Growing increasingly disturbed
- Online Journalists are ISPs? – FBI demanding retention of records by reporter Declan McCullagh under laws which apply to ISPs (not reporters)
- Aug 8:
The synopsis of Austin’s crime is linking to sites that contain information on building bombs.
Federal proscecutors argued that his political beliefs were the violent
overthrow of the government, or a revolution combined with information
on how to acheive it. Austin’s account and rebuttal of the case
(lots of comments) can be found on RaiseTheFist.com’s website.
Extrapolated within reason, this case lays the foundation requiring
political journalists to navigate a political minefield when reporting
terrorism acts and U.S. policies. For example, any site that has
information on weapons (e.g. – CNN’s article on the risks of building dirty bombs and the difficulty in acquiring material), combined with an acerbic or dissenting viewpoint of the government’s policies (e.g. – a CNN article on the U.S. helping Saddam in the 80s) could be grounds for proscecution. - Terror Law Nabs Common Criminals
“Within six months of passing the Patriot Act, the Justice Department was conducting seminars on how to stretch the new wiretapping provisions to extend them beyond terror cases,” said Dan Dodson, a spokesman for the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. “They say they want the Patriot Act to fight terrorism, then, within six months, they are teaching their people how to use it on ordinary citizens.”
Prosecutors aren’t apologizing.
- Sep 24: Hackers are ‘Terrorists’ Under Ashcroft’s New Act
- 9/27: U.S. Uses Terror Law to Pursue Crimes From Drugs to Swindling
- 6/3: For Jailed Immigrants, a Presumption of Guilt
Am I out of line in saying that America has been betrayed by her stewards, or does that make me a terrorist?
(yeah, I’m feeling much safer now)