Anonymous Targeting More Websites

As part of their ongoing campaign against alleged moves to regulate and censor the internet, hacktivists are targeting more websites across the world.

The latest targets of Anonymous, the shadowy online hackers' group, include OnGuardOnline.gov, the US government's anti-scam website, and sites of Mexico's senate and the interior ministry.

Anonymous and some similar groups have unleashed a wave of hacking attacks in Europe and elsewhere in recent weeks to protest the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) endorsed by EU nations including the UK, Italy, Ireland, France and Spain. South Korea and the US are also among the countries who back the agreement.

The campaigners believe that the implementation of the ACTA will amount to virtual filtering of content on the internet, with government officials blocking "unacceptable" stuff from being added to cyberspace.

Protests are raging in east European counties like Poland and the Czech Republic. Several Polish government websites are among those targeted and hacked by Anonymous and similar groups. A report in the Daily Mail notes that thousands of people joined street protests against the censorship move.

In the Czech Republic, the website of a group that apparently backs the ACTA came under attack.

The ACTA primarily aims to crack down on intellectual property theft and online piracy and file-sharing.