Stuti Gokhale
Peacock’s ‘The Battle for Justina Pelletier’ delves into the complicated case of Justina Pelletier, who was separated from her parents, Lou and Linda Pelletier, and placed under psychiatric care at the Boston Children’s Hospital for almost 1.5 years. As the hospital accused the 14-year-old’s parents of medical abuse, she pleaded to return home to them. The shocking case caught the attention of numerous media houses and social activists, including Martin “Marty” Gottesfeld, who did the unthinkable by launching a cyberattack on the hospital to pressure them into releasing Justina.
Marty Gottesfeld Went From a Tech Enthusiast to an Alleged Political Prisoner
Born as Martin Karim, Marty Gottesfeld is Bangladeshi on his father’s side but was raised by his maternal grandparents in Andover, Massachusetts. In early 2013, the 29-year-old moved to Somerville, Massachusetts, and later began working as a Senior Systems Integrations Officer for a tech company in Connecticut. He had always been very vocal about supporting social causes and frequently voiced his dissent against unfair government policies and corruption.
Hence, when Marty heard about the tragic case of Justina Pelletier in December 2013, he was deeply moved and angry at the Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) for confining her away from her parents. Initially, this tech enthusiast was hopeful that the courts would favor the Pelletiers and return the teenager to her family. However, when several months passed and Justina was still being kept in the hospital’s psychiatric ward, he decided to raise his voice regarding the violation of her rights.
Marty was a self-proclaimed member of Anonymous, an international hacktivist collective known for launching cyber attacks against government and church institutions. On March 23, 2014, he reportedly posted a YouTube video on behalf of Anonymous, calling for action against BCH’s treatment of Justina. In a computer-generated voice, the video stated that the organization would punish those held accountable and would not relent till the teenager was freed. It also gave the contact details of the prosecutor and hospital administrator involved.
Officials claimed this video redirected viewers to a website containing the hospital’s server information and calling for an attack – this was later debated. Despite the footage bringing everyone’s attention to Justina’s story, no action was taken, and the BCH continued to retain her. She was eventually transferred to the Wayside Youth & Family Support Network residential facility in Framingham. So, seeing no change or much support from his fellow Anonymous members, Marty took matters into his own hands and initiated a cyber attack against the BCH and the Wayside facility on April 19, 2014.
That week, the two institutions were having a fundraiser, and Marty discovered they had kept their donation page in the same network as their other information. Hence, the hacktivist launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) to their computer systems and directed significant traffic there. The websites slowed down significantly, but this did not compromise the patients’ and medical records. As a result, BCH’s website and servers were out of service for almost seven days, causing utter chaos.
Interestingly, the hospital claimed the attack disrupted day-to-day operations as well as ongoing researchs. The authorities further alleged the attack cost $300,000 to mitigate, resulting in another $300,000 in losses due to the hospital’s donation site crashing. This incident brought much attention and support for Justina’s case, but it also put Marty on the FBI’s radar in October 2014.
Marty Gottesfeld is Now Making the Most of His Time As a Free Man
In February 2016, Marty realized the FBI was closing in on him. Hence, he discreetly left for Cuba with his wife, Dana Barach, only for their sailboat to break down at sea, leaving them with no choice but to send out a distress call. A nearby Disney cruise ship responded and rescued them, but the hacktivist was arrested upon arrival in Miami. Marty was charged with conspiracy and intentional damage to a protected computer under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. In 2019, his case went to trial, and he was found guilty on two counts.
Marty was sentenced to ten years in prison and was subsequently incarcerated in a few different federal prisons across the nation. According to his wife, there was even a time a high-security facility kept him in solitary confinement for 22 hours daily, and he was allowed only two fifteen-minute calls weekly. Dana divulged in the documentary that Marty’s communication were heavily monitored. Yet, he continues to support social causes and voices his opinions on government policies by corresponding with media organizations through her.
See https://t.co/iexYylmi5z pic.twitter.com/vCj9CDJR0x
— 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙮𝙂 (𝗚𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝘀𝗳𝗲𝗹𝗱) (@MartyGottesfeld) April 25, 2024
As per the documentary, the hacktivist’s projected release date was April 11, 2024, and he already had a job offer from a progressive publishing house to work as a web developer. However, he was released early, around November 2023, and has since happily reunited with his loving wife Dana. “Words fail me, because you’re out in public again,” he once said upon being asked what it was like to be free. “Like, they just put you on a greyhound bus; when I was released, it’s like, they just drop you off at the bus station, and you’re out in public again, and you can talk to people.” We should mention he did walk away with 210 lbs of legal documents he’d created while incarcerated, and he is determined to continue down the path he once created to help Justina and others like the once-teen. The Somerville, Massachusetts, resident is now a full-fledged human rights activist as well as a writer for many platforms; plus he has a blog of his own.
Read More: Lou and Linda Pelletier: Where Are Justina’s Parents Now?
