] On September 3, 2003 Sherman Austin surrendered himself
] to begin a one-year term in federal prison for the contents of a
] website that was authored by another boy and linked to Sherman's
] site, www.raisethefist.com, on a free-hosting area Sherman provided
] there. The other boy's site included a direct link to the "Reclaim Guide,
] a manual that provides crude instructions on how to build explosives.

Politech has been covering this story for quite some time, and I'm curious
what people on MemeStreams think about it. I've always been one step
away from memeing it.

This guy ran a left wing website on which he advocated violent action against corporations, government, etc... in response to globalization, and provided links to bomb making information. Diane Feinstein, for many years, has tried to make it illegal to post bomb making information on the internet. A few years ago she finally got one through, but only if you present it in a context where you intend that it be used to commit a violent crime. This guy was the first person to ever be prosecuted for it. The prosecution didn't ask for much in the way of sentencing. The judge, apparently, was appalled by that and gave the kid a year. Feinstein was also appalled at told the DOJ to use this law more often.

The reason I haven't memed this before is that this guy, regardless of what his friends are saying, really is guilty. I went through his website when this started. He was actually advocating violence and linking to bomb making information.

Should this be illegal? Well.... What if he was Osama Bin Lauden? OBL does the same stuff. He advocates violence for political reasons, and he provides information (and training camps) for people who answer his call. I think what OBL does ought to be illegal. Should what Sherman Austin did also be illegal? What is the difference?

Well, the most obvious difference is that OBL actually has people that listen to him and go through with his direction, whereas this raisethefist website was mostly the immature ramblings of an angsty teenager. No one has actually connected it with a real crime. Maybe its only illegal if people listen to you? Seems like a questionable distinction. Your actions and intents are the same. Should success be the measure of a criminal mind?

There is another difference. That is that OBL is involved in planning (and, furthermore, coordinating and funding) SPECIFIC actions, whereas Austin gives you a motive and some tools but leaves the details up to you. Is this where we should draw the line? It certainly seems like a place where you could draw one.

If you want to do that, then consider this website:
http://www.earthliberationfront.com/

This website is basically the same as Austin's in that it advocates violent (or is it just destructive?) action and provides tools. The LEGAL difference between this website and Austin's, in terms of t... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]