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A Chicago man was sentenced to 2 years in prison Thursday for illegally accessing the Web site of a conservative political activist group and downloading the credit-card numbers of thousands of its members.
Jeremy Hammond plotted to use the credit cards to make donations to humanitarian and charity groups opposed by the Protest Warrior Web site into which he hacked, but he changed his mind, according to court records.
According to his lawyer, Hammond has extreme left-wing political views. He admitted to the FBI that he was a member of hackthissite.org, which identifies itself as "an online movement of hackers, activists and anarchists," the court records show.
After Hammond's father had noted his son was 19 at the time and used poor judgment, U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel picked up on the point, but used more blunt terms.
"You were an idiot when you did it," the judge said. "At the perspective of my age, all 19-year-olds are idiots."
Prosecutors had sought up to the maximum 5-year prison term and said they wanted Hammond, now 21, immediately jailed for violating bail by failing two recent drug tests and being arrested on disorderly conduct charges.
But Zagel said that was too harsh a sentence in this case and allowed Hammond to surrender to prison on Jan. 3.
Hammond was "more interested in countering speech he found wrong rather than picking the pockets" of political rivals, the judge said.
In addition to imposing the 2-year prison term, Zagel ordered Hammond to pay about $5,250 in fines and restitution and barred him from participating with hackthissite.org or similar Internet groups for three years after his release from prison.
"The threat of what you did is damaging to democratic discourse, your side's as well," Zagel told Hammond.
Hammond's father, Jack, contended his son's hacking was an immature act of revenge for a similar attack on hackthissite.org's Web site.
Though he faulted his son's judgment, the elder Hammond said his son's "basic inner moral code is good."
But Assistant U.S. Atty. Brandon Fox said this wasn't the first time Hammond had illegally hacked. He wrote pro-drug messages on the anti-drug DARE Web site, hacked into a former employer's computer system and was expelled from college for hacking, Fox said.
Fox urged a stiff prison term to punish Hammond for his disrespect for both the law and the opposing political opinions of others.
In court papers, Hammond's lawyer, Matthew McQuaid, had compared his client's computer skills to "a comic book character's `superpower.'"
In court Thursday, McQuaid contended Hammond was too emotionally immature to "harness" his political opinions.
According to the court records, Hammond gained access to the credit-card information of about 5,000 people who had bought items or donated online on Protest Warrior's Web site.
An acquaintance of Hammond's who tipped off authorities to Hammond's involvement was upset because Hammond allegedly had let an associate take the fall for a previous hacking, the records show.
In comments to the judge, Hammond, who pleaded guilty in September, said his motivation wasn't thievery but rather "political rivalry."
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mo'connor@tribune.com
Jeremy Hammond plotted to use the credit cards to make donations to humanitarian and charity groups opposed by the Protest Warrior Web site into which he hacked, but he changed his mind, according to court records.
According to his lawyer, Hammond has extreme left-wing political views. He admitted to the FBI that he was a member of hackthissite.org, which identifies itself as "an online movement of hackers, activists and anarchists," the court records show.
After Hammond's father had noted his son was 19 at the time and used poor judgment, U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel picked up on the point, but used more blunt terms.
"You were an idiot when you did it," the judge said. "At the perspective of my age, all 19-year-olds are idiots."
Prosecutors had sought up to the maximum 5-year prison term and said they wanted Hammond, now 21, immediately jailed for violating bail by failing two recent drug tests and being arrested on disorderly conduct charges.
But Zagel said that was too harsh a sentence in this case and allowed Hammond to surrender to prison on Jan. 3.
Hammond was "more interested in countering speech he found wrong rather than picking the pockets" of political rivals, the judge said.
In addition to imposing the 2-year prison term, Zagel ordered Hammond to pay about $5,250 in fines and restitution and barred him from participating with hackthissite.org or similar Internet groups for three years after his release from prison.
"The threat of what you did is damaging to democratic discourse, your side's as well," Zagel told Hammond.
Hammond's father, Jack, contended his son's hacking was an immature act of revenge for a similar attack on hackthissite.org's Web site.
Though he faulted his son's judgment, the elder Hammond said his son's "basic inner moral code is good."
But Assistant U.S. Atty. Brandon Fox said this wasn't the first time Hammond had illegally hacked. He wrote pro-drug messages on the anti-drug DARE Web site, hacked into a former employer's computer system and was expelled from college for hacking, Fox said.
Fox urged a stiff prison term to punish Hammond for his disrespect for both the law and the opposing political opinions of others.
In court papers, Hammond's lawyer, Matthew McQuaid, had compared his client's computer skills to "a comic book character's `superpower.'"
In court Thursday, McQuaid contended Hammond was too emotionally immature to "harness" his political opinions.
According to the court records, Hammond gained access to the credit-card information of about 5,000 people who had bought items or donated online on Protest Warrior's Web site.
An acquaintance of Hammond's who tipped off authorities to Hammond's involvement was upset because Hammond allegedly had let an associate take the fall for a previous hacking, the records show.
In comments to the judge, Hammond, who pleaded guilty in September, said his motivation wasn't thievery but rather "political rivalry."
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mo'connor@tribune.com
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Sorry. I wasn't able to find any others but I'll keep my eyes open. It was a pretty ok zelda style game that used DirectQB at the height of, uh, people using DirectQB.
