City not intimidated by threats from hacker group: mayor
Posted Nov 14, 2011 06:06:18 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – Mayor Rob Ford says the city will not be intimidated by threats from a hacker group which operates under the moniker “Anonymous.”
This comes after a video, allegedly from the hacker-activist group Anonymous, was released on YouTube warning the city it would be “removed from the Internet” if it interferes with Occupy Toronto protesters.
“Well it seems next week, authorities want to put an end to the Occupy movement in Toronto. We, Anonymous, are taking that as an interruption and we will not let that happen,” said the robotic voice on a video that was uploaded on YouTube.
It is unclear if the video is authentic, or whether the group truly has plans to attempt a cyber-attack against the city’s online infrastructure.
“You have said that by next week the occupiers shall be removed, and we say by next week if you do not change your mind, you shall be removed from the Internet,” said the robotic voice.
Regardless, a statement from the mayor’s office confirmed the mayor and city manager are staying steadfast in their position that it is time for the occupation to come to a peaceful conclusion.
It’s not known what exactly is meant by this, but there has been some speculation the protesters will be asked to leave the park sometime in the near future.
Over the weekend some occupy protesters moved their tents to Queen’s Park briefly, before they were removed by police.
The group Anonymous has become increasingly associated with international hacktivism, often undertaking protests with the goal of promoting Internet freedom and freedom of speech.
Most recently, the group hacked credit-card companies that froze WikiLeaks accounts. WikiLeaks is an organization that publishes private, secret and classified information from anonymous sources.
There have been previous threats from the group, including a threat to take down the TSX which never came to light. It’s not known whether the group was truly behind that threat, or this most current threat.
The video, posted on YouTube, has since been removed.
