This does not add up. At 300 days behind bars and counting, the journalist, information activist and eccentric Barrett Brown is facing 105 years in prison. So far, Brown faces up to 17 charges ranging from sharing stolen credit card information online (obtained by other hackers) to knowingly concealing evidence.
Today, we see a different story. Brown is accused of using information obtained by online hacktivists to report on the operations of private intelligence firms and military contractors. As a result, he faces harsh legal responses from the government for his pursuits and attempts to disseminate information in his possession related to these agencies. Although innocent until proven guilty, Barrett Brown and other hacker-activists’ alleged work has shed light on politically contentious issues in private and government relations that now cannot be unknown. With Brown’s crowd-sourced wiki, ProjectPM, supposedly in ownership of 5 million emails relating to the Stratfor hack: their actions were bound to garner the attention of various “powers that be.”
It is argued by many that information wants to be free. The more information that is available, the better. I believe most would agree with this general argument. With this in mind, however, it is disturbing to realize that an individual or group who decides to use information that is freely available online–from the alleged work of others– may face up to 105 years in prison. Others may argue that “criminals” must be punished for their actions. The more governments let their citizens get away with crime, however defined, the more it will occur. But this could not be further from the truth. It is unsurprising to see the government come down on Barrett Brown with such convincing display of military might. This same heavy-handedness is observed in other hacktivist sentencing and responses in recent years.
Many wish that this were not the reality of the society in which some of us live. Information is an incredible power and those with power have historically controlled information. But the Internet is changing this notion and those with power may begin to feel threatened. As such, it is unsurprising that this response was taken against Barrett Brown. It appears that the government and criminal justice system feel that if they do not respond severely to hackers and leakers, people in government and private industry positions will follow suit. In this case, the power would then be in our hands. But this is not the case: power is still largely concentrated in private industries and behind government walls. However, we are observing a power shift. What we are observing today is contemporary “crimes” and civil disobedient activity influencing the past course of history by creating openness and transparency. Good for some, bad for others.
With this in mind, Barrett Brown is facing a ridiculous and absurd amount of time behind bars. The threat of 105 years is just one of the many concerning infringements of personal liberties currently in play around freedom of information and Internet practices.
