Anonymous' Barrett Brown Raided By FBI During Online Chat 208
A reader sends this excerpt from Wired:
"For the second time this year, self-proclaimed Anonymous spokesman Barrett Brown was raided by the FBI. The latest dramatic incident occurred late Wednesday evening while Brown and another woman identified by some as his girlfriend were participating in an online chat on TinyChat with other individuals. Two minutes into the recorded chat session, loud voices could be heard in the background of Brown's residence in Texas while the woman in the room with him was in front of the computer screen. She quickly closed the computer screen, but the audio continued to capture events in the room as the FBI appeared to strong-arm Brown to put handcuffs on him. Brown could be heard yelling in the background. A spokeswoman in the Dallas County sheriff's office confirmed to Wired that Brown was raided last night and was booked into the county jail around 11 p.m."
(Warning: the video embedded with the article contains mature language.)
Re:Just self defense (Score:5, Informative)
Depends on the nature of the "arrest"- without a Warrant, they're not operating within their authority. Seriously.
Doesn't matter.
You'll still be ventilated if they even think you look like you're going to resist, whether or not the raid is legal or not. They're trained to treat every raid as if they were going up against hardened, experienced, and well-armed enemies.
And that's what you are at that moment. An enemy to be neutralized and rendered helpless and harmless as swiftly as possible with the least risk to themselves. not the least risk to the people they're charged to protect, themselves.
Whether or not you are guilty of anything isn't their job or worry. They are a paramilitary assault & entry team. They assault and enter like they face at least an equally-armed & trained force at a minimum. Until you are face-down, restrained/cuffed, and have been searched you are potentially a heavily-armed threat.
Just look at how Amish dairy farmers were raided, and Gibson Guitars were raided. Guns drawn, like the Amish or a luthier normally pack an H&K MP5.
Strat
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not news (Score:4, Informative)
Generally, a spokesperson for a group of interest would be approached calmly, not raided (which makes it news).
The spokespeople of multinational crime syndicates tend not to be well-regarded by law enforcement. I know, it's confusing.
Was Barrett armed? Was he dangerous? Was there any reason to believe he was a threat to the officers' personal safety whatsoever? People get taken into custody all the time without being raided. This was an excuse by the police to let out some steam by bashing down the door and busting heads.
How the fuck is this insightful? FTFA, in Barrett Brown's own words:
"It’s toward the end of the video that Brown makes his threat: “Robert Smith’s life is over. So when I say life is over, I don’t say I’m going to kill him. But I’m going to ruin his life and look into his [expletive] kids because Aaron Barr did the same thing and he didn’t get raided for it. How do you like them apples?”
Barr is the former HBGary Federal CEO whose email was hacked by Anonymous in February.
He goes on: “Any armed officials of the U.S. government, particularly the FBI, will be regarded as potential Zeta assassin squads and they know that I’m armed and I will shoot all of them and kill them if they come and do anything because they are engaged in a criminal conspiracy and I have reason to fear for my life, not just from the zetas but from the U.S. government.”"
Hmm. Publicly threatening to shoot anyone that approaches him that's wearing a police uniform. Gee, I don't know why they arrested him with a SWAT team.