The US government has moved to drop 11 charges against journalist and activist Barrett Brown that could have had far-reaching consequences for all users of the web. Brown faces 17 charges related to his work on uncovering online surveillance. The main one, covering 12 counts, revolves around his posting of a hyperlink on an internet chat room which pointed towards data stolen from Strategic Forecasting Inc. (Stratfor) Brown is not accused of hacking himself, nor did he actually publish the leaked data which includes over 800,000 email addresses and 60,000 credit card details.”]
Source: https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2014/03/06/barrett-brown-hyperlink-charges-dropped/