WikiLeaks Distances Itself from Hackers - Somewhat

WikiLeaks has tried to distance itself - somewhat - from a group of Internet attacks against perceived enemies of the group.

In recent days, government agencies and corporations have come under cyber-attack and been driven offline, including the Swedish government, Mastercard and PayPal. Swedish prosecutors are pursuing a rape investigation into WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. MasterCard and PayPalhave stopped payments to the site, which drew U.S. ire over the release of thousands of sensitive diplomatic cables. Sarah Palin, who has been critical of Assange, also has said that her personal credit card and website of her political action committee had been hacked.

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The WikiLeaks statement says that the attacks are thought to have originated from an Internet gathering known as Anonymous and that the group is not affiliated with WikiLeaks, and that there hasn't been any contact between the two groups. WikiLeaks said it was not notified of the attacks beforehand.

"We neither condemn nor applaud these attacks. We believe they are a reflection of public opinion on the actions of the targets," WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said.