http://www.russiatoday.com/...
Caught in the Net tweeting arrest
03 November, 2009, 09:33
The FBI has accused a US citizen of using the Internet to organize protests at the September G20 Summit i...
The FBI has accused a US citizen of using the Internet to organize protests at the September G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, setting a precedent of a social networking arrest.
In this day and age, you are either a user yourself, or you know someone who is addicted to either Facebook or Twitter or both. Social networking sites draw millions of hits every day. But how safe are you when you say or do something on the web?
You may think there are a limited number of things you can do on the Internet that could get you in trouble. But as it turns out, in the US, the list is growing almost every day. And one man in New York has found this out the hard way.
Michael Wallschlaeger grows tomatoes up on his roof. He also has an old dog named Sahara and two turtles. He and a friend were arrested and charged by the FBI for allegedly directing protests at the G20 Summit in September.
Michael calls himself a hippie and an anarchist, and says he has gone through hell for his political beliefs.
How much more Gestapo-like can you get, really? I think all authoritarian governments dont like internal protesting. The whole idea of the G20 protests was an attempt to try to talk about those issues talk about the richest people in the world getting together making decisions for the 90% of us. Thats why we were down there trying to get our voice heard to change the policies of this very elite group, Michael says.
Michael was accused of tweeting the whereabouts of police officers to protesters, and informing the demonstrators about law enforcement actions. His home was raided by the FBI in search of suspicious items.
This is one of the items of interest the FBI listed as being a concern for some reason. Its a 1927 microscope kinda old antique. They were also concerned about my fencing equipment and various martial arts equipment. I taught fencing in high school and gave demonstrations at elementary school, and I taught womens self-defense classes, Michael confessed.
One of the attorneys involved in the case, Martin Stolar, says what the authorities did was nonsense from the very beginning.
[What Wallschlaeger did] is perfectly legal. It is exactly the same kind of speech that one would give if youre walking down the street with somebody, in the course of a lawful demonstration, and you say Hey, dont go down that street, because the police have said dont go there. That speech telling somebody what to do is totally protected. Its not counseling a criminal act, its trying to avoid a criminal act, Stolar says, concluding So, clearly it was political.
And although the charges against Michael and his friend were dropped later, a precedent for Internet arrests has been set for the first time in American history.
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Then he should have not tweetired and facedbook about the police. if he didnet do that then he would have not been spected as a terrist the FBI are doing there Job.
Mug5 was created BECAUSE of this...it does not allow government or people acting as agents of the government to register via contractual agreements (terms) :D
Michael Wallschlaeger did not commit a crime. The FBI committed a crime by violating his right of free speech. But, who protects the citizens First Amendment rights?
The Federal Government is supposed to guarantee the constitutional rights of the citizens. When the government violates its own law, who is left to protect us?
I believe Twiiter is an experiment, maybe in a couple of years the CIA will offer twits money to spy and list everything what goes on in your neighbourhoods and in your lifes without your consent...
Twitter/facebook/myspace are all the equivalent of inviting Big Brother into your house. Write every single detail of your life, allow yourself to be watched by groups of gov agents and strangers.
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Google Image Jeff Fisher President Obama 9-11
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The Federal Government is supposed to guarantee the constitutional rights of the citizens. When the government violates its own law, who is left to protect us?
Does anyone trust the government?
you name it ,you are right it creeps me out as well