Stratfor email, credit-card hacker Hammond thrown in cooler for 10 YEARS

Jeremy Hammond, the hacker who cracked open the database of intelligence organization Stratfor, had hoped for some leniency when he pleaded guilty to one charge of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. But instead a judge in New York today gave him the maximum sentence, 10 years, and three years' post-imprisonment …

[elDog]

Good work, gummint.

You are working hard at demonizing the very people that make democracy strong.

The American Revolution (US that is) was fought against this type of tyranny. What would you do with someone like Benjamin Franklin, the Massachusetts patriots, George Washington? You'd stamp them as traitors-of-the-state, probably under some USPATRIOT clause that they aren't allowed to see.

[DavCrav]

From elDog: "You are working hard at demonizing the very people that make democracy strong."

From the article: "Hammond, acting with the LulzSec hacking crew offshoot of Anonymous, cracked Stratfor's servers in December 2011 and harvested a trove of emails and credit card numbers. The 200GB of emails went to WikiLeaks, and LulzSec dumped 60,000 credit card numbers online..."

Not really sure how making 60,000 innocent people's lives a bit more miserable is helping to make democracy strong. Not that there's very much in the shape of democracy in the US. Guess it must be because they keep locking up computer hackers.

[solo]

Innocent reading?

Hey, I am not sure, were those 60,000 innocent people were paying for secret info on others?

[Andrew Norton]

Re: Innocent reading?

no.

They were an information and analysis company. That also had a private investigation sideline.

A lot were people who had just subscribed to an analysis feed. You know, like a daily digest.

Seriously, the level of ignorance by those trying to justify things is staggering.

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed, democracy is all the stronger for theft. I for one intend to go out and steal a few hundred thousand myself. If caught I will cite your post in my defence.

[LarsG]

Opportunity inside

To teach others how to hack a computer........

[Richard Jones 1]

Making Democracy Strong

@DavCrav

I guess the idea is that by stealing a thousands of people's details and abusing them you are setting yourself free and rising above the common herd, at least those abused were all equally at risk. This makes you a truly free spirit or person fully able to exercise your democratic right to do what you want without thinking about the little people.

Oh hang on that appears to be more like many of those famous 'democratic people' from history, e.g. Hitler, Franco, Mao, etc.

Oh dear I must have read the page on autocrats not democrats.

[Scorchio!!]

Re: Making Democracy Strong

"[...]This makes you a truly free spirit or person fully able to exercise your democratic right to do what you want without thinking about the little people.

Oh hang on that appears to be more like many of those famous 'democratic people' from history, e.g. Hitler, Franco, Mao, etc.

Oh dear I must have read the page on autocrats not democrats."

Your analysis seems to be on the mark; I think you'll find over each Anon prison camp gate a sign saying "Diebstahl macht frei".

[wagonman]

Stricken

As a victim of the Stratfor attack, (I actually watched a bot searching my Outlook account),

I can only applaud the fact that law and order played out its roles successfully, this time.

Hats off!

[Anonymous Coward]

Jeremy Hammond the anonymous hacktivist ..

Obviously not so anonymous .. ref

[Stratman]

Did I read it correctly? That he gave up information in return for a lesser sentence, yet still got the maximum?

That'll encourage others to turn stool pigeon, I'm sure.

[Turtle]

@ Stratman

"Did I read it correctly? That he gave up information in return for a lesser sentence, yet still got the maximum?"

Re-read this sentence (see what I did there!) from the article: "Jeremy Hammond, the hacker who cracked open the database of intelligence organization Stratfor, had hoped for some leniency when he pleaded guilty to one charge of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act."

It's more than likely that the leniency part of the plea bargain was in only having to plead to one charge, as opposed to having to defend himself against many more charges.

Additionally, it is the prosecution and defense who plea bargain but no such deals are binding upon the judge so there's still some risk involved for the defendant even after both sides strike a deal. The judge will usually (but by no means always) go by this agreement but is not required to do so.

