American Teen Gets 11 Year Sentence For Pro-ISIS Tweets That Taught People How To Use Bitcoin
from the really,-now? dept
Earlier this summer, the DOJ proudly announced that a Virginia teenager, Ali Shukri Amin, had taken a plea deal for "providing material support to ISIL" (the terrorist organization that everyone outside of the US government calls ISIS). This is back in the news now that Amin has been sentenced to 11 years in prison. Let's get this out of the way: ISIS is clearly a horrific and dangerous organization. But does what Amin did really deserve 11 years in prison? The details of the case against him also seem to raise some serious First Amendment questions about what counts as "material support."First: the one area where Amin's actions do seem fairly questionable are when he helped another Virginia teen travel to Syria, apparently to join ISIS. That part definitely seems like it stepped over the legal line. But, the rest of the charges against him seem... like a teenager using Twitter and other social media to discuss stuff he's interested in. Amin ran a Twitter account called @AmreekiWitness, which had about 4,000 followers. He tweeted pro-ISIS propaganda, but that still seems to be a form of protected speech, last I checked. And, his big "crime" appears to be linking to an article about why ISIS supporters should use Bitcoin.
The following are examples of the defendant's use of Twitter in furtherance of his conspiracy to provide material support to ISIL:Tweeting about Bitcoin and saying that ISIS needs a website is a crime? One that deserves over a decade in jail? Obviously, aiding ISIS in any way is incredibly stupid, but it seems like a pretty slippery slope to argue that teaching people how to use Bitcoin or saying that ISIS needs a website rises to the level of "material support for ISIS" by itself. It seems like such a definition could lead to many, many people at risk. If you disagree with US policy for dealing with ISIS and say so -- at what point does it cross over the line? It seems way too easy to twist this into criminalizing dissent, rather than actually supporting a designated terrorist organization.On or about July 7, 2014, using the @AmreekiWitness account, the defendant tweeted a link to an article he authored entitled "Bitcoin wa' Sadaqat al-Jihad" (Bitcoin and the Charity of Jihad). The link transferred the user to the defendant's blog, where the article was posted. The article discussed how to use bitcoins and how jihadists could utilize this currency to fund their efforts. The article explained what bitcoins were, how the bitcoin system worked and suggested using Dark Wallet, a new bitcoin wallet, which keeps the user of bitcoins anonymous. The article included statements on how to set up an anonymous donations system to send money, using bitcoin, to the mujahedeen.The defendant also operated an Amreeki Witness page on the website ask.fm. The defendant used these accounts extensively as a platform to proselytize his radical Islamic ideology, justify and defend ISIL's violent practices, and to provide advice on topics such as jihadists travel to fight with ISIL, online security measures, and about how to use Bitcoin to finance themselves without creating evidence of crime, among other matters.
On approximately August 1, 2014, the defendant showed support for ISIL and his desire to help garner financial support for those wanting to commit jihad. Through @AmreekiWitness the defendant discussed methods to provide financial support for those wanting to commit jihad and for those individuals trying to travel overseas.
On approximately August 19, 2014, the defendant showed support for ISIL and desire to support ISIL. The defendant tweeted that the khilafah needed an official website "ASAP," and that ISIL could not continue to release media "in the wild" or use "JustPaste." Through various tweets, the defendant provided information on how to prevent the website from being taken down, by adding security and defenses, and he solicited others via Twitter to assist on the development of the website.
The defendant also created the pro-ISIL blog entitled, "Al-Khilafah Aridat." On this blog, the defendant authored a series of highly-technical articles targeted at aspiring jihadists and ISIL supporters detailing the use of security measures in online communications to include use of encryption and anonymity software, tools and techniques, as well as the use of the virtual currency Bitcoin as a means to anonymously fund ISIL.
I'm all for coming up with ways to stop the spread of ISIS, and to prevent further attacks by the group. But jailing an American teenager over his tweets seems... excessive.
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Filed Under: ali shukri amin, bitcoin, doj, first amendment, isis, material support, terrorism
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At least he wasn't a whistleblower
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Re: At least he wasn't a whistleblower
Tyrants hate being made fools of
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While I think that what he did was probably criminal but 11 years seems vastly excessive for what he actually did.
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Horrible Organization X should use technology Y so they can move money without being tracked.
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If horrible Organization X used technology Y they can move money without being tracked.
Now imagine you said either of the above to stranger Z in a coffee shop and stranger Z ends up being with horrible Org X and the guy in-front of you that over hears it is following stranger Z and is with Government agency ABC... Do you deserve jail time for your comment?
Does your punishment change because "it is on the internet"?
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There is? From a purely 1st Amendment position I don't think so, but I may be wrong. Please tell us what the difference is.
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Horrible Organization X should use technology Y so they can move money without being tracked.
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If horrible Organization X used technology Y they can move money without being tracked.
It sounds like what he said was "Hey Horrible Organization X, here is how to do A B and C that will make it easier to do Terrible Thing Y, which I think you should do, without getting caught". If the description here is accurate it kind of sounds like material support for a terrorist organization. I don't know about 11 years but this doesn't sound like a ridiculous prosecution.
