"Anonymous" vows to "kill" Facebook

The drama queens are at it again - and this time, the target of their collective ire is none other than...Facebook?

"Your medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed," a speaker representing the hacktivist group Anonymous says in a YouTube video posted July 16 that rapidly gained wider exposure today.

Turns out that these boys are regular killjoys as their hit is timed to coincide with Guy Fawkes Day, which is celebrated in Britain to commemorate the Gunpowder Plot in which Fawkes and his fellow co-conspirators attempted unsuccessfully to blow the British House of Lords to smithereens in 1605.

But Anonymous is on a mission. In recent months, the loosely-organized group has gone after websites operated by the likes of PayPal, Master Card, Visa and the Church of Scientology.

So what was Facebook's sin to deserve such an explosive finale? To be sure, Facebook doesn't have a great record when it comes to privacy protection but Anonymous now claims that the company is guilty of "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." No official reaction yet from Facebook.

Meanwhile, here's the full text of Anonymous' bill of particulars for your entertainment:

Operation Facebook

DATE: November 5, 2011.

TARGET: https://facebook.com

Press:

Twitter : https://twitter.com/OP_Facebook

http://piratepad.net/YCPcpwrl09

Irc.Anonops.Li #OpFaceBook

Message:

Attention citizens of the world,

We wish to get your attention, hoping you heed the warnings as follows:

Your medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed. If 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.

Facebook 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 these so-called whitehat infosec firms are working for authoritarian governments, such as those of Egypt and Syria.

Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook regardless of your "privacy" settings, and deleting your account is impossible, even if you "delete" your account, all your personal info stays on Facebook and can be recovered at any time. Changing the privacy settings to make your Facebook account more "private" is also a delusion. Facebook knows more about you than your family.

You cannot hide from the reality in which you, the people of the internet, live in. Facebook is the opposite of the Antisec cause. You are not safe from them nor from any government. One day you will look back on this and realise what we have done here is right, you will thank the rulers of the internet, we are not harming you but saving you.

The riots are underway. It is not a battle over the future of privacy and publicity. It is a battle for choice and informed consent. It's unfolding because people are being raped, tickled, molested, and confused into doing things where they don't understand the consequences. Facebook keeps saying that it gives users choices, but that is completely false. It gives users the illusion of and hides the details away from them "for their own good" while they then make millions off of you. When a service is "free," it really means they're making money off of you and your information.

Think for a while and prepare for a day that will go down in history. November 5 2011, #opfacebook . Engaged.

This is our world now. We exist without nationality, without religious bias. We have the right to not be surveilled, not be stalked, and not be used for profit. We have the right to not live as slaves.

We are anonymous

We are legion

We do not forgive

We do not forget

Expect us

[peaveyd]

LOL only problem is. It never happened. They failed lol

[oldman67]

Chris R. Hughes Co-Founder offacebook attended the last Bilderberg Group meeting in Switzerland along with Jeff Bezos Founder and Ceo of Amazon, Eric Schmidt Excutive of Google, Craig J. Mundie Chief Research & Strategy Officer at Microsoft. You decide why they were invited.

[uktena]

Go for it guys. It is worthless s#1t anyway. Corrupt their database or give them a DOD 3-pass overwrite

[canada3dayer]

who the hell died and left them in charge?

[TampaBayTed]

I'm really tired of companies forcing consumers to go to their Facebook pages and enter "like" if they want coupons or to enter a sweepstakes. Companies are not individuals no matter what five jokers on the Supreme Court say. Facebook should be renamed Assbook since it has become asinine.

[jimchalmers]

ANONYMOUS has multiple targets, check out what's next:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrnbpZ9G358

[Danfastor]

Give me a break. do not forgive or do not forget how closed minded. Anonymous must be must be members of the Tea Party. If you do not agree with them your an enemy. I hope when they are caught we show more empathy. Privacy is an illusion, if you are not committing a crime why worry about what any one else knows.

[canada3dayer]

close-minded? intolerant of other opinions? "we're doing this for your own good"? must be the "liberal elite" then.

[rsmik]

w00t

[daniele7ster]

Fine by me, I'm growing bored of FB anyway!

[TheWordGuy]

Gee, it sure is swell of Anonymous to offer to be my protector against the wicked, evil folks at Facebook, but I'm a big boy now and don't need self-appointed, jumped up brats with all the moral depth of a piece of cheese and the intellectual powers of a slug to fight battles on my behalf. Unlike Anonymous, I have the fortitude to actually STOP using Facebook if I so choose - I don't recall it ever being obligatory for people to sign up. So go ahead and "shut down" Facebook for a day because here's how that will affect me... not at all! Oh, and do take a look in the mirror and repeat after me; "I am not as important as I believe I am."

[crowspook]

Thank you. Well said. Their retoric is so juvenile and anal it reminds me of a screaming two year old having a tantrum with a 45 in its hand. If they don't like Facebook DON'T USE IT....Duh.

[twallsch]

Very well said indeed. Exactly what I was thinking.