Hackers Who Tangled With the Feds and Lost

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These hackers have taken on the U.S. government, only to land in jail or incur hefty fines.

Over the weekend, an outpouring of grief made its way through the Web following the suicide of Internet activist Aaron Swartz. Described as a "Web genius" by luminary Lawrence Lessig, Swartz (right) was also known for helping to found the popular Internet discussion site, Reddit.

Swartz's death came exactly two years after his arrest for allegedly downloading 4.8 million articles from JSTOR, a non-profit archive of academic journals, after tapping into the site from a computer wiring closet at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Swartz argued - and many agreed with him - that the articles he downloaded and shared were part of humanity's collected knowledge that deserved to be shared freely amongst the scientific community.

But the government didn't agree. Swartz was initially charged with four separate felonies, including wire fraud and theft of information from a computer, which was then expanded to a total of 13, after the charges were separated out by date. All told, Swartz could have spent more than 50 years in prison and faced approximately $4 million in fines if convicted. In the wake of his death, the feds officially dropped the case today.

Swartz's family blamed the government and MIT. "Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's office and at MIT contributed to his death," the family said. "The U.S. Attorney's office pursued an exceptionally harsh array of charges, carrying potentially over 30 years in prison, to punish an alleged crime that had no victims."

Others also blamed MIT. Anonymous hacked the school's website, replacing it with a memorial to Swartz.

Some still decried Swartz's actions, even as they mourned his passing. What is clear, however, is that many feel that the "theft" of electronic documents and "breaking and entering" into a computer through electronic means carries a disproportionate sentence compared to burgling physical goods. In the next few pages, we present a few other hackers that have tried, and failed, to convince the government otherwise.

For more, see 7 Hackers Who Got Legit Jobs From Their Exploits and When Hackers and Government Collide.

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Hector Xavier Monsegur, AKA
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Hector Xavier Monsegur, AKA "Sabu"

Hector Xavier Monsegur, AKA "Sabu"
Hector Xavier Monsegur, also known as "Sabu," helped operate the LulzSec spinoff of Anonymous. He eventually pled guilty to 12 criminal charges, including multiple counts of conspiracy to engage in computer hacking, computer hacking in furtherance of fraud, conspiracy to commit access device fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. However, it was the fact that he turned informant for the FBI that helped secure his place in infamy. His work contributed to the arrests of several other members of the group. (Image)
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