14 DAY TRIAL // Anonymous has released a statement regarding the sentencing of 22-year-old Christopher Weatherhead, known on the hacking scene as Nerdo.
Weatherhead has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in the cyberattacks launched against PayPal back in 2010.
The hacktivists believe that the trial was not fair. Firstly, because the losses reported by PayPal were “absurd.”
“PayPal itself has repeatedly and publicly admitted to no downtime or loss of service Even the government’s own experts admit that a Denial of Service attack causes no damage. We feel the jury was intentionally misled in regards to the actual facts of IRC in general,” the hackers wrote.
“Or the prosecution’s own knowledge of it is so lacking that they are not fit to prosecute a case of this type. For this reason alone, we strongly believe that the trial was improper.”
They compare the case to the one of Nicholas Beaumont-Dark, a former Tory MP’s son, who admitted to sharing hundreds of media files of abused babies. Despite the fact that he pleaded guilty, Beaumont-Dark was given a suspended 12-month prison sentence.
“Nerdo was crucified because the government needed to do something to show the public that they were still in control, that they could stop this online monster known as Anonymous. We know that this is not the case,” the hacktivists stated.
“Governments around the world are failing their citizens in various ways including the basic right of a fair trial by ones peers. They fail to protect their citizens from the real criminals: themselves. It is you who have forced us to protect ourselves from the real danger to freedom. If you need to put a face to those criminals, look into a mirror.”