'G20 Geek' Byron Sonne Cleared of Explosives Charges 278
New submitter davegravy writes "Byron Sonne, the Toronto-based security consultant, chemistry hobbyist, and geek who was arrested leading up to the Toronto G-20 for alleged plans to bomb the event, has been found not guilty of all charges. Sonne was held in prison for 11 months without receiving bail, and the ruling comes two years after his arrest. Sonne is considered by many in the Toronto security community as a champion of civil rights and a sharp critic of security theatre."
Could have been worse... (Score:5, Interesting)
At least he got a trial.
Re:How does it work in this case? (Score:5, Interesting)
Worse yet. They destroyed his life as he knew it. He lost his house, job, and wife on top of 2 years of unfounded persecution. Yes, persecution.
If you read the reports of the court proceedings (https://github.com/colah/ByronTrialNotes) it is very alarming how technologically inept the authorities were in this case and how they ignored Occam's Razor to nail this guy. And these are the people that judge and impose laws on us techies. EXTREMELY worrying.
Re:How does it work in this case? (Score:5, Interesting)
The legal system is a street gang. They are allowed to run rampant, and when they "accidentally" do this to an innocent person they are not liable for anything at all.
The Legal system should be required to pay for 2X the actual damages caused for every innocent person railroaded. Sat in jail for 3 years and lost your job? If you made $50K a year, you get $100K for every year you would have had that job. so call it a cool $20 million that is tax free and call it fair.
On top of this, law enforcement found to have been overzealous lose their jobs and are personally liable. Cops need to be afraid of making a mistake.
Re:How does it work in this case? (Score:3, Interesting)
these are the people that judge and impose laws on us techies
You are not "supposed" to be a techie; you are "supposed" to do technical work at your job, then go home, drink beer, and watch whatever propaganda is on TV. Advanced technology is "supposed" to be the secret, non-disclosable lore of corporations, not something you just play with in your home.
What, did you not get the memo?
Re:How does it work in this case? (Score:5, Interesting)
I sort of agree and sort of disagree.
Should the police be afraid of making mistakes? Depends on the mistake.
If they cause grievous harm to someone - yes, that they should be afraid of. Arresting someone who is innocent or is later found not guilty - no.
The prosecutors, however, should be held to a much higher standard, as they are the ones who are ultimately responsible. I.e. if they don't feel a case is strong enough, they'll have to release the suspect.
And in cases like this, where someone is found not guilty after having spent 11 months in jail, I wouldn't mind seeing the prosecutor responsible spend, say half that time behind bars for contempt of court or something. No regular income etc. (i.e. they don't get to simply sit in a cell and collect an income from the state).
Not in every single case, but if it could be codified in a reasonable way, it would certainly make railroading a lot less interesting for the prosecution. I mean - it's one thing to lose a case, but losing a case AND having to spend time in jail? Very unlikely that prosecutors will be willing to risk that simply because of political pressure.
Re:Retaliation (Score:5, Interesting)
Good, he needs to sue them for BILLIONS and give them reason to never repeat this mistake again.
We need something more creative for the malfeasance of public servants because any monetary awards will just nickle-and-dime the taxpayer who won't notice it and won't have the influence to fix the problems anyway.
I propose indentured servitude. Anyone with significant involvement in pursuing this ridiculous case owes Sonne just as many hours of unpaid labor as they forced him to waste defending himself. Lets see that vindictive prosecutor made to personally mow Sonne's lawn every week for the next decade.
Re:Unfair (Score:5, Interesting)
What I want to know is, where is /. user "Americano" now?
He was all over the original story of the arrest, stating that Sonne must have done something wrong, because the police don't arrest people for no reason.
Choice quotes include:
Think of the black eye to Canada (and especially their law enforcement), if this were shown to be trumped up charges over a guy with a cell phone, a can of gas in his garage, and a couple walkie talkies? They'd be laughed at as a bunch of Keystone Kops for years over this.
and
Your scenario, where it's just a bunch of crooked cops looking to railroad some guy for a crime he didn't commit, while no doubt appealing to the "IANAL, but I play one on Slashdot!" crowd, simply doesn't pass the test of logic. It would require dozens, perhaps hundreds, of law enforcement and judiciary personnel to be corrupt to the point of downright evil in order for that to happen. Is it *possible*? Sure, just about anything is. But it's not *likely* that that many people would wake up and, in the midst of Canada being in an international press spotlight, decide to ruin someone's life just for the fun of it.
I guess he's not here, because he doesn't want to be laughed at like a bunch of Keystone Kops......
Re:How does it work in this case? (Score:2, Interesting)
He poked the cage, repeatedly [torontolife.com], and finally got bit. Is this surprising to anyone, let alone Sonne himself? It's what he wanted all along, to prove himself right.
Re:Doesn't matter that he won. He lost. (Score:0, Interesting)
OOOOO! Big old badass uses the c word! OOOOOOOOOO! X.25! Is that the protocol, or your secret code name, Mr. big swaggering badass?
