An 18-year-old British man arrested on suspicion of being a spokesman for hacking groups LulzSec and Anonymous was granted bail when he appeared in a London court on Monday.

Jake Davis is charged with hacking into websites, including that of Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), which was out of service for several hours on June 20 after apparently being targeted.

Davis was arrested on Wednesday at his home on the Shetland Islands, north of the Scottish mainland.

He faces five charges, including conspiring to carry out a distributed denial of service attack on SOCA, the British equivalent of the FBI. Such attacks flood websites with traffic to make them crash.

Davis wore a grey-blue shirt and a black T-shirt and clutched a book as he appeared in the dock at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court in London.

He appeared relaxed and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth.

District Judge Howard Riddle told the teenager he will have to appear in Southwark Crown Court in London on August 30 and granted him bail with stringent conditions and a curfew attached.

He is barred from using the Internet or having access to any computer or mobile phone and must remain indoors from 10:00 pm to 7:00 am at his mother's home in Lincolnshire, eastern England.

The alleged hacker is said to use the online nickname "Topiary" and present himself as a spokesman for LulzSec and Anonymous.

LulzSec has claimed responsibility for a 50-day rampage earlier this year against international businesses and government agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency and Senate in the United States and electronics giant Sony.

Another alleged British member of the group was released by a court on bail in June after being diagnosed with autism.

Ryan Cleary, 19, has been charged with offences including hacking into the SOCA website.

earlier related report
Britain charges suspected LulzSec spokesman: police
London (AFP) July 31, 2011 - British police on Sunday charged an 18-year-old man on suspicion of being a spokesman for the Lulz Security and Anonymous computer hacking groups, Scotland Yard said.

Officers from a London-based cybercrime unit detained Jake Davis on Wednesday in a "pre-planned intelligence-led operation" on the Shetland Islands, off the northeast coast of Scotland, before taking him to London for questioning.

Davis is accused of gaining unauthorised access to a computer system, encouraging or assisting offences and two counts of conspiracy to commit offences.

The teenager will also have to answer a charge of conspiring to carry out a distributed denial of service attack, an action which crashes a website by flooding it with traffic.

Police said Wednesday they believed Davis was "linked to an ongoing international investigation into the criminal activity of the so-called 'hacktivist' groups Anonymous and LulzSec, and uses the online nickname 'Topiary' which is presented as the spokesperson for the groups."

Police also searched a residential address in Lincolnshire, eastern England, and a 17-year-old male was interviewed in connection with the inquiry although he had not been arrested, police said.

Davis is due to appear in custody at London's City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Lulz Security has claimed responsibility for a hacking rampage in the United States which saw the group target websites of the Central Intelligence Agency, the US Senate, Sony and others.

Anonymous gained prominence after launching retaliatory attacks on companies perceived to be enemies of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.

Authorities in Britain and the United States have already made a number of arrests of suspected Lulz Security and Anonymous hackers.

British police arrested Ryan Cleary, 19, last month at his home in Wickford, southeast England, and charged him with attacking websites as part of Lulz Security.

He was charged with offences including hacking into the website of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), the British equivalent of the FBI. He was released on bail after being diagnosed with autism.