Lamo testifies at the Manning Pre-trial

David Heath
Thursday, 22 December 2011 11:07

IT Policy - Regulation

Former hacker, Adrian Lamo has testified as to the veracity and intent of his chat cnversations with 'Bradass87' (presumed to be Bradley Manning).

Adrian Lamo, the one-time hacker, sometime journalist and mail-order minister of religion appeared yesterday at Bradley Manning's pre-trial hearing to testify in relation to the Internet chat he had with 'Bradass87' (who appears to be Bradley Manning).

Early in the chat log between the two, Lamo said:

(10:23:34 AM) This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it : I'm a journalist and a minister. You can pick either, and treat this as a confession or an interview (never to be published) & enjoy a modicum of legal protection.

However, it became clear in Lamo's testimony that as the tone of the conversation became clear in regard to Bradass87's actions, the chat logs were forwarded to Wired Magazine (hence the earlier link) and also contact was made with various federal agencies.

Manning's lawyer, David Coombs (who at no time connected Manning with Bradass87) probed Lamo in relation to the chat messages in relation to the later forwarding of the material.  Lamo asserted that Manning "neither declined nor accepted" the offer of protection under either avenue.

Coombs also asked Lamo why he's told Bradass87 that (according to the chat log) "none of this is for print," when in fact at that point Lamo had already forwarded earlier chat sessions to law enforcement agencies.  "It was not for print by me," Lamo responded.

Under further questioning, Coombs enquired of Lamo whether he thought Bradass87 intended the chats to be private, "a reasonable person would conclude that," Lamo admitted.

On the next page, read how Lamo offered up the laptop used for the chats with Bradass87 (or did he?).