Could “Anonymous” be the 21st century’s answer to Robin Hood?…
Anonymous, the Internet hactivists we introduced you to last Monday, struck again, this time taking down the web site of the Koch Brothers-funded conservative activist group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP). Charging the David and Charles Koch with attempts “to usurp American Democracy,” Anonymous released a statement claiming, “Koch Industries, and oligarchs like them, have most recently started to manipulate the political agenda in Wisconsin.”
Anonymous posit that “the Koch brothers threaten the United States democratic system and, by extension, all freedom-loving individuals everywhere,” and accused Koch Industries of having “made a science of fabricating ‘grassroots’ organizations and advertising campaigns to support them in an attempt to sway voters based on their falsehoods.”
Last week, Anonymous took down the web sites of God Hates Fags, also known as the Westboro Baptist Church. After what was originally thought to be a hoax, Westboro dared Anonymous to “bring it.” They did, and those sites reportedly are still down.
Anonymous is believed to be behind the take-down of Internet sites for PayPal, Amazon, MasterCard, and Visa that highlighted those companies opposition and termination of business arrangements with WikiLeaks.
In fact, today MSNBC reported, “On Friday, Anonymous pressured PayPal to back off its refusal to process donations for Army PFC Bradley Manning’s legal defense fund. Last month, they hacked into the computers of a major cyber security firm, HB Gary, and published tens of thousands of embarrassing emails.”
The CEO of HBGary just announced he will resign.
Unyielding, AFP president Tim Phillips, in an email to Politico, wrote, “Americans for Prosperity will not be intimidated and will not be deterred from our effort to support responsible economic policies, including the efforts of Governor Walker and other democratically elected leaders in that state to balance the budget through common-sense reforms.”
As of this writing the Koch Brothers’-supported websites, such as AFP, appear to be up and running.