The United States House of Representatives recently voted to pass the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). The bill looks to give businesses and the federal government legal protection to share cyber threats with one another in an effort to prevent online attacks. Internet privacy, neutrality advocates and even the Obama Administration feel as if the bill does not contain enough limits on how and when the government may monitor private information. Online petitions opposing the bill and its supporters have collectively garnered more than one million signatures, although such protests have seemingly had little to no effect thus far. The hacktivist group “Anonymous” is looking to change that, however, with the announcement of Operation Defense: Phase 2.
In a video recently uploaded to YouTube, Anonymous acknowledged that its traditional DDoS-style of attacks are becoming less effective because companies have upgraded their web servers to withstand such threats. The group states that “we will not stand while our rights are being taken away,” and is planning a traditional protest of the companies who support CISPA.
The protest will begin on Tuesday, May 1st, and continue through June 30th. Anonymous and its supporters will target, AT&T, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Verizon Wireless, Bank of America, Chase Bank, McGraw-Hill, Coke and Pepsi, Target, WalMart, CVS and Visa, Mastercard and American Express. Anonymous’s video announcement follows below.
