Hacker Jailed

Chicago computer hacker and alleged Anonymous member Jeremy Hammond was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison for cyber attacks on government agencies and businesses, according to Reuters.
A New York federal judge last week handed the 28-year-old Hammond the maximum punishment for his involvement in the December 2011 hacking of security firm Strategic Forecasting, Inc. (Stratfor).
Almost two years ago, hackers claiming to be associated with Anonymous breached Stratfor and published personal details about the company's clientele, including credit card information. Not long after, Anonymous dumped thousands of additional documents obtained via the hack and promised to attack "multiple" law enforcement targets over the New Year's weekend.
Several members of Anonymous have been jailed over the years, but most of the group's associated hackers manage to remain, well, anonymous. Hammond (a.k.a. yohoho, tylerknowsthis, or crediblethreat) was arrested in March 2012 and charged for his work in the Stratfor breach; he pleaded guilty in May 2013 to avoid a possible 30-year sentence, as well as other outstanding indictments from jurisdictions around the country.
"The acts of civil disobedience and direct action that I am being sentenced for today are in line with the principles of community and equality that have guided my life," Hammond said in his sentencing statement, published Friday by The Sparrow Project. "I hacked into dozens of high profile corporations and government institutions, understanding very clearly that what I was doing was against the law … But I felt that I had an obligation to use my skills to expose and confront injustice — and to bring the truth to light."
"As a result of the Stratfor hack, some of the dangers of the unregulated private intelligence industry are now known," Hammond concluded.
Early this year, Hammond took the feds to task over a "flawed and corrupt" approach to cyber security, claiming law used to prosecute him — the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) — contains overly broad language, and "should be found unconstitutional under the void-for-vagueness doctrine of the due process clause."
According to Reuters, Chief Judge Loretta Preska of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan was unimpressed, handing down the decade-long term plus three years of supervised release, citing Hammond's "total lack of respect for the law."
"There was certainly nothing high-minded or public spirited about his hacking," Preska said.
Among Hammond's supporters, Reuters reported, is Daniel Ellsberg, the former U.S. military analyst who released the Pentagon Papers in 1971, revealing America's role in the Vietnam War.