DISORDERLY CONDUCT - Hammond Plea Deal

Hactivist Jeremy Hammond pleaded guilty this morning in a New York courtroom to violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) as a member of the Internet collective known as Anonymous. He is now slated to be sentenced on September 6 and faces no more than 10 years in prison. Hammond, 28, was arrested last March and charged with hacking into the computers of Strategic Forecasting Inc., or Stratfor — a global intelligence company based out of Austin, Texas.

He has been held in jail for nearly 15 months since being apprehended and faced a potential life sentence if convicted by a jury. After spending more than a year behind bars — with weeks spent in solitary confinement — Hammond pleaded guilty early Tuesday for his role in the Stratfor hack as well as eight other computer network intrusions.

Hammond wrote a statement which was released today and gives a good explaination as to why he opted for this plea deal.

Tonight we will discuss the Hammond case and plea deal with Daily Dot columnist Lorraine Murphy aka raincoaster, Andrew "Panda" Blake, Subverzo and more!