[Andrew Norton]

no more than his usual pronouncement "snitches get stitches"

[Don Jefe]

Sentencing isn't that straightforward. Even if you turn evidence and plead guilty they'll often give you the maximum sentence but reduce the time to parole, ease parole and probation restrictions and keep you out of the more awful prisons.

The idea of a plea bargain is that it saves the State resources in your prosecution. The more evidence they have against you the less of an impact your guilty plea will have, as you really aren't saving much in the way of resources.

You're going to be punished if you swipe people's credit cards and get caught. You should be punished. But pleading guilty greatly reduces some of the nasty side effects of a sentence and plays well with the board when you come up for your parole hearing. If you plead not guilty but are found guilty you're likely to get the full nastiness of a sentence and the parole board won't be very impressed. Generally you aren't allowed to change your plea after the punishment starts so you only get one chance to affect events years later at your parole hearing. Better get it right...

[JCitizen]

NEVER plead guilty when innocent!

@Don Jefe - If you are actually innocent, you are a dumb ass for pleading a deal, because in US courts they always find something wrong with the system. I can attest to that myself, although only on regular common law grounds, and not IT security issues. My security clearance is still valid, because even though I lost in a lower court, someone else with an honest lawyer won a State Supreme court case against regulations that bullied the jurors in that state. You will NEVER lose in the end in the US if you stick to your guns and plead NOT GUILTY, especially when you are NOT! For the poor bastards that spent 20 years in prison for unjust imprisonment - well they get a BIG check in subsequent suits for unjust prosecution. I doubt many of us get that kind of recompense just being an honest working stiff. SO NO!! Do not plead guilty, when innocent - EVER in US courts!!

[Turtle]

Inspiration.

"He said he was inspired by whistleblower Chelsea Manning and by the Occupy movement."

This is kind of pathetic. One's a guy who thinks that wanting to be a girl somehow makes him a girl, and the other is a group of people who, while having dissatisfactions that might or might not be valid, have nothing even remotely resembling a coherent plan as to how to remedy those dissatisfactions or improve society.

He needs better inspirations.

[Matt Bryant]

Ten years of Lulz for him!

Once again demonstrating the typical Anon's complete separation from reality: ".....He said he will spend his time inside "reading, writing, working out and playing sports – training myself to become more disciplined so I can be more effective on my release."......" I can almost hear the howls of "Fresh meat" from here. And his chances of being "more effective" at anything other than burger-flipping after release are close to zero, the FBI and NSA will be all over his coms for the test of his life.

[Andrew Norton]

Re: Ten years of Lulz for him!

Fresh meat? He's already done a bunch of time inside. Not just these 20 months on remand, he was also in prison for a similar offense in 06.

He is pretty seperated from reality though, and I say that as someone that dealt with him before he went to prison for the Protest warrior, as well as when he came out until he went into hiding to do this.

[Matt Bryant]

Re: Andrew Norton Re: Ten years of Lulz for him!

"....Not just these 20 months on remand, he was also in prison for a similar offense in 06....." Hmmm, so he persists in thoughtless crimes and looks forward to a return to prison? He must like some aspect of being locked up 24x7x365 with aggressive, bullying men. Either that or the poor chap obviously just can't cope with living in the modern World, maybe it would be in his best interest to section him?

[Andrew Norton]

Re: Andrew Norton Ten years of Lulz for him!

He IS an agressive bullying person.

He's also tracked down and stormed in (as part of a group) on a guy in a restaurant because he didn't like his beliefs.

He's also torched stuff in Chicago when they lost their Olympic bid, just to cause more trouble for the city council.

[Matt Bryant]

Re: Andrew Norton Re: Andrew Norton Ten years of Lulz for him!

"He IS an agressive bullying person....." Worse, I hear he worked with Macs - obviously prone to The Dark Side! TBH, he sounds the type that is always looking for a reason to be angry. I can't see prison actually helping him, it sounds like his parents were too busy filling his head with claptrap and not giving him enough hugs when he was a kiddie.

