that have a lot of HN valence. For instance, you would also believe it's immoral to enforce laws against car theft, or counterfeiting. I'm as frustrated as everyone else that the CIA and its horrible contractors, some of whom enriched the…
>Institutionalized and organized torture programs are a monstrous offense, so by implication you're saying it's immoral to enforce laws against all lesser offenses,
it is immoral to enforce laws against one group of people while systematically ignoring violations of laws [especially of the laws of the same or greater severity] by another group of people [especially when the latter group is "closer" to the enforcers]. Such immoral system of selective law enforcement constitutes oppression.
>It's a miscarriage of justice.
Systematic miscarriage of justice is just an absence of justice.
Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
A "miscarriage of justice" implies an occasional event. The system is rigged in favor of those individuals and groups that hold power in this country.
For hundreds of years, African Americans were systematically murdered, robbed, raped, and disenfranchised by hundreds of thousands of American citizens who were never made culpable for the overwhelming vast majority of those offenses. If countries had to give up after continuous cycles of injustice, there would be no countries. I concede ahead of time that there's a coherent political philosophy that says "that's rig…
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Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison
#45[deleted]
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Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison
#46The US government's system of justice seems increasingly opaque, arbitrary, and solely for the purpose of maintaining the status quo and those already in power. Meanwhile, much worse crimes by those in power such as torture go unpunished.
It only seems opaque because the article is so shitty. They bury the actual basis of the sentence in the middle:
> He ultimately signed a plea deal on three lesser charges: transmitting a threat, trying to hide a laptop computer during a raid, and to being "accessory after the fact in the unauthorized access to a protected computer."
The factual stipulation justifies each of these: https://freebarrettbrown.org/files/BB_factualresume.pdf.
1) He didn't just report on the HBGary hack, he emailed the CEO acting as a go-between for Anonymous.
2) His threats in YouTube were not taken out of context. They were directed at a specific person, that person's kids, and mentioned being armed and responding with violence multiple times.
3) He coordinated with his mother to conceal two computers from the FBI during a search pursuant to a valid warrant.
This is not someone who got prosecuted just for reporting on a criminal organization. He got prosecuted for getting involved, then flipping out and threatening agents when he was investigated.
Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison
#47The US government's system of justice seems increasingly opaque, arbitrary, and solely for the purpose of maintaining the status quo and those already in power. Meanwhile, much worse crimes by those in power such as torture go unpunished.
Institutionalized and organized torture programs are a monstrous offense, so by implication you're saying it's immoral to enforce laws against all lesser offenses, not just the ones that have a lot of HN valence. For instance, you would also believe it's immoral to enforce laws against car theft, or counterfeiting. I'm as frustrated as everyone else that the CIA and its horrible contractors, some of whom enriched the…
"so by implication you're saying it's immoral to enforce laws against all lesser offenses"
Amazingly, the parent didn't actually say or imply that. "worse crimes go unpunished" doesn't imply "enforcing laws against lesser offenses is immoral".
Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
He pled guilty to avoid getting reamed even worse. There's no justice here. It's just an exercise in power in order to send a message.
So you are aware of all the evidence then? I mean, otherwise this is just complete supposition. Plus, you know, he conceded a lot of the facts in the indictment at the point he tried to have the indictment dismissed, so ...
It goes beyond supposition when the tactics of Federal prosecutors are examined in wider scope.
The sentence doesn't fit the crime.
Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Institutionalized and organized torture programs are a monstrous offense, so by implication you're saying it's immoral to enforce laws against all lesser offenses, not just the ones that have a lot of HN valence. For instance, you would also believe it's immoral to enforce laws against car theft, or counterfeiting. I'm as frustrated as everyone else that the CIA and its horrible contractors, some of whom enriched the…
"so by implication you're saying it's immoral to enforce laws against all lesser offenses" Amazingly, the parent didn't actually say or imply that. "worse crimes go unpunished" doesn't imply "enforcing laws against lesser offenses is immoral".
So then, what was the point of that comment? What was it trying to persuade the thread about? Serious question; I'm not asking so that I can rebut you.
Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison
#50The US government's system of justice seems increasingly opaque, arbitrary, and solely for the purpose of maintaining the status quo and those already in power. Meanwhile, much worse crimes by those in power such as torture go unpunished.
It only seems opaque because the article is so shitty. They bury the actual basis of the sentence in the middle: > He ultimately signed a plea deal on three lesser charges: transmitting a threat, trying to hide a laptop computer during a raid, and to being "accessory after the fact in the unauthorized access to a protected computer." The factual stipulation justifies each of these: https://freebarrettbrown.org/files/…
>He emailed the CEO of HBGary to ask if Anonymous should redact anything before releasing it. There is more here than him getting in trouble for merely reporting about Anonymous.
Is that a crime? It occurs to me the HBGary or Stratfor might not have minded the opportunity, even if it was only a tip to them of what was to come. It also demonstrates some sort of good faith.
From the IRC logs “Earlier it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to tell Stratfor that you guys will consider making any reasonable redactions to emails that might endanger, say, activists living under dictatorships with whom they might have spoken […] If they fail to cooperate, it will be on them if any claims are made about this yield endangering anyone,” -BB