Facebook "friending" lands activist Rod Coronado in prison

[Jim Lane]

From the "Is it fascism yet" file:

An environmental and animal rights activist, , is held to have violated the terms of his probation by accepting a Facebook friend invitation from Mike Roselle. Roselle is apparently on the U.S. Government's list of undesirables for such misdeeds as having cofounded the .

Coronado further outraged his local guardians of the police state because, over a three-month period when his own computer had crashed, he made three posts to Facebook from someone else's computer, without the prior permission of his probation officer.

For these acts of reckless Facebooking, Coronado will now spend four months in a federal prison. Aren't you glad that your tax dollars are going to something as important as this?

Full story, with links to the official court documents: http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/IndyBlog/archives/2010/08/24/facebook-friending-lands-activist-rod-coronado-in-prison

[Mimosa]

1. What country did this happen in? ;) n/t

[jberryhill]

9. One in which people can get probation instead of jail terms

Provided they follow the conditions of probation.

If they don't like those conditions, they can always opt for jail.

[Fumesucker]

22. I guess that's why America has the highest incarceration rate in the world, bar none..

Our lenient sentencing and probation standards.


:eyes:

[jberryhill]

28. That's not really relevant here, now is it

This guy is a multiply convicted arsonist who was arrested for violating his probation conditions.

That's pretty simple to understand, and doesn't require any sort of justification of the US incarceration rate.

Tips for staying out of jail #345: don't firebomb stuff and violate your probation conditions.

[Fumesucker]

30. It's relevant to your comment..

Which was what I was commenting on, you seemed to be painting the USA as some sort of lenient-on-low-level offenders society when it's anything but that.

Now if you were to say that the USA is lenient-to-the-point-of-farce-on-high-level offenders I would enthusiastically agree.

[sabrina 1]

39. The old Soviet Union made similar arguments when they

jailed dissidents and we were horrified.

Did this guy kill someone like Dick Cheney and Bush et al, rob a bank like Wall St. Execs or several in their case? Manipulate elections like Karl Rove?

I don't know what he did, but I know that we do NOT jail real criminals in this country so why is he going to jail?

[KittyWampus]

42. well since you're defending him, it says a lot that you've no idea if he killed someone

while committing arson.

[tridim]

2. Facebook is causing an uneasy stir in our culture.

I'm a little worried.

[Stand and Fight]

3. Facebook isn't causing anything.

It just revealed yet another symptom of the dammed disease.

[MattSh]

4. +1000

[tridim]

12. A self-updating corporate-owned database of 500 million people doesn't bother you?

I have to ask, why?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Um, no.

Because it's 100% voluntary?

Why does it bother you?

[tridim]

15. Well, the volutary part makes the data inaccurate for one thing.

I'm pretty sure none of my "friends" are criminals, but how can I be sure?

Honestly I'm more worried about what's coming next.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. Are you on probation for firebombing?

Are you specifically forbidden by the terms of your probation from having contact with scum like Roselle? Do you really think Coronado did not know who Roselle was?

[tridim]

18. I'm not really talking about the OP any more.

Sorry for the mislead.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

19. You can befriend who ever you want.

And it's still voluntary. Just like in real life.

[tridim]

21. Real life doesn't have an API.

It is not searchable.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

24. Then don't use facebook.

Take your name out of the phone book, become a hermit, and live in a cave if you're really paranoid.

[John Q. Citizen]

23. Roselle is a good guy. You i'm not so sure of....

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

25. Sure he was.

And Ted Kaczynski was a misunderstood genius.

[John Q. Citizen]

26. Is. I just saw Roselle a few months ago. He's spends a lot of time here in my little town

I imagine you are very against him because you believe that the coal companies and the oil companies should always get their way.

I don't believe they should and I'm very honored to have made the acquaintance of someone who has done so much to protect our environment. Mike Roselle is a good man.

He's funny, he's smart, and he's still fighting for the earth and all who live here. And I'm glad.


You on the other hand have never impressed me with your commitment to anything.

What do you stand for?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

27. What do I stand for?

Not tree spiking, that's what I stand for.

[sabrina 1]

40. Good question asked of you, but you did not answer.

What do you stand for? Roselle IS a good guy and any progressive familiar with his work would agree.

Maybe you see nothing wrong with Massey Energy Corps et al, which it is your right to do. I just like to know where the people on this progressive board stand on environmental issues.

[John Q. Citizen]

31. Is. Roselle IS a good guy. Here's TIme's interview with Roselle from last year.

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1929701,00.html

I'll have to read his book. I'm sure my local library has a copy, since Roselle is a long time local around these parts.



I bet you think Henry David Thoreau was scum also.

A lot of his contemporaries did, you know. They were people like you, I bet, who had a similar world view as you do.


Me, I'm on the side of the Thoreaus and the Roselles of the world.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

35. Henry David Thoreau didn't spike any trees.

I bet you think Coronado's a good guy too.

[John Q. Citizen]

38. i know nothing about Coronado. Google says he's in MI. I'm in MT. I don't know him.

Thoreau refused to follow laws he saw as unjust or immoral.

He broke the law on purpose. He would have spiked a tree, if he had though of it, I'm sure. It's classic civil disobedience.

it has limited uses, but when it's used effectively, it stops the raping corporations from clearing the timber, at least for a time. of course, it's never done as a tactic unless it's announced where any spiking has taken place. Because the whole point is to prevent the eminent destruction of a given area of trees.

It also does have a real downside that there is real potential for a political backlash against the tactic, since spiking a tree does increase the danger associated with felling the tree. So if someone decides they are going to cut come hell or high water they increase the chance they might be injured.

