A federal magistrate today dismissed with prejudice a disgraceful DMCA prosecution against three young Texas men who bought a lot of cell phones while looking Arab.

The three were rousted by local law enforcement in Michigan last month after they were spotted driving from Wal-Mart to Wal-Mart buying as many low-cost pre-paid cell phones as they could get their hands on. Tuscola County authorities arrested them as suspected terrorists and made a lot of noise.

Then when the case didn't pan out the feds stepped in with charges that the men conspired to violate the DMCA. "I think (law enforcement) dug themselves a hole and they tried to dig themselves out," defense attorney Nabih Ayad told me.

This is exactly what happenned in Georgia when a prosecutor brought a Tech student up on 4 felony charges for making dry ice noise makers because the local police told the press it was "terrorism."

It's hard to imagine anything creepier than the FBI merging homeland security hysteria with corporate IP extremism.

I agree.

27B Stroke 6: Michigan cellphone 'terror' case dismissed