For the past few days the big story has been the protest of SOPA and PIPA, the two potentially disastrous and dangerous pieces of legislation that would give major corporations and organizations the right to censor the internet in the name of protection against piracy. Yesterday, websites like Wikipedia.org and Reddit.com shut their doors to the public, demonstrating what it would be like if either SOPA or PIPA were passed, despite admonishment from the MPAA. In a move that can only be described as retaliation, earlier this morning the US government was able to shut down MegaUpload.com a file sharing website that some have chosen to use to download and upload illegal material (despite the fact that the site itself has no control over the content people share). Now Anonymous, the nameless, faceless hacker organization that is typically identified with Guy Fawkes masks, has struck back.
Since this morning's news, Anonymous has managed to shut down various powerful websites in the government such as Justice.gov along with others like MPAA.org, Universal Music Group, and the RIAA. The move is being called the biggest attack in the organization's history.
Anonymous is likely using what is known as a Distributed Denial-of-Service Attack (DDoS), which basically means that they have flooded the computer network that operates these various sites and completely shut down their capabilities. The actions taken by the protest group can be followed by a twitter account claiming to belong to one of their members right here.
Obviously with the Motion Picture Association of America involved, this is the biggest story of the day and we'll be checking back regularly to report on progress.
