14 DAY TRIAL // A group of Anonymous members has launched successful denial of service attacks against two websites belonging to KISS frontman Gene Simmons, after he recently made some aggressive comments regarding illegal file sharing.
For almost a month now, a notorious group of Internet activists called Anonymous has been at war with the international recording and film industries, as well as other organizations involved in anti-piracy efforts.
It all started when an Indian company called Aiplex Software, hired by film studios, bragged in the media about attacking torrent sites that failed to respond to DMCA takedown requests.
On September 17, members of the Anonymous collective announced the launch of a distributed denial of service (DDoS) campaign dubbed "Operation Payback."
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the Dutch Bescherming Rechten Entertainment Industrie Nederland (BREIN) and the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT), the Spanish General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE) and the Federation of the Italian Music Industry (FIMI), were some of the group's targets so far.
The Guardian reports that GeneSimmons.com and SimmonsRecords.com became the latest victims after only a limited number of Anonymous members decided to attack the websites.
These members call themselves the Anti-Bureaucracy Contingent and according to a manifesto published online, they disapprove of the decision taken by the group's organizers (the Bureaucracy) to continue attacks against Gallant Macmillan's website, which has proven remarkably resistant.
Gene Simmons' websites were chosen as new target because of recent comments the KISS bassist made during a panel on building entertainment brands.
"Make sure your brand is protected. Make sure there are no incursions. Be litigious. Sue everybody. Take their homes, their cars. Don't let anybody cross that line," Simmons said.
"The music industry was asleep at the wheel, and didn't have the balls to sue every fresh-faced, freckle-faced college kid who downloaded material. And so now we're left with hundreds of thousands of people without jobs. There's no industry," he added.
