Internet “hacktivist” group Anonymous has stepped up its game after declaring war on Sony yesterday, gathering information on Sony employees, its legal team, and their relatives. For those not keeping track, this is in retaliation for the “PS3 hacking” civil suits that Sony’s leveled against various individuals.
An Anonymous sub-group, Sony Recon, is gathering the personal data, starting out with group executive Robert S. Wiesenthal and CEO Howard Stringer. One member is quoted on IRC as saying, “No one found ANY info on Stringer’s kids?”
According to the group, “Sony, the judge and Sony’s lawyers are all valid targets.” Sony Recon claims it is not doing anything illegal — it’s gathering publicly available information in the hopes of finding something that may invalidate Sony’s suits against Geohot and Graf_Chokolo.
Not quite sure how going after someone’s kids is helping anybody, but then, I’m not a legal expert. Opinion is most certainly divided as to whether these guys are heroes fighting a just cause, or little more than Internet terrorists. I think I’m going to wait and see who wins before forming an opinion.
