Prosecutors Seek Seal on Barrett Brown Case

Barrett Brown, a journalist and hacktivist who accepted a plea deal for threatening a federal agent on a YouTube video, is going to be sentenced Tuesday. But prosecutors have asked that their recommendations, as well as the defense's about Brown's sentence be kept sealed, Russia Today reports: "According to a statement made by the Free Barrett Brown group this week, 'It seems clear that the government doesn’t want journalists to attend the upcoming hearing with an understanding of what issues are at stake, and they don’t want further attention to a case that has already proven to be an embarrassment.”' Once First Amendment concerns were raised by Brown's defense and others, the government dropped a computer fraud charge against Brown for posting online a link to credit card information hacked by others.