Posted on 12/16/2006 5:07:34 PM PST by DogByte6RER
Edited on 12/16/2006 9:23:07 PM PST by Jim Robinson. [history]
A Chicago man was sentenced to 2 years in prison Thursday for illegally accessing the Web site of a conservative political activist group and downloading the credit-card numbers of thousands of its members.
Jeremy Hammond plotted to use the credit cards to make donations to humanitarian and charity groups opposed by the Protest Warrior Web site into which he hacked, but he changed his mind, according to court records.
(Excerpt) Read more at protestwarrior.com ...
"In a victory for free speech and property rights, Jeremy Hammond was sentenced to two years in federal prison to begin in January 2007. He must also pay $5,250 in fines and restitution and is barred from consorting with other "hacktivists" for three years following his sentence. Despite the light sentence, Hammond's imprisonment will undoubtedly send a message to would-be hackers that property rights and rule of law still apply.
The light sentence may be explained by unusual statements of fact and character that were made by Judge James B. Zagel during the sentencing hearing. As reported in the Chicago Tribune, Zagel brushed aside Hammond's plans to rob victims out of millions of dollars as a lapse in judgment rather than willful and malicious credit card fraud, saying, "all 19-year-olds are idiots." He also characterized the theft itself as "countering speech [Hammond] found wrong ." Considering Hammond's history of violence and crime, Zagel's bizarrely euphemistic characterization of Hammond's actions reveals a misplaced compassion.
Before Hammond's trial, he used the now-defunct website freejeremy to plead with the Internet community for support. In his pathetic attempt to sway public opinion, he denied the allegations and claimed that he was "being targetted [sic] by law enforcement for his political activism." Hammond even went so far as to accuse ProtestWarrior of fabricating the entire story. Fortunately, the evidence against him was so strong that even the most "compassionate" judge couldn't save him from a conviction.
During the course of the investigation, ProtestWarrior intercepted a number of chat logs between Hammond and his anarchist cohorts. The logs include detailed plots to charge millions of dollars in fraudulent transactions, to publish personal and financial details of political activists, and to execute similar attacks on other conservative websites. Now that the trial is over and Hammond is about to be thrown in prison, ProtestWarrior is preparing these logs for release to the public.
The ProtestWarrior organization is currently being revamped, both online and on the streets. And a new PW project is in the works, so stay tuned."
I remember the moonbats getting a chuckle out of that. At least one of them isn't chuckling now. LOL
That boy is going to be walking funny very soon.
A slap on the wrist. It will have no deterrent effect whatsoever.
Do you have a link to the actual Trib article?
Yes...here it is.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0612080286dec08,1,689768.story?coll=chi-newslocalchicago-hed
Hacking leads to prison sentence | Chicago Tribune
What an unbalanced start to a "news" report. If they wanted to show a hint of balance they would have said: "A liberal, activist, Chicago man was sentenced to 2 years in prison Thursday for illegally accessing the Web site of a conservative political activist group..."
Seems like the judge was a lib who was excusing his behavior
Hey boy, you got might purty lips...
The Freeper druggie brigade (may their numbers always be small) is going to come in here and tell us this guy was imprisoned for drug use.
Plus he's probably a wimpy weeny and won't stack up well against some 300lb lifer.
What a jerk. I thought the Left was all about tolerance for different viewpoints?
When this rotten little puke is in prison, I hope he drops the soap a LOT.
Another punk l337 H4xx0r hears the dropping of a dime. He'll be back.
Q: How do you enter the name Jeremy in the computer?
<p.
A: B-I-T-C-H
A: B-I-T-C-H
I'm glad he got sentenced to some jail time.
Didn't see where he was sentenced to be raped.
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