Hactivist group Anonymous may have targeted Sony's web sites and online services in the past week as a way to protest its legal action against PS3 jailbreaker George "Geohot" Hotz, but soon it will take the fight offline like it did with the Church of Scientology. The group announced that it is staging a 4-hour in-store boycott at Sony stores around world on Saturday, April 16. Over 1,000 people have committed to joining in on the protests through Facebook.
Last Monday, Anonymous launched a DDoS attack on the PlayStation Network (PSN) that made it inaccessible for most of the day. At the same time, an Anonymous offshoot calling itself "SonyRecon" targeted individual Sony employees. But taking down the PSN was not the most popular of decisions; PS3 users complained that the takedown was doing more harm than good to gamers.
Anonymous reversed the hack and took down the Sony Careers page instead. "Anonymous is not attacking the PSN at this time. Sony's official position is that the PSN is undergoing maintenance. We realize that targeting the PSN is not a good idea. We have therefore temporarily suspended our action, until a method is found that will not severely impact Sony customers," Anonymous wrote in a blog post.
Public awareness and generating publicity to group activities and causes is probably a better avenue to follow than hacking and embarrassing Sony employees.
We will continue to follow this story as it develops.
Source: PC Magazine
Comments
Re: Anonymous Taking Sony Fight to the Street
An in store protest? But that's... legal! Woah there, Anon, if you aren't careful you might go from internet asstards to legitimate advocacy group.
Re: Anonymous Taking Sony Fight to the Street
This is not anonymous merely a group using the name. Thats the problem with organizations that have no concrete organization. Anyone can claim to be them without any way to prove otherwise.
Re: Anonymous Taking Sony Fight to the Street
that's exactly it, anonymous isnt an organization in any normal sense of the word and anyone can claim to be anonymous if they so choose. it seems to me that wearing an EFG mask and calling oneself Anonymous is one of the latest internet fads.
Re: Anonymous Taking Sony Fight to the Street
Except that by claiming you are, you, by definition, at the very least cease to be it.
Re: Anonymous Taking Sony Fight to the Street
Especially considering one of their main rules is that if you claim to be in Anonymous, you aren't.
"Power means nothing without honor and pride."
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Re: Anonymous Taking Sony Fight to the Street
I have an urge to buy something at a Sony store all of a sudden.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
Re: Anonymous Taking Sony Fight to the Street
And lo, the President of the Internet did decree that all across his domain, all of his domains, from the top-level domains of ICANN to the lengthiest, most convoluted subdomains of public universities, from that day forward, on any website, should any person mention the subject of a boycott, at any time and for any reason, there should be at least one person to declare, as smugly and smarmily as possible, that he wanted to buy whatever product or service was being boycotted.
"My Lord!" said a lowly serf. "Should this man explain himself? Should he give an accounting of his rationale, the reasons he has chosen to oppose the protesters and join with the protestee?"
And a shadow passed across the face of the President of the Internet, and he was wroth.
"I say thee NAY," said the President of the Internet. "For such a man is FAR TOO IMPORTANT to have to explain himself. His opinions are brilliant, and all must listen to them and be greatly impressed, for he is above such petty things as rational discussion. He shall speak his mind, in no more than a single sentence, and he shall use the words sudden and urge, and that will be all. And all will be in awe of him, because he is a truly, truly important person with very serious and important opinions."