Apparently the on-again-off-again DDoS attacks performed by Operation Payback members are back on again.
Just a day after posting an appeal from the Pirate Parties of the US and the UK to “choose a more moderate and legal way” to promote copyright law reform, Operation Payback members have formulated a response in the form of an open letter.
“We will go on with our activities, despite the Pirate Parties of the United States of America and the United Kingdoms’ objections, unless we come up with more efficient ways to better achieve our common goals,” the letter states.
The letter also addresses the issue of the legality of the numerous DDoS attacks that Operation Payback has carried out since early September. “We are not concerned with legality, but with legitimacy. Those who decide our laws are the same people who decided that public copyright harassment, erosion of civil liberties and abominations of censorship such as COICA, ACTA, and the DEAct, are good and just things to enforce upon the populace. They do this whilst selectively enforcing their own laws when it comes to “official” organizations that take actions such as running a mass racketeering operation (knowingly suing thousands of individuals for infringement on bad evidence) or DDoSing sites that are contrary to their interests (AiPlex). We do not recognize their “authority” due to this rank hypocrisy.”
According to Panda Labs, the original letter from the Pirate Parties to Operation Payback has now been removed from the Pirate Party’s website after the realization that it was not fully endorsed by members of the parties.
Also, the people over at Panda Labs have completed the laborious task of compiling the statistics associated with the destruction Operation Payback has left in its wake thus far:
* 2 data leaks (ACS:Law and Acapor)
* 2 websites defaced
* 28 DDoS Targets
* 2761 website service interruptions
* 903 hours (37.62 days) of downtime
Yes, that’s over a months’ worth of downtime among all of Operation Payback’s targets. And, according to their latest correspondence, more is to come.
It’s not surprising to me that the attacks will go on despite recent indications that they would cease. The group will have an easier time staying relevant and growing their ranks by sticking with their radical tactics. Unfortunately, people get bored with more reserved methods of political protest. While they’re methods may not be completely legal, at least Operation Payback is keeping the world interested and aware of their cause.