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Saying "I think you should do terrible thing Y" sounds like protected speech to me.
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I thought it meant material as in significant or relevant.
Saying "I think you should do terrible thing Y" sounds like protected speech to me.
It sounds to me like he did a lot more than that. He gave them specific information calculated to be useful in furthering their plans for terrorism. You could argue that that's protected speech too, but it's not just advocating something terrible.
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That is:
Write a novel or TV show script that involves terrorists using bitcoin and websites and other modern technology in realistic terms and you're just a writer.
Write the same information without including the fictional narrative and say that you want terrorists to actually use the information in real life and you're "providing material support."
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Nor is he going to have his family wiped out by a drone. Isnt it great to be American!?
Also, people outside the US call is IS. y'know, they changed their name a while ago. Part of some expansion champaign or whatever.
They should put an E in their name somewhere, lots of them are coming in Europe as "refugees".
By the way, is obama still going with the "fighting ISIS would help Assad" line? Because at this point, the IS is way worse than what the syrian government ever did.
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The punishments no longer fit the crimes
* Threats of 35 years for violating a website's T&Cs.
* A lifetime of harassment for whistle blowing.
* Seven years of legal threats for committing journalism.
* Drone-killed for "hacking the e-mail of a former aide to British Prime Minister Tony Blair."
WTF happened to the Land of the Free? To paraphrase a movie, 'You best start believing in a dystopian future ... you're in one!'
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Re: The punishments no longer fit the crimes
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Re: The punishments no longer fit the crimes
People realized it was a propaganda piece. Seriously, things have never been much better, the only difference is that these days people can easily get informed.
Like if you mention mkultra you will immediatelly be called a tinfoilhat retard while the government admited to some seriously fucked up shit like drugging and raping kids. oh and destroying evidence, so there were probably worse things.
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https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150610/15150231298/encrypted-messaging-service-stops -answering-warrant-canary-questions-suggesting-fbi-others-are-seeking-user-info.shtml
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Big double standard
HSBC caught laundering drug money NO jail time????
Jesus what kind of mad world do we live in
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Re: Big double standard
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I've got bad news
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And then some
It's not just excessive, it's flat out counter-productive. You fight extremists by showing people that you're better, and showcasing just how bad the other side is. Killing enemy combatants is fine militarily, but keeping them from replenishing their numbers, that is far more effective in the long run.
By going so over the top in their attempts to 'combat' the murderous thugs, the various governments are just making their message seem more legitimate than it actually is. Hearing about how bad some group in another country is is one thing, but experiencing the government cracking down on it's citizens is quite another, and far more visible to those same citizens.
Claims of fighting for freedom against oppressive governments doesn't work so well if the people actually living under those governments don't feel oppressed at all. If people can look around and easily show that the claims being made are bogus, the message isn't going to get very far. If however, the government does act as claimed, even if only in part, then the message will likely find a much more receptive audience.
You beat extremism in the long term by using military force only when absolutely necessary, with your primary tactic that of showing people that your side is the better one, and highlighting just how bad the other side is. Combating it by also acting extremist is just doing the other side's recruiting for them.
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Re: And then some
And if their major concern is the creation of domestic terrorist's, then creating an environment were people feel under a microscope 24/7 is not the solution, it's a recipe for creating domestic terrorist's.
Our leaders swore an oath to protect and defend the constitution and the more they ignore that oath, the harder it becomes to tell the them from the terrorists.
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Re: And then some
In a war of ideas (here "democracy versus terrorism"), the means are not important than the stated idea you fight for. Physically winning the war by using the opponents ideas just makes you lose the actual was: you end up proving that your beaten enemy was right.
It's different than a war for simple survival, where any mean is right as long as you're the one standing in the end, obviously... But the "war on terror"is not of this kind.
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I'm saying that the attitude of the US government and law enforcement is in contradiction with their stated purpose, which gives their opponents - here ISIS - more conviction and supporters. Even if US manage to nuke ISIS, other terrorists will rise and the US themselves will have validated terrorism as a legitimate strategy.
The only way to stop terrorists is the long term is to show them another way. To show them that there is another way to live with people of different opinions than simply crushing them with violence.
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Re: And then some
"Killing enemy combatants is fine militarily, but keeping them from replenishing their numbers, that is far more effective in the long run."
But you have to ask yourself, 'more effective' at what? Winning the War on Terror? Yes. But if the actual goal is perpetual war, and all the power and money that comes with it, then winning is counter-productive, politically.
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You might be able to defeat the living half, the lesser half, but if the ideology that powered it is left intact(and you can't kill an ideology with guns), then at most you've bought yourself a reprieve, a bit of calm before more people replace the ones you killed and the cycle starts anew. 'Endless war' is not a victory for anyone but the ones selling the guns.
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You are not going to win a primary by making potential terrorists feel silly rather than afraid.
The point of the non-military aspect to the 'fight' isn't to make them feel 'silly', it's to remove even the 'potential' from 'potential terrorists', and keep those sitting on the fence from joining the opposing side in the first place.
