Four hackers associated with Anonymous and LulzSec were released from a London courthouse on bail after a hearing on Wednesday. Peter David Gibson, Ashley Rhodes, Christopher Weatherhead and a 17-year old male are facing charges in the UK related to hacking. The bunch are accused of being involved with hacker collectives that attacked major corporations and the U.S. government. While out on bail, the four men are prohibited from using internet relay chats (IRC), which previously allowed them to stay in touch with other hackers. In addition, Gibson can no longer use the handle “Peter” online, Rhodes can not identify himself as “NikonElite” and Weatherhead cannot use the name “Nerdo.” The 17-year old hacker who also appeared in court was told he cannot use his online nickname, either. Read on for more.
Gibson was arrested on August 25th and charged with “conspiracy to do an unauthorized act in relation to a computer, with intent to impair the operation of any computer or prevent or hinder access to any program or data held in a computer or to impair the operation of any such program or the reliability of such data.” Weatherhead and Rhodes were charged on September 1st for the same offenses. A fifth hacker, 18 year-old Jack Davis from LulzSec, was arrested and eventually released on bail on August 1st. Davis was charged with hacking the Sun, Times, Sony and the Serious Organized Crime agency while he served as a press secretary for LulzSec.
