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Tech Report: Anonymous Retaliates For DOJ Shutdown Of File Sharing Site

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— Minutes after the U.S. Department of Justice shutdown the file sharing website, Megaupload.com on Thursday, hacktivist group Anonymous got to work on a take downs of their own.

KCBS' Technology Analyst Larry Magid said the hacker group did denial of service attacks against the Justice Department.

Magid said a number of recording and motion picture industry sites had reported what he called "revenge set of attacks".

KCBS' Technology Analyst Reports:

"It's important to point out that when you flood their servers with so many requests for information that it blocks any legitimate access, I like to think of it as a cyber version of a sit-in."

Magid added that it doesn't do any permanent damage nor does it pilfer any data, but that the sites are generally useless.

Megaupload.com was an upload-download file sharing service where people were allegedly infringed on various copyright-protected materials.

"Ironically this is happening one day after that big day of web protest," Magid said referring to the SOPA/ PIPA protests in which several sites like Wikipedia went dark for the day.

Kim Schmitz
This TV grab shows Internet guru and founder of Megaupload.com, Kim Schmitz, also known as 'Kim Dotcom', escorted by a policeman as he appears in an Auckland district court in New Zealand on January 20, 2012. Schmitz is alleged by US authorities to be involved in one of the largest cases of copyright theft ever. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

"This is the government using legal tools that they already have. You don't need these new laws to shutdown sites, if you can actually physically get to their offices and arrest their people or get to their servers." That's exactly what happened here Magid said.

Seven people were arrested in connection with the Megaupload case. The government has claimed they have more than $500 million in illegal downloads. It is now the Department of Justice's duty to make a case against the website.

"It's interesting that they were able to pull off these arrests without SOPA or PIPA, two bills that are pending, but haven't been enacted yet," Magid concluded.

You can hear Larry Magid's Tech Report Monday through Friday at 3:50pm on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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