Hackers Take Aim at San Francisco Transit

Posted on Aug 14, 2011

Flickr / Andrionni Ribo (Northern California, USA)

The hacker group Anonymous threatened to target the San Francisco Bay Area’s transit website after officials cut the system’s underground cellphone service to prevent a protest last week. The suspension echoes the Egyptian government’s blocking of cellphone and Internet services during the anti-Mubarak protests this spring.

Last week’s protest was intended to oppose a fatal shooting by BART police officers in early July. Anonymous called for an additional nonviolent demonstration to protest the suspension of service Monday night. —ARK

SFGate:

An international group of hackers threatened Saturday to wage a cyberwar against BART in retaliation for the agency’s decision to cut cell phone service to prevent a separate protest last week.

... On Thursday, BART switched off the transit system’s underground cell phone network in downtown San Francisco after it learned that individuals were planning to use mobile devices to coordinate a protest. The people were protesting a July 3 fatal shooting by BART police.

... “I am shocked that BART thinks they can use authoritarian control tactics,” [state Sen. Leland] Yee ... said in a statement Saturday. “BART’s decision was not only a gross violation of free speech rights; it was irresponsible and compromised public safety.”

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