by TChris

TalkLeft has written (here, here, here) about the dangerous theory the government is pursuing in its prosecution of computer scientist Sami Al-Hussayen for providing "material support" to terrorists in the form of his "expert guidance or assistance." In its opening statement, the government argued that Hussayen had helped maintain a website that "could eventually access 20 other sites with ties to radical organizations."

Jacob Sullum sees the problem:

Talk about guilt by association. Given the interconnected nature of the World Wide Web (they don't call it a "web" for nothing), just about any site with hyperlinks "could eventually access" something sinister.

The government wants to hold Hussayen responsible for four fatwas that appeared on a website he helped maintain. Hussayen says that thousands of posts were made to the website and that he didn't agree with the fatwas. Sullum provides a useful summation of the evidence against Hussayen and of the implications of the government's interpretation of the Patriot Act in Hussayen's case.

Speaking of the Patriot Act, Earl Ofari Hutchinson advises John Kerry to stop "treading gingerly" and to become a vocal opponent of its extension. It's good advice.