Doyon was indicted last month by a federal grand jury in what seems to be part of a nationwide crackdown on the hacking community. The indictment against Doyon alleges that he is a computer hacker known by the alias of Commander X, whom is a member of a group based out of Massachusetts known as the Peoples Liberation Front (PLF). The PLF describes itself as an organization of cyber-warriors who work on behalf of the downtrodden. The indictment also claims that he is a member of Anonymous, the international outfit that has been responsible for worldwide hacking attacks.
Doyon professed the following last Saturday outside of the Santa Cruz County Courthouse: “I am Commander X, Yes, I am immensely proud and humbled to my core to be a part of the movement known as Anonymous.” He also stated that he’s a founding member of the PLF.
Doyon was arrested by federal agents on 22 September on a street corner in Mountain View.
He continued by saying: “Both my co-defendant, Josh Covelli, and I are categorically innocent of the charges against us and our legal team will provide irrefutable evidence of this.”
The federal document claims that Doyon and Covelli (who is from Fairborn Ohio), executed “Operation Peace Camp 2010” on behalf of the PLF. The operation included carrying out a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) on county computers, making them temporarily inaccessible. The document also claims that the actions taken were as a response to events of the ‘Peace Camp of August 2010” where more than 50 people slept outside the County Courthouse for 60 days in protest of the city’s laws against sleeping outside.
According to “Peace Camp 2010” organizer Becky Johnson’s blog last month on the groups blog: "The city of Santa Cruz does not regulate camping. It forbids it completely, and this is in a city with over 1,000 houseless people and shelter for less than 10 percent on our best days."
Johnson along with other organizers of the protest have expressed that they had nothing to do with the hacking, nor did they plan or approve of it.
Doyon said that he chose to speak in front of the County Courthouse because it was the site of the 2010 protest, which he'd attended. He is one of five people who were charged with illegal camping. Others arrested were Gary Johnson and Ed Frey (a homeless activist and attorney). Both of those men were sentenced to six months in jail last June and they are currently attempting to appeal the decision.
Doyon went on to say: "The protest was about standing up to the rich and powerful few in Santa Cruz and to demonstrate a better way of building community, and it was those powerful few who, fearing the effect that peaceful protest might have on upcoming elections, ordered Peace Camp 2010 to be ended by force, arresting dozens."
Doyon, released from federal custody last Thursday has been prohibited from accessing social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Internet Relay Chat. He expressed: “They’ve taken away my freedom of speech.” He strongly believes that U.S. Citizens have a “moral imperative” to protest what he believes to be unjust actions by our governments and law enforcement, things such as punishing citizens for sleeping outside.
According to Doyon: "All you need to be a world-class hacker is a computer and a cool pair of sunglasses and the computer is optional."
I applaud Doyon for speaking out and protesting for what he believes in, but feel that he went too far with the DDOS attacks.
Reference:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_19020319
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