Manchester, KY (TFC) – Jeremy Hammond sits in prison in a Federal Correctional Institute doing time for providing a series of vital leaks from Stratfor to the world. He was put there by hacker turned federal snitch, Hector Monsegur.

At one time, Monsegur was known as Sabu. Now, he’s just known as “that rat bastard.” The Daily Dot was once known as a clearinghouse for information related to Anonymous, now it has been declared an enemy of the collective.

The snitch wrote an article reviewing a TV show about (get this): hackers working with cops. In it, this Junior G-man clumsily inserted a paragraph aimed at creating some doubt as to whether or not he really is the guy that rolled over like a trained dog when federal agents showed up.

“As a former black-hat hacker who has seen his story manipulated by foolish reporters, judgmental activists, and stooges of the justice system, I decided to give Cyber a run for its money and watched the first episode, called Kidnapping 2.0.”

Let’s be really clear about this “manipulation.” Monsegur’s cooperation was so comprehensive that the federal judge praised him like a schoolgirl talking about a boy band.

She talked about his

“truly extraordinary cooperation.”

Just in case there is any confusion as to whether or not his cooperation led to the arrests of his friends and comrades, she said this:

“sophisticated and complex assistance to the government allowing them to pierce the secrecy surrounding LulzSec and successfully prosecute its members.”

At his sentencing, Monsegur said

“I’m not the same person I was three years ago. I’ve come a long way. I’ve had to do a lot of thinking and soul-searching.”

He said this, I imagine, after doing a lot of thinking about how to best betray his friends to the feds while he worked as an informant for three years. I would imagine that leads to a lot of soul searching in regards to how someone can justify ruining the lives of his comrades to save his own skin.

Under federal guidelines, his probable sentence was somewhere around 26 years. He received time served, which was around seven months. This wasn’t some sentencing error or simply because the judge took it easy on him. The federal government filed a request for a sentencing reduction. In that motion, the feds provide a pretty detailed list of the people he gave up. It also makes it clear that the feds weren’t investigating them prior to Monsegur becoming a federal do boy.

“This core group, among whom only Monsegur was identified prior to the time Monsegur began cooperating in the investigation”

It also outlines that Monsegur began cooperating before he was ever even charged.

“Monsegur acknowledged his criminal conduct from the time he was first approached by agents, before he was charged in this case.”

Maybe if he spends enough time reviewing TV police dramas, he’ll learn to keep his mouth shut as soon as he finds out what the feds want. Instead he, according to court documents, identified and gave up eight people.

Anonymous has declared the Daily Dot an enemy for bringing this individual onto its team. It’s hard to believe that the outlet didn’t see this coming.

Maybe it’s time for the Daily Dot to review their own Ethics page:

“The Daily Dot’s ultimate loyalty lies with readers. The Dot and its employees will not change, spin, withhold, or otherwise manipulate the facts to please a source, advertiser, or other business partner. Individual employees will never manipulate the facts for any kind of personal relationship, and they will not put themselves in a position to profit, financially or otherwise, by their reporting.”

If the outlet’s loyalty was to the reader, they never would have put this guy in this position to begin with, and there was certainly an attempt to spin facts. This was a complete betrayal of the core readership.

My advice to the Daily Dot is to keep him on. At least it will give Anons something to mock. At this point, it won’t make any difference if you revoke his writing privileges. Anonymous does not forgive. Anonymous does not forget.

Jeremy Hammond, one of Monsegur’s victims, has a projected release date of January 17, 2021.

Update: Anonymous has launched #OperationDestroyDailyDot or #OpDDD in response to this. A pastebin has been created to explain details.

Editor’s Note: The views reflected here are solely the views of Justin King, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Fifth Column.