Anonymous launched one of the largest hacking attacks in history today.
Gizmodo reports that - in response to the Feds' shutting down of the extremely popular file-sharing site MegaUpload - Anonymous has shut down the sites of the main corporate copyright enforcers, including:
- Motion Picture Association of America
- Recording Industry Association of America
- Universal Music
- EMI
- U.S. Copyright Office
- Department of Justice
- FBI
- French copyright authority HADOPI
As free speech champion Michael Rivero argued after Anonymous took down DOJ's website today:
In aligning with the pirates and attacking the DOJ, anonymous has handed the US government more justification for draconian controls on the internet.I would not be quite so upset if this had occurred after Congress passed a draconian web censorship bill such as SOPA. But the fact that this is happening only 24 hours after the web's successful protest concerns me greatly.
Disclaimer: I have never used MegaUpload.com, and so may be underestimating its importance. I also don't know what percentage of their usage is legitimate free speech, as opposed to piracy.
Anonymous is just a cover for a government group that takes action to support arguments to make restrictive laws. Anyone who thinks that a group of geeks in bedrooms can take down some of sites mentioned without detection is delusional. As a cover the agency will just out some stupid geek who does try to hack a site. More sheeple tactics working to a T.