Hackers vow to 'kill Facebook'

CTVNEWS

Hackers vow to 'kill Facebook' on November 5

麻豆传媒.ca Staff Published Wednesday, August 10, 2011 6:37PM EDT

In this May 15, 2011 file photo people wearing masks often used by a group that calls itself "Anonymous" take part in a rally in Madrid.

Text:

Members of a group of activist hackers known as Anonymous say they're planning to "kill Facebook" because the popular social networking site purportedly abuses the privacy of users.

In a video uploaded to YouTube, a digitized voice announces that "Operation Facebook" will take place Nov. 5 and issues an appeal to "join the cause and kill Facebook for your own privacy."

The video claims that the California-based company "has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world."

Some of the security firms work for authoritarian regimes such as those in Egypt and Syria, the voice claims.

About 1.2 million people have viewed the video on YouTube since it was uploaded on July 16.

Anonymous confirmed via Twitter on Tuesday that only some members of the group are organizing the Facebook attack, and that "does not necessarily mean that all of Anonymous agrees with it."

The loose-knit "hacktivist" collective has claimed responsibility for a growing list of high-profile cyber attacks, including on the governments of Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Turkey and on NATO. Last weekend, Anonymous said it had hacked into about 70 law enforcement websites across the United States, targeting mainly rural police forces. It claimed to have stolen 10 gigabytes worth of data, including some email addresses and credit card numbers which were subsequently posted to the Web. The co-ordinated attack was revenge for a spate of recent arrests against its members, the group said. In July, investigators in the U.S., Britain and the Netherlands arrested 21 people who were allegedly involved with an Anonymous attack on PayPal Inc., an online payment company that had refused to process donations to WikiLeaks. British authorities have also charged 19-year-old Ryan Cleary for allegedly attacking the country&apos;s Serious Organized Crime Agency and several U.K. music sites. Scotland Yard also recently arrested Jake Davis, an alleged spokesman for Anonymous who goes by the alias "Topiary," on Britain&apos;s remote Shetland Islands. With files from The Associated Press