Watch E001 ↗The people / The record
They challenged power—
and paid the price.
Meet the journalists, technologists, whistleblowers, and advocates whose cases reveal what happens when individuals refuse to surrender their rights.
Twelve profiles · More in developmentA growing visual record of people the State tried to isolate, silence, or imprison.
Case directory
People first.
Issues in context.
Cases are ordered editorially by urgency and relevance. Filters reveal shared issues without reducing a person to a single political category.
Case 001Incarcerated · AppealDexter TaylorServing ten years after assembling firearms for personal use in his Brooklyn home.
Case 002Partial conviction · Retrial pendingRoman StormTornado Cash developer convicted on one count and facing a second trial over open-source financial privacy software.
Case 003Incarcerated · Clemency campaignIan FreemanBitcoin advocate and Free Talk Live founder serving eight years following prosecution of his peer-to-peer exchange activity.
Case 004Incarcerated · Pardon campaignKeonne RodriguezSamourai Wallet co-founder serving five years after pleading guilty to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
Case 005Incarcerated · Pardon campaignWilliam Lonergan HillSamourai Wallet co-founder and CTO serving four years after pleading guilty in the shared federal case against him and Keonne Rodriguez.
Case 006Incarcerated · AppealRoman SterlingovServing 12½ years after prosecutors convinced a jury he operated the Bitcoin Fog privacy service; his appeal is pending.
Case 007Incarcerated · Review campaignJeff WeinhausMissouri citizen journalist serving 30 years after surviving a police shooting during an arranged arrest.
Case 008Charged · Released pretrialRay YoussefPeer-to-peer Bitcoin entrepreneur facing federal charges tied to Paxful's licensing and anti-money-laundering controls.
Case 009Exiled · U.S. charges pendingEdward SnowdenFormer intelligence contractor whose 2013 disclosures forced secret systems of mass surveillance into public view.
Case 010Free · Felony pleaJulian AssangeWikiLeaks publisher who accepted a felony plea and extensive legal waivers to end his imprisonment and return to Australia.
Case 011Municipal charges dismissed · Civil sanctions remainedIan SmithAtilis Gym co-owner who openly defied New Jersey’s COVID shutdown orders in defense of livelihood, bodily autonomy, and voluntary association.
Case 012Active · Civil judgment outstandingAmmon BundyLiberty activist whose confrontations with state power span federal land, pandemic restrictions, family authority, and immigration enforcement.
Keep the record alive
Every case has a different need.
Every person needs to be remembered.
Individual profiles connect readers to verified legal funds, petitions, official campaigns, primary documents, and current ways to help.
Start with Dexter Taylor →