14 DAY TRIAL // Journalist and activist Barrett Brown has pleaded guilty to two felonies and one misdemeanor. More precisely, he has pleaded guilty to making Internet threats, obstructing the execution of a search warrant, and being an accessory to unauthorized access of a protected computer.
He faces up to eight and a half years in prison, which is not that bad considering that, at one point, the maximum sentence was 100 years in jail.
The most controversial charges accused Brown of sharing a hyperlink pointing to data stolen by Anonymous hackers from Stratfor. Experts noted that if he were to be sentenced for such a “crime,” it could have a negative impact on journalists who often link to sensitive information in their stories.
In March, the activist’s defense filed a motion to dismiss the indictment related to sharing the hyperlink. A few days later, prosecutors agreed to drop 11 charges referring to this activity.
In early April, we learned that Brown signed a plea deal, but the document was sealed. However, at the time, unsealed court documents showed that the prosecutors had agreed to change the charges to assisting the individual who breached the systems of Stratfor, and obstructing the execution of a search warrant.
The obstructing the execution of a search warrant charge refers to the fact that the journalist and his mother attempted to hide a laptop from officers who were searching her home.
While the prosecution has dropped the linking-related charges, they haven’t given up on linking Brown to the Stratfor hack. They claim the activist helped a hacker evade authorities.
The gag order preventing Brown and his legal team from talking to the press was vacated last week. That’s when a court document describing the link between him, Anonymous hackers and the Stratfor breach was released to the public.
The document, obtained by The Guardian, shows that Brown communicated with one of the Stratfor hackers. The hacker has been identified only as “o.” Brown offered to contact the CEO of Stratfor on “o’s” behalf to ask if the company wanted any sensitive data redacted before it was leaked by the hacktivists.
“Earlier it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to tell Stratfor that you guys will consider making any reasonable redactions to emails that might endanger, say, activists living under dictatorships with whom they might have spoken […] If they fail to cooperate, it will be on them if any claims are made about this yield endangering anyone,” Brown told the hacker at the time.
The last charge stems from a YouTube video in which Brown threatens to “destroy” an FBI agent. He was arrested shortly after publishing the video.
The sentencing will take place on August 18, the Free Barrett Brown group announced on Twitter. Brown has been in custody for over 500 days and his supporters are optimistic that he’ll get considerably less than the maximum sentence of 8.5 years.