Webmaster sentenced to 1 year in prison
 

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2003/08/75677.php

SHERMAN AUSTIN SENTENCED TO ONE YEAR IN FEDERAL PRISON

Sherman Austin, webmaster of RaisetheFist.com, was sentenced today, August 4, 2003, to one year in federal prison, with three years of probation. Judge Wilson shocked the courtroom when he went against the recommendation of not only the prosecution, but the FBI and the Justice Department, who had asked that Austin be sentenced to 4 months in prison, and 4 months in a half-way house, with 3 years of probation.

Austin's probation stipulates, among other things, that (1) he cannot possess or access a computer of any kind without prior approval of his probation officer, (2) if his probation officer gives permission, the equipment is subject to monitoring and is subject to search and seizure at any time, without notice, (3) he cannot alter any of the software or hardware on any computer he uses, (4) he must surrender his phone, DSL, electric, and satellite bills, (5) he cannot associate with any person or group that seeks to change the government in any way (be that environmental, social justice, political, economic, etc.), and

(6) he must pay over $2,000 in fines and restitution. Austin must surrender himself to the Federal Bureau of Prisons by September 3, 2003.


FROM SHERMAN AUSTIN:

On Jan 24, 2002 , my home was surrounded and raided by approximately 25 heavily armed FBI and Secret Service agents in one of the governments first attempts to exercise the new US Patriot Act. I was interrogated for several hours while they ransacked my room and they seized a network of computers which I used to run my web site raisethefist.com. They also seized protest signs, and political literature. Their excuse was a protest guide (which I didn't author) that was posted to my site which a small portion contained information on explosives. The FBI had been monitoring the site long before this was ever posted, and long before Sept 11. The "explosives information" on my site (again which I didn't author) doesn't compare to what you an find on any other web sites such as howthingswork.com, Loompanics.com, Bombshock.com, Totse.com, Amazon.com, or the many neo nazi web sites which cover everything from assassinations, explosives, fraud and firearms. It's obvious a web surfer interested in making a bomb or taking part in other extra-illegal activities would not have to rely on Raisethefist.com. So how could the "bomb making information" on raisethefist.com be a concern to authorities? It wasn't a concern, it was simply used an excuse to exercise the new Patriot Act and take down the site. And that's what they did when federal agents spent 5-6 hours interrogating me while they disassembled each computer one by one , mirrored each hard drive, then loaded everything into a big white truck. During this whole process I was told I wasn't going to be arrested, and that I could even leave if I wanted to. Once the agents finished packing everything up, Special Agent John I. Pi, who was conducting the investigation and raid said that I had crossed a line, and as long as I got back on the other side of that line I'd be okay.

A week later despite what happened I still continued with my plans to attend the demonstration against the World Economic Forum in NY. As I was waiting for the march to begin, a swarm of NYPD officers rushed straight at me and scooped up about 26 people, one of which was me. We sat on a bus for 7 hours before being taken to Brooklyn Navy Yard Jail. I was there for about 30 hours before I was taken out of my cell and put into a backroom in handcuffs and interrogated once again by the FBI and Secret Service for several hours. They asked me questions such as if I was a terrorist or involved in any terrorist organizations. During the interrogation I noticed more and more agents walking through the room. I was told I wouldn't leave custody unless they searched my car. I said I had nothing to hide and simply wanted to go home. Stressed and aggravated, I signed over my keys. A few minutes later I was driven to the court and released. As I was waiting for someone to pick me up, about 5 FBI agents entered the court and said I was arrested for "distribution of information related to explosives over the internet". One of the agents grabbed my neck and told me to shut the fuck up while I tried to tell one of the legal observers I was being arrested. I was hurried out of the court house into a black SUV where I was driven to a federal building. I was then taken to lower Manhattan MCC maximum security 24 hour lockdown federal jail facility. At my bail hearing the FBI called me a "man on a mission" and said I drove 3,000 miles to carry out my alleged "plot". The judge said I was a "threat to the community" and denied me bail, and I was to be extradited back to California to face my charges. After 11 days I was shackled and taken to an airforce base where federal inmates are boarded onto planes surrounded by guards with M16's and shot guns, like prisoners of war, and flown to a federal jail "hub" in Oklahoma. Once I got there, I learned the next day that the prosecutors decided not to file an indictment. I was released after spending 13 days in custody. When I got back to Los Angeles I put raisethefist.com back up almost immediately. I continued my political organizing within the community, as well as my work with Raise the Fist which developed into a Direct Action Network with chapters setup around the world. 6 months later prosecutors contacted my lawyer and said they found nothing to prosecute me for on my computers, but didn't want to "let me off the hook". They offered me a pre-indictment binding plea agreement which was initially 1 month in jail, and 5 months in a "community corrections facility". I rejected the plea at first, wanting to go to trial until we discovered the case was eligible for a terrorism enhancement, which could have added 20 years to my sentence.

