

This week in press freedoms and privacy rights - wmrice
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/20/press-freedoms-manning-risen

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MikeCapone
> the most serious charge against the 25-year-old Army Private, one that
> carries a term of life in prison: "aiding and abetting the enemy". The
> government's theory is that because the documents Manning leaked were
> interesting to Osama bin Laden, he aided the enemy by disclosing them.
> Harvard Law Professor Yochai Benkler explained in the New Republic in March
> why this theory poses such a profound threat to basic press freedoms as it
> essentially converts all leaks, no matter the intent, into a form of
> treason.

That this is considered his main crime for which he could spend his life in
jail should be extremely scary to all of us.

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jivatmanx
Why can't charges be specific and limited to the actual crime of 'unauthorized
disclosure of classified information'. As a coder, this bothers me.
Intuitively this reeks of slippery slope.

~~~
davidgerard
It's as if there was some sort of problem with prosecutorial overreach or
something.

