Anonymous vows more attacks on Turkish gov't sites

One week after 32 of its members were arrested there, the hacktivist group "Anonymous" hinted at attacks on Turkish government sites due to its supposed Internet censorship. In a YouTube video posted on its blog site, Anonymous said that Turkey's government had blocked access to several sites, with Google services as the most recent victim. "We, Anonymous, will not stand by and let this go unnoticed. We will fight with the Turkish people against their government's rain of censorship... Citizens of Turkey, Anonymous now fights with you," it said. The group said the Turkish government had already blocked YouTube, Rapidshare, Fileserve, and "thousands of other websites." "These acts of censorship are inexcusable. The Internet is a platform for freedom, a place where anyone and everyone can come together, discuss topics, and share information, without the fear of government interference," it said. Earlier this month, Turkish police arrested at least 32 suspected "Anonymous" members linked to attacks that disrupted access to Turkish government websites. The 32, members of the loosely knit "Anonymous" group, were arrested in 12 cities, including Ankara and Istanbul, computer security site Sophos reported. In a blog post, Sophos noted that the arrests came days after similar arrests of "Anonymous" group suspects in Spain. Last June 10, "Anonymous" had claimed responsibility for distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on Turkish government websites, including tib.gov.tr and sgk.gov.tr. "Anonymous is protesting Internet censorship in Turkey. The Turkish government plans to implement a filter on Internet browsing on Aug. 22 under the pretense of protecting the youth from "harmful elements on the web." Critics argue that the filter will lead to wide-spread censorship," it said in an earlier blog post. — TJD, GMA News