Editing Sherman Austin (section)

== Investigation, conviction and imprisonment ==

===Background===
Prior to his arrest and imprisonment, Austin was [[webmaster]] of the Internet site RaisetheFist.com (subtitled "[[National Security]] is the Threat"), which provides a platform for discussion for anti-police activists, and provides suggestions on how to practice for possible armed combat with police.<ref name="Anti-Police Internet Sites">{{cite journal
|last=Schanlaub
 |first=Russ
 |date=December 2005
 |title=Anti-Police Internet Sites
 |journal=Law and Order
 |url=http://www.hendonpub.com/resources/articlearchive/details.aspx?ID=152
 }}</ref>

On May 1, 2001, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] received information about a possible server intrusion and defacement of the Web site of the James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness. The information contained on that Web site's home page had been deleted and replaced with politically [[militant]] rhetoric. In addition, the coding for this and a number of other defaced sites contained links to RaisetheFist.com, while responsibility was claimed by a group calling itself "UCAUN", which was Sherman Austin's personal online [[User (computing)|username]] for a number of IRC clients, including AIM Instant Messenger.<ref name="cryptome">[http://cryptome.wikileaks.org/usa-v-rtf-swa.htm USA v. Sherman Martin Austin — Search Warrant and Affidavit]</ref>

===Conviction===
On August 4, 2003, after entering a guilty plea under an agreement with the prosecutor, Austin was sentenced in U.S. District Court by Judge [[Stephen Victor Wilson|Stephen V. Wilson]] to 12 months in a federal jail, a $2000 fine, and three years probation, and as well as other restrictions. His time was served in a federal institution in [[Tucson, Arizona]].

Austin has claimed that he never authored the explosives information, although he freely hosted it on his webserver. He says he took the plea deal because of the possibility of a 20-year sentence due to a "terrorism enhancement" clause in the USA Patriot Act.<ref>{{cite news |first=Declan |last=McCullagh |title=A Webmaster's 25th hour |url=http://news.cnet.com/2008-1082_3-5062481.html |date=2003-08-13 |access-date=2007-10-22 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711032016/http://news.cnet.com/2008-1082_3-5062481.html |archive-date=2012-07-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Austin was not indicted for any alleged hacking crimes. However, he has acknowledged defacing the sites, saying it was necessary to get his message out.<ref>[https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/raisethefist/msgs/newsbytes-2002-01-31.txt News article archived on Prof. Touretzky's website about Austin's case]</ref>

===Release===

Austin was released one month early in July 2004 with 3 years of probation which prohibited him from having access to a computer or knowingly associating with individuals who "espouse violence for political change".

Following his release from prison, he released a [[hip-hop]] CD, ''Silence is Defeat''.<ref>[http://www.shermanaustinmusic.com/ Sherman Austin's Music] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070119201724/http://www.shermanaustinmusic.com/ |date=2007-01-19 }}</ref>

In February 2006, Austin released a statement on [[Indymedia]] containing claims that the [[National Security Agency]] had installed illegal wiretaps before and during the investigation against him, and that the NSA, along with "other higher-ups in the government", arranged three separate attempts to assassinate him. Austin says that anonymous informants provided him with "some detail on who was serving the contracts, names, license plate numbers, etc", by anonymous informants, and that these informants also assured him that everything was being taken care of and he was being "looked out for".<ref>{{cite news |title=Secret NSA surveillance and the case of Sherman Austin |url=http://la.indymedia.org/news/2006/02/148031.php?theme=1 |date=2006-02-21 |access-date=2007-10-22 }}</ref>