FBI Executes Warrants for Pro-WikiLeaks Hackers

Five arrested in Britain, computers seized in US
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 28, 2011 7:33 AM CST
FBI Executes Warrants for Pro-WikiLeaks Hackers
The founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange faces the media after making an appearance at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in London, in this Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011 file photo.   (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, file)

In continuing efforts to crack down on WikiLeaks and its supporters, British police arrested five men in the UK yesterday, and, in the United States, the FBI executed more than 40 search warrants. "The arrests were related to recent 'distributed denial of service' (DDoS) attacks by an online group calling themselves Anonymous," said the London police in a statement. The FBI did not say who was being investigated, and no arrests were made yesterday.

In December, a number of pro-WikiLeaks hackers led a series of online attacks against the websites of companies they said were persecuting WikiLeaks, including Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal. "They're either doing this to a whole bunch of people today, or they're really far off in thinking that I'm a valuable target," said a San Francisco-area man whose computers were seized by federal agents. The FBI said there were also investigations ongoing in France, Germany, and the Netherlands, according to Reuters.

(More WikiLeaks stories.)

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