http://news.mobile.msn.com/en-us/articles.aspx?aid=40559236 <http://news.mobile.msn.com/en-us/articles.aspx?aid=40559236&afid=1> &afid=1
Assange supporters attack MasterCard website NBC, msnbc.com and news services 9:32 AM EST December 8, 2010 Hackers claimed Wednesday to have taken down MasterCard's website in retaliation for the company's decision to cut off services to WikiLeaks. "WE ARE GLAD TO TELL YOU THAT http://www.mastercard.com/ is DOWN AND IT'S CONFIRMED!," anti-censorship group Anonymous said in a post to its Twitter site for an initiative it has dubbed Operation Payback. Attempts to load the MasterCard site Wednesday morning were unsuccessful. A spokesman for the company told msnbc.com that the it did not have any information or comment at this stage. The group has also claimed responsibility for distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on the website of the Swedish prosecutor's office that is seeking WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for alleged sex crimes, PayPal and the Swiss bank that froze Assange's assets, the BBC reported. The office of the lawyer representing Assange's two accusers in Sweden also told NBC News Wednesday that its website was inaccessible due to hacker attacks. WikiLeaks tweeted a statement on Wednesday addressing Assange's arrest and noting efforts to cut off the flow of money to WikiLeaks. "We will not be gagged, either by judicial action or corporate censorship. Today Visa joined MasterCard, Paypal, Amazon, EveryDNS and others in cutting off their links," spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said in a statement. "Wikileaks is still online. The full site is duplicated in more than 500 locations. Every day, the cables are loaded more than 50 million times," he added. Anonymous said on its website that while it doesn't have a formal relationship with WikiLeaks, the two organizations shared the same ideals. "We will find and will attack those who stand against Wikileaks and we will support WikiLeaks in everything they need," the site said, noting that Operation Payback would include providing a mirror for the WikiLeaks site, creating "counter-propaganda" and "organizing attacks (DDoS) on various targets related to censorship." Assange speaks out Meanwhile, Assange defended his secrets-spilling website in an editorial published in an Australian newspaper, a day after he was arrested in London in a sex-crimes investigation. In the editorial, published by The Australian, Assange writes that there is a great need for WikiLeaks and denies that the site's publication of classified information has endangered lives. "WikiLeaks has a four-year publishing history. During that time we have changed whole governments, but not a single person, as far as anyone is aware, has been harmed," Assange wrote. "But the US, with Australian government connivance, has killed thousands in the past few months alone." The WikiLeaks statement on Twitter also addressed Assange's arrest in Britain on Tuesday. "Today, Wikileaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange was refused bail by a UK court ... However, this will not stifle Wikileaks," Hrafnsson said. "The release of the US Embassy Cables - the biggest leak in history - will still continue. This evening, the latest batch of cables were released, and our media partners released their next batch of stories." The Frontline Club, a journalism organization based in London, said Wednesday that Assange "has spent much of the last several months working from our facilities," and that the club's founder offered Assange "an address for bail." It is unclear why Assange did not provide a U.K. address during his initial court appearance; he instead provided an Australian one. In denying bail, the judge at Tuesday's hearing said there were "substantial grounds" to believe Assange could flee if granted bail. Assange faces a new extradition hearing next week, in which his lawyers say they will reapply for bail. In his editorial, Assange wrote that democracies require strong media to keep governments honest and that WikiLeaks helps fulfill that role. "WikiLeaks has revealed some hard truths about the Iraq and Afghan wars, and broken stories about corporate corruption." <http://www.bandoo.com/wp/ie.php?plg=ie&ad2=153&subs=yahoo&elm=sign> http://triggers.wp.bandoo.com/signature_001.gif [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
