Anonymous Hacker Receives Maximum Prison Sentence

An admitted member of the online hacking group Anonymous received the maximum sentence Friday from a judge in U.S. federal court in New York City.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska sentenced 28-year-old Jeremy Hammond of Chicago to 10 years in prison for his role in hacking the servers of the Texas-based intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting, Inc., or Stratfor, in December 2011. Hammond pleaded guilty to violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in May of this year.

"I did this because I believe people have a right to know what governments and corporations are doing behind closed doors," Hammond said in a statement posted on his support website in May. "I did what I believe is right." Read more...