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Friend,

A teenager outside Boston is locked up right now. He's held without bail, charged as a terrorist, and faces 20 years in prison. All for posting some lyrics online. After you read his story, you may never post on Facebook again.

Just like with CISPA, this seems to be another case of government over-reach and an attack on free speech and personal freedom. Cameron D'Ambrosio is 18 and by all accounts a pretty typical teenager who likes music, video games, and girls. He's an aspiring rapper and goes by the name "Cammy Dee" in his YouTube videos.

On May 1st, Cam allegedly posted some lyrics to a rap he was writing on Facebook. It contained a vague reference to the Boston Marathon bombing and political speech calling the Whitehouse a "federal house of horrors." Cam was arrested on the street and has been held without bail ever since. He's charged with making "Terroristic Threats" for his artistic and political free speech.

We've already seen an overwhelming response to this action. Fight that feeling to never post again. We have to keep expressing ourselves in the face of attacks on free speech! Share this with your friends and family:

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Help us send a message to the District Attorney that no one should ever go to jail for rapping about politics online. Cam is locked up right now and needs our help. Click here to take action to demand his release and protect the First Amendment.

Full disclosure, I live in Boston. I was here with my family and young child during the lock-down after the Marathon bombing. I know that people are on edge. But it's imperative that we NEVER let anyone use the tragedy that happened here to undermine our basic rights to freedom of expression. Censorship will never make us safer.

Cam's lyrics didn't threaten any specific person or group of people, didn't claim that Cam had a weapon, and weren't intended to cause the evacuation or disruption of anything (which are the requirements that the post would have to meet to count as a "terroristic threat.") Furthermore, a search of Cam's house found no explosives, no weapons, nothing. The cops just confiscated his computer and an X-Box. Anyone who has listened to music since Wu Tang Clan can easily interpret Cam's post as fairly standard rap metaphor and braggadocio. Still, a judge ordered him held without bail for the next three months while he awaits trial.

But Methuen is a small town. If authorities there get wind that there is national attention on this case, they'll have to reconsider their terrible decision to prosecute a teenager as a terrorist for exercising his freedom of speech. Will you add your voice?


Thanks team. Protecting free speech requires constant vigilance. We know this may seem like a small local issue, but it's close to home for us here in Boston and we want to make sure that this case doesn't set a precedent that chills free speech online.

Thanks for all that you do,

-Evan Greer
Fight for the Future & Center for Rights

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