I tell a lie, we so have a [[Sherman Austin]] Christiaan
On 6 Aug 2004, at 10:51 am, Christiaan Briggs wrote:
Pity we don't have a [[Sherman Austin]], I think he's due to get out of prison on the 1st of September. From what I've read he was likely coerced into pleading guilty.
Christiaan
On 5 Aug 2004, at 5:46 pm, Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales wrote:
There is the case of Sherman Austin, who was convicted in the U.S. for posting bombmaking information on the web. The law in question is not some post-9/11 Republican thing, it's a 1997 law championed by Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) and signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton.
Mr. Austin pled guilty rather than fighting it, which may or may not have been a sensible thing to do under the circumstances. (I tend to think that it was not a sensible thing to do, but I'm not in a position to judge.)
It is unclear to me whether such a law would be upheld as being constitutional, because the law requires an element of criminal intent, that is, it is illegal to post information about bombmaking to the Internet _with the intent that readers commit a Federal crime of violence_. In a recent case, the Supreme Court upheld a law against burning a cross _with the intent to intimidate_.
In any event, such a law would clearly not apply to Wikipedia, because our intent would never be that people commit crimes of violence. At the same time, of course, I would find it extremely unpleasant to be faced with a bogus prosecution for such a thing. I have a little girl at home, and I don't intend _at this point in my life_ to sit in Federal prison to make a point about freedom of speech. (I very much respect people who would, though, if their life circumstances are appropriate.)
--Jimbo
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