I therefore decided to enter a plea. I played months of legal limbo until I finally expected to get sentenced to 4 months in jail and 4 months in a community corrections facility based on the final pre-sentencing report written by the USPO. The judge rejected the 4 months saying what kind of an example would it set for "future revolutionaries" wanting to act in the same manner. He stated he wanted to give me at least 8-10 months but first wanted the opinion of the Justice Department and the Director of the FBI in Washington, DC (Robert Muller). My sentencing was rescheduled several times until August 4th. I was convicted for felony; distribution of information related to explosives with intent, and sentenced to 1 year in federal prison with 3 years supervised release.

Distribution of information related to explosives is not illegal.. What's illegal is the INTENT part. They have to prove you have intent to use the information to cause further crime of violence .. and how do they prove intent? I think Bush made it clear when he said "you're either with me or against me".

Remember, fascism and a police state doesn't come all at once, it comes piece by piece.
How far will we allow it go until we are all locked up in concentration camps.

If we don't take matters into our own hands and do something about this now, then we are already prisoners of war.

Raisethefist.com is not shutting down, and the RTF Direct Action Network will continue to grow and remain active. A 1 year sentence is not the end of this. It's just the begining.


www.raisethefist.com

cliff notes?

:321GFY

right back at ya stud....:321GFY

This is complete bullshit. I'm serious, i love america. But i absolutely hate BUSH and his half-witted attempts to "protect our way of life" I think it's all bullshit....

A little stiff sentance.

You're a idiot. Either read the damn thing or don't. But don't be an asshole.

Also was distributing bomb making material legal before the Patriot Act? I'm pretty sure it was.

Man this really blows. It's kinda sad how in Hong Kong everyone protested Article 23 (Their version of the Patriot Act) and it didn't pass, while here no one said shit until it was too late.

Maybe it's the because of the FDA enforced food & water additives and preservatives. :winkwink:

It is hard to comment on this without knowing all the facts. However if all he did was a website and exercised his right to free speech this is a very chilling incident.

This could and may be a harbinger of things to come; very unpleasant things. I hope the Democrats have a strong candidate next year.

fucking oath.. im getting sick of the fucktards around here that can't help themselves but POINT OUT how ignorant they are by saying they can't read a fucking page worth of text.

Al Sharpton's looking better all the time.

you ain't seen nothing yet, I remember back in the late 1960's and the 1970's when you had the weathermen and I don't know how many groups. The FBI had spy's spying on spy's spying on spy's. I know first hand believe me, when me and one of my ex's lived in Denver, she did some work for them. Shit they even wanted to get spy's into Playboy, I bet they did. Lensman you better watch your white ass they be coming after you big boy.:Graucho

sweet jesus, his crime was 100% supposed "intent"? Its thought police time.

Not. Good.

Distributing unclassified information is not illegal. As the article says, what they got him for was his supposed "intent" to use it in some harmful fashion.

hehe, i was just about to say the thought police are coming, thats really scary tho in all seriousness. i hope you good US folk are smart enough to vote bush out of office this November.

You calling an early election?

Me too. I could understand it if the intent was demonstrable, like he had written plans to blow something up. Even then you don't prosecute him for the information itself, you prosecute for conspiracy or planning to commit murder.

Looks to me like the FBI is using this case to cause a chilling effect on sites that distribute this sort of info.

Holy fuck.

This shit really pisses me off.

Nothing you can do but bitch about it, though.

You are correct and I could share personal experiences under the Nixon admin that make this mild. HOWEVER that does not make what is happening now correct. Nixon broke many laws and eventually he was forced to resign, Bush had laws passed to empower his government and keep it legal.

He has smarter handlers than Nixon had.

Keep in mind, you are reading the convicted parties version of events. Every man in prison is innocent, just ask him. :Graucho

For example, this part is complete bullshit imho:

"6 months later prosecutors contacted my lawyer and said they found nothing to prosecute me for on my computers, but didn't want to "let me off the hook". They offered me a pre-indictment binding plea agreement which was initially 1 month in jail, and 5 months in a "community corrections facility".

Ummm yeah, the prosecutors called up the accused's defense attorney and told him they had absolutely no case and no evidence. Of course they did.

:1orglaugh

Keep in mind, though, that all he knows of what the prosecutors said is what his defense attorney told him...

Hate to break this to you, but this is not an uncommon occurence in the American justice system. People will take plea bargain deals & short sentences for things they are factually innocent of in order to avoid the risk of going to trial and being convicted of much more serious offenses.

worth the bump

doing a site about those topics..bomb making etc...is like one of us visiting cp sites...it's just not a good idea

There goes "Free Speach" and the 1st amendment.

Go USA! :thumbsup

Hardly comparable.

Bombs, explosives, fireworks, are legal and illegal in some places in the US. And the distribution of the info on the subject is NOT ILLEGAL. Nowhere in the US is CP legal.

