In late 2010, thousands of hacktivists joined a mass digital assault on the websites of VISA, MasterCard, and PayPal to protest their treatment of WikiLeaks. Other targets were wide ranging-the websites of corporations from Sony Entertainment and Fox to the Vatican and
the Church of Scientology were hacked, defaced, and embarrassed-and the message was that no one was safe. Thousands of user accounts from pornography websites were released, exposing government employees and military personnel.
Encyclopedia Dramatica was founded in 2004 by Sherrod DiGrippo, initially as a means of documenting gossip related to livejournal, but it quickly was adopted as a major platform by Anonymous for satirical and other purposes.[36] The not safe for work site celebrates a subversive "trolling culture", and documents Internet memes, culture, and events, such as mass pranks, trolling events, "raids", large-scale failures of Internet security, and
criticism of Internet communities that are accused of self-censorship in order to gain prestige or positive coverage from traditional and established media outlets. Journalist Julian Dibbell described Encyclopædia Dramatica as the site "where the vast parallel universe of Anonymous in-jokes, catchphrases, and obsessions is lovingly annotated, and you will discover an elaborate trolling culture: Flamingly racist and misogynist content lurks throughout, all of it calculated to offend."[36] The site also played a role in the anti-Scientology campaign of Project Chanology.[37]
On April 14, 2011, the original URL of the site was redirected to a new website named Oh Internet that bore little resemblance to Encyclopedia Dramatica. Parts of the ED community harshly criticized the changes.[38] In response,
Anonymous launched "Operation Save ED" to rescue and restore the site's content.[39] The Web Ecology Project made a downloadable archive of former Encyclopedia Dramatica content.[40][41] The site's reincarnation was initially hosted at encyclopediadramatica.ch on servers owned by Ryan Cleary, who later was arrested in relation to attacks by LulzSec against Sony.
...
Anonymous first became associated with hacktivism in 2008 following a series of actions against the
Church of Scientology known as Project Chanology. On January 15, 2008, the gossip blog Gawker posted a video in which
celebrity Scientologist Tom Cruise praised the religion;[42] and the Church responded with a cease-and-desist letter for violation of copyright.[43] 4chan users organized a raid against the Church in retaliation, prank-calling its hotline, sending black faxes designed to waste ink cartridges, and launching DDoS attacks against its websites.[44][45]
During the DDoS attacks, a group of Anons uploaded a YouTube video in which a robotic voice speaks on behalf of Anonymous, telling the
"leaders of Scientology" that "For the good of your followers, for the good of mankind—for the laughs—we shall expel you from the Internet."[49][50] Within ten days, the video had attracted hundreds of thousands of views.[50]
On February 10, thousands of Anonymous joined simultaneous protests at
Church of Scientology facilities around the world.[51] Many protesters wore the stylized Guy Fawkes masks popularized by the graphic novel and film V for Vendetta, in which an anarchist revolutionary battles a totalitarian government; the masks soon became a popular symbol for Anonymous.[52] In-person protests against the Church continued throughout the year, including "Operation Party Hard" on March 15 and "Operation Reconnect" on April 12.[53][54][55] However, by mid-year, they were drawing far fewer protesters, and many of the organizers in IRC channels had begun to drift away from the project.[56]
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In September 2010, however, Anons became aware of Aiplex Software, an Indian software company that contracted with film studios to launch DDoS attacks on websites used by copyright infringers, such as The Pirate Bay.[59][58] Coordinating through IRC, Anons launched a DDoS attack on September 17 that shut down Aiplex's website for a day. Primarily using LOIC, the group then targeted the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), successfully bringing down both sites.[60] On September 19, future LulzSec member Mustafa Al-Bassam (known as "Tflow") and other Anons hacked the website of Copyright Alliance, an anti-infringement group, and posted the name of the operation: "Payback Is A Bitch", or "Operation Payback" for short.[61] Anons also issued a press release, stating:
Anonymous is tired of corporate interests controlling the internet and silencing the people’s rights to spread information, but more importantly, the right to SHARE with one another. The RIAA and the MPAA feign to aid the artists and their cause; yet they do no such thing. In their eyes is not hope, only dollar signs. Anonymous will not stand this any longer.[62]
As IRC network operators were beginning to shut down networks involved in DDoS attacks, Anons organized a group of servers to host an independent IRC network, titled AnonOps.[63] Operation Payback's targets rapidly expanded to include the British law firm ACS:Law,[64] the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft,[65] the British nightclub Ministry of Sound,[66] the Spanish copyright society Sociedad General de Autores y Editores,[67] the U.S. Copyright Office,[68] and the website of Gene Simmons of Kiss.[69] By October 7, 2010, total downtime for all websites attacked during Operation Payback was 537.55 hours.[69]
In November 2010, the organization WikiLeaks began releasing hundreds of thousands of leaked U.S. diplomatic cables. In the face of legal threats against the organization by the U.S. government, Amazon.com booted WikiLeaks from its servers, and PayPal, MasterCard, and Visa cut off service to the organization.[70] Operation Payback then expanded to include "Operation Avenge Assange", and Anons issued a press release declaring PayPal a target.[71] Launching DDoS attacks with the LOIC, Anons quickly brought down the websites of the PayPal blog; PostFinance, a Swiss financial company denying service to WikiLeaks; EveryDNS, a web-hosting company that had also denied service; and the website of U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, who had supported the push to cut off services.[72]
On December 8, Anons launched an attack against PayPal's main site. According to Topiary, who was in the command channel during the attack, the LOIC proved ineffective, and Anons were forced to rely on the botnets of two hackers for the attack, marshaling hijacked computers for a concentrated assault.[73] Security researcher Sean-Paul Correll also reported that the "zombie computers" of involuntary botnets had provided 90% of the attack.[74] Topiary states that he and other Anons then "lied a bit to the press to give it that sense of abundance", exaggerating the role of the grassroots membership. However, this account was disputed.[75]
The attacks brought down PayPal.com for an hour on December 8 and another brief period on December 9.[76] Anonymous also disrupted the sites for Visa and MasterCard on December 8.[77] Anons had announced an intention to bring down Amazon.com as well, but failed to do so, allegedly because of infighting with the hackers who controlled the botnets.[78] PayPal estimated the damage to have cost the company US$5.5 million. It later provided the IP addresses of 1,000 of its attackers to the FBI, leading to at least 14 arrests.[79] On Thursday, December 5, 2013, 13 of the PayPal 14 pleaded guilty to taking part in the attacks.[80]
See also PLF (Peoples Liberation Front) underground hactivist group(s) connected to Anonymous and particular to political justice attacks across the USA
https://www.bing.com/search?q=People's+Liberation+Front&pc=MOZI&form=MOZTSB
Thirteen Defendants Plead Guilty For December 2010 Cyber-Attack Against PayPal
FBI Arrests Suspected LulzSec and Anonymous Hackers [/B]