Media Release: Activist Gets Year in Jail for Hosting, Link to Bomb Site

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, August 5, 2003

Contact:

Will Doherty

Executive Director
Online Policy Group
press@onlinepolicy.org

Activist Gets Year in Jail for Hosting, Link to Bomb Site

Online Policy Group Opposes Flagrant Free Speech Violation

San Francisco - The Online Policy Group (OPG) today condemned the sentencing on August 4 of political activist Sherman Austin to one year in jail for hosting a website describing bomb-making and for linking from his RaiseTheFist.com website to that website.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson sentenced Austin to triple the sentence term the prosecutor had recommended under a binding plea bargain agreement, along with three years of probation. He faces strict restrictions and monitoring of his use of computers, a $2,000 fine for restitution, and a prohibition from associating with any person or group that "espouses violence or physical force as means of intimidation, or achieving economic, social, or political change."

"Constitutional free speech protections are most important when they protect the speech many people find troublesome," said OPG Executive Director Will Doherty. "Sherman Austin did not pass the litmus test for speech directly inciting others to violent action when he hosted or placed links to bomb-making sites on his website and he should not have received jail time for simply speaking his mind, however controversial his opinions may be."

Although information on how to make bombs is commonly available in libraries, universities, and on the Internet, the U.S. Justice Department charged Austin under a law sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and passed by Congress that prohibits "distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction with the intent that such information be used in furtherance of a federal crime of violence." A charge related to possession of the components of a Molotov cocktail was dropped as part of the plea bargain agreement.

Austin, who took a plea bargain rather than face a potential 20 years in jail due to enhanced terrorism penalties, said yesterday he intends to surrender to the authorities on September 3 to begin serving his prison sentence.

For this media release:
http://www.onlinepolicy.org/media/030805jailforbomblinks.shtml

Sherman Austin's website:
http://www.raisethefist.com/

Archive of court documents and media coverage of the case:
http://cryptome.org/usa-v-sma-dkt2.htm

About OPG:

The Online Policy Group (OPG) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to online policy research, outreach, and action on issues such as access, privacy, and digital defamation. The organization fulfills its motto of "One Internet With Equal Access for All" through projects such as donation-based email, email list hosting, website hosting, domain registrations, colocation services, technical consulting, educational training, and refurbished computer donations. OPG focuses on Internet participants' civil liberties and human rights, like access, privacy, safety, and serving schools, libraries, disabled, elderly, youth, women, and sexual, gender, and ethnic minorities. Find out more at http://www.onlinepolicy.org/

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