Hacktivist Group ‘Anonymous’ Claims To Stand Up For Our Civil Freedom [VIDEO]

Protestors supporting the hacktivist group Anonymous descended upon San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) subway stations Monday (August 15^th), closing four of them and delaying thousands of Bay area residents.

The move comes after 45-year-old Charles Blair Hill, a mentally ill homeless man was shot and killed by transit police July 3^rd of this year.

After an incident in 2009, where an unarmed black man was fatally killed by BART police, the department agreed to 127 policy changes. Since then, only a fraction of the changes have actually been executed.

Supporters were hoping to rally last Thursday (August 11^th) however, BART officials in attempt to thwart off protest, shut down the underground cell phone network – a move that California state Senator Leland Yee calls “a gross violation of free speech rights [as] it was irresponsible and compromised public safety. Riders need cell phone coverage to call on police and medical personnel during an emergency”. Yee is calling for the FCC to investigate the actions of BART's mobile shutdown.

Anonymous claims to be peaceful, willing to stand side-by-side anyone defending free speech, and standing up against corporate abuse worldwide.

Today's rally comes just a day after Anonymous claimed responsibility for hacking a BART website database, leaking over 2,400 of the sites 55,000 users including names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail accounts. BART says it anticipates more attacks from Anonymous.

Anonymous has previously gone to cyber war with Sony, been arrested for Paypal attacks, as well as a slew of other run-ins with entities.