Have you REALLY read the story of what happened here?
This shithead did everything he could to make this happen to him. I wouldn't be surprised if the lawsuit was his ultimate goal.
You filthy impotent geeks need to step back, clear the revolutionary bullshit out of your eyes and ears, and stop operating at the zero level of intellect. You are the lowest of the low and YOU are the problem.
Re:How does it work in this case? (Score:4, Interesting)
No, they did not succeed according to plan. They wanted to scare him into pleading guilty and going to prison, and they failed. It's pretty clear that the prosecution never expected this case to go to trial, and once it did they had no idea what to do with it. Even though he lost two years and much of his life, the prosecution lost too. The message that people will hear from this story is not "act up and you'll get crushed by the legal system"; rather it's "what this guy did was perfectly legal and OK."
Re:How does it work in this case? (Score:5, Interesting)
The man had his reputation and property taken from him by the state. Presumably, the prosecutor has both property and a reputation. In Babylon they solved this by summarily executing the prosecutor and conferring their lands and titles to the falsely accused. As a society, we've evolved, and I think we could make do with just transferring the property and reputation and leaving the accuser in the gutter.
Re:Unfair (Score:4, Interesting)
Awww, apparently I hurt somebody's feelings! I'd apologize, but then, I'm not sorry. I stand by my original statements: the police didn't arrest him for no reason, these were NOT trumped up charges, this man was NOT railroaded into jail because police wanted an arrest. This was a case of a man deliberately setting out to probe the efficacy of security for the G-20 summit by purchasing chemicals used in bomb making, again - *in an attempt to prove that the security for the G-20 summit was ineffective.* In essence, he was betting that security wouldn't take notice of his activities... and he lost his bet.
Mr. Sonne went out of his way to purchase specific chemicals that are integral components in bomb-making. He went out of his way to express his intentions to "test security" at the G-20 summit. Security took notice of those activities (which he apparently assumed they wouldn't), and they responded as if he posed a threat to bomb the G-20 summit (which was exactly what he tried to make it look like he was thinking of doing). Those chemicals were purchased in sufficient quantities that, if combined, could have created several kilos worth of explosive material (as testified by an explosives expert during the case [torontosun.com]).
And technically, I'm just one person - I wouldn't be laughed at "like a bunch of Keystone Kops" - I'd be laughed at "like a Keystone Kop." But I'm glad something I wrote here was memorable enough that you're this incensed about it 2 years later. You stay beautiful, and let's do this again in 2014, okay?
Re:Unfair (Score:3, Interesting)
I personally know someone who was involved in this case, and even the judge realized the crown was stretching a lot of information. The crown refused to give on even the most trivial matters. You can find more information here: http://freebyron.org [freebyron.org] and all the notes on the trial here: https://github.com/colah/ByronTrialNotes/blob/master/days.md [github.com]
A lot of things in your house are "bomb making materials." Just because his hobby dealt with (perfectly legal) rockets, doesn't mean he did anything wrong. Do you have a couple ounces of gasoline? Put it in a bug sprayer and point it up in the air, and you just created a bomb. Do you have bleach and hydrogen peroxide (as most homes do)? Then you can make a bomb. None of the materials he possessed were actually explosive. I believe as far as they got was "it will burn if you apply enough heat." Well, so does my desk. Not sure that counts as a dangerous weapon. All the logs of conversations regarding these materials point at the fact that this was indeed only for a hobby.
The materials he held had nothing to do with testing the security of the G-20. They were not hidden, he openly talked about them, as would anyone who had nothing to hide. As a security expert and concerned citizen, he wanted to inform both the people in charge that they were doing a poor job of security, and the tax payers that they were paying a ton of money for something that wasn't even very safe. In the process, he lost his home, and his wife.
Re:Could have been worse... (Score:4, Interesting)
Because many of them were grabbed on the say-so of a warlord who they dared to stand up against.
We established bounties, then took the people accused with no evidence except for the say so of someone that is actually a problem for us, payed a bounty, and took them to gitmo.
Perhaps I am being bold when i say a satirical article offering 1,000,000 afghan dinars (is that what they use?) for the assassination of Clinton does not make one a terrorist, and yet, the writer of the article ended up in gitmo (it was in response to Clinton's bounty on Osama, and not really much money). This was a man who was trouble for those taking power in the absence of the taliban, and an ally to a democratic afghanistan.
Many if not most of the people in gitmo are farmers who dared to make an honest living and not submit to warlords, as we deported them indefinitely we paid the warlords for the tip.
Re:Bomb Ingredients? (Score:4, Interesting)
Do you have trash bags and natural gas service at your house?
Got any ammonia and bleach (chemical warfare!)
Bug spray?
Gas can for the lawn mower?
A can of WD40 and a lighter?
Congrats! Though some of them would be fairly wimpy, all could be made into a 'bomb' sufficient to warrent arrest if you set them off in a public place.
Of more to the point, all could be deliberately misconstrued to manufacture reasonable suspicion.