32 Suspected “Anonymous” Members Arrested in Turkey

The Turkish government has arrested 32 hackers for their suspected involvement in a series of recent attacks against government sites launched by the online activist group Anonymous. Earlier this month, Anonymous responded to government plans to implement an Internet filtering system by issuing a warning to the Turkish government and promising retaliatory action. Anonymous has since kept that promise, orchestrating a series of DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks on government sites through the use of a coordinated network of LOICs (low orbit ion canons).

Anonymous also launched a similar cyber attack on the Spanish police website after three Anonymous members were detained for their activities in the group.

Some Turkish hackers have threatened retaliatory attacks on Anonymous. According to PC World, these groups may have been responsible for shutting down the Anonymous news site temporarily this past Thursday. Anonymous has not responded to e-mail requests for comment on the incident.

The filtering system put forward by the Turkish government, once in place, would give users in Turkey four options for Internet filtration: domestic, family, children, and standard. The Turkish government has said that no sites would be blocked under the “standard” setting, but this claim has been met with suspicion.