14 DAY TRIAL // Hackers of the Anonymous movement have set their sights on People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) after the organization decided to sue a number of anonymous individuals who posted comments to an article in which PETA was accused of “secretly slaughtering kittens and puppies.”
The article in question, published by Huffington Post, got around 5,000 comments, many of which condemned the organization that claims to fight for animal rights.
It appears that PETA doesn’t want to pursue the article’s author, but a few of the people who left comments, including one who compared it to Jack Kevorkian, the man known for championing a terminal patient's right to die via physician-assisted suicide.
“This kind of legal maneuver is typical of corporations and organizations who cannot accept opposing viewpoints and think freedom of speech and online anonymity are merely inconveniences to be dealt with by high powered and expensive lawyers and huge piles of cash,” the hackers stated.
“This is unacceptable. The hive must act both to bring publicity to the case of the critics and also to PeTA's other reprehensible actions. It is time PeTA was reminded that Anonymous does not forgive or forget those who oppose free speech and will not stand for legal threats against those voicing legitimate criticisms,” they added.
It’s uncertain what the hacktivists have in mind for OpPETA, but we can probably expect some data leaks, and maybe some distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks.
“This Op is not against animal rights, it is against the cynical manipulation of well meaning people to fund lawsuits and advertising that do nothing but advance the agenda of PETA, not the animals it claims to want to protect but in fact simply euthanizes,” Anonymous members said.
“PeTA, for your attempt to use the law to extinguish the voices of those who voice contrary opinions you have gotten the attention of the hive, whatever the consequences, you should have expected us.”