Sherman Austin

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Sherman Martin Austin (b. 1984) is an african american U.S. citizen . Austin is an anarchist and a former politcal prisoner. He was a former webmaster of the internet site RaisetheFist.com. He has put out a rap cd at [1]

1 FBI background
2 Prosecution
3 Public opinion
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] FBI background

On May 1st, 2001, the FBI received information about a possible server intrusion and defacement of the web site of the James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness. The information contained on that web site's home page had been deleted and replaced with politically militant rhetoric. It also contained New World Order conspiracy theories, and a credit of responsibility given to a group calling itself UCAUN (Underground Counteractive Assemblage Universal Network). Approximately 40 other websites had also been defaced with similar information, with UCAUN claiming responsibility within the defacement text. In addition, the coding for a number of these defaced sites contained links to RaisetheFist.com.

While Austin has not been convicted of any hacking crimes, there are a number of facts that would seemingly connect him with certain computer crimes, as documented in the January 16, 2002 search warrant and affidavit issued by the FBI. ^[1]

[edit] Prosecution

[edit] Search and apprehension

On January 24, 2002 the FBI and the Secret Service armed with a search warrant raided Austin's home. Austin was 18-years-old and home with his twin sister, agents questioned him without an attorney for six hours and seized all of his computer equipment and political literature. A week later Austin attended the anti World Economic Forum protests in New York City where he was arrested by the FBI for "distribution of information related to explosives or weapons of mass destruction".

[edit] Conviction

Austin an 18-year-old African American male, claimed that he never authored any information about explosives. Nick, a 16-year-old white male from Orange County admitted to authoring and posting the 'Reclaim Guide" on a free hosting space located on Sherman's server. FBI dsicovery files referred to an area of the Raise the Fist server ("www.raisethefist.com/exit ) which was entitled Reclaim Guide authored by Nick, who was questioned by the Special Agent John I. Pi and never admitted to authorship of the information. The FBI never charged Sherman but instead coerced him into signing a plea for distributing Reclaim Guide.

Sherman was cooerced into entering a guilty plea to violation of 18 U.S.C. 842(p) which makes it a crime to distribute bombmaking information knowing or intending that the information will be used for a violent crime. ^[2] Sherman was never formally charged with any crime.

The government threatened him with a "terrorism enhancement" to the charge under the USA PATRIOT Act and, if the case went to trial and he was convicted of such, a potential 20 year sentence. On August 4, 2003, he was sentenced in U.S. District Court by Judge Stephen V. Wilson to 12 months in a federal jail, a $2000 fine, three years probation, and as well as other restrictions. His time was served in a federal institution in Tucson, Arizona.

[edit] Release

Austin was released one month early in July 2004 with 3 years of probation which prohibits him from having access to a computer as well as knowingly associating with individuals who "espouse violence for political change".

[edit] Public opinion

In February 2006, Austin released a statement on Indymedia claiming that the National Security Agency had installed illegal wiretaps before and during the investigation against him.^[3]

Austin's mother, Jennifer Martin Ruggiero, is an outspoken advocate for her son.

Many Americans consider Austin a political prisoner. Since his arrest, Austin has become a cause célèbre on the internet for anarchists, with many sites dedicated to "freeing" Austin. Zack de la Rocha, lead vocalist of the band Rage Against the Machine, came out in support of Austin.

Carnegie Mellon University professor David S. Touretzky, who posted a mirror of the Reclaim Guide on his web site in reaction to the FBI raid on Austin, has not been charged or arrested. Touretzky has distanced himself from Austin's politics, which he characterizes as "mindless", and has dismissed the Reclaim Guide as amateurish. He points out that books like Home Workshop Explosives, which offer better information about making explosives, are sold on the popular website Amazon.com.