Honorable Loretta A.

Preska Chief Judge Southern District of New York 500 Pearl Street New York, NY 10007 Dear Judge Preska, October 14, 2013

My name is Kay, and I am a software consultant. I understand that Jeremy Hammond has pled guilty to violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. He has violated a law, but I cannot consider him a dangerous "hacker". He did not target infrastructure. He never attempted to take down an energy provider, nuclear or weapons facility, government website, or interfere with this country's ability to defend and protect itself. I do not believe his crimes are severe enough to warrant a 10 year sentence, and would plead with you for leniency in his case. He revealed to all of us the extent of illegal activity performed by corporations who are paid with our tax dollars. Stratfor was employed by Dow Chemical to spy on people seeking redress for the victims of the Bhopal environmental disaster. The extent of industrial espionage, market rigging and cavalier covert intelligence leaks performed by Stratfor were a real wake up call for all of us including our government representatives. Mr. Hammond believed he was releasing the information he obtained so that we would all become aware of this threat to those principals of decency that we citizens of the United States publicly avow - honesty, integrity and the rule of law. He did not hack for money, as Stratfor and our intelligence community vendors do. His revelations inspire truth and transparency. Mr. Hammond was unknowingly guided, aided and encouraged in his activism/hacktivism by the F.B.I. informant Hector Monsegur. F.B.I. agents proposed and facilitated the hacking of hundreds of targets of their choice after infiltrating the Anonymous group. Regardless of your opinion of Jeremy Hammond's venue choice for his activism, he clearly shared the same goal and motivation as the F.B.I. espouses - protection of the populace from the unscrupulous and hidden abuse of the public good. Please consider this when determining his sentence. His contemporaries in the United Kingdom and Ireland received sentences ranging from Probation to 30 months. Surely our justice system can be at least as caring and fair. Respectfully Submitted, Kay