Autistic Shetland teen accused of hacking

An autistic teenager was accused on Saturday night of masterminding a global internet hacking spree from his bedroom in the Shetland Islands.Jake Davis, 18, was held as part of an international crackdown on hackers who have wreaked havoc on the CIA, Sony and News International. Scotland Yard detectives said he used the nickname Topiary to act as a spokesman for outlaw hacking groups Anonymous and LulzSec.He is suspected of giving a series of internet cloak-and-dagger interviews to US television networks, in which he boasted of always being "one step ahead" of police.Police hired a private aircraft so they could arrest him at his home in Lerwick on the remote Shetland Islands north of Scotland.Davis was to appear at City of Westminster magistrates' court yesterday charged with offences under the Computer Misuse Act. One charge alleges that he orchestrated an attack which brought down the website of the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Last night his grandfather, Sam Davis, 76, said the raid was "dramatic and ridiculous" and insisted police have got the "wrong man".He said: "I just don't see him getting involved in anything criminal, he is not politically minded and I do not know why he would want to be a computer hacker. I am certain that if he was involved in something, which I don't think he was, then he did not know what he was doing."Davis and his brother Josh, 17, were the third and fourth people in Britain to be arrested as part of the crackdown. Dozens of raids have taken place in Britain, Holland and the US. Josh, who moved to Spalding, Lincolnshire, with their care worker mother Jenny last month, was released without charge.Anonymous and LulzSec have laid siege to organisations including Soca, the CIA, PayPal, Sony and News International. Last month they attacked the website of The Sun, publishing a false story claiming Rupert Murdoch had died and his body had been found in his "famous topiary garden".Davis' grandfather said his grandson had spent the past year off school, speaking to friends in the US online and being tutored at home once a week. He added: "Jake is a quiet boy who doesn't really mix with the other islanders. He hasn't got a lot of friends, although he doesn't mind talking to them on the internet." From / Gulf News