Sherman+Austin

= = =Sherman Austin- A Virtual Legacy=
 * Note to parents and community members:** If there is any information on which you would like to comment or provide feedback/insight, please click on the discussion tab above. You must be a registered user. Please click here for those directions.

What happened?
Sherman Austin used to run a website called [|raisethefist.com] **(go to it at home, it's blocked at school)**, a website for anarchists. On January 24, 2002, Sherman's house was surrounded by about 25 heavily armed FBI and Secret Service Agents. It was one of the government's first attempts to use their new power brought to them by the Patriot Act. They stormed the house, raided his room and took the computers he used to run raisethefist.com. The reason? Someone had posted a small amount of information about how to make a bomb on raisethefist.com, and Sherman was accused of "distribution of information related to explosives or weapons of mass destruction." He could have been prosecuted for "terrorism enhancment" under the USA Patriot Act, but got off with one year of jail and a $2,000 fine. After his sentence, he started raisethefist back up again

Was it what should have happenned?
Sherman Austin was prosecuted for distribution of information related to explosives, but was he singled out? Sherman's site was being monitored before the incident, and even before the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Although his site did have some information on the making of a bomb, what about the sites like Amazon.com, or Bombshock.com, which also contain information about bombs, and not just a little bit of information, but entire books on the subject? Some say the entire thing was done just as an excersise for the FBI to try out the power brought to them the Patriot Act. No matter what the reason, the entire thing was unacceptable and sadly, it happens every day.