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The U.S. Government and various global authorities label “Anonymous” as cyberterrorist and criminals, but others refer to the group as freedom fighters and protectors of free speech. The notorious hackers’ most recent operation, however, may change some people’s opinions of them. Anonymous has declared war on the deepest and most twisted parts of the Internet — chat sites used by paedophiles to trade images.
In a video posted on YouTube last week, Anonymous announced Operation PedoChat and released the names, email addresses and IP addresses of several hundreds of alleged site users. This isn’t the first time the hacktivist group has targeted pedophiles; last October, Anonymous took aim at Freedom Hosting and accused the company of knowingly hosting child pornography websites.
“Recently it has come to our attention that there has been a surge of websites dedicated to pedophiles for chat and picture sharing. These Pedophiles openly advocate concepts like ‘man-boy love,’ stating that 8 year old boys enjoy it and pray on their attention,” Anonymous’s statement reads. “This is not limited to boys, boards for little girls exist and operate with impunity. Child pornography is frequently traded and even innocent pictures of random children (at the beach, on a playground, in their homes) are publicly fantasized about.”
The group goes onto say that it “aims to diminish if not eradicate this plague from the Internet,” although it “recognizes this as a serious undertaking and do not expect it to be completed in a short period of time.”
Anonymous’ video announcement follows below.