Jeremy Hammond

Jeremy Hammond, aka Xec96, was born in 1985 and is a Chicago, Illinois political activist, anarchist, freegan and convicted felon who has been involved in anti-war and anti-globalization causes as well as digital rights and free software movements. He has helped produce several zines and websites for his various hacking and activist groups, most notably founding the hacker website HackThisSite.org. After hacking into the Protest Warrior website, he was convicted for the theft of approximately 5000 credit card numbers with intent to defraud and distribute. For this, he was sentenced to twenty four months in prison, a $5250 fine, and three years of supervised release during which he may not participate in any hacking or anarchist communities, either physically or online.

Hacking charges

On March 17, 2005, Hammond's apartment in Chicago was raided by FBI agents who seized his computers, written records and various electronic media. Hammond alleged the FBI agents were verbally abusive towards him during the raid. He was eventually arrested and charged with felony-level offenses relating to computer hacking and credit card fraud, arising from the 2004 intrusion into the website belonging to the activist group Protest Warrior. Hammond took a list of approximately 5000 credit card numbers and was involved in a scheme to use these stolen numbers to make donations to humanitarian and charity groups. Though he had these numbers in his possession for a number of months, he never went through with the scheme. An informant contacted Protest Warrior and told them about the hack. They then contacted the FBI. The District Attorney and the FBI charged Hammond with 2.5 million dollars in damage ($500 per credit card), following guidelines for "intent to use" even though he was arrested before any damage was actually done.

With his court appointed attorney's recommendations, Hammond eventually entered a "blind plea" of guilt without any plea bargain. At his sentencing hearing on December 7, 2006 he claimed that he was motivated by "political rivalry" and not personal gain. The judge said he believed that Hammond "probably wouldn't" have used the credit cards, but based the sentencing on a "30% chance" that something may have triggered him to use them eventually. He took 30% of the $2.5 million dollars and used that figure for the sentencing guidelines. Hammond was sentenced to 24 months in prison and 3 years' probation during which he may not participate in HackThisSite.org or anarchist activities. No restitution was awarded to the victims for the potential damages alleged by the prosecution. Although the District Attorney Brandon Fox and the FBI tried to incarcerate Hammond at his sentencing hearing for "violating bail by failing two recent drug tests and being arrested on disorderly conduct charges", the judge gave Hammond until January 3 2007 to check himself in, to let him spend the holidays with his family at his father's request. Hammond reported as scheduled to begin his sentence at the medium security federal prison in Greenville, Illinois on January 3, 2007. [1] He was released from prison on August 19, 2008.

Other activism

Along with several other activists, Hammond was arrested in Toledo, Ohio en route to an anti-Nazi rally on December 11, 2005. These charges were eventually dropped, and Jeremy along with others are now involved in a lawsuit against the city and police for wrongful arrest.

In addition to helping organize and participating in dozens of anti-war and anti-capitalist actions in Chicago and around the country, he has helped found and/or provide material assistance to other related political activist projects. He has volunteered and helped organize hacktivist workshops at Dai5ychain Community Computer Lab, has helped maintain activist living co-ops, has cooked, served, and hosted food not bombs activities, has organized public games of Urban Capture the Flag, and more.

See also

• HackThisSite
• Hacktivism

External links

News articles

• Police to probe use of Taser on woman at neo-Nazi rally
• Austin Group Complains of Hack Attack, Austin Statesman article, July 14, 2005
• "But Can He Hack Prison", Chicago Reader article, August 18, 2005
• Description of the ProtestWarrior hack
• Columbia Chronicle article on Dai5chain and hacktivism
• Jeremy at DefCon 2004
• Protest Warriors' version of events
• Chicago Magazine Article on Jeremy Hammond

Miscellaneous

• Hammond's BOP information.
• USDA indicts hacker activist...
• Hack This Zine #3 on Microcosm Publishing's site, with length-y discussion

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