protester

Online activists Anonymous are targeting the European Parliament and supporters of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which critics say would curtail freedom of expression and encourage surveillance by service providers.

Copyrightalliance.org was inaccessible today after Anonymous set its sights on the Web site for its pro-ACTA stance. Meanwhile, hackers were poking at the sites of the European Parliament and governments in the EU, with plans to dig up information on officials that could be released publicly, a source familiar with Anonymous' plans told CNET.

Anonymous has a history of operations against what the group complains are antipiracy efforts that … Read more

Although Wikipedia completely blacked out its English language Web site yesterday in protest of potential U.S. antipiracy legislation, traffic on the Web encyclopedia was higher than usual, according to research and analysis company Zscaler.

"If you want a quick way of increasing traffic to your website--change or take down portions of your website in protest," Zscaler wrote on its blog yesterday. "At least that is what we have gleaned from today's (1/18) Wikipedia protest against SOPA."

Graphs on the Zscaler blog show that unique Wikipedia visits during the blackout were higher than surrounding … Read more

The protests against SOPA are apparently not limited to the Internet.

As Web sites such as Wikipedia, Google, and Craigslist go dark and post messages protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act--SOPA's senate sister--opponents are also organizing real-world protests against the controversial bills.

The goal, according to one Web site, is to put a human face to the online protests and focus media attention on the legislation, which is currently under consideration in Congress.

The protests, by city:

New York: An anti-SOPA/PIPA rally is planned for 12:30 p.m. ET in New York … Read more

The San Francisco Bay Area Transit District adopted a policy today that bars officials from interrupting cell service in subway stations except in "extraordinary circumstances."

The policy, which is believed to be the first policy governing intentional cell service disruption in subways, comes in response to a public backlash over BART for shutting off cell service to head off a protest this summer.

Under the new policy, BART may temporarily interrupt cell service only when it determines that there is "strong evidence of imminent unlawful activity that threatens the safety" of passengers, employees and the public, … Read more

Web sites opposed to a federal anti-piracy bill were coming up with some innovative ways of protesting the proposed law, which they claim would allow for Internet censorship. But the protests were interfering with some Web surfers.

In honor of "American Censorship Day," some Web sites were symbolically blacking out their front pages today. The big pop-ups with a darkened background urge people to contact Congress and express opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The House of Representatives held its first hearing on the controversial bill today.

Hollywood studios, the recording industry, large content holders and … Read more

As Occupy Wall Street protesters continued to rally in Oakland, Calif., hackers today targeted the Web site for the city's police department and offered a $1,000 reward for information on police action that appears to have left a protester injured.

Contact information, schedules, badge numbers, and other information about Oakland Police Department officers was posted to a public Pastebin page. Meanwhile, the department's Web site also was down temporarily this morning, according to SC Magazine.

"The time has come to retaliate against Oakland police via all non-violent means, beginning with doxing (releasing of documents and data) … Read more

Hackers supportive of the Occupy Wall Street protests today released personal information of former Citigroup and Goldman Sachs executive Robert Rubin who was U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Clinton when the banking reform Glass-Steagall Act was repealed.

The CabinCr3w, hackers aligned with the Anonymous group of online activists and the protests, have been releasing personal data of the CEOs of Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and other bankers. They also released information on a New York police officer accused of unprovoked and excessive use of pepper spray on people at the protests, which began September 17 in New … Read more

Some celebrities have joined the Occupy Wall Street protesters on their own, like Susan Sarandon, Mark Ruffalo, and Samuel L. Jackson. But others may be surprised to learn that they have lent their names to the cause.

At first glance you might suspect that some hacker was playing a prank on Canada's Globe and Mail Web site or trying to get some publicity for the protest movement, which has focused on wealth disparity in the U.S. and has spread from New York to other cities in the past few weeks.

The site's current Celebrity Photos of the Week … Read more

BlackBerry data disruptions hit North American users, Apple devices can update to iOS 5 today to get iCloud, Wall Street protesters are leveraging a new messaging app, and Sony locks down accounts to fight another hack attack.

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded: