Anonymous Downs Virgin Media Site Over Pirate Bay Censorship

The notorious hacker group Anonymous has struck once again, and this time its victim was Virgin Media.

According to the BBC, the hackers' distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack began at 5 p.m. BST and made Virgin Media's site unavailable for one hour. While, as The Register reports, Virgin Media has claimed that the site is back online, at time of writing, the site was still down:

It seems what spurred this latest move by Anonymous, dubbed "OpTPB," was the British High Court's ruling on April 30 that Internet service providers, including Virgin Media, must block the file-sharing site The Pirate Bay.

Near the time of the attack on May 8, one Twitter account associated with the hacker collective, @AnonUK, tweeted:

#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 has responded to the attack, telling BBC in a statement, "As a responsible ISP, Virgin Media complies with court orders but we strongly believe that tackling the issue of copyright infringement needs compelling legal alternatives, giving consumers access to great content at the right price, to help change consumer behaviour."

In addition, as ZDNet points out, The Pirate Bay has shared its own views on this latest Anonymous attack. In a May 8 post on its Facebook page, The Pirate Bay wrote:

Seems like some random Anonymous groups have run a DDOS campaign against Virgin media and some other sites. We'd like to be clear about our view on this:

We do NOT encourage these actions. We believe in the open and free internets, where anyone can express their views. Even if we strongly disagree with them and even if they hate us.

So don't fight them using their ugly methods. DDOS and blocks are both forms of censorship.

What do you think of Anonymous's latest attack? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

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Comments

[Fat Virgin]

11:28 AM on 05/10/2012

Once upon a time in the United Kingdom of Censorship there was a Big Fat Virgin who lost her virginity. Priceless!

[Runs With Scissors]

07:27 PM on 05/09/2012

"What do you think of Anonymous's latest attack? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!"

Well at least they are doing SOMETHING. The rest of 'em are punching their pillow and biting their socks over the British gov.'s nasty hypocritical decision to force censorship of one web site (that does not even hold illegal information!).

But their target is not well chosen, and their attack is well.... feeble, to put it one way.

[skerge]

06:51 PM on 05/09/2012

LEAVE THE INTERNET ALONE!

[acarrillo0989]

03:08 PM on 05/09/2012

The other thing that Anonymous is doing is informing the public via Twitter how to bypass this silly censorship, so kudos to them.

Keep up the great fight Anonymous!

[outloud]

02:02 PM on 05/09/2012

Anonymous is doing it now....the gooberment is next.

[ThatsBecause]

01:52 PM on 05/09/2012

H.ACK THEM TILL NOTHING IS LEFT!
B.URN THEM TO THE GROUND!

[cfisher000]

01:39 PM on 05/09/2012

Wrong target... as usual from leftist hackers. Remember when they punished the one company who facilitated wiki leaks information after that company took the information down, but never touched the ones who did not allow it in the first place. Apparently they are teaching companies to never sign on to controversial ideas.

[Obese Chess]

06:43 PM on 05/09/2012

Your labeling of them as "leftists" is remarkably short-sighted and shows little understanding of the group's motives.

[cfisher000]

10:14 PM on 05/09/2012

Nonsense... they are all socialists. Maybe you should get familiar with their ex-leader: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/06/hacking-group-lulzsec-swept-up-by-law-enforcement/

[Stoopid American]

01:36 PM on 05/09/2012

I'm torn on this. On the one hand I strongly support the political goal Anonymous has (in this case). On the other hand, employing a botnet of machines to mount the DoS attack is using infected computers maliciously, without the owner's consent.

If Anonymous could mount a DoS attack using legal means, then I would accept the analogy to a picket line in front of a place of business. However, using an illegal botnet poisons the debate. Sigh ...

[terry90]

01:56 PM on 05/09/2012

"by legal means"?? DoS attacks ARE illegal.... ;-)

I'm also a bit torn here....

[Stoopid American]

10:13 PM on 05/09/2012

I'm not sure I agree that a DoS attack mounted by someone on their own equipment, bandwidth, and nickel should necessarily be a crime. On a public sidewalk, it is perfectly legal to picket. One could potentially argue such a DoS attack is a similar type of thing. I agree that it is grey.

However, a DoS attack mounted using zombie machines infected with malware is indefensible.

[AJ in ATL]

01:31 PM on 05/09/2012

RIght goal wrong target by Anonymous on this one. It is the British government who is forcing this ban on Pirate Bay and they are the ones in need of a leason. I'm sure that there will be more to come though.

[twizzle]

01:40 PM on 05/09/2012

Actually, this is one of the governments that has good laws to protect consumers and other businesses against Big Corporations like Oracle, Microsoft, etc. That is why the successful litigation always takes place over there. There has to be some give and take.

You can't have your cake and eat it too...

[Liteworkr]

01:30 PM on 05/09/2012

I think Anon is gov psyop.
Anonymous gets frontpage for hacking but you won't see Ron Paul.

[jac22]

01:52 PM on 05/09/2012

You're under the impression multiple people actually want to see Ron Paul

[Liteworkr]

01:56 PM on 05/09/2012

The last articleHuff PO had received 10,000 comments.

[acarrillo0989]

03:11 PM on 05/09/2012

I love to see Ron Paul, and so do the millions of supporters from around the world. The problem is that the mainstream media refuses to cover him, so the internet media will.

Ron Paul 2012!

[KarmaPatrol]

01:29 PM on 05/09/2012

Copyrights, patents, and trademarks are so 20th century. With new technology on an exponential rise, designers, artists, and other artisans will directly produce for consumers ... one day. Not even going to get into the copy shops of Asia, one machine making 50 copies ... almost 30 years ago (yikes!)

[brokenleoheart]

01:15 PM on 05/09/2012

internet needs to remain free

[Republican crybabies]

01:07 PM on 05/09/2012

Draconian crackdowns never work. Just ask the DEA how that war on pot is going.

[WhoseCountryIsThis]

01:07 PM on 05/09/2012

Although their targeting could be questioned, the act of disruption like a heckler yelling over the speaker at a podium is also free speech and as long as no bodily harm comes to anyone, isn't this democracy?

[twizzle]

01:31 PM on 05/09/2012

No, this is not free speech. It is infringement of access which is illegal. This would be the same as blocking the door to Walmart with your car. Free speech would be protesting from the public sidewalk in front of Walmart. People could still choose to go in the door...get it?

[mikesw]

06:10 PM on 05/09/2012

Dunno. Seems more like an electronic version of a sit-in.

That was an appropriate tactic when it was used against the Vietnam War and Segregation, wasn't it?

[davearnold007]

01:02 PM on 05/09/2012

The next revolution....has started.