News / Jake Davis freed
FORMER Shetland–based computer hacktivist Jake Davis was freed from a young offender institution on Tuesday, however the 20 year old has been ordered to restrict his use of the internet.
Davis was sentenced to two years in the Feltham Young Offenders Institute last month for hacking into a wide range of websites, including Sony and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) as part of the LulzSec online collective.
However 21 months spent on an electronic tag were taken into account and he was released after serving just 37 days.
The court has said he is once again allowed to use the internet, but he must not contact anyone connected to the Anonymous hacktivist collective of which he was a part.
He is also banned from creating any encrypted files, securely wiping any data or deleting his internet history.
Davis was the confident and cocky public voice of the Anonymous splinter group LulzSec that enjoyed making fun of organisations such as The Sun and the right wing Westboro Baptist Church.
He was arrested in Lerwick two years ago when police swooped on his Hoofields chalet where he had recently moved from Yell, the island where he grew up with his mother.
The final message posted by his online alter ego Topiary was: “You cannot arrest an idea.”
At the weekend Davis returned to Twitter, where one of many humourous tweets said: “You can arrest an idea, you can imprison an idea, you can warp an idea, you can break an idea, but you still can’t lick your own elbow.”
He is now based in the London borough of Islington where he is working on a number of projects with contemporary art group Artangel.
He is also talking about co-writing a film about the internet, he describes as “a drama/sattire” (sic).
Aside from that, he tweets: “654 days on curfew and 37 days in Feltham. Up next: another 365 days on license (parole) and 1825 days of intense monitoring. Free though!”
He also wants to publish a “nerdy prison diary online once it’s been vetted by twenty million lawyers…”
Just before he was sentenced, Davis gave this exclusive interview to the BBC.
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