Lamo at the Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE) conference
The wanted-dead-or-alive posters described him as a "rat bastard." Then there was the spitting and name-calling, things like Snitch! and A**hole!
Not to mention the death threats -- none credible enough to warrant Kevlar, but still, Adrian Lamo had good reason to check up on the security
arrangements before setting foot in the Hackers On Planet Earth conference in Manhattan last weekend.
The 29-year-old Lamo was once a star of the hacker community, having broken into computer systems at The New York Times, WorldCom and Microsoft (and
earned two years' probation in the bargain). But that all changed in May, when he snitched on a fellow hacker, Pfc. Bradley Manning, who allegedly
leaked classified material to the website WikiLeaks -- most notably a video showing a U.S. helicopter strike on civilians and reporters in Baghdad.
AOL News
He said he wished Manning had never contacted him, and that he believed that the classified information Manning wanted to leak would have led to
a greater loss of life. But he still supported WikiLeaks, an assertion that prompted many a cry of "Bullsh*t!" in the audience.
And BS is what I believe Lamo is full of. First of all he is the main reason Wikileaks is in the position it is without any doubt. If Lamo were not
involved then Wikileaks would not be such a hot button topic. But many of you may not know is that Lamo worked for a group called Project Vigilant who
had contracts with the FBI, NSA and other agencys. A collection of wannabe spys and hackers doing what they termed as the greater good for the
government. Manning according to Lamo contacted him via a well known IM service and we all know the rest of the story. But many are convinced it was
the other way around, that Lamo contacted Manning to enlist his help after seeing his profile posted online and learning what MOS he worked in the
Army. Many believe Lamon walked Manning through the hacker skill to get where he ended up then when Manning flubbed, Lamo panicked and turned him in
to avoid going back to prison. (Lamo is convicted of hacking into the DoD, FBI and a slew of other gov & business systems)
Lamo had more to gain than lose by turning in manning and thereby cleansing himself of the situation. With Lamo's new "bad hacker turned good hacker"
image he has earned himself a shot at esponging his record and perhaps working for the FedGov according to sources close to the case. Regardless of
the outcome if Lamo had not turned Bradley Manning in and breaking the code of hackers in the process which is considered an extreme no-no then we may
not have ever heard of Manning, Lamo. And the FedGov would not have their fall-guy either for the as of yet, unknown source leak of the State
Department memos.
edit on 12/24/2010 by mikelee because: Add link to source/AOL