Beacons of freedom: The changing face of Anonymous

December 3rd, 2012

Online irreverent political protest is here to stay. But, asks Gabriella Coleman, what will be the legacy for digital freedom? (more…)

India: Government debates cyber censorship, ‘hacktivists’ hack government websites

May 21st, 2012

Hacktivists have targeted two Indian government websites, as discussions of internet regulation took place in parliament. The websites of India’s apex court and the ruling Congress party were hacked in an apparent protest against the censorship of some websites by the Indian government. Hacking group Anonymous, who have protested the closures of video sharing websites Pirate Bay and Vimeo, are believed to have been involved in the attacks.  Shortly before the websites became unavailable, Anonymous Central Twitter account read: “Namaste #India, your time has come to trash the current government and install a new one. Good luck.”

UK: Anonymous downs Virgin Media site over Pirate Bay censorship

May 10th, 2012

Notorious hacking group Anonymous targeted Virgin Media yesterday, to protest the blocking of file-sharing website The Pirate Bay. The attack forced the internet service provider to take its website offline for one hour. Around the time of the attack, a Twitter account which has been linked to the group read:

#Anonymous have just taken down #VirginMedia website again because of their involvement in the #Censorship of The Pirate Bay #TPB #OpTPB — Anonymous UK (@AnonUK) May 8, 2012

Virgin Media began preventing access to the site after a ruling from the High Court last month. Tweets from other accounts also suggested that TalkTalk had been targeted by Anonymous, though this has not been confirmed.

Turkey: Thirty-two computer hackers arrested in police raids

June 14th, 2011

Turkish police yesterday arrested 32 computer hackers who are suspected of links with the anti-government hacker collective, Anonymous. Over the weekend cyber attacks were launched on a number of government sites to protest against proposed net filtering legislation which is expected to be passed later this year. Police raided the homes of 12 homes in cities all over Turkey after software used by the hackers to protect their identities failed.

Anonymous member jailed over Scientology cyber attacks

May 26th, 2010

Brian Mettenbrink of Nebraska was sentenced this week to one year in prison and a $20,000 fine for orchestrating the DDoS attacks against the Church of Scientology’s website in 2008. Mettenbrink admitted to being a member of the group Anonymous, who staged a series of online attacks on Scientology websites as a protest over the religion’s censorship of the internet.