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FBI Put Hactivist Jeremy Hammond On a Terrorist Watchlist

Posted by timothy on from the watch-you-watch-yourself dept.

blottsie writes The Federal Bureau of Investigation put Anonymous hacker Jeremy Hammond on a secret terrorist watchlist, according to confidential records obtained by the Daily Dot. The records further reveal how the FBI treats cybercrimes and shines a rare light on the expanding definitions of terrorism used by U.S. law enforcement agencies.

1 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. hacktivist? by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 5, Informative
    This guy wasn't just any "hacktivist", he did some pretty high profile stuff:

    Arrested in March 2012, Hammond is currently serving the remainder of a 10-year prison sentence for his involvement in a series of high-profile cyberattacks targeting federal agencies, private government contractors, and police departments.

    I have my doubts whether "cyberattacks" (presumably things like denial of service, taking advantage of weak passwords, etc.) should receive such harsh penalties. But given that such actions are treated as more serious than many violent crimes, it doesn't seem surprising or inconsistent for the federal government to want to keep an eye on him. The point is: if you don't like what happened to Hammond, complaining about him ending on a terrorist watch list won't do any good; what you should complain about is the harsh laws that made him a serious felon in the eye of the law to begin with.