Content area
Full Text
Jeremy Hammond (born December 1985) is a political activist from Chicago charged in a criminal complaint with crimes relating to the December 2011 hack of Strategic Forecasting, Inc. (Stratfor). He is the founder of the computer security training website HackThisSite, created in 2003 following his graduation from Glenbard East High School. A genuinely conscious web developer, Jeremy Hammond is accused of using his computer savvy to attack conservative groups and State operators. He is being charged with providing Wikileaks the documents for their latest Stratfor release.
Arrest
On March 5, 2012, Hammond was arrested by FBI agents in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago IL, ahead of an indictment unsealed the following day in the Lower Manhattan federal district court. He is one of six individuals from the US, England and Ireland indicted, due to testimony from a cooperating witness known online as Sabu.
Fox News in Manhattan was first to break the story based on "access to Sabu's handlers" of three arrests "on two continents," a sealed federal indictment for six, and a "separate indictment" for Hammond. The story was later confirmed by other news agencies when the court papers were unsealed.
The case is being prosecuted by the office of Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Hammond is represented by Elizabeth Fink, "a firebrand attorney" with the National Lawyers Guild. She won a settlement of $8 million against the Government of New York for ex-inmates of the Attica Commune prison rebellion
Local profiles of Hammond by the Chicago press describe him as "connected to anarchist groups planning G8 and NATO protests." Another called him "a lanky 27-year-old poster boy for anti-capitalist 'hacktivists'" and "a rock star to anarchists and cyberterrorists worldwide." Supporters describe him as "one of the few true electronic Robin Hoods" in reference to a phrase by Hammond from a 2007 profile.
Previous Sentences
On November 29, 2010, Hammond was sentenced to 18 months probation and 130 hours of community service for mob action, by Cook County Judge Joseph Kazmierski. Hammond...