18yr old jailed for owning a website

An 18 year-old kid starts a website called RaisetheFist.com. Its an open site, so one user uploaded his page onto the site and Mr. Austin provided a link to it. On the linked site, documents on "how to build explosives" are found. Mr. Austin is arrested by the FBI for "distributing" these documents while the author is only questioned. Rather than risk 23 years in jail, Mr. Austin pleads guilty to the count and the prosecutor recommends a one month jail sentence (Mr. Austin was offered this if he pleaded guilty). Nutty right wing judge decides to make an example of this "revolutionary" (I guess, he's not up to date on how this country was started) and is jailing him for 1 year with 3 years probation. What they are essentially doing is eliminating an effective website used to voice opinions and takin one more step closer to censorship.

For more information go to this site
Free Sherman Austin

This incident will just give somethig to be compared to in future cases like this.

Interesting link mika, thanks a lot.

Not everything is about oppressment, and your right to free speech being taken away. This young man paid for a server, to host his web site. He then knowingly published directions on how to make a bomb. Now, that makes his age irrelivant, as well as the provider of his information. While the original author of the site had the information, the legal adult whose name it was under in the webserv company's book, was the other guy who is going to jail. That's just the way the legal system works. And I personally don't believe that the judge was an evil git about the whole deal. He made the right decision.

Most people don't realize "what really happened."

He originally published the links to the bomb making pages (molotov cocktails and "drano bombs") within a call-to-action story about an upcoming protest in Seattle. He encourage anarchists to have these bombs at the read in case the "jack booted feds" interrupt their planned voilent protest.

He later removed the story, and kept the links and often referred to "those bomb" links within other articles.

The law is clear... posting links is one thing... and not a crime. You can still find pages like those on Google. But posting directions for bomb making together with recommendations on where an how to use them is something else. This is what he did... this is why he's going to jail.

Originally posted by Loki
Not everything is about oppressment, and your right to free speech being taken away. This young man paid for a server, to host his web site. He then knowingly published directions on how to make a bomb. Now, that makes his age irrelivant, as well as the provider of his information. While the original author of the site had the information, the legal adult whose name it was under in the webserv company's book, was the other guy who is going to jail. That's just the way the legal system works. And I personally don't believe that the judge was an evil git about the whole deal. He made the right decision.

You can go to just about any public library and find books with info about how bombs are constructed. Or at least you could before 9/11. Even if there aren't any books that tell you specifically how to make a bomb, science books still give you simple formulas for explosives.

But posting directions for bomb making together with recommendations on where an how to use them is something else. This is what he did... this is why he's going to jail.

Yep! He wasn't too bright, obviously.


[Edited on 4-9-2003 by Satyr]

Yip, break the law, reap the consequences.

Yip, break the law, reap the consequences

Not if your rich and have a lot of connections.