[NEW YORK, NY] Jeremy Hammond, a 28-year-old political activist,
was sentenced today to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to
participating in the Anonymous hack into the computers of the private
intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting (Stratfor). The Ceremonial
Courtroom at the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York was
filled today with an outpouring of support by journalists, activists
and other whistleblowers who see Jeremy Hammond’s actions as a form of
civil disobedience, motivated by a desire to protest and expose the
secret activities of private intelligence corporations.jeremy hammond by
molly crabapple
Jeremy Hammond, by Molly CrabappleThe hearing opened
with arguments as to what sections of the court record will remain
redacted after sentencing. While Jeremy’s attorneys initially erred on
the side of caution in previous memorandums and kept large pieces of the
record redacted, both the defense and prosecution agreed this morning
that many of the sections should now be made available for public view.
The prosecution, however took stiff exception to portions of the court
record being made public that indicate victims, specifically foreign
governments, that Jeremy allegedly hacked under the direction of Hector
“Sabu” Monsegur, the FBI informant at the helm of Jeremy’s alleged
actions. Judge Preska ordered that the names of these foreign
governments remain sealed.Jeremy’s lead counsel, Sarah Kunstler, who is 9
months pregnant and due to give birth today, delivered a passionate
testimonial as to the person that Jeremy is, and the need for people
like Jeremy during our changing socio-political landscape. She was
followed by co-counsel, Susan Keller, who wept as she recalled her
experiences reading the hundreds of letters from supporters to the court
detailing the Jeremy Hammond’s selflessness and enthusiastic
volunteerism. She pointed out that it was this same selflessness that
motivated Jeremy’s actions in this case. She closed her testimony by
underscoring that, “The centerpiece of our argument is a young man with
high hopes and unbelievably laudable expectations in this world.”Susan
was followed by Jeremy Hammond himself, who gave a detailed, touching
and consequential allocution to the court. The following is Jeremy’s
statement to the court. We have redacted a portion [marked in red] upon
the orders of Judge Preska. While we believe the public has a right to
know the redacted information therein, we refuse to publish information
that could adversely effect Jeremy or his counsel.JEREMY’ HAMMOND
SENTENCING STATEMENT | 11/15/2013
Good morning. Thank you
for this opportunity. My name is Jeremy Hammond and I’m here to be
sentenced for hacking activities carried out during my involvement with
Anonymous. I have been locked up at MCC for the past 20 months and have
had a lot of time to think about how I would explain my actions.Before I
begin, I want to take a moment to recognize the work of the people who
have supported me. I want to thank all the lawyers and others who worked
on my case: Elizabeth Fink, Susan Kellman, Sarah Kunstler, Emily
Kunstler, Margaret Kunstler, and Grainne O’Neill. I also want to thank
the National Lawyers Guild, the Jeremy Hammond Defense Committee and
Support Network, Free Anons, the Anonymous Solidarity Network, Anarchist
Black Cross, and all others who have helped me by writing a letter of
support, sending me letters, attending my court dates, and spreading the
word about my case. I also want to shout out my brothers and sisters
behind bars and those who are still out there fighting the power.The
acts of civil disobedience and direct action that I am being sentenced
for today are in line with the principles of community and equality that
have guided my life. I hacked into dozens of high profile corporations
and government institutions, understanding very clearly that what I was
doing was against the law, and that my actions could land me back in
federal prison. But I felt that I had an obligation to use my skills to
expose and confront injustice—and to bring the truth to light.Could I
have achieved the same goals through legal means? I have tried
everything from voting petitions to peaceful protest and have found that
those in power do not want the truth to be exposed. When we speak truth
to power we are ignored at best and brutally suppressed at worst. We
are confronting a power structure that does not respect its own system
of checks and balances, never mind the rights of it’s own citizens or
the international community.My introduction to politics was when George
W. Bush stole the Presidential election in 2000, then took advantage of
the waves of racism and patriotism after 9/11 to launch unprovoked
imperialist wars against Iraq and Afghanistan. I took to the streets in
protest naively believing our voices would be heard in Washington and we
could stop the war. Instead, we were labeled as traitors, beaten, and
arrested.I have been arrested for numerous acts of civil disobedience on
the streets of Chicago, but it wasn’t until 2005 that I used my
computer skills to break the law in political protest. I was arrested by
the FBI for hacking into the computer systems of a right-wing, pro-war
group called Protest Warrior, an organization that sold racist t-shirts
on their website and harassed anti-war groups. I was charged under the
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the “intended loss” in my case was
arbitrarily calculated by multiplying the 5000 credit cards in Protest
Warrior’s database by $500, resulting in a total of $2.5 million.My
sentencing guidelines were calculated on the basis of this “loss,” even
though not a single credit card was used or distributed – by me or
anyone else. I was sentenced to two years in prison.While in prison I
have seen for myself the ugly reality of how the criminal justice system
destroys the lives of the millions of people held captive behind bars.
