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Prison Is For Dangerous Criminals, Not Hacktivists

Posted by Soulskill on from the keep-your-head-down dept.

In late 2011, defense contractor Stratfor suffered a cybersecurity breach that resulted in a leak of millions of internal emails. A few months later, the FBI arrested hacktivist Jeremy Hammond and several others for actions related to the breach. Hammond pleaded guilty to one count of violating the CFAA, and today his sentence was handed down: 10 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He said, [The prosecutors] have made it clear they are trying to send a message to others who come after me. A lot of it is because they got slapped around, they were embarrassed by Anonymous and they feel that they need to save face." Reader DavidGilbert99 adds, "Former LulzSec and Anonymous member Jake Davis argues that U.S. lawmakers need to take a leaf out of the U.K.'s legal system and not put Jeremy Hammond behind bars for his part in the hack of Stratfor. 'Jeremy Hammond has a lot to give society too. Prisons are for dangerous people that need to be segmented from the general population. Hackers are not dangerous, they are misunderstood, and while disciplinary action is of course necessary, there is nothing disciplined about locking the door on a young man's life for 10 years.'"

1 of 337 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Sorry, but not here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Here we have prison to punish people. It doesn't exist as a means to control risk by controlling dangerous people. We've collectively decided that we should put people in cells(and let them be raped) like it's telling 5 year olds to stand in the corner.

    1) Where exactly is "here" ? Your mommy's basement ?

    2) Have YOU actually done time in prison ? Because I don't think you have,
              and you are just another shit-talker who pretends to know about stuff
              with which he actually has no direct experience.

    3) Your many and varied posts prove you are an idiot. Try shutting the fuck up
              and reading instead of posting, and the quality of the discourse on Slashdot
              will increase as a result. And you might learn something, thereby raising your
              own pathetic loser ass a few microns off the floor of human quality.