Anonymous Seeks Obama's Approval for DDoS Attacks

Hacktivist group Anonymous is reportedly seeking approval from the United States government for its politically-motivated hacking activities. The shadowy organization recently submitted a petition to U.S. President Barack Obama seeking his 'thumbs up' for the group's future distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

Specifically, Anonymous wants President Obama to recognize DDoS attacks as a legal form of protest.

Anonymous: Nothing Illegal About DDoS

Anonymous claims that such attacks should not be considered illegal hacking. Instead, the group believes that kind of behavior should be considered a legitimate way for people to make their opinions known to the online community.

In its petition, Anonymous draws parallels between its previous online actions and the offline activities of the Occupy movement, which took over public spaces to protest such issues as America's growing wage gap and the influence of Wall Street on U.S. politics.

"Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS), is not any form of hacking in any way," the petition reads, in part. (Source: cnet.com)

"It is the equivalent of repeatedly hitting the refresh button on a webpage. It is, in that way, no different than any 'occupy' protest. Instead of a group of people standing outside a building to occupy the area, they are having their computer occupy a website to slow (or deny) service of that particular website for a short time."

Anonymous: We're Not Going Anywhere

Anonymous should know something about DDoS attacks; it has launched quite a few such campaigns in the past.

Last month, for example, the group used DDos to target the Westboro Baptist Church, an independent religious group that recently announced plans to disrupt the funerals of people killed in the Sandy Hook, Connecticut, shooting.

Anonymous' petition can be viewed by visiting the White House's "We the People" website. (Source: whitehouse.gov)

Regardless of whether or not its petition receives Obama's approval, Anonymous is unlikely to be going anywhere. The group recently announced that it will continue its online activities in 2013.