Anonymous Attacks Tunisian Government over Wikileaks Censorship

Gawker ^ | Jan. 3, 2011 | Gawker

[Redalways]

Anonymous, the loosely-organized band of hacker activists and vigilantes, has chosen its next victim: The government of Tunisia. (They've taken down its official website.) Why? In part, because it tried to block access to secret-sharing website Wikileaks.

Sometime in early December, according to The Next Web Middle East, the Tunisian government blocked not just Wikileaks but any news source publishing or referencing leaked cables that originated or referenced Tunisia—including Tunileaks, a Tunisia-specific exploration of the massive cache of diplomatic communication. In one of the cables, an American diplomat referred to the country as "a police state"; currently, anti-government protests have wracked the country in the wake of an unemployed man's self-immolation.

Anonymous Attacks Tunisian Government over Wikileaks CensorshipThe block of Tunileaks wasn't the first time the Tunisian government had attempted to censor the internet. But it seems to have been noteworthy enough to have spurred, or at least raised the profile of, a semi-organized effort to, well, mess with the Tunisian government's web presence. (It doesn't hurt that Wikileaks is the current internet cause célèbre.) A "recruiting" call went up on AnonNews.org, a user-edited clearing house for information and news by and about the disorganized, decentralized "hacktivist" group:

[OddLane]

I like the pirate ship they seem to have incorporated into their graphic art. Very apt.

[mewykwistmas]

[SunkenCiv]

Anonymous, the loosely-organized band of hacker activists and vigilantes...

Thanks Redalways.