Keys pleads innocent to Anonymous conspiracy charges

A journalist who was fired this week from Reuters pleaded innocent Tuesday to charges that he conspired with hacktivist group Anonymous to aid in the defacement of the Los Angeles Times website.

Matthew Keys, 26, was indicted last month when federal officials accused him of giving hackers from Anonymous login information to the Tribune Co. server, which allegedly led to the site defacement.

Keys was a former web producer for KTXL FOX 40, a Sacramento-based television station owned by the Tribune Co..

He initially was suspended with pay after news broke of the allegations, but was fired Monday. Keys, the former deputy social media editor at Reuters, has pledged to fight the termination, arguing that Reuters blamed his independent coverage of the Boston bombings as a reason to fire him when the news service actually wanted to dismiss him because of the indictment.