Hacking wars: Is Matthew Keys the next Aaron Swartz?

Reuters social media star Matthew Keys faces up to 25 years in jail for allegedly helping Anonymous hack the Los Angeles Times

Anonymity is dead.
(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Justice Department indicted Reuters social media editor Matthew Keys on Thursday for allegedly conspiring with the hacktivist collective Anonymous to deface the website of The Los Angeles Times and other Tribune Co. newspapers. According to the indictment (read it below), Keys, using the handle AESCracked, gave Anonymous hackers access to Tribune servers. Keys had recently been fired from Tribune-owned TV station KTXL FOX 40 and still had valid login credentials — so he allegedly unleashed Anonymous, urging the group to "go f**k some s**t up."

They did, kind of. This headline ran on LATimes.com for roughly a half hour on Dec. 14, 2010:

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.