Egyptians riot after soccer fans sentenced to die – Houston Chronicle
‘Anonymous’ hacks government site to protest hacktivist’s death – Los Angeles Times
1. ‘Anonymous’ hacks government site to protest
hacktivist’s death – Los Angeles Times
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.
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marisa.gerber@latimes.com
Source Article from
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-anonymous-hackers-swartz-20130126,
0,3721767.story
Waddywood.com ‘Anonymous’ hacks government site to protest hacktivist’s death – Los
Angeles Times
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