WASHINGTON, D.C. — A collective of hackers known as Anonymous commandeered a Department of Justice website Saturday to protest what it called the harsh treatment by government prosecutors of Internet activist Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide this month.
The hackers replaced the site’s content with a video denouncing the government and praising the 26-year-old co-founder of Reddit, who hanged himself two weeks ago as his trial date for allegedly hacking into an MIT computer network neared. Swartz, who was accused of illegally downloading academic articles, faced up to 30 years in prison.
Swartz had long promoted open access of information on the Web.
Anonymous said it deliberately hacked the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s website to call attention to “the federal sentencing guidelines which enable prosecutors to cheat citizens of their constitutionally-guaranteed right to a fair trial.”
The FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response Services branch put out a statement Saturday: “We were aware as soon as it happened and are handling it as a criminal investigation. We are always concerned when someone illegally accesses another person’s or government agency’s network.”
The almost 10-minute video declared that “a line was crossed” when Swartz, facing what Anonymous called “a twisted and distorted perversion of justice,” decided to kill himself. The hackers decided they had to do something for Swartz, adding that “several more of our brethren now face similar disproportionate persecution.”
As word of the hacking jolted around the Web, some saw an opportunity for advocacy. A tweet attributed only to “Anonymous” linked to Congress’ website and encouraged people to contact their representatives and ask them to support an evolving piece of legislation already known as “Aaron’s law.”
Last week, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) put a draft of a bill that would limit the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a 1986 law that prosecutors used to help lodge their case against Swartz.
Activists and Swartz’s family have publicly blamed Swartz’s suicide on the government. Last week, Bob Swartz, Aaron’s father, said he thinks his son “was hounded to his death by a system and a set of attorneys that still don’t understand the nature of what they did.”
In another recent case, Anonymous leaked a video of people said to be from the Ohio high school where two football players face rape charges.
Los Angeles Times
13 Comments to “‘Anonymous’ Hacks Justice Department Computers; Cites Activist’s Death”
January 27, 2013 at 3:21 AM
just as Norman implied I'm taken by surprise that you can get paid $7001 in one month on the computer. did you read this web link http://xurl.es/cnvep
January 27, 2013 at 7:41 AM
They just posted half of the information here This stuff belongs on wikileaks i cant belive it
http://62c7ac05.goneviral.com
January 27, 2013 at 2:08 PM
I blame his suicide an his inability to deal with the problems of his own creation…. What exactly did he gain from his crime anyways?
January 27, 2013 at 2:38 PM
Hilarious. Our own government can't even track these cyber thugs down. What a joke.
January 27, 2013 at 4:03 PM
@bikey1 Have you ever wondered why some seemingly intellegent people put there lives at risk to go against the grain and not bow to the money these type of people are rare a John Lennon, a Bob Marley a Malcom X they can not just exist they can not find peace nor happiness sailing around on a yacht surrounded by beautiful women if you are not happy money alone will not solve that problem Swartz like Malcom X loved his people and could not be happy being one of the few enlightened while so many of his people were in the dark and when he realized no matter what he would never beat this machine he realized he would never be happy and did what he thought was best he didnt shun the fame and fortune it just was nonsense to a person like Swartz who could see how fatally flawed this current system is and knowing he was being punished for doing the only thing that brought peace to him was just to much if the American people dont start catching on we wont have any beautiful minds left its no coincidence that the ones that dont conform sell-out to the money and keep there mouths shut lives always end tragically
January 27, 2013 at 4:03 PM
@bikey1 do some resaerch on the talented a Micheal Jordan just lives and is rich what about a Muhumad Ali, listen to 50 cents lyrics then really listen to Tupacs :they dont care about us track and many more, Justin Bieber will be with us forever why kill john Lennon listen carefully to : Instant Karma-Strawberry Fields , Jessie Jackson is still kicking whyd they kill Malcom X cause the U.S govt didnt want segregation not because it was morally wrong because they wanted to sell black and white the same poisons large portions of the white community and black community are equally overwieght and unhealthy