Did Anonymous just threaten Facebook?
Anonymous vs. Facebook: what happens when worlds collide?
We might find out come November 5. That鈥檚 the date when the 鈥渉acktivist鈥� collective Anonymous will wage war on the world鈥檚 largest social network, according to a video (attached below) that purports to be from Anonymous.
鈥淵our medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed,鈥� intones a robotic voice in the video, over a gray backdrop featuring the Anonymous logo. 鈥淚f you are a willing hacktivist or a guy who just wants to protect the freedom of information, then join the cause and kill Facebook for the sake of your own privacy.鈥�
Why hack Facebook? Apparently, the promised attacks are motivated by privacy concerns. The voice in the video alleges that Facebook 鈥渕ake[s] millions鈥� by selling its users out: offering personal information to government agencies 鈥渟o that they can spy on people from all around the world.鈥�
The video doesn鈥檛 substantiate these claims, and it doesn鈥檛 say what form the attacks might take. In the past, Anonymous has gained notoriety for taking websites offline through Direct Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, in which servers are overwhelmed with a flood of requests for information 鈥� but Facebook鈥檚 servers are pretty robust, and there鈥檚 no indication that that will be the case here.
The video was uploaded on July 16 to a YouTube account called 鈥淔acebookOp,鈥� and has recently begun attracting widespread attention. It鈥檚 tough to tell if the video is genuine, since Anonymous has an ephemeral structure with no single leader or spokesperson. Facebook, for its part, hasn鈥檛 made any indications that it is taking the threat seriously. The Los Angeles Times that the company declined to comment on the video or on the threat of attack come November 5.
The dated of the promised attack is significant: November 5 is Guy Fawkes Night, which commemorates the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 in which Guy Fawkes and a group of English Catholics attempted to blow up London鈥檚 House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament. Fawkes was arrested while guarding explosives beneath the building. Anonymous has adopted Fawkes as a symbol, and supporters sometimes wear masks bearing the stylized representation of Fawkes鈥檚 face, as made popular in the movie and comic book V for Vendetta.
What鈥檚 your take on the video? Is Anonymous really setting its sights on Facebook, or is this a bogus video? Let us know in the comments.
