Anonymous Says It’s Not Finished With Sony

Denial of service attacks against Sony have been given the elbow, in favor of something a little more direct.

George Hotz might be done with Sony, but Anonymous says that its action against the multinational corporation is far from over. To bring awareness to what it refers to as a “severe violation of privacy rights” on Sony’s part, Anonymous is organizing demonstrations at Sony stores around the world.

According to Anonymous, not only was it unacceptable that Sony had “forced” sites like YouTube and PayPal to give up personal information about people who had watched GeoHot’s videos or donated money to him, it was also unacceptable that Sony was permitted to request such information in the first place. It said that this issue was bigger than just Anonymous, and encouraged people who would not normally get involved with the group to show their support.

In a press release, Anonymous said that the DDoS attacks on Sony websites would halt, as it felt that their effectiveness had peaked. Instead, it urged people to boycott Sony products and gather at Sony stores on April 16th to protest against the corporation’s efforts to invade people’s privacy and stifle the free flow of information. “Where the judicial system has failed, Anonymous will persevere, by standing up for the rights of everyone, not just those who dared to challenge these corporations. GeoHot’s belief was in the freedom of information dissemination. We will stand with him.”

It said that attendees should cover their faces – as long as local laws allowed it – and co-ordinate with other protesters to set up a “legal team.” This team would not take part in the protest itself, but would be in contact with a lawyer, just in case anyone got themselves arrested. The press release suggested that protestors write the number of their legal team on their arm so that they couldn’t lose it.

According to the protest’s Facebook page, around 3,400 people plan to take part in the protest, although whether they actually all will is anyone’s guess. There’s also reason to doubt whether the protest will actually be all that effective: Sony’s supposed privacy infractions are not the easiest things in the world to communicate to the layperson, and a group of people turning up in masks at an electronics store says “robbery” more than “protest.”

Source: Evil Avatar