14 DAY TRIAL // Andrew Auernheimer, better known as “Weev,” the Internet activist sentenced to 41 months in prison for illegally obtaining the details of around 120,000 AT&T customers, has been placed in solitary confinement.
According to a physical letter he was able to send one of his friends, Auernheimer believes that he was placed in solitary because he was tweeting from prison.
“I am disgusted to have to write an actual paper letter but they took away all my electronic comms methods and put me in the special housing unit where I am under 24/7 lockdown. All this for the high crime of blogging, despite nation B.O.P. officials having made public statements that what I was doing wasn't against the rules,” he wrote.
He added, “I refused to consent to a payment plan for the fine levied against me from my commissary funds, so now I can't buy food I can eat from the prison store anymore. Things are really depressing.”
The Daily Dot reports that not even his lawyer, TOR Ekeland, managed to see him. On Monday, Ekeland said he was allowed to schedule a weekend visit, but no one confirmed to him that Auernheimer was in solitary.
Weev managed to tweet from prison by sending messages to an individual who had access to his private Twitter account.
The activist was sentenced in mid-March, but he posted several tweets every day until April 8.
“Have you seen the bill in Congress now? They are busy DOUBLING the CFAA's penalties and expanding its scope,” one of his last tweets read.
Auernheimer was sentenced to jail for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), which is the one under which Aaron Swartz was prosecuted as well.