Hackers Vow to Kill Facebook
Members of a shadowy collective known for its politically motivated Web hacks and attacks are targeting Facebook for what they claim to be the social-networking giant's misuse of personal information.
"Your medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed," the speaker says in a YouTube video, which was posted July 16 but started circulating widely this week.
Using a voice modulator to disguise his (or her) voice, the speaker, who claims to represent the group known as "Anonymous", invites viewers to "join the cause and kill Facebook for the sake of your own privacy."
"Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook regardless of your privacy settings, and deleting your account is impossible," the speaker says. "Even if you delete your account, all your information stays on Facebook and can be recovered at any time."
The video also makes the unsubstantiated claim that Facebook has been selling user information to government agencies and giving it to security firms so they can spy on people.
A Facebook spokesman declined comment, but the Facebook website has repeatedly said it doesn't sell information and doesn't share user information with any third parties that the user hasn't approved.
The announced date for the "operation," November 5, happens to be Guy Fawkes Day, which commemorates the infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when Fawkes and others tried to bomb the British House of Lords.
This group is known for launching denial-of-service attacks. In this tactic, thousands of people access a website repeatedly, which slows it to a crawl and even shuts it down if its servers can't handle the traffic.
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