Another Case Of Prosecutorial Bullying Against A 'Hacker'
from the maybe-it's-time-to-rethink-this-approach? dept
As the tragic death of Aaron Swartz resides fresh in our memories, there has been a renewed interest by the public in the way prosecutors use the threat of more jail time as a carrot (edit: should have said "stick"; thanks comments section!) to secure plea bargains. The way the system is set up allows for an arena in which justice is no longer the objective. Instead, an injustice can be used in some kind of strange "ends justify the means" game that would make Lady Justice weep openly. With the odds firmly stacked against anyone that falls in the crosshairs of a federal prosecutor, this is a horrifyingly unjust method for achieving justice, and it appears to be a method favored for use against so-called hackers and hacktivists.Now, lest you think that the Swartz case was an isolated event, or in case you thought perhaps there would be some sort of ripple effect as a result of it, you should note that prosecutors in the Barrett Brown case appear to be pursuing similar tactics. For those of you not familiar with Brown, he is the self-proclaimed spokesperson for Anonymous recently arrested for allegedly threatening an FBI agent.
Brown was arrested and taken into custody in September after allegedly threatening an FBI agent. In December 2012, he was indicted by a federal grand jury for trafficking “stolen authentication features,” as well as "access device fraud" and “aggravated identity theft.”
On Wednesday, Brown was hit with one count of “concealment of evidence,” and one count of “corrupting concealing evidence.”And what did Brown do to "conceal evidence"? Apparently he "hid" his laptop with his mother's dishes. Apparently putting a laptop where the Feds don't obviously look is now "concealing evidence."
I won't sit here and compare Brown and Swartz in terms of character. Not because I know or don't know enough about either of them to do so, but rather because that would miss the point entirely. I'll leave it to others to erect the false justification of character assassination. Instead, I'd rather focus on how prosecutors appeared to think that the original charges, which could lead to 90 years of imprisonment for Brown, were apparently not enough and decided to lump this last charge on top of the others. Brown's former attorney, Jay Leiderman, appears to be similarly flabbergasted.
“I would not have seen a third indictment coming,” Leiderman told Ars. “You would think the 90 years of prison exposure that they had on him was enough. Are we at a point in society where we think that 90 years is no longer enough?”As Ledierman goes on to say, at some point we departed the realm of prosecuting hacktivists and instead entered the realm of persecuting them. If there are crimes committed, let Brown or whoever else stand trial. If the law is behind the times, or written in a way that is ridiculous (as in the Swartz case), we can change the law. There's nothing wrong with the argument that that's a responsibility that falls on the public via whom we elect to government. All that said, for hacktivist crimes, or even those that Brown is accused of, to result in 90 years of jail time -- and for that to not be good enough for prosecutors -- is an absolute joke. Lumping on yet another, more minor, charge to pressure the accused is a downright travesty.
Leiderman speculated that the new indictment was a legal pressure tactic against Brown.
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Filed Under: aaron swartz, barrett brown, concealing evidence, prosecutorial discretion
Reader Comments
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The threat of jail time would be the stick, not the carrot. The carrot is whatever deal they're getting them to agree to.
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Did you do this so he would have something to be right about for a change?
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The problem is that prosecutors, by deciding both the carrot and the stick, and piling on more and more charges, are becoming judge, jury and executioner. They're deciding who gets punished and for how long. And they seem to have no sense of fairness what-so-ever, so the system is falling apart completely.
Brown's probably guilty of quite a bit of stuff, but if the prosecutor feels the need to pile on charges past 90 years worth of prison time, then the "carrot" he's determined Brown should plead to is probably too extreme. And that's wrong, punishment should be commensurate to the crime, no matter what the crime is.
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Re: Carrot vs Stick
You hang the carrot from the stick, which is attached to the animal you're trying to guide. I wish people would stop saying carrot OR stick, and remember it's carrot AND stick!!!
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Re: Re: Carrot vs Stick
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�Do you really want to live two whole lives in prison?�
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*here have a jelly bean*
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We can play this game all day, or we could just discuss the content....
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I find it entertaining that it is so bothersome to you even though it is past-your-eyes-duh.
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over 58,000 results. No go away. You're slimier than a used car salesman.
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Was wondering...
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Re: Was wondering...
"'I would have thought in the wake of Aaron Swartz that the government might have learned something and might have thought twice about bringing the weight of the entire United States down upon someone when it wasn�t warranted,' says Leiderman."
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At least at that point they wouldn't have to worry about feeding him.
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More convictions means a better paying position plain and simple. It's sad that it works that way but it's the truth. It's not how shit was supposed to be as all.. :/
Home of the free as long as you keep your head buried in the sand.
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And whistleblowers, too.
Interestingly, Scooter Libby was also sentenced to 30 months. That is, until GWB commuted his prison sentence.
Something tells me that Obama won't be commuting Kiriakou's sentence, though
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What difference does a sentencing guideline make when the problem is that you're turning a non-violent act - which resulted in no irreparable harm to anyone - into a felony? The penalties associated with being such a second-class citizen in some regards nearly outweigh being put into prison.
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The Problem...
Are we now at the point where the only solution is to have the prosecution state their demanded sentence in a pre-trial filing (arraignment?), and cannot go lower in a plea-bargain. And if the judge finds that unreasonable, he tosses the case? Like a civil case, the lowest offer you make is the offer that sticks?
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The political system has doomed the country.
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"corrupting concealing evidence"... That must be interfering with someone else when they are in the process of concealing evidence?
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Past death
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The priorities of our society are really disappointing.
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Suppose I walk into a company's computer room, take an axe and completely destroy their servers. I've just cost them thousands, possibly millions of dollars in damages, not to mention data loss, time loss, etc.
I will get a lighter sentence than if I merely hacked into the system and copied some data.
Common sense no longer has any any place in today's court system.
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That's all you need to know. This is a witch hunt. A scare tactic.
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Shakespeare
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Re: Shakespeare
https://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20121219/11025021439/choose-your-own-ham let-becomes-largest-publishing-project-kickstarter-thanks-to-public-domain.shtml#c412
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