The experience solidified my opposition to repressive forms of power and
the importance of standing up for what you believe.When I was released,
I was eager to continue my involvement in struggles for social change. I
didn’t want to go back to prison, so I focused on above-ground
community organizing. But over time, I became frustrated with the
limitations, of peaceful protest, seeing it as reformist and
ineffective. The Obama administration continued the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, escalated the use of drones, and failed to close Guantanamo
Bay.Around this time, I was following the work of groups like Wikileaks
and Anonymous. It was very inspiring to see the ideas of hactivism
coming to fruition. I was particularly moved by the heroic actions of
Chelsea Manning, who had exposed the atrocities committed by U.S. forces
in Iraq and Afghanistan. She took an enormous personal risk to leak
this information – believing that the public had a right to know and
hoping that her disclosures would be a positive step to end these
abuses. It is heart-wrenching to hear about her cruel treatment in
military lockup.I thought long and hard about choosing this path again. I
had to ask myself, if Chelsea Manning fell into the abysmal nightmare
of prison fighting for the truth, could I in good conscience do any
less, if I was able? I thought the best way to demonstrate solidarity
was to continue the work of exposing and confronting corruption.I was
drawn to Anonymous because I believe in autonomous, decentralized direct
action. At the time Anonymous was involved in operations in support of
the Arab Spring uprisings, against censorship, and in defense of
Wikileaks. I had a lot to contribute, including technical skills, and
how to better articulate ideas and goals. It was an exciting time – the
birth of a digital dissent movement, where the definitions and
capabilities of hacktivism were being shaped.I was especially interested
in the work of the hackers of LulzSec who were breaking into some
significant targets and becoming increasingly political. Around this
time, I first started talking to Sabu, who was very open about the hacks
he supposedly committed, and was encouraging hackers to unite and
attack major government and corporate systems under the banner of Anti
Security. But very early in my involvement, the other Lulzsec hackers
were arrested, leaving me to break into systems and write press
releases. Later, I would learn that Sabu had been the first one
arrested, and that the entire time I was talking to him he was an FBI
informant.Anonymous was also involved in the early stages of Occupy Wall
Street. I was regularly participating on the streets as part of Occupy
Chicago and was very excited to see a worldwide mass movement against
the injustices of capitalism and racism. In several short months, the
“Occupations” came to an end, closed by police crackdowns and mass
arrests of protestors who were kicked out of their own public parks. The
repression of Anonymous and the Occupy Movement set the tone for
Antisec in the following months – the majority of our hacks against
police targets were in retaliation for the arrests of our comrades.I
targeted law enforcement systems because of the racism and inequality
with which the criminal law is enforced. I targeted the manufacturers
and distributors of military and police equipment who profit from
weaponry used to advance U.S. political and economic interests abroad
and to repress people at home. I targeted information security firms
because they work in secret to protect government and corporate
interests at the expense of individual rights, undermining and
discrediting activists, journalists and other truth seekers, and
spreading disinformation.I had never even heard of Stratfor until Sabu
brought it to my attention. Sabu was encouraging people to invade
systems, and helping to strategize and facilitate attacks. He even
provided me with vulnerabilities of targets passed on by other hackers,
so it came as a great surprise when I learned that Sabu had been working
with the FBI the entire time.On December 4, 2011, Sabu was approached
by another hacker who had already broken into Stratfor’s credit card
database. Sabu, under the watchful eye of his government handlers, then
brought the hack to Antisec by inviting this hacker to our private
chatroom, where he supplied download links to the full credit card
database as well as the initial vulnerability access point to Stratfor’s
systems.I spent some time researching Stratfor and reviewing the
information we were given, and decided that their activities and client
base made them a deserving target. I did find it ironic that Stratfor’s
wealthy and powerful customer base had their credit cards used to donate
to humanitarian organizations, but my main role in the attack was to
retrieve Stratfor’s private email spools which is where all the dirty
secrets are typically found.It took me more than a week to gain further
access into Stratfor’s internal systems, but I eventually broke into
their mail server. There was so much information, we needed several
servers of our own in order to transfer the emails. Sabu, who was
involved with the operation at every step, offered a server, which was
provided and monitored by the FBI. Over the next weeks, the emails were
transferred, the credit cards were used for donations, and Stratfor’s
systems were defaced and destroyed. Why the FBI would introduce us to
the hacker who found the initial vulnerability and allow this hack to
continue remains a mystery.As a result of the Stratfor hack, some of the
dangers of the unregulated private intelligence industry are now known.
It has been revealed through Wikileaks and other journalists around the
world that Stratfor maintained a worldwide network of informants that
they used to engage in intrusive and possibly illegal surveillance
activities on behalf of large multinational corporations.After Stratfor,
I continued to break into other targets, using a powerful “zero day
exploit” allowing me administrator access to systems running the popular
Plesk webhosting platform. Sabu asked me many times for access to this
exploit, which I refused to give him. Without his own independent
access, Sabu continued to supply me with lists of vulnerable targets. I
broke into numerous websites he supplied, uploaded the stolen email
accounts and databases onto Sabu’s FBI server, and handed over passwords
and backdoors that enabled Sabu (and, by extension, his FBI handlers)
to control these targets.These intrusions, all of which were suggested
by Sabu while cooperating with the FBI, affected thousands of domain
names and consisted largely of foreign government websites, including
those of XXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXX, XXXXXX, XXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXX and
the XXXXXX XXXXXXX. In one instance, Sabu and I provided access
information to hackers who went on to deface and destroy many government
websites in XXXXXX. I don’t know how other information I provided to
him may have been used, but I think the government’s collection and use
of this data needs to be investigated.jeremy hammond hearing
Sketch from inside Judge Preska’s courtroom by Molly Crabapple
The
government celebrates my conviction and imprisonment, hoping that it
will close the door on the full story. I took responsibility for my
actions, by pleading guilty, but when will the government be made to
answer for its crimes?The U.S. hypes the threat of hackers in order to
justify the multi billion dollar cyber security industrial complex, but
it is also responsible for the same conduct it aggressively prosecutes
and claims to work to prevent. The hypocrisy of “law and order” and the
injustices caused by capitalism cannot be cured by institutional reform
but through civil disobedience and direct action. Yes I broke the law,
but I believe that sometimes laws must be broken in order to make room
for change.In the immortal word of Frederick Douglas, “Power concedes
nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just
what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact
measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and
these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows,
or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those
whom they oppress.”This is not to say that I do not have any regrets. I
realize that I released the personal information of innocent people who
had nothing to do with the operations of the institutions I targeted. I
apologize for the release of data that was harmful to individuals and
irrelevant to my goals. I believe in the individual right to privacy –
from government surveillance, and from actors like myself, and I
appreciate the irony of my own involvement in the trampling of these
rights. I am committed to working to make this world a better place for
all of us. I still believe in the importance of hactivism as a form of
civil disobedience, but it is time for me to move on to other ways of
seeking change. My time in prison has taken a toll on my family,
friends, and community. I know I am needed at home. I recognize that 7
years ago I stood before a different federal judge, facing similar
charges, but this does not lessen the sincerity of what I say to you
today.It has taken a lot for me to write this, to explain my actions,
knowing that doing so — honestly — could cost me more years of my life
in prison. I am aware that I could get as many as 10 years, but I hope
that I do not, as I believe there is so much work to be done.STAY STRONG
AND KEEP STRUGGLING!To schedule interviews with Jeremy Hammond’s
attorneys and supporters following today’s sentencing please contact
Andy Stepanian, 631.291.3010,
andy@sparrowmedia.net.