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LulzSec Member Pleads Not Guilty In Stratfor Leak Case
TheGift73 writes with an update on one of the many LulzSec court cases. From the article: "A former LulzSec member has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he hacked into the servers of global intelligence company Stratfor and stole credit card data and personal details of 860,000 of its clients. Jeremy Hammond entered the plea on Monday during a brief hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the Associated Press reported. He's been held in federal custody since an initial court appearance in Chicago in early March, when federal prosecutors named him as a lieutenant of LulzSec ringleader Hector Xavier 'Sabu' Monsegur. There was no request for Hammond to be released on bail during Monday's hearing, according to the AP report."
I plead not guilty for the lulz your honor.
~S
Since they arrested him they must have some good idea that its him, but it will be interesting to see what evidence they have, how it was collected, and how they can show it was only he who could have done the deed. With how easy it is to remotely control computers and especially if he had a wifi router, who's to say that his computer wasn't rooted and someone remotely did what he is accused of.
News that Stratfor, the "private intelligence service," has been whacked by Anonymous has brought the former organization and its reputation into sharp focus. The fact that Stratfor hadn't bothered to fulfill one of the lowest requirements of cybernetic security -- encrypting sensitive client data -- is one of the most damaging things that can be said about any company in the digital age, much less an "international security organization." This intrusion went quite a bit farther than most -- the Guy Fawkes boys actually managed to extract funds (a reported $500,000 worth) from Stratfor's clients (whom the company insists on calling "members"), which they then gave to charities. The humiliation here is total, and Stratfor will be lucky to survive.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/01/the_stratfor_scandal.html
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
creating HackThisSite and being arrested by the FBI for hacking a website called Protest Warrior.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HackThisSite
http://www.hackthissite.org/
The real lulz come from the fact that people take Stratfor seriously, and continue to use their overblown moniker of "private intelligence firm". They were/are a news aggregating group that sold stale news articles from REAL news organizations like ITAR TASS and Xinhua. And since most American corporate executives never heard of ITAR TASS, Xinhua, ABN, etc. etc., they were able to pawn it off as their own work. Not only did they sell old news, but they charged a huge price for it. They were essentially an expensive HuffPo with a wanna-be CIA spook edge for effect. Not surprising at all that they didn't encrypt their data, or provide any real security.
...and so is Wikileaks for taking it seriously.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There's_a_sucker_born_every_minute
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
Is the government really going to give him any kind of fair shake? They have already decided that he is a "cyber-terrorist." (A cyber-terrorist being one who uses a computer and commits no violence.)
If he plea-bargains, they'll screw him. Remember John Walker Lindh plea-bargained and he had to give up his right to admit that the government tortured him.
Will he get a fair trial or be found not guilty? Hell no. But seeing as that's the case he might as well waste the government's resources, so that they have fewer resources to expend against other cyber-activists.
The U.S. has over two million people in its prison system, a quarter of all the world's prisoners. If everyone would refuse the plea-bargain, the judicial system of the "freest country in the world" would collapse under it's own inability to prosecute all those people it seeks to imprison.
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to him as a "lieutenant" at all makes me think we're decorating a scapegoat. to my knowledge anonymous has haver had any structure similar to the military. what use is it to prescribe an american military title to a hacker? its as though we're trying to make him sound like a bond villain out to rape grandmothers and burn houses. the guy leaked credit card numbers that austensibly belonged to corporations. corporations are not people, therefore this is a victimless crime. corporations have insurance to protect against this kind of stuff.
its as if we're so desparate to insist things like anonymous, wikileaks, and occupy arent "real" things, we're willing to paint each one we manage to "capture" as some antichrist hellbent on destroying the world as we know it.
comparatively, if someone at my grocery store stole my credit card and used it to its most nefarious purpose, buying random crap, id not only never get charged for it but they would likely be convicted of a minor crime or petty theft, and sentenced to community service.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Hector Xavier Monsegur ? Is that a fitting name for a bad-ass evil mastermind or what ?
It is a pity that Hammond didn't direct his talents against the internet scam artists and credit card thieves. That would have been so cool.
