Victims of Anonymous' unique brand of cyber protest all handle it differently. Some vow legal recourse, while most just get angry. Many question exactly why they were attacked in the first place. The Boston Police Department made a comedy video.
The video, seen here, depicts several actual BPD officers discussing how the week-long closure of BPDNews.com personally affected them.
"I'd gone into Dunkin' Donuts and was getting a nice cup of coffee and the girl said to me, 'I heard your website got hacked' and she said 'why would anyone do anything like that,'" says one officer, straight-faced. "And I said, I don't know, I don't get it. And she said 'that's just wrong.'"
Another officer claims that he was "dismayed" when he tried to visit the news site and heard a "terrible noise." The cyber attack had replaced the site's regular content with a message and the KRS-One music video "Sound of Da Police."
The BPD's tongue-in-cheek response, however, dodges the question of exactly why they were targeted to begin with.
Part of Anonymous' Antisec operation, the hacker group explained that the new attack was retaliation for the BPD's continued mistreatment of local Occupy protesters. Last October, the hacker collective published BPD officers' emails and passwords during a nationwide DDoS attack aimed at police organizations.
"Do you remember a few months ago when Antisec attaked [sic] the Boston Police and released hundred of passwords in retaliation for the brutality against Occupy Boston," asked Anonymous. "They clearly ignored our warnings, because not only did they raid the camp again and kicked protesters off of public parks, but they also sent undercover TSA agents to assualt [sic] and attempt to steal from some organizers."
Countless videos showcasing apparent police brutality have made their way online since the Occupy movement's inception in New York last summer.
BPDNews.com was restored on Friday, with the video response gracing the homepage. Anonymous had already moved on, shutting down CIA.gov that same day. (via Naked Security)
