CYBERSPACE—The anonymous pro-piracy group 4Chan this weekend propagated a series of denial-of-service attacks against a number of high-profile trade associations and anti-piracy groups in this country and abroad that succeeded in interrupting internet service for long periods of time.
The attacks were in retribution for similar DDoS attacks perpetrated by Aiplex, an Indian anti-piracy group that admitted in early September that new, more aggressive tactics were being attempted on behalf of movie industry clients, which include many Bollywood studios but also Fox STAR Studios, which is owned by 20th Century Fox. Those attacks targeted The Pirate Bay and other file-sharing sites.
Chief among this weekend’s targets were websites for Aiplex, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the U.K.’s BPI music trade group.
A 4Chan organizer boasted that Operation Payback, as it was called, was a success on many levels.
“It has proved we can actually do something as a group,” s/he wrote, “proved we can pull off successful changes in society, successful attacks on the corrupt that think THEY have power over US.”
According to TorrentFreak.com, the attack on the MPAA site was so successful that after being offline for about 18 hours the trade group had to move its site to a new IP address in order to get back up. After the MPAA and Aiplex, 4Chan set its sites on the RIAA site, which reportedly went down for a few hours.
But it appears as if the takedown tactics will only continue, with both sides going after one another in an escalating war of denial that sees no end in sight.
“For those of you that have been with us from the beginning,” wrote the 4Chan organizer, “We have had to switch IRC (Internet Relay Chat) servers due to legal notices from the RIAA, people hacking our IRC servers, and general incompetence on the part of various people. In spite of this, in spite of the RIAA thinking they can shut us down, we have continued and WE. WILL. NOT. STOP.”
It’s safe to say that not one of the groups representing content producers has any intention of surrendering anytime soon, either.