Decimate recruitment for terrorist groups, keeping them from renewing or increasing their numbers or even better causing them to lose members, eliminate any support they might have had from the public by showing people just how bad they are, and you remove a huge chunk of their staying power. At that point you can basically just wait them out, use the military to contain them, and they'll lose as the core fanatics die out and aren't replaced.
Now, some might argue that you can do this via purely or primarily military force, by killing the ones in the groups and inflicting enough fear in the public such that they can't renew their numbers, but I'd argue that's a failed strategy, utterly ignoring basic human psychology. Fear transitions to hatred and anger very easy, especially if you put someone in a position that they think they have nothing to lose or have to act if they want to defend themselves or others.
Sure you can kill one enemy, but if doing so convinces five other people that were undecided that you are the enemy, you've failed spectacularly if you're looking for something other than endless 'Side A kills people on side B, Side B kills people on Side A, Side A kills people on Side B...' If you want to deal with the problem for good, you have to get the public on your side, and you cannot do that with force and threats.
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I don't think it's a war that's possible to win militarily.
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You can't win the "war on terror". It's logically impossible. The only winnable wars are ones against a well-defined enemy, with well-defined victory conditions. "Terrorists" are not a well-defined enemy, and the "war on terror" has no victory conditions defined at all.
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I'd Say He's Guilty
If he had posted an article titled: "How to use bitcoin to avoid gov't snooping", I'd agree that his speech is protected. ISIS may use that information, but he'd have plenty of plausible deniablity, like a gun maker, that the tool is not to blame for its use.
But he specifically linked his instructions to ISIS, making it tactical for a specific purpose. He overtly indicated funding for ISIS as the objective of his lesson.
Intent matters, and he made his intent clear, and a matter of record.
I have no idea what the appropriate sentence is, but it's somewhere between nothing and whatever they give you for treason. If he's not a US citizen, then deportation.
You know, the same punishment we gave to Reagan and Oliver North for funding the Contras.
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and what about roll-playing trolls?
Some trolls take roll-playing to an elaborate level by setting up numerous personal blogs and websites, as if to prove that they're not 'obvious' run-of-the-mill trolls but are actually serious about everything they say.
But at what point does devil-advocacy roll-playing become a crime - a felony offense - when police authorities fail to see through the act (or even if they do, don't find it the least bit funny)? Would including a legal disclaimer ("for entertainment only") legally absolve them?
Or how about creating an alter-ego sockpuppet to argue against? In other words, if you can prove to police that you've simultaneously taken positions on both sides of a forbidden topic, would that automatically grant you a get-out-of-jail-free card? (or conversely, might having two sock-puppets agree with each other convict the person behind them of "conspiracy"?)
One thing for sure, claiming to be an amateur detective trying to infiltrate an illegal organization virtually never works , as only the police are allowed to pretend to be criminals to catch criminals. It's no secret that most 'jihadest' sites are government traps set up to ensnare the gullible, and are best left alone.
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Re: and what about roll-playing trolls?
I, for one, would be perfectly happy with putting most trolls in jail.
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Re: Re: and what about roll-playing trolls?
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huh?
Are we to the point of hunting down the authors of the Anarchist Cookbook and putting them in jail? Could be used by , lock it up. Lock them up.
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Re: huh?
Hahaha. You're funny!
That you ask that question indicates (to me) that you've never run afoul of the US "justice system." That you _actually_ break an _actual_ law is completely beside the point. All you need to do is annoy a person in power. They'll throw every charge in the book at you safe in the knowledge that they can make at least one of them "stick."
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The German government calls it IS.
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P.S. I do not support ISIS, but if free speech is have have any meaning, it means allowing those whose views you hate to have their say, and countering it with more speech.
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Interesting.
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as is the case with so many sentences in the USA, they are so far over the top, they defy sense! it's like throwing someone to the wolves for howling
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So now mike supports ISIS
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DON'T CROSS THAT LINE!! GET BACK IN LINE!!
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Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project
The Supreme Court ruled against the Humanitarian Law Project, which sought to help the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Turkey and Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam learn how to peacefully resolve conflicts. It concluded that Congress had intended to prevent aid to such groups, even if for the purpose of facilitating peace negotiations or United Nations processes, because that assistance did fit the law's definition of material aid as “training”, “expert advice or assistance”, “service”, and “personnel”.
Former President Jimmy Carter criticized the decision.
...
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Mischaracterization
But jailing an American teenager over his tweets seems... excessive.
Whether intentional or not, I think you've badly mischaracterized this person's actions.
- By describing it as tweeting you imply that it was just short messages, and how bad could that be? But the tweets weren't the problem, the blog post was.
- You summarize the post as "teaching people how to use Bitcoin" while leaving out the fact that he was specifically teaching ISIS how to use Bitcoin to further their terrorist agenda.
- Then you throw in some (apparently) completely unfounded speculation that this could be used to criminalize dissent, which is not what this case was about.
I'm glad you wrote about this and I certainly respect your position, but I found your summary very slanted. However in Techdirt fashion you provide extensive excerpts and links to documents so readers can judge for themselves, so well done there as always.
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Citizens United case
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Re: Citizens United case
Paying taxes = limiting free speech
There a 1000 ways to abuse that legal precedent!
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A lethal website? That is impressive!
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