The FBI has been turned into a private detective for corporate America

One remarkable exchange revealed that the Coca-Cola company was asking Stratfor for intelligence on dealing with PETA, and the Stratfor Vice President for Intelligence remarked in a leaked email that "The FBI has a classified investigation on PETA operatives. I'll see what I can uncover." Suggesting, of course, that not only did Stratfor have access to the classified material, but that it would be provided to Coca-Cola. The FBI had been turned into a private dick for corporate America.  

The FBI, arguably itself responsible for the information being released, needed to get the toothpaste back into the tube, decided that one way to staunch the distribution of the Stratfor data would be to stomp on Barrett Brown and his Project PM. A warrant was issued for Brown's laptop, presumably on the assumption that incriminating information would be found there.  

When the FBI went to serve the warrant on Brown he was not home but at his mother's house, and he sensibly decided to stay there. The FBI returned with a warrant to search his mother's house, retrieved his laptop, and found exactly nothing incriminating. Deciding they needed a way to turn up the heat on Brown, they initiated charges against his mother for obstruction of justice.   

So, what did Barret Brown expose?

It appears that in many respects the U.S. Government and in particular the Department of Justice is now working for private intelligence firms. This is evident when, for example, Stratfor asks for FBI classified files on PETA or the Department of Justice is used to try and punish journalists for probing into these private intelligence companies.

Is this bad? Peter Ludlow, please summarize.

In The Nation I argued that what we are in effect witnessing is the failure of the rule of law, but on reflection the situation is actually much worse than that. It is not as though the rule of law has simply broken down; it has been inverted from a system that protects us from powerful interests to one that is in the service of powerful interests, and one that will come down with all its might on someone, like Barrett Brown, who attempts to expose this new reality. It is the subversion of the rule of law. 

Is Barret Brown going to prison for a long time? Try 90 years.

Are we at a point in society where we think that 90 years is no longer enough?

Yes. Yes we are.