Anonymous and Occupy Movement Launch 'Occupy the Vote'

The Anonymous collective has joined forces again with the Occupy anti-capitalist movement in the US to put pressure on politicians who support internet censorship.

The Occupy the Vote campaign under the hashtag #ourpolls aims at holding politicians accountable ahead of the 2012 election season. The announcement was issued by YourAnonNews on Twitter: "#Anonymous partners with Occupy in #OURPOLLS to hold politicians accountable in 2012 elections".

The collective expressed concerns over anti-piracy, national defence and copyright bills such as the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA), the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and the Protect IP Act (Pipa).

"We are calling on voters, activists and keyboard warriors under all banners to unite as a single force to unseat the elected representatives who threaten our essential freedoms and who were so quick to minimise our individual constitutional rights for a quick corporate profit," reads the statement.

The hacktivists list the US senators and congressmen who supported the bills and are running for re-election in 2012.

Sopa, or Stop Online Privacy Act and Pipa or Protect Intellectual Property Act were temporary withdrawn by the White House and members of the US Senate after a mass protest of hundreds of major websites in the country. Wikipedia, Wordpress and Reddit, among others, went offline to protest against the bills. Millions of web users took to social media to express their anger.

The 2012 NDAA, which passed the House of Representatives and the Senate in December and was signed into law by President Obama on New Year's Eve, is considered particularly pernicious by experts and activists. The new legislation includes authorises the armed forces to engage in civilian law enforcement and suspend constitutional rights for terror suspects captured on US soil.

"Our congressmen passed one of the greatest threats to civil liberties in the history of the United States," reads the statement. "Will we hold them accountable on election day?"