Eastern District of California Blog

Matthew Keys Motion To Suppress Filed

Yesterday, the Matthew Keys defense team filed their motion to suppress evidence and statements.  Keys is the former Reuters social media editor charged with assisting the Anonymous group with hacking into the LA Times website.  See my 3/17/13 post.  The motion to suppress is available here; other publicly-filed case documents can be found on scribd here. 

As a journalist known for his social media savvy and author of the news blog The Desk, it's probably not surprising (though unusual) that Keys posts documents and sometimes his personal thoughts on his case at his twitter news feed @MatthewKeysLive, such as these tweets on the motion to suppress:

Report: FBI told prosecutors "Keys probably did not hack into the P2P server," prosecutor "unconvinced" - pic.twitter.com/464lkgTUWY

— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) December 14, 2013;

FBI report: "(Keys') involvement in Anonymous is likely only a journalistic interest" - pic.twitter.com/bDIXth5o6o

— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) December 13, 2013;

Court doc: FBI disregarded its own report indicating "Keys was not responsible" when it sought search warrant - pic.twitter.com/DeNePGcDdM

— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) December 14, 2013

Matthew Keys Motion Schedule Set

Last week, the parties stipulated to a schedule for journalist defendant Matthew Keys's motion to suppress in United States v. Keys, 2:13-CR-0082-KJM.  The defense motion is due December 13, 2013, to be heard on January 29, 2014 before Judge Mueller. 

Matthew Keys Arraignment Held Today

Matthew Keys, a former Web producer for a Tribune Co (TRBAA).-owned television station in Sacramento,California, pleaded not guilty to charges he conspired with hackers who broke into a company news website.

Keys, of Secaucus, New Jersey, entered the plea today in federal court in Sacramento. He was charged in a March 14 indictment with providing log-in credentials for a Tribune computer server in December 2010 to members of the hacker group known as Anonymous, who used the information to make changes to an online version of a Los Angeles Times news story.

Keys, formerly the Web producer for KTXL Fox 40 in Sacramento, encouraged Anonymous members to disrupt the website during a conversation in a online chat room, according to the indictment. Tribune owns the Los Angeles paper. Keys was fired from Fox 40 in October 2010. Keys, who joined Thomson Reuters Corp. last year as a social-media editor, was fired by the company yesterday.

* * *

“He was a journalist in that chat room, absolutely, but he didn’t do the things he’s accused of doing,” Jay Leiderman, an attorney for Keys, said in an interview outside the courtroom before today’s arraignment.

After Keys entered his plea, U.S. Magistrate Judge Allison Claire released him on his own recognizance and directed him to appear June 12 for his next hearing.

Bloomberg, 4/23/13; Sacramento Bee, 4/23/13.

Matthew Keys Arraignment Continued

The Matthew Keys arraignment has been continued to April 23 because of an attorney scheduling conflict.  This NY Times Opinionator piece entitled "Hactivists as Gadflies" refers to the Matthew Keys prosecution.

EDCA Indictment Charges Journalist Matthew Keys With Assisting Anonymous Hacking Group

In this Indictment, U.S. v. Keys, no. 2:13-CR-0082-KJM, the government charges Matthew Keys, a social media heavyweight and former web producer with Sacramento's KTXL FOX 40, with assisting the Anonymous group in hacking into the LA Times website.  The actual charges are conspiracy to cause damage to a protective computer in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (count 1), transmission of malicious code in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5)(A) and (c)(4)(B), and attempted transmission of attempted code in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5)(A) and 4. 

Talk Left has this analysis of the indictment.  The arraignment is scheduled for April 12.

Keys's attorneys, Jay Liederman and Tor Ekeland, give their reaction to the indictment at Huffington Post Live here.

More media coverage and commentary:

Atlantic Wire, 3/14/13

Forbes, 3/14/13

LA Times Blog, 3/15/13

NY Times, 3/17/13

Politico, 3/14/13

Sacramento Bee, 3/15/13

TheNextWeb, 3/14/13