Someone self-identifying as an “Anonymous” hacktivist posted a note to the text-sharing site Pastebin on Wednesday night announcing the second phase of “Operation Angel”, a protest in honor of late online activist Aaron Swartz, which began with denial-of-service attacks that downed the website of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on January 13.
Swartz, 26, committed suicide and was found dead in his New York apartment on January 11. He was widely revered for his work in creating popular websites including Reddit and developing the RSS specification and Creative Commons, but was hit with felony charges by federal prosecutors in 2011 for downloading 4.8 million articles from the subscription database JSTOR using a computer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Phase two of Operation Anonymous calls for more hacks on MIT’s website and on the Justice Department’s website, as well as simultaneous real-life demonstrations by any who elect to participate, in Washington, D.C., just outside the White House, and at John Joseph Moakley in Boston, at 3 p.m. EST on Friday, January 25. The demonstrations are in support of “Aaron’s Law,” new legislation proposed this week by Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren (Calif.) to amend the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, under which Swartz was charged with 13 felony counts. Lofgren’s legislation would expressly exclude “terms of service” violations from federal wire fraud statutes.
(H/T: Betabeat)
