[wordup] Mike Hawash: Guilty until proven innocent

[Adam Shand]

This is really pretty scary.

Adam.

Via: politech at politechbot.com
From: http://news.com.com/2010-1071-996625.html

    Guilty until proven innocent
    By Declan McCullagh
    April 14, 2003, 4:00 AM PT

    Intel engineer Mike Hawash is in solitary confinement in a federal
    prison in Sheridan, Ore.

    On Mar. 20, the FBI arrested Hawash at gunpoint in Intel's parking lot
    near Portland for reasons that remain confidential. A 38-year-old
    American citizen with a wife and three children, he has not been
    charged with a crime.

    This is a development that deserves close attention in the technology
    community. More than other industries, the computer business relies on
    immigrants. And some, like Hawash, are getting caught up in the U.S.
    Justice Department's campaign against suspected domestic terrorists.

    The Hawash case is not an isolated situation. I wrote recently about
    how Attorney General Ashcroft wants more power to snoop on the
    Internet, observing private conversations by installing secret
    microphones, spyware and keystroke loggers. Combine that with the
    broad powers that the Justice Department received under the 2001
    Patriot Act, and you've got a situation that concentrates a tremendous
    amount of surveillance power in a small group of federal police and
    prosecutors.

    [...]




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