Appeals Court Says Feds Can File Oversized Brief In Weev Case, But His Defense Has To Keep Its Reply Short

from the due-process! dept

Mon, Dec 30th 2013 11:37am — Mike Masnick

The case against Andrew "weev" Auernheimer is already crazy enough. He's been charged by the feds with a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) for finding a huge security hole created by AT&T. Still, a court found him guilty. The appeal is ongoing, with the DOJ basically arguing that weev broke a rule that it made up. And, now, the third circuit appeals court is apparently stacking the deck against weev.

The government had made a request to file an "oversized" brief to present their case. In response, weev's lawyers requested the ability to file an "oversized" brief in reply to the government's brief. The DOJ did not oppose this request. Yet, the court approved the government's request while denying the defense request. In short: the government can file a giant brief throwing the kitchen sink of legal theories at weev, while weev's team is limited in how much space it has to reply. No matter what you think of weev, who seemed to take joy in pissing off just about everyone, at the very least you'd think he deserved the right to present a full response to the claims made against him by the government.

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Filed Under: andrew auernheimer, cfaa, doj, oversized brief, weev

23 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 30 Dec 2013 @ 11:50am

In their "brief" reply, simply state that "everything the government is saying is bullshit."

If the "court" (and I use the term loosely) is going to act like a redneck clown court, then I see no reason why it should be given any modicum of respect.

So much for justice.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Dec 2013 @ 11:51am

What? Actually have a real case where justice is the predominate consideration in court? Our court system has become a mockery of the word justice. You get justice according to how much you can afford to pay for.

We are seeing this on multiple levels. At GITMO, those accused are not allowed to use memory of torture in their defense against any charges that may have come about from said torture. The military broke all legal precedence in spying on the client/lawyer in talks, without mentioning it at all to either party. Nor is it likely to be admissible evidence in that kangaroo court.

Make no mistake I am all for giving terrorists their just due but there is a huge question that the right terrorists and financial supporters are even in the states. One might start with looking at the wealthy and those in power in Saudi Arabia and releasing the redacted report sections on that from the 9/ll investigation that Bush decided were national security issues. Those congressmen who have read the report have stated they have come away both pissed and amazed that the politicians have allowed the government to go in the direction it has gone rather than after the real perps.
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Charles (profile), 30 Dec 2013 @ 12:01pm

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Oh, wait...
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Dec 2013 @ 12:05pm

Re:
One Nation under my Boot, methinks.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Dec 2013 @ 12:07pm

America is becoming everything it stood against.
America is no bastion of the free world.

Live long enough to see yourself become the enemy.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 30 Dec 2013 @ 12:14pm

rules are only for the little people.
The Government must be allowed to do anything it needs to to keep its corporate sponsors happy, and to apply the rules evenly is just a pipe dream in the minds of the cogs in the machine.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Dec 2013 @ 12:33pm

Re:
People that have been watched lots of cases from the outside, e.g. by following the SCO case on groklaw, or any of the prenda cases, know that judges will often give the side with the weakest case a bit of help to try to level the playing field. So this could be a good sign for weev. Of course, it could also be exactly what it appears to be. The appeals court could have already decided that the government says it's bad, so it must be bad.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Dec 2013 @ 12:41pm

Justice
Bit by bit, America is dropping even the pretense of justice.
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Internet Zen Master (profile), 30 Dec 2013 @ 12:53pm

Re:
Which corporate sponsors is it keeping happy, exactly?

Because the exploits the NSA's doing have kinda done a bit of damage to American's tech corporations (Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Apple, etc.) by destroying consumer trust in U.S. tech [which, last I checked, is one of the only industries America hasn't completely outsourced yet].

So, who are they trying to appease again?

All that being said, following the 'stacking the deck against them' line of thought, it feels like we're seeing the judge/dealer let the DOJ start out with a full house and deals weev's defense a bad hand and they're only allowed to bluff.

This stinks of bullshit to high heaven.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Dec 2013 @ 1:42pm

Re: Justice
Government prosecutor. Government court. One hand washes the other.
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KoD (profile), 30 Dec 2013 @ 1:45pm

Re:
Fascism here we come!
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Anonymous, 30 Dec 2013 @ 2:14pm

Re: Re: Justice
And the CONstitution that so many seem to fervently worship gave us this system.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Dec 2013 @ 3:04pm

Re: Re:
It is right there in the article.

AT&T.
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out_of_the_cornhole, 30 Dec 2013 @ 3:22pm

Re: Re: Re: Justice
No it didn't. The "CONstitution" has been bastardized and discarded where and when convenient.
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That One Guy (profile), 30 Dec 2013 @ 6:05pm

Well of course the rules are different
One side of the case get's the high court treatment, so they can do whatever they want, while the other side has to deal with low court treatment, and therefor has to follow the rules(even the ones made up on the spot apparently) to the letter.

Honestly given how much a sham the whole thing has been and continues to be, I'm surprised the court let the defense file at all, it's pretty obvious the outcome has already been decided, and the courts are just going through the motions to make it look good.
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Steerpike (profile), 30 Dec 2013 @ 6:15pm

Seems like this could be grounds for an appeal.
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2013 @ 3:25am

I thought there are some internatinal laws about the legitimacy of courts like these...
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Violynne (profile), 31 Dec 2013 @ 3:30am

AT&T
Our World. Delivered.

I miss the company that was once an innovating monopoly, not this pile of crap it is today.
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CN, 31 Dec 2013 @ 3:56am

Constitution, right to a fair trial...
What else are you Americans flushing down the toilet?
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2013 @ 9:25am

How is this a 'fair' trial?
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 31 Dec 2013 @ 9:37am

Re: Re:
All of the military contractors.
We spend billions and billions with them on snake oil.
We hire their workers and give them access to their competitors, and have the honor system that none of the data that might benefit the future of the corporation won't make its way to them.

And gee they hire all of those people who got them these laws and access, and we pay them more to support them indefinitely.
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kitsune361, 2 Jan 2014 @ 2:38pm

Re:
That's the problem, this is the appeal. If they fail here the best they can do is take an argument to the Supreme Court.
Hell, at the pace the appellate courts run, he'll be out before this is settled.
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J. Dirt, 3 Jan 2014 @ 10:44am

weev tormented even CHILDREN...
weev deserves life with no parole for his trolling and extortion schemes alone. He didn't even spare children life ruining levels of harassment. He once demanded $500 from me personally to remove highly defamatory and obscene content from ED. This content had my actual resume along with it, and also highly sensitive personal information. Weev is an extortionist and I would party for a month if/when some con shivs him in his liver on the Cellblock.
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