But Hammond is going to get LAUNCHED. The feds let him off relatively easy the first time. It won't happen a second time.
I'll feel sorry for the misdirected loser as he rots in prison. Poor guy: Smart and Stupid at the same time.
And, unlike his fawning sycophants, I'm going to call him what he is.
A douchebag. Plain and simple.
I was involved with the FBI and helped them put him away the first time.
It's a sad commentary that a couple years in prison didn't straighten him out at all.
I've seen his name pop up a couple times in local news. Usually for some new random act of overweening stupidity.
I'm just stunned that he stooped to credit card theft AGAIN.
Then again, with his record, and his lack of anything even resembling social skills, he's damn near unemployable.
But Jeremy now has what he always desired. A national audience. And, unfortunately, there are just enough brain-sick slobs out there for whom his half-witted messsage is attractive. And he's got a martyr complex the size of the Sears Tower.
He basically belongs in prison, deprived of computer access. Hopefully they'll send him someplace slightly harsher than FCI Greenville this time.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
The potential penalties or so severe that pleading not guilty might be his only hope. Frankly i hope he wins.
I spent 52 months in Feds from 2006 - 2010. IMVHO, this is what's happening, at least on the legal side. He will never get bail. He's innocent till proven guilty, of course, but fed bail is supposedly all about flight risk. "Danger to the community" implies guilt so it can't be used..technically. The question for the Magistrate (who usually decides bail, not the Trial Judge) is: does a set of conditions exist which will assure the defendant's appearance at court? And that, is typically up to the US Attorney or AUSA. I did not get bail and was held at Donald W Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, RI for 22 months before finally pleading out.
If Hammond goes to trial, he will never get out. 92% of all fed criminal cases plead out. Why? Because when the choice is possibly three mandatory life sentences vs five years, you end up taking the lesser of two evils. The Feds add all sorts of sentencing enhancements to make it so risky to roll the dice with a jury, it just isn't worth it. I was not guilty of the offense it was claimed I committed, but I couldn't risk the rest of my life on being able to convince 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty.
Hammond's other option is USSG 5K1.1 (Sentence reduction for substantial assistance in convicting another criminal.) The Government must submit a motion for this reduction, IF they like what you snitch. There are other options such as the Safety Valve (for which Hammond is not eligible due to previous offenses. Rapper T.I. got out of prison after like 18 months for machine guns and silencers because he gave the Government substantial assistance. Real gangsta.
If Hammond miraculously gets out anytime within the next ten years, he got a 5K1.1, most likely. When the feds want you, you're fucked.
"The pie shall be cut in half and each man shall receive.....death. I'll eat the pie."
Once a suspect is under that degree of intense surveillance it is difficult to emerge from it unscathed.
1. There was some compelling reason (right or wrong) to place the suspect under surveillance.
2. Hundreds of Thousands of dollars have been spent and none of the people involved in task want to come up empty.
3. By combining data from 1 and 2 this becomes a targetted and educated search for convictable case evidence.
4. 1, 2, and 3 together means that they are not pulling off the surveillance or making the arrest (especially in this case where the suspect is not aware of the surveillence and not a serious flight risk) without a preponderence of evidence to get that conviction. Warrants are issued. Agents/devices are in place. Evidence is piling up. The question is asked. "How much do we really need to convict this suspect?" This decision/answer comes from the U.S. Attorney/prosecution.
5. Yes. It is possible to that the surveillance turns up nothing, but this usually only occurs when the suspect is truly innocent, changes their behavior, or covers their acts well enough that surveillance yeilds no convictable evidence.
Getting a conviction in this case carries a large amount of ego/political/social baggage for the prosecution. They want a "heads must roll" payback or a "we will find you" deterrent for all of the lulz seekers out there.
Innocent until proven guilty, yes. However, I believe that a conviction is pretty much a forgone conclusion in this case. It would take a better lawyer than I, to successfully defend this case. I would imagine that Hammond's lawyer is already focused on the "plea deal".
Of course, that is just my opinion. I could be wrong.
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson