Homeless Hacker Heads to Court

Itinerant computer hacker Adrian Lamo will appear in federal court Friday in New York to face charges of breaking into the computer network of The New York Times.

Although no time has been set for the hearing, Lamo will likely appear before a U.S. magistrate judge in Federal District Court in Manhattan late Friday for a "presentment" hearing, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph DeMarco.

At that hearing, the government's charges against Lamo will be read and the judge will decide what, if any, bail will be set, according to Michael Kulstad, a spokesperson at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. No plea will be entered because, so far, no indictments have been filed against Lamo, he said.

Lamo turned himself in to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York on Thursday after initially surrendering to U.S. Marshals in Sacramento, California, on Tuesday, Kulstad said.

Lamo has no permanent address and is sometimes dubbed the "homeless hacker."

Under Investigation

The FBI launched an investigation into Lamo's alleged unauthorized intrusion into the internal networks of The New York Times in February 2002. The Times and others learned of the break-in after Lamo spoke openly of his exploits to SecurityFocus reporter Kevin Poulsen, according to Christine Mohan, a spokesperson at The New York Times.

The government is continuing to investigate Lamo, Kulstad said. A grand jury is likely to hear evidence about his alleged criminal activities before any indictments are filed, he said.

The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on whether a grand jury had been empaneled to hear the Lamo case, citing the need for confidentiality in grand jury proceedings.