Is it crime to share a link to data leaks? The Today indictment of Anonymous spokesperson shows sharing link to data leaks is crime.
Barrett Brown , the former spokesperson for the Anonymous hacktivist, has been charged of one count of trafficking stolen authentication features, one count of access device fraud, and ten counts of aggravated identity theft.
The charges are related to the Stratfor hack carried out by hacktivists at the end of 2011.
Brown isn’t charged with committing the stratfor hack but for posting links to file contains the 5,000 credit card details that were stolen in the incident.
" By transferring and posting the hyperlink, Brown caused the data to be made available to other persons online, without the knowledge and authorization of Stratfor and the card holders." The Feds says.
From the story, We can come to a conclusion that all Journalist who covers the hacking incident and links to data leaks are making crime.
At that time of stratfor hacking incident, links to the stolen credit card details were widely shared on twitter - are all the users who shared the links going to be rounded up and arrested, too?
A British Student hacker associated with the Anonymous hacktivist has been convicted in UK for his involvement in series of cyber attacks against the Paypal, Mastercard, Visa in 2010 as part of 'Operation Payback'
Christopher Weatherhead, 22 year-old, online handle 'Nerdo', was found guilty following the guilty pleas of three others — Jake Birchall, Ashley Rhodes and Peter Gibson.
The four hackers were arrested for orchestrating denial of service attacks against the companies because they had stopped processing payments for WikiLeaks. The attacks cost PayPal £3.5m.
The hacker also overwhelmed the servers of the British Recorded Music Industry and replaced with a message :
"You've tried to bite the Anonymous hand. You angered the hive and now you are being stung."
Weatherhead, who will be sentenced at a later date, could face up to 10 years in prison.
