Media Release: Activist Gets Year in Jail for Hosting, Link to Bomb Site
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, August 5, 2003
Contact:
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Will Doherty
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Executive Director
Online Policy Group
press@onlinepolicy.org
Activist Gets Year in Jail for Hosting, Link to Bomb Site
Online Policy Group Opposes Flagrant Free Speech Violation
San Francisco -
The Online Policy Group (OPG) today
condemned 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."
"Constitutional free speech protections are most important
when they protect the speech many people find troublesome,"
said OPG Executive Director Will Doherty. "Sherman Austin
did not pass the litmus test for speech directly inciting
others to violent action when he hosted or placed links to
bomb-making sites on his website and he should not have
received jail time for simply speaking his mind, however
controversial his opinions may be."
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.
For this media release:
http://www.onlinepolicy.org/media/030805jailforbomblinks.shtml
Sherman Austin's website:
http://www.raisethefist.com/
Archive of court documents and media coverage of the case:
http://cryptome.org/usa-v-sma-dkt2.htm
About OPG:
The Online Policy Group (OPG) is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to online policy research, outreach, and action on
issues such as access, privacy, and digital defamation. The
organization fulfills its motto of "One Internet With Equal
Access for All" through projects such as donation-based
email, email list hosting, website hosting, domain
registrations, colocation services, technical consulting,
educational training, and refurbished computer donations.
OPG focuses on Internet participants' civil liberties and
human rights, like access, privacy, safety, and serving
schools, libraries, disabled, elderly, youth, women, and
sexual, gender, and ethnic minorities.
Find out more at
http://www.onlinepolicy.org/
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