[stizzleswick]

Honestly? Good.

Having been a victim of CC fraud myself (and proud owner of one of the two cards that actually were instrumental in catching the culprit in my case--not this guy, though), I note that until very recently, this sort of crime seems to have been regarded as something of a "gentleman thief" thingy. You're doing it in the name of Anonymous (a movement I at least partially respect because they do bring up and make public real infringements on my rights, though I don't necessarily agree with their methods), so stealing innocent and non-involved people's hard-earned money is OK? Doesn't wash. Stinks even if you do wash it.

Lock 'em up, melt down the keys, throw resulting slag into ocean, etc. Meanwhile, I'm off for a nice pint; I finally, after two years of struggling, got the stolen money refunded to my bank account. Minus fees etc.

[JCitizen]

Re: Honestly? Good.

I was lucky, they only got to me for under 20 bucks! I've been steadily looking for ways to block criminals in every instance - every since then! Now I help everyone I know to fight IT crime in any way I can. Most of the people I know, that have been duped were not rich by any means of the definition - I thorougly enjoy helping my indigent clients for FREE!! FUCK the criminals! I will fight them every inch of the way!

[Scorchio!!]

Re: Honestly? Good.

A few years ago someone raped my bank account of about 4,000 stlg, and I went ape shit with the bank. To be fair the bank coughed up, not least because the thief was clearly not white and I clearly am.

This identity theft was only possible because someone had stolen my documents whilst in the post. My attitude to these people is similar to yours, and if the CJS is not prepared to deal with them I want to.

[Big Al]

Good riddance

So that's the bastard responsible for handing over my credit card info just because I subscribed to a website for its news analysis content, forcing me to try to convince my bank to cancel it while I was travelling abroad during the Christmas holiday period?

Gets no tears from me.

[Don Jefe]

Re: Good riddance

Fool! By subscribing to that service you were only fueling the fires with which the oppressors of the common man forge the chains of bondage and servitude.

Your contributions to the slavery of your fellow man shall henceforth be used against you and your gutless coconspirators. Only through just punishment will the pig-dogs of capitalism learn the error of your ways. Your inconvenience will be great and the mouse clicks of your struggles will echo through the halls of freedom for at least five minutes. Verily will the relentless and endless sounds of digitally enhanced on-hold music and menu options resonate as you contact the temple of your false gods to reestablish your identity and remove any illegitimate charges to your credit card. Tremble in fear, ye jester of greed, the voices of the bored and privelaged will no longer go unheeded.

[DB 2]

Entrapment

Shirley this is entrapment? Sabu, under FBI guidance, asked Hammond to attack the servers of Stratfor.

Ok he didn't have to do it but one could argue that Hammond would not have committed the crime he has been sentenced for if it was not for the FBI and their grass leading him in to the crime.

When hackers get more years than murderers and rapists then there is something wrong. Lots of long sentences recently for those hurting the ego of the USG and media corps.

[Don Jefe]

Re: Entrapment

That's not how entrapment works. Entrapment is when law enforcement officers design a situation in which there is no non-criminal solution and forces the subject into the trap.

If, by free will, there is a solution that doesn't require you to break the law then it isn't entrapment.

[Winkypop]

10 years eh...

Imagine the changes to the Internet and tech when he gets out.

[Scorchio!!]

Re: 10 years eh...

He'll probably find out on his way out of stir; they'll implant him with a chip, GPS, Wi-Fi RFID and fuck knows what else. He'll spend the rest of his life triggering alarms, being kicked out of what approximates to Cyber Cafes and the rest of it. One day he'll be found on the pavement, twitching; cause of death? Some new kid on the block decides to free him from his incarceration by hacking his electronic 'enhancements' and screws up badly, triggering a massive wave of electrochemical activity in areas normally associated with grand mal fits.

[Anonymous Coward]

I recall saying "They're Brave"

When they tried to take down GCHQ.

Bit of a mistake that, retrospectively.