Anonymous Knocks FTC Site Offline, Posts Anti-ACTA Content

LONDON -- The hacking group known as Anonymous has claimed a new series of hacks against the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and consumer rights websites.

The loosely organized collection of cyber rebels said it attacked the FTC's consumer protection business center and the National Consumer Protection Week websites.

Both sites were replaced with a violent German-language video satirizing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA.

ACTA was recently signed by several countries, but restrictions on online piracy have prompted a growing protest movement.

A call to the Trade Commission rang unanswered before business hours Friday. An email seeking comment was not immediately returned.

The organization's main home page appeared unaffected by the attacks.

Comments

[Harrier]

09:19 PM on 02/18/2012

It would seem to me that it's going be the end of the road when you hack a Federal website.

[Owen T]

11:25 PM on 02/17/2012

hackers... so exciting! like a movie!

[SickHippie]

12:43 AM on 02/19/2012

For your consideration:

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1898

[Orodomiscovero]

10:45 PM on 02/17/2012

Hey Anonymous. Is that someone at your door? 01101011001010010?

[SickHippie]

12:44 AM on 02/19/2012

01101110 01101111 01110000 01100101 00101110 01101010 01110000 01100111

[Orodomiscovero]

10:19 AM on 02/19/2012

01101101 01101111 01110101 01110011 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01110010 01110101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001 01111001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01111001 00100000 01100110 01100001 01101001 01101100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100011 01101100 01101111 01110011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100010 01100101 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101101 00101110

[BonzaSheila]

04:19 PM on 02/17/2012

Auntie Bonza is proud of you kids.

[Turukano]

03:17 PM on 02/17/2012

What a bunch of jokes.

[iamwired]

02:38 PM on 02/17/2012

Nothing in the news these days is more fun than coming in to an anonymous story and antagonizing. Nothing. The 4chan kiddies screaming against it is more entertaining than most stories.

[Midnight Son]

02:46 PM on 02/17/2012

You seem obsessed with 4chan too. You get dumped or something?

[iamwired]

02:52 PM on 02/17/2012

Good one!! Good one..

[Payd Troll]

02:26 PM on 02/17/2012

the hackers are ALWAYS at least 5 steps ahead and always will be.

[Tmus82]

01:57 PM on 02/17/2012

At least someones looking out for the people thank god! Corporations and government should not be allowed to control the flow of information. Do we want to end up like north Korea I would bet if this was put to a vote of the people on NDAA or SOPA it would fail miserably
It only serves large corporations and government and does nothing for the individule citizen. I wonder how much those in office were paid?

[Sh00Fly]

01:17 PM on 02/17/2012

A lil' off topic:
✱Senators Who Voted Yes on the NDAA bill list of their twttr accounts)✱
@senjohnbarrasso @senronjohnson @senrockefeller @sen_joemanchin @pattymurray @us_sen_cantwell @markwarner @senatorleahy @orrinhatch @kaybaileyhutch @senalexander @senbobcorker @johnthune @senronjohnson @grahamblo @senwhitehouse @sentoomey @senbobcasey @jiminhofe @robportman @sensherrodbrown @senjohnhoeven @kayhagan @senschumer @sengillibrand @tomudall @SenatorMenendez @senatorlautenberg @jeanneshaheen @senatorayotte @senatorreid @deanheller @mike_johanns @senbennelson @clairecmc @rogerwicker @alfranken @stabenow @sencarllevin @johnkerry @scottbrownma @senatorsnowe @senatorcollins @davidvitter @senlandrieu @mcconnellpress @moranforkansas @tomharkin @senatorlugar @sendancoats @senatorkirk @senatordurbin @daniel_inouye @senatorakaka @senatorisakson @saxby08 @senbillnelson @chriscoons @senatorcarper @joelieberman @senblumenthal @markudall @mbennet @barbaraboxer @johnboozman @senjohnmccain @lisamurkowski @senatorbigich @senshelbypress @senatorsessions @johncornyn @marcorubio @chuckgrassley @senatorburr @senatorsanders @jimdemint

[Sh00Fly]

01:17 PM on 02/17/2012

Senators who voted for the NDAA who do not have twitter accounts:
Kohl (D-WI) Webb (D-VA) Reed (D-RI) Conrad (D-ND) Bingaman (D-NM) Cochran (R-MS) Klobuchar (D-MN) Cardin (D-MD) Mikulski (D-MD) Roberts (R-KS) Kirk (R-IL) Durbin (D-IL) Feinstein (D-CA) Pryor (D-AR) Kyl (R-AZ) Risch (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID)

[iamwired]

01:18 PM on 02/17/2012

No one cares.

[Sh00Fly]

01:17 PM on 02/17/2012

Following are the senators who voted *against* the act who are on twitter:
@senrandpaul @tomcoburn @senmikelee @senjeffmerkley @ronwyden @senatorsanders

Senators who votes against who are *not* on twitter:
Harkin (D-IA)

[vidmagic]

01:11 PM on 02/17/2012

Anyone who spouts diatribes about how music piracy steals from artists knows nothing about how the music industry works. Copyrights get bought and sold just like stock. Copyright these days protect corporate interests far more than the interest of the artists.

[SunnyFlo]

01:20 PM on 02/17/2012

Artists get advances from the record companies. Out of the advance the artist pays for everything. They are in debt from the get-go, they are essentially a slave to the record label from that point forward. Always trying to get over the hump, but never making it, slow steady drowning. The agents and song writers keep the royalties and make the money.

[Bob Lukens]

11:47 AM on 02/17/2012

After seeing Anonymous attack things I enjoy like the Playstation Network last year, I was pissed. But they will justify it. Maybe not right now, but further down the line they will tell the people why they did it, and I bet it makes 100% perfect sense. These people know what they are talking about and instead of just talking about it, they actually are able to fight back against huge corporations *Sony* *EA* *GoDaddy* Just to name a few that regular Joes either can't or won't stand up to. So I FULLY SUPPORT ANONYMOUS.

[rafaelloaa]

02:04 PM on 02/17/2012

Might I point out that Anonymous didn't attack the Playstation Network. That was the work of LulzSec.

[sipiony2]

09:58 AM on 02/18/2012

might I also point out Playstation supported SOPA

[Grady Klein]

11:42 AM on 02/17/2012

I applaud this. It's about dang time something like this happened. I for one hope to see more of this protest. Its not violent, so it doesn't violate ethics. Bravo. :D

[ndtovent]

11:24 AM on 02/17/2012

I'm with spinner - Why would they take down a consumer rights website?

[kostamagas]

01:16 PM on 02/17/2012

Get real. Agencies are wasted taxpayer money. They barely even protect the consumer.

[Sieggy]

10:41 AM on 02/17/2012

Actually, I would much rather these people take down the sites now, so that the agencies can learn to protect themselves (assuming they have the sense to learn from this) than at some point in the future when we're engaging in real cyber-warfare. If the fools running the gov't sites leave themselves vulnerable, then they deserve to have their vulnerabilities pointed out publicly.

Hopefully, they will learn from this and tighten up. Or not . . .

[SunnyFlo]

01:17 PM on 02/17/2012

That would require funding for the govt to attract competent security Experts. Good luck getting that passed the small govt Congress. Now, if you want some anti-abortion funding, we got lots of cash for you.

[Tmus82]

02:05 PM on 02/17/2012

No doubt, all for small government and freedom of corporations just not for freedom of the people to choose for themselfs.

[Olestra66]

10:32 AM on 02/17/2012

Nice!