- Jeremy Hammond
Jeremy Hammond, aka Xec96, was born in
1985 and is a controversialChicago ,Illinois political activist, self-professedanarchist ,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 severalzines and websites for his various hacking and activist groups, most notably founding the hacker website HackThisSite.org. After hacking into theProtest 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.North Halsted Street Incident
In Summer 2004, during a
Gay Pride parade, Jeremy Hammond and two others were arrested onNorth Halsted Street in Chicago, Illinois. During the court proceedings, it came to the attention of those involved that Jeremy was in possession of a video which would exonerate him while possibly helping authorities identify others. Hammond turned over the tape. Although this act ultimately lead to no further arrests or prosecutions, he later expressed remorse for this cooperation in a letter to the activist community. This incident has caused a great deal of heated discussion in the Chicago area Anarchist and activist communities. Many blogs, websites and zines have weighed in with opinions that Jeremy's conduct made him a "snitch," while other argue that Jeremy did nothing improper by using the tape in his defense.Protest Warrior
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 groupProtest 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 theFBI charged Jeremy 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.entencing
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. Although the judge said Jeremy had a "special gift", he also said that Jeremy "used poor judgment".Fact|date=September 2007 The judge said he believed that Jeremy "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 Jeremy at his sentencing hearing for "violating bail by failing two recent drug tests and being arrested on disorderly conduct charges", the judge gave Jeremy untilJanuary 3 2007 to check himself in, to let him spend the holidays with his family at his father's request. Jeremy reported as scheduled to begin his sentence at the medium security federal prison in Greenville, Illinois on January 3, 2007. [http://hackbloc.org/site/content/view/47/37/]Other Activism
Along with several other activists, Jeremy was arrested in
Toledo, Ohio en route to an anti-Nazi rally onDecember 11 ,2005 . They were detained for various charges, including contempt of court. Jeremy and many others have had their names, addresses and phone numbers released on a racist website after their arrests. 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 hostedfood not bombs activities, has organized public games of Urban Capture the Flag, and more.All these projects are controversial within the activist networks and groups in the Chicago area as well as all over the United States. His "sustainable living co-ops" have been criticized as hosting abrasive and abusive individuals in the past. Jeremy has been known to randomly run out into the intersections of the neighborhoods where he lives and block them off with bucket drums and flags. These actions have also been subject to the criticism of part of the activist community, who assert they make
anarchism look like something silly and reckless, and not thesocial movement it really is. Other have expressed the opinion that these activities are valid tactics for focusing attention on the established orders contradictions and fostering a spirit of resistance.Release
He has been released from prison as of 8-9-08.
ee also
*
HackThisSite
*Hacktivism
*Hackbloc External links
News articles
* [http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051213/NEWS03/512130349 Police to probe use of Taser on woman at neo-Nazi rally]
* [http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/07/14hackers.html Austin Group Complains of Hack Attack, Austin Statesman article, July 14, 2005]
* [http://www.chicagoreader.com/pdf/050819/050819_cover.pdf "But Can He Hack Prison", Chicago Reader article, August 18, 2005]
* [http://digg.com/security/HackThisSite_Founder_Convicted/#c4273254 Description of the ProtestWarrior hack]
* [http://www.hackthissite.org/chicagotribunecapture.txt Hacking Leads to Prison, Chicago Tribune article] ,December 8 ,2006
* [http://www.columbiachronicle.com/paper/arts.php?id=3064 Columbia Chronicle article on Dai5chain and hacktivism]
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1269112265902193941 Jeremy at DefCon 2004]
* [http://www.protestwarrior.com/newsletters/07_05_05.php Protest Warriors' version of events]
* [http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/July-2007/The-Hacktivist/ Chicago Magazine Article on Jeremy Hammond]Miscellaneous
* [http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&LastName=hammond&Middle=&FirstName=jeremy&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=0&y=0 Hammond's BOP information.]
* [http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/73411/index.php USDA indicts hacker activist...]
* [http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/62637/index.php Chicago IMC article: The Issue of Snitches]
* [http://chicago.indymedia.org/mod/comments/display/62645/index.php Chicagoland Anarchist Network's full Statement on Jeremy Hammond]
* [http://www.microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/1677/ Hack This Zine #3 on Microcosm Publishing's site, with length-y discussion]
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