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Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison

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Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison

#61

Post by wahsd »

fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #42

Barrett'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 ne…

I like that guy. He has spirit that I only wish I had. I wonder if it is possible to fund his prison fund or something.

I hope he publishes a book on the corruption of the prison system on the day that he's released and walks across the street of the prison to a book signing or something like that.

Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison

#63

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

tptacek wrote: post #55
aqme28 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on the context in 2? From what I've read, he was just mocking a Fox news clip and wasn't threatening anyone but arguably himself.

The videos were idiotic, and although I made them in a manic state brought on by sudden withdrawal from Paxil and Suboxone, and while distraught over the threats to prosecute my mother, that’s still me in those YouTube clips talking nonsense about how the FBI would never take me alive. The video threats are the one charge he seems unambiguously contrite about.

Nevertheless, Brown did not carry out those threats and most likely if he ever had any intention of carrying them out it didn't last for more than a moment. Could be Brown is an excitable blowhard, and actually not a murderous thug. I'm reminded of some of Linus Torvalds' infamous rants and wondering how poorly he could be made to appear to the people at large if he were to be prosecuted by the gov't for something.

Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison

#64

Post by coldtea »

tptacek wrote: post #49
emptytheory wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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.

>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.

Well, for one the point is that you govern by example, and the example of giving the corrupt elit a "get out of jail free card" is bad for society. So, the comment could be read as: punish all guilty, don't selectively punish.

Another point to be made reading the comment is that there are essential crimes any moral citizen should abhor (such as torture and imprisonment without due process) that are going unpinished because those in power like them, and stuff that has no real merit to be illegal or to be punished that harshly but that it is, because those in power don't like it.

Nobody would read it as advice to not punish theft, domestic abuse etc because there's officially santioned torture that goes unpinished.

Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison

#65

Post by tptacek »

fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #63
tptacek wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The videos were idiotic, and although I made them in a manic state brought on by sudden withdrawal from Paxil and Suboxone, and while distraught over the threats to prosecute my mother, that’s still me in those YouTube clips talking nonsense about how the FBI would never take me alive. The video threats are the one charge he seems unambiguously contrite about.

Nevertheless, Brown did not carry out those threats and most likely if he ever had any intention of carrying them out it didn't last for more than a moment. Could be Brown is an excitable blowhard, and actually not a murderous thug. I'm reminded of some of Linus Torvalds' infamous rants and wondering how poorly he could be made to appear to the people at large if he were to be prosecuted by the gov't for something.

Link to an example of Torvalds making a specific, plausible threat of violence against anyone?

Compare to:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/iv9i3r85fdcpu6g/Screenshot%202015-... https://www.dropbox.com/s/rnk8x15b6y1uw5j/Screenshot%202015-... https://www.dropbox.com/s/fw7nmmht41vtdsi/Screenshot%202015-...

Here's the applicable statute:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/875

He plead guilty to 875(c), and the DOJ dropped the "Retaliation" and "Conspiracy to make publicly available restricted information" charges for the same fact pattern. Notable in part because the retaliation charge had a stiffer sentence.

Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison

#66

Post by wahsd »

shit_parade wrote: post #10

The 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.

The Jeffrey Sterling case is another one of those interesting cases where our government is using the ruse of process and perceived legitimacy to railroad someone with little basis in provable fact. They went so far as to subpoena Condoleezza "I'm a liar and complicit in war crimes" Rice to sway the jury through celebrity.

Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison

#67

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

wahsd wrote: post #61
fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #42

Barrett'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 ne…

I like that guy. He has spirit that I only wish I had. I wonder if it is possible to fund his prison fund or something. I hope he publishes a book on the corruption of the prison system on the day that he's released and walks across the street of the prison to a book signing or something like that.

I'm glad you asked. https://freebarrettbrown.org/

He writes here. He's written several articles about his incarceration. He is hillarious: http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/author/barrettbrown/

There is an Amazon wish list somewhere too, but I can't seem to find it.

Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison

#68

Post by tptacek »

fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #50
rayiner wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

According to Kim Zetter's reporting, Brown's communications with Stratfor had the overt effect of concealing Jeremy Hammond's involvement, so much so that he was charged with obstructing the investigation, not simply for being a spokesperson. His assistance was allegedly material, not moral.

Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison

#69

Post by tptacek »

coldtea wrote: post #64
tptacek wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> 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. Well, for one the point is that you govern by example, and the example of giving the corrupt elit a "get out of jail free card" is bad for society. So, the comment could be read as: punish all guilty, don't selectively punish. Another point to be made reading the co…

This comment reads as if I thought torture should go unpunished.

Re: Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison

#70

Post by tptacek »

fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #53
specialp wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any cases where NSA illegal wiretaps were used as evidence in court in a standard trial like this against a U.S. citizen? If the FBI said well our evidence is a confidential informant that would not be valid as the defense has a right to cross examine witnesses and evidence. This guy pled guilty. Maybe it was due to fear of courts handling tech cases, or maybe it was due to the fact that there was a large…

>Do you have any cases where NSA illegal wiretaps were used as evidence in court in a standard trial like this against a U.S. citizen? Okay please stop this nonsense. It is not necessary or reasonable to expect any individual to be able to collect of provide evidence that the most well-financed, most-powerful spy agency ever known to exist has spied on them and that the government (DOJ) has illegally used information…

Non-falsifiable argument is non-falsifiable.
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