This is freedom of speech we are talking about. Info is illegal?

Its been since the 60s someone voted for the president with a bullet.

A fine marine should come along any day now and place his vote from a tower or window.

He belongs in jail. period.

Ever been caught in a NY traffic jam because a group of social misfits wants to make a statement by blocking traffic?
I think they should shoot them with a couple hundred rubber bullets before arresting them.
:thumbsup

The webmaster rolled the risk dice and "crapped".

Amsterdam

"From a former top explosives expert with the Israeli Army comes a manual that presents ten simple yet powerful formulas for explosives and incendiaries that give the basis for making bombs, booby traps and mines. Learn to obtain or make the needed chemicals, or get substitutes. For information only!"

Improvised Explosives: How to Make Your Own

Umm something tells me he is not just some fattened webmaster sitting around playing armchair politics.

He actually has something to say, and THAT is what people are afraid of.

Turn your heads, next time it could be you.

I can buy books on this subject all day long from countless sources, just because he is aoutspoken he gets targetted.

Not right, no matter how you 'roll the dice'

Cool website.

First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.


Pastor Martin Niemöller

free speech in usa? good joke... :glugglug

First they came for the criminals and I did not speak out because I was not a criminal.
Then they came for the murderers and I did not speak out because I was not a murderer.
Then they came for the terrorists and I did not speak out because I was not a terrorist.
They never came for me because I didn't pose a threat to law abiding citizens.

wrong. foment armed rebellion of the government, go to jail.

Well, like the Hun and the rest of you who LINK TO INFO.

He has his disclaimer:

Disclaimer:

The information contained within RaisetheFist.com website and the domain names raisethefist.com is for educational purposes only and is NOT intended to encourage anyone to do anything illegal.

Raisethefist.com website and the domain names raisethefist.com provide all information for education and research purposes only.

The information, views and opinions contained within the information on RaisetheFist.com website and the domain names RaisetheFist.com are not those of the owner or the site host, neither are they necessarily those of the maintainer or the contributor.

Free speech is free speech.

I don't get it, why so many cops to arrest ONE guy???

How much overtime was paid and what cost to the taxpayers to pinch a guy? They didn't send this many guys to put the arm on Dillinger!

No, there's something else going on here. Something far more sinister.

If the feds were after sedition they'd be nailing all these nazi groups that somehow have pals in law enforcement.

No. There's something far more sinister here. Either this guy who got the business is some form of evil terrorist dude or he's just the victim of someone who's scared he's on to something.

really?so then you can yell,"fire" in a crowded movie theater?

exactly.
there's a limit to everything. you chatter on and on about overthrowing the government, you get noticed. start posting how to make bombs on the same page, get noticed more. show up at violent demonstrations about overthrowing the government, get noticed even more.
At some point you land in jail.
Assclowns who want to protect those actions behind free speech are the biggest danger to free speech.

yelling 'fire' in a theatre would be considered a form terrorism, at least by definition. Disturbing the peace or whatever else they could nail you with.

There is a difference between terrorizing a people, and exorcising your rights to protest and free speech.

He did nothing illegal did he?

If so, what was it?

Intent to bomb? riot? guerilla armies? hahah

If so, where did he put the bomb? Where is this armed rebellion you speak of, since THAt is what you said he should go to jail for 'foment armed rebellion...'

Fact is, he didnt yell fire in a theatre to scare anyone. He attended marches and pickets, as it is in his AMERICAN rights to do so. Holding a sign a crime in the US alrwady?

Should we JAIL all protestors? thats basically what you are saying.

this is quite disturbing. perhaps a situation where the justice system being left to one person isn't in the best interest in the community. although from what i saw, it didn't appear this guy should be punished at all, but on the bright side the article did mention that the sentence the judge gave out was against the recommendation of the fbi and prosecution. that's about the only bit of sunshine i read in it.

although it is kindof troubling that the judge could be like that...

I suggest you familiarize yourself with treason and rebellion, its definition under the law and its penalties.
this clown got off lite.
Also, as explained above, there's more to the story than GFY knows.
I find it odd that a certain number of you always side with the criminal.

Every time someone pulls your finger, you assume that you're wise.

Not siding with anyone, simply trying to maintain a conversation about an honestly interesting subject.

But if I had to side, it surely wouldnt be with the christians or the republicans in office.

Oooh do i go to jail now?

I always find it funny when the authorities arrest a hacker or webmaster they need 25 FBI agents with semi-automatic weapons........ what's he going to do throw his keyboard at you?

What? The land of the free?

Whoever told you that is your enemy.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Fuck this douche bag... Running a bullshit site like that.
Hes lucky hes in the States... If he was in Lebanon he probably would have got shot on that first raid.

Sure the same could be said about 75+% of the sites people run from the states and are on this board.