20 September 2016 00:00
A conversation with Lauri Love’s attorney Tor Ekeland.
Lauri Love, a 31-year-old British hacktivist once affiliated with Anonymous, will have to go to the U.S. to face charges, a London court ruled Friday. Love, who allegedly intended to avenge hacktivist Aaron Swartz, will face similar charges
Lauri Love is charged with involvement in a series of hacks related to a 2013 movement called #OpLastResort, in which a group of Anonymous hackers wreaked havoc on a number of U.S. government websites.
The group’s stated goal was to avenge the death of activist and Creative Commons and Reddit cofounder Aaron Swartz. Swartz allegedly downloaded a cache of academic articles from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was charged with multiple violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the U.S.’s controversial anti-hacking law. Facing 35 years in prison, Swartz hanged himself.
“Lauri is going to appeal through U.K. counsel. Obviously we are all disappointed but this is not over.”