weev on Nostr: When I was falsely charged with computer crimes for lawfully accessing a public API ...

When I was falsely charged with computer crimes for lawfully accessing a public API on a webserver, I received around $14,000 in community help to bridge the gap. I went to trial and went to prison, and then won on appeal and established precedent that helps everyone on the Internet. My reward for this was to be blacklisted from banks in exchanges within a couple months of my release in 2014, to be further impoverished (I’d already been bankrupted by 13 years of harassment by the federal government) and to be exiled from the country by continuous direct harassment from federal agents.

Keonne and Bill raised millions of dollars under the direct claim that everyone’s rights were under assault and they were going to fight at trial. They knew this was a lie at the time. They had no plan to fight at trial, and they just wanted a payout. They got more than any computer crimes defendant in history, for doing absolutely nothing for the community, *not even showing up*. In the meantime, Roman Sterlingov went to trial, received an absolutely monstrous sentence, and is actually fighting an appeal on a case that has a lot of hope for actually scoring points against the law (much more than Keonne and Bill). He got virtually no support.

I am generally sympathetic to prisoners, but Keonne and Bill rugpulled the whole community on the way out. They defrauded everybody. They received a gigantic multiple of what it takes to fight a federal criminal case and then *didn’t even spend it on legal defense*. In doing so they not only stole from everyone, but far more unforgivably, they soaked up the resources that were necessary to finance the cases that would actually decide the law. For this, Fuck Samourai. I don’t support their imprisonment, but they are liars, cheats, and cowards. There are other prisoners that deserve care and support more than them.