Terrorist or Weirdo?

["Dude VanWinkle" <dudevanwinkle () gmail com>]

Not sure what to think about this one, I guess if someone only has
copied mpeg's and links, I wouldnt jail them.


from: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/23/siddique_trial_sentencing/

Jailed terror student 'hid' files in the wrong Windows folder
And 'provided terror instructions' via web links

Careless use of Windows folders cost a Scottish student a lengthy
prison stretch today, as an Edinburgh High Court Judge sentenced
Mohammed Atif Siddique to eight years for possession of
terrorism-related items. During his trial the jury had been told by
Michael Dickson, a forensics analyst for the National Hi-Tech Crime
Unit, that Siddique's laptop computer had contained material placed in
a Windows folder where it would be difficult for an inexperienced user
to find.

The folder in question was c:\windows\options, which is usually
present on OEM Windows systems and is used for installation purposes.
It is not widely frequented by most computer users, but it's not
secret either. Siddique seems not to have encrypted the material,
which was described as videos, pictures and sound files "concerned
with radical Islamic politics", and which included footage of Osama
Bin Laden and the World Trade Center attack. It is not clear why
Siddique put the material, which he claimed he had collected because
he was interested in the motivations of terrorists, in the Options
folder. Dickson however said that in his opinion, if someone put
something in the Options folder, they did so "to hide it." So watch
out, Michael Dell. And those of you out there researching terrorism
for your own interest would be well-advised to keep your Osama Bin
Laden videos where they're supposed to be, in the My Movies folder
(you'll find it right next to My Warez).

Siddique was also convicted of "providing instruction or training in
the making or use of firearms and explosives by means of the
Internet", and of "distributing or circulating terrorist publications
with the intention of encouraging or inducing or assisting in acts of
terrorism." Siddique did this simply by linking from his web site, Al
Battar, to two sites containing instructions on weapons, explosives,
terrorism and Jihad. One, Mu'askar Al Battar (translated for the court
as "The Camp of the Sword that Cuts") claims to be issued by "the
military committee of Al Qaeda". The other, Sawt al-Jihad (The Voice
of Jihad) includes details of explosive manufacture and concealment.

The judge concluded that "the only purpose in setting up a website
containing links to this material could have been to provide others
with instructions or training material in the making and use of
firearms and explosives. So the links were enough for him to be found
guilty of distributing or circulating. Similarly with the charge of
encouragement: "Given that you were providing internet access to what
are admittedly terrorist publications, it is difficult to see what
else was intended
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