The U.S. Sentencing Commission's website was hacked late last night by Anonymous.
They left a statement:
Citizens of the world,The selection of this particular website was apparently for its symbolic purpose, as the "group" indicated in a statement that it placed on the site itself. The Commission's website is now down.
Anonymous has observed for some time now the trajectory of justice in the United States with growing concern. We have marked the departure of this system from the noble ideals in which it was born and enshrined. We have seen the erosion of due process, the dilution of constitutional rights, the usurpation of the rightful authority of courts by the "discretion" or prosecutors. We have seen how the law is wielded less and less to uphold justice, and more and more to exercise control, authority and power in the interests of oppression or personal gain."
The full text of the statement is viewable here. The group has obtained numerous encrypted government files and advises it will provide decryption codes to select media outlets permitting their contents to be viewed, if certain legal reforms are not pursued. According to the statement, the action is being taken in retaliation for what the group characterizes as the heavy-handed prosecutorial tactics employed by the Justice Department against Aaron Swartz.
Two weeks ago today, a line was crossed. Two weeks ago today, Aaron Swartz was killed. Killed because he faced an impossible choice. Killed because he was forced into playing a game he could not win — a twisted and distorted perversion of justice — a game where the only winning move was not to play.Anonymous isn't indicating what's in the files, which appear to be code-named after Supreme Court Justices. There's no concrete evidence at this juncture that the files are actually related to those Justices, however. The files are somewhat melodramatically styled as "nuclear warheads." I guess we all will have to wait and see whether the contents are in line with that characterization.Anonymous immediately convened an emergency council to discuss our response to this tragedy. After much heavy-hearted discussion, the decision was upheld to engage the United States Department of Justice and its associated executive branches in a game of a similar nature, a game in which the only winning move is not to play.
The contents are various and we won’t ruin the speculation by revealing them. Suffice it to say, everyone has secrets, and some things are not meant to be public. At a regular interval commencing today, we will choose one media outlet and supply them with heavily redacted partial contents of the file. Any media outlets wishing to be eligible for this program must include within their reporting a means of secure communications.Also reported in The Guardian.
Update: Per CNN, Anonymous released a Youtube video at the time the website was hacked. This appears to be the video: