14 DAY TRIAL // Jake Davis, the 18-year-old teenager believed to be the hacktivist known as Topiary, has been released on bail and is banned from using the Internet.
Davis was charged with five offenses under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, Criminal Law Act 1977 and Serious Crime Act 2007, including unauthorized access to a computer system and conspiracy to carry out a DDoS attack.
He was arrested last week at his grandfather's house in Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland and flown by plane to London for interrogation.
At his court hearing today, the prosecutors told the judge that, at the time of his arrest, Davis had the usernames and passwords of 750,000 people on his computer.
In addition, he also had a copy of the fake Rupert Murdoch article to which The Sun visitors were redirected when the website was recently hijacked.
Following the hearing, the teenager was released on bail until August 30th. He will stay at his mother's house in Spalding, Lincolnshire, with his younger brother Josh who was also questioned by police but wasn't charged.
Davis will have to follow a 10pm to 7am curfew and is banned from accessing the Internet directly or through someone else. Topiary is a member of both LulzSec and Anonymous and is known to have acted as a spokesperson for both groups.
LulzSec has attacked several organizations in the UK, including the NHS, the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) and News International. Investigators believe Davis was involved in all those attacks.
The Daily Mail previously reported that the teenager suffers from a form of autism, possibly Asperger's syndrome, so his defense strategy might focus on this aspect. At the court hearing today the alleged hacktivist only spoke to confirm his name and address.