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posted by martyb on Monday August 31 2015, @09:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the time-to-start-torrenting-on-a-gigabit-connection dept.

PC World reports on the story of an American teenager who has been sentenced to eleven years in jail and who will have his Internet use monitored by the government for the rest of his life.

His crime was to assume that his Constitutionally-protected Freedom of Speech included posting pro-ISIS messages on Twitter and other social media.

"Today's sentencing demonstrates that those who use social media as a tool to provide support and resources to ISIL will be identified and prosecuted with no less vigilance than those who travel to take up arms with ISIL," said U.S. Attorney Dana Boente...

[Ali Shukri Amin] created the Twitter account @AmreekiWitness in 2014, and used it to provide advice and encouragement to ISIS and its supporters, according to court documents. At one point the account had over 4,000 followers. He also helped other ISIS supporters who sought to travel to Syria to join the group, according to the Justice Department.

The question that Soylentils should ask is, "What groups do I belong to that someone in government might decide are 'terrorist', and am I at risk for speaking out?"

The Canadian government for instance has come within a hair of declaring prominent environmental groups to be terrorists.


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by hemocyanin on Monday August 31 2015, @11:13AM

    by hemocyanin (186) on Monday August 31 2015, @11:13AM (#230097) Journal

    Probably the most import aspect is his wealth. Ford and GM supported Hitler: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm [washingtonpost.com] Also IBM: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edwin-black/ibm-holocaust_b_1301691.html [huffingtonpost.com]

    Of course, the Company's arguments are that we weren't at war with Hitler when they profited from/supported his regime, but then, we aren't at war with ISIS either as far as I'm aware. Secondly, while ISIS is a crummy shitty group, it can't hold a candle to Hitler. It is interesting that if you are rich enough, you can support even greater evil and instead of punishment, enjoy great profit. Perhaps times have changed, but I suspect not, considering how the executives at USBC who laundered billions for terrorists and drug dealers got some pretty inconsequential punishment:

    http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/outrageous-hsbc-settlement-proves-the-drug-war-is-a-joke-20121213 [rollingstone.com]

    Wow. So the executives who spent a decade laundering billions of dollars will have to partially defer their bonuses during the five-year deferred prosecution agreement? Are you fucking kidding me? That's the punishment? The government's negotiators couldn't hold firm on forcing HSBC officials to completely wait to receive their ill-gotten bonuses? They had to settle on making them "partially" wait? Every honest prosecutor in America has to be puking his guts out at such bargaining tactics. What was the Justice Department's opening offer – asking executives to restrict their Caribbean vacation time to nine weeks a year?

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Hairyfeet on Monday August 31 2015, @02:15PM

    by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Monday August 31 2015, @02:15PM (#230163) Journal

    Sigh....how much longer is this bullshit gonna be sold to us as truth? The key words with Ford and IBM are German Subsidiaries which just FYI every single business and factory in German territory? Supported the NSDAP war effort whether they liked it or not because that is how fascism works the corps are beholden to and controlled by the state. the Ford plant in Germany had no more say on whether they made engines for the German military than the Czech plants had in cranking out the 38(t) and Hetzer tanks, the same goes for IBM of Germany. In WWII Germany if it could be of some use to the military it was used for the war effort, wants of the company be damned.

    --
    ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by pe1rxq on Monday August 31 2015, @02:45PM

      by pe1rxq (844) on Monday August 31 2015, @02:45PM (#230185) Homepage

      Before the US declared war the german Ford plants were under full control of the Ford Motor Company and were using slave labor.
      And Henry Ford was a well known anti-semite.

    • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Monday August 31 2015, @03:22PM

      by hemocyanin (186) on Monday August 31 2015, @03:22PM (#230219) Journal

      However, according to documents of the Reich Commissar for the Treatment of Enemy Property, the American parent company [GM] continued to have some say in the operations of Opel after September 1939. The documents show that the company issued a general power of attorney to an American manager, Pete Hoglund, in March 1940. Hoglund did not leave Germany until a year later. At that time, the power of attorney was transferred to a prominent Berlin lawyer named Heinrich Richter.

      GM spokesman Mueller declined to answer questions from The Washington Post on the power of attorney granted to Hoglund and Richter or to provide access to the personnel files of Hoglund and other wartime managers.

      http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm [washingtonpost.com]

      • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Monday August 31 2015, @09:49PM

        by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Monday August 31 2015, @09:49PM (#230467) Journal

        Well duh, the war only started in 1939 for the Brits for the USA Germany wasn't an enemy until Dec 08 1941 when Hitler declared war on the USA

        --
        ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
  • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday August 31 2015, @03:22PM

    by tangomargarine (667) on Monday August 31 2015, @03:22PM (#230220)

    Secondly, while ISIS is a crummy shitty group, it can't hold a candle to Hitler.

    Well, for one thing, they both were/are on a program of genocide. So I don't think the comparison is too far off.

    --
    "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
    • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Monday August 31 2015, @03:30PM

      by hemocyanin (186) on Monday August 31 2015, @03:30PM (#230225) Journal

      My post was not meant as a comparison between the groups because they aren't comparable, not even by a longshot. That's Godwin territory.

      My point was that at a certain level of wealth and power, you can support whoever the fuck you want and rather than suffer consequences, profit.

      My point is that we don't live in a country where all citizens are governed by the rule of law, we live in a country where a small group rules the masses are ruled by law, and use those laws against people in ways they are immune.

      • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Monday August 31 2015, @03:32PM

        by hemocyanin (186) on Monday August 31 2015, @03:32PM (#230228) Journal

        damn, in a hurry:

        My point is that we don't live in a country where all citizens are governed by the rule of law, we live in a country where where the masses are ruled by law, by those few who are above the law.