Computer hackers with the cyber-activist group Anonymous say they have infiltrated the Justice Department’s website in retaliation for the prosecution of Aaron Swartz, the late Internet freedom advocate who took his own life earlier this month. Swartz was weeks before a trial date for downloading millions of articles provided by the nonprofit research service JSTOR. He was facing 35 years in prison, a penalty supporters called excessively harsh. On Saturday, Anonymous said it had breached the Justice Department’s firewall and planned to release government data in response to its treatment of Swartz.
Topics: