A nationally known computer hacker is being sought on a federal arrest warrant stemming from a sealed complaint in New York, a federal defender in California said Friday.
Adrian Lamo, 22, has publicly acknowledged involvement in some dramatic computer break-ins at large corporations during the past several years, including The New York Times, Google, Yahoo!, Worldcom and ExciteAtHome.
Lamo had told reporters he would surrender to the FBI on the federal courthouse steps in Sacramento on Friday, but he didn't show up.
Supervising Assistant Federal Defender Mary French confirmed through a colleague that there was a sealed complaint against Lamo from the Southern District of New York, that a federal arrest warrant had been issued, but that her office was not involved in arranging his surrender.
Lamo has acknowledged changing the text of at least one news story on Yahoo's Web site in September 2001 and months later browsed sensitive data on computers at the Times. Among the Times data was a list of 3,000 op-ed page contributors, which included Social Security numbers for celebrities and government officials.
News source: CNN