When we see the level of hysteria coming from you, for instance, about Roselle having employed the tactic we can see that yes, there is a downside to the tactic. Which is my guess why you don't see it employed much anymore. It worked well but it's kind of become obsolete.


I mean we have killed a quarter of a million Iraqis on falsified and planted evidence, but in your pantheon of bad guys, Roselle is way up there. Is that crazy or what?

See I don't see Roselle as any more of a criminal than I see Thoreau as a criminal.

They both broke laws, but they broke them for the greater and common good, and they broke them based on the morale system of civil disobedience.

[Jim Lane]

37. Your defamation of Mike Roselle is unsupported by facts

You compare Roselle to Ted Kaczynski. Kaczynski pled guilty to multiple felony charges, including three homicides. In one of my comments here (#10), I quoted Roselle's statement that he's never even been charged with, let alone convicted for, any violent crime. Do you have any facts to show otherwise? My impression is that you're just engaging in more guilt by association.

By the way, I heard about this case from a Facebook friend of mine who's also a Facebook friend of Roselle's. So I guess, in your book, I'm also "scum" (which is what you called Roselle in #17). Feel free to put me on Ignore if you fear that reading one of my posts might get you in trouble with officialdumb.

[jberryhill]

29. Well, if you get busted for an arson conspiracy....

...and then accept terms requiring to avoid contact with certain people, you just might have to put on your "rocket scientist" hat and, uh, not contact those people.

Nobody was arrested here for having friends who are criminals.

[tridim]

32. Nobody has been arrested for that. Yet. nt

[NashVegas]

34. Self-Updating Corp-Owned Database With CIA Ties

and we love it, thank you very much.

[CJvR]

5. Coronado...

Isn't that the SOB who firebomb medical research labs?
What is he doing out of prison to begin with?

[Heidi]

6. He's out because he served his sentence. (nt)

[Recursion]

8. Clearly not, or he wouldn't have a probation officer

Some of his sentence was commuted, and he didn't follow the probation rules.

[Recursion]

7. He's not spending four months in prison for friending someone on facebook

He's spending four months in prison for conspiracy.

He was given probation and didn't follow the rules of that probation.

[Jim Lane]

10. If not for the Facebook stuff he wouldn't be in prison

You're correct to the extent that his imprisonment now is based on the allegation that he didn't follow the rules of his probation. But did our government impose appropriate rules and apply them sensibly?

The special rule for Coronado stated, in part: "No association with activists involved with animal rights or environmental organizations that have a history of violence or condoning violence as a means of protest or demonstration, including but not limited to Earth First! ...." (from the ) Consider that:

1. Earth First! engages in direct action, such as nonviolent tree-sitting, but, as far as I know, it has never conducted or condoned attacks on people. The government tried to smear Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney by accusing them in the bombing of which they were the victims, not the perpetrators -- but the FBI and the City of Oakland had to drop those charges and pay more than four million dollars in damages for the false accusations. (<http://www.law.com/regionals/ca/stories/020612b.shtml>)

2. There's a double guilt-by-association operating here, because the government says that Coronado associated with Roselle, Roselle is involved with Earth First!, and Earth First! is violent. Note Roselle's response, the first comment under :

The comment that I have supported violence is not based on fact. The FBI knows this and I have been under an active investigation for some time. I have never been charged with, or have been investigated for a violent crime. Direct action is not a violent crime. Rodney has paid his debt to society and has stated his commitment to non violent change. To portray this as a criminal association violates both of our constitutional rights.

3. Even if Roselle were actually some sort of criminal, is a Facebook friending an "association" that the Department of Justice should be pursuing? It seems that the Department of Justice is pigheadedly treating a social networking site (where posts are readily available to lots of people) as the functional equivalent of a bunch of felons sitting around a table plotting a crime together. The probation conditions shouldn't be written or interpreted by people who are so clueless about Facebook.

Do you feel safer because your taxes are being spent on this farce? If you do, I'm happy for you, but I sure don't. In fact, I'd rather see the government use the money to hire Rod Coronado to spend the four months in Appalachia, helping Mike Roselle oppose mountaintop removal mining.

[Angry Dragon]

11. K&R

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. "such misdeeds as having cofounded the Rainforest Action Network."

And then there's the tree spiking.

[petronius]

16. It does open interesting questions about what constitutes 'associating,'

which courts will need to continue to figure out. A face-to-face, a written letter, an e-mail, or a phone call would have been obvious, but accepting a friend request is a bit more nebulous (although I personally would still call it an association, I don't do Facebook so I'm not sure what weight FBers assign to such things). What if it had been a comment on Roselle's blog (if he has one)? Following a twitter feed from a prohibited person?

Using the unmonitored computer is a much more clear-cut violation however; Coronado should have known that strict adherence to parole terms is more important than keeping FB up to date...

[NightWatcher]

20. why are they communicating through FB? we have other channels...raise a Ruckus

[NashVegas]

33. Isn't It Really REALLY Cool, How Facebook Assists the Gov't In Keeping Tabs On People

Awesome!

[Jim Lane]

41. To be fair, this probably isn't Facebook's doing

The probation conditions are pretty onerous. I'd guess that Coronado had to give his Facebook password to his probation officer, in which case there's nothing that Facebook could do to protect his privacy.

Yuck, I can't believe I'm defending Facebook -- about anything. :(

[Freddie Stubbs]

36. Convicted arsonists on probation need to watch their step

[KittyWampus]

43. well, he didn't start an unjustified war in Iraq using bogus evidence so he gets a pass.

[Freddie Stubbs]

44. You should contact Coronado and tell him to say that to his probation officer