Like the downloaders, Austin was sanctioned simply for sharing information. But in early 2002, the government decided that Austin, who had just turned 18, was a terrorist. His website Raisethefist.com -- a clearinghouse of information on activism, from anti-globalization protests to police brutality -- provided free server space for other political websites. One of those sites contained something called the Reclaim Guide, which provided information on the making of explosives such as pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails. One afternoon in January 2002, heavily armed FBI and Secret Service agents raided Austin's Sherman Oaks, California, home, trashing it and leaving with computers, books, political literature, and protest signs.
Austin was arrested just over a week later at a protest in New York City. He was held without bail for 13 days in various federal maximum-security facilities and in the summer of 2003 pleaded guilty to using the Internet to distribute information for use in committing a terrorist act. In August, Austin was sentenced to one year in jail (and three years' probation, during which he can't use a computer or a cell phone without the permission of his probation officer); the presiding judge made it clear that he was prepared to lock Austin up until he was 40.
What does Sherman Austin have in common with Brianna LaHara? They both provided access to information deemed proprietary by corporations (in LaHara's case) or dangerous to the state (in Austin's). Their cases underscore that this is the year it became clear that the privacy rights of average Americans were steadily eroding. Whatever you think about radical politics or file trading, the same technology that lets us share music with millions or mobilize those millions to protest also has freed data-mining corporations and the FBIto monitor our daily lives.
Austin was prosecuted under an obscure 1997 antiterrorist law, given new life by the USA Patriot Act -- legislation rammed through Congress after 9/11 that has made it easier for the government to spy on its own citizens, authorizing increased wiretapping powers and secret searches. Without the Patriot Act, it's unlikely that authorities would have invaded the home of an 18-year-old African-American anarchist because of content on his website (especially when the person behind the site Austin hosted, a white kid from wealthy Orange County, was never charged). If you really want to learn how to build a pipe bomb, several white-supremacist sites are a Web search away.
The changing nature of online anonymity made it easier for the music industry to amp up its war on file sharers. In 1998, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, requiring Internet service providers to reveal the identity of anyone storing copyrighted material on company systems. In 2002, the RIAA sued telecommunications giant Verizon, demanding that the company reveal the identities of DSL customers. "When material isn't on our network, we're just the conduit that people use to communicate," says Sarah Deutsch, a lawyer for Verizon. "Whatever is going on on your hard drive, Verizon doesn't know about it. We're not allowed to peer into your computer. But with the advent of peer-to-peer file sharing, the recording industry has become increasingly unhappy with the DMCA and has been looking for litigation strategies to undo it." A judge found in the RIAA's favor, granting the industry group access to thousands of names. The RIAA now can obtain this information simply by claiming that you possess illicit material. Perhaps the most absurd target in this year's round of lawsuits was a retired Massachusetts teacher who was served papers for using Kazaa to download Trick Daddy's "I'm a Thug," even though her Mac can't use the program. Still, she had to retain a lawyer to clear her name. ("We decided to give her the benefit of the doubt," an industry spokeswoman said afterward.)
But the RIAA wants to go even further, and it's being supported by more than a few friends in Congress. This year was marked by a number of radical proposals, one by California congressman Howard Berman that would make file sharing a felony. (There's already a burgeoning industry for "copyright bounty hunters.") As goes the RIAA, so goes the world. Universities are caught between obeying privacy laws and yielding to pressure to reveal the names of alleged copyright lawbreakers. Librarians can be forced to turn over to the FBI a list of books borrowed by any patron.
In August, two weeks before Sherman Austin began his sentence, Attorney General John Ashcroft embarked on a cross-country tour to rally support for the Patriot Act. Ashcroft was met by protesters who covered the political spectrum, from Green Party activists to NRA loyalists. On August 29, ex?Rage Against the Machine singer Zack de la Rocha hosted a benefit concert for Austin in San Diego. Austin addressed the crowd, sounding both shaky and resilient: "The threat to national security is us taking control of our own lives," he said. Austin began serving his sentence at the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino five days later, two days before Ashcroft's tour hit Florida. "We have constructed America's defense upon a foundation of prevention," Ashcroft told an audience at a Tampa Bay hotel, "nurtured by cooperation, built on coordination, and rooted in the constitutional liberties of this free nation."
A Few days later, Austin was moved to solitary confinement to protect him from white supremacists.
