Protesting Anonymous-related arrests across the world, the ubiquitous hacker collective has issued a statement asserting that those detained and charged for distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are really no different than civil protesters organizing a sit-in.
Naming the U.S., Turkish and British governments in particular, Anonymous demanded on Sunday that those arrested for carrying out DDoS attacks be freed immediately. At the least, the group doesn't believe the potential punishment fits the crime.
"If we assume that DDoS is the online, and often international, form of a peaceful sit-in, the U.S. government (as well as others, most notably the UK & Turkey) is charging individuals with federal offenses for what, if it were a real-life sit-in, would be no more than citation or a misdemeanor," read a press release posted at the official AnonOps blog.
The group went on to call the arrests a "disgrace," and reasoned that "our interpretation of laws must evolve" to meet constantly shifting technology.
Over the summer, authorities in the U.S. executed 35 search warrants and walked away with 14 suspected Anonymous members in custody. Turkish law enforcement picked up 32 suspects, and in the UK five Anons were nabbed early this year. Arrests were also made in Spain and Italy.
It doesn't stop there. Late last week, UK police announced that they hit the mother lode, arresting two hackers who may jointly be "Kayla" - a big name familiar in both Anonymous and LulzSec circles.
Anonymous' distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks have become almost a calling card. The method utilizes the group's infamous Low-Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) to brutally overload a website with auto-generated requests - essentially burning it out so legitimate viewers cannot access it. However, that weapon of choice is slated to be holstered soon.
Citing LOIC's inability to protect its users' identities, Anonymous is building a new tool dubbed "RefRef." The program is said to be the antithesis of LOIC's brute force style, focusing instead on exhausting a site's own resources.
