FBI Tries To Send Message With Hacker Arrests
The 14 people arrested Tuesday in a crackdown on the Anonymous hacking group are not suspected of having links to criminal gangs, terrorist networks or foreign governments. They are alleged only to have participated in attacks on PayPal's website, after that company cut off payments to WikiLeaks.
But the FBI was determined to go after them anyway.
"We want to send a message that chaos on the Internet is unacceptable," Steven Chabinsky, deputy assistant FBI director, said in an interview with NPR. "[Even if] hackers can be believed to have social causes, it's entirely unacceptable to break into websites and commit unlawful acts." That view is apparently shared by other governments as well. In addition to the U.S. arrests, one person was arrested by Scotland Yard in Britain, and the Dutch National Police arrested four individuals, also for illegal cyberactivities.
