Sen. Grassley’s Twitter Account Hacked by SOPA Protesters
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SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley’s Twitter account was hacked Monday by the group “Anonymous,” which is protesting the anti-piracy bills being considered in Congress.
The Senator’s account tweeted, “Dear Iowans, vote against ACTA, SOPA, and PIPA, because this man, Chuck Grassley, wants YOUR internet censored and all of that BS.”
Then a few minutes later, more hacked tweets: “And yes, I am an Anonymous follower,” his twitter account posted, “uh-oh looks like Chuck is online too.”
Grassley is a supporter of