Anonymous Takes Down Department of Justice Site
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CREDIT: Anonymous
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The Anonymous hacking group is claiming responsibility for taking down the website of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
"TANGO DOWN! Justice.gov — U.S. Government Website DOWN!" reads a Twitter post from @AnonDaily, one of several feeds used to broadcast the hackers' exploits.
As of 3:29 p.m. (PST) The DOJ site was not loading.
[Best Hacks by the Hacktivist Group 'Anonymous']
The online attack comes just hours after the FBI announced it had shut down the file-sharing site Megaupload.com and arrested its founder and three other executives on charges of copyright violations and piracy.
Megaupload's servers in Washington D.C., Virginia, Canada and the Netherlands were shut down as the site's founder, Kim Schmitz, 37, who also goes by Kim Dotcom and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, was apprehended in New Zealand.
Anonymous' swift action against the DOJ underscores the group's continued support of a free, uncensored Internet that many believe is in jeopardy at the hands of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
Various Anonymous-related Twitter feeds also claimed to have knocked the Universal Music Group (UMG) website offline. Last month, UMG forced YouTube to take down a video in which rapper Kanye West, Snoop Dogg and Swizz Beats endorsed Megaupload. The UMG site was hard to reach Thursday afternoon.
UPDATE: At about 5:00 p.m. (PST), Anonymous took down the FBI website, www.fbi.gov. The group announced the attack in a Twitter post reading, "fbi.gov — you feel censored yet? We sincerely hope you like your own medicine!"
