Jeremy Hammond, accused Anonymous hacker - Arraignment Monday May 14 Noon, Federal Court 500 Pearl St Manhattan

Jeremy Hammond, accused Anonymous hacker, will be arraigned on Monday May 14, 2012 at 12:00 PM U.S. Courthouse 500 Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan Courtroom 12A --Chief Judge Lorretta A. Preska, Southern District of New York The United States of America versus Jeremy Hammond Jeremy Hammond is a 27-year-old political activist from Chicago, Illinois. He is currently incarcerated at the federal jail in New York City, charged with hacking conspiracies carried out by the LulzSec/AntiSec wing of Anonymous. His four co-defendants, Ryan Ackroyd, Jake Davis, Darren Martyn and Donncha O'Cearrbhail, are awaiting extradition from Britain and Ireland. The charges include the hacking of Stratfor and HBGary Federal, two private security firms contracted to spy and collect intelligence by governments and corporations. They are also charged with focusing on law enforcement by hacking the Arizona Department of Public Safety, infamous for its racist immigration policies.

Stratfor’s clients include not only giant corporations like Bank of America, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, but U.S. government agencies, including all four branches of the military, the FBI, Homeland Security and local police forces. As a private spy agency, Stratfor avoids constitutional constraints. Internal emails published by WikiLeaks offer disturbing revelations about the hidden workings of the military industrial complex. The hack revealed that Stratfor employs a network of paid informants that include government employees and journalists. The hack also revealed that Stratfor client Dow Chemical paid for spying on activists working to seek redress for the Bhopal environmental disaster. Stratfor was also hired by the Texas Department of Public Safety to infiltrate Occupy Austin.
HBGary is a technology security company that sells information and other services to the Federal Government. The Anonymous hack revealed HBGary's potentially illegal proposal to take down WikiLeaks by fueling a feud between different groups, disseminating disinformation, tracking and threatening its financial donors, and submitting fake documents to WikiLeaks and then calling out the error. Other emails appear to show the U.S. Chamber of Commerce contracted the firm to spy on and discredit unions and liberal groups.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety was hacked in response to the "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act" (Arizona State Bill 1070), which requires immigrants to register and carry registration documents, and encourages racial profiling and improper stop and frisks. The hack resulted in the release of documents describing law enforcement techniques and operational plans. The emails included racist comments by police officers and showed police countenance of vigilante and white supremacist groups. Opposition to the law was expressed in mass protests and boycotts with participants that included sports leagues, musicians, and municipalities, and effectively caused $141 billion in revenues to be lost.
Jeremy Hammond is part of a growing world-wide movement of political activists who utilize advanced technologies to accomplish their political goals of disseminating information, holding governments, law enforcement, individuals and corporations accountable for their misdeeds, and mobilizing real-world global protest.
Hammond came to the attention of the Federal Government after the FBI secretly arrested Hector Monsegur (AKA Sabu), a leading Lulzsec member turned informant. If convicted, Hammond potentially faces decades in prison.
For more information or to contribute to the Jeremy Hammond Defense fund visit:
http://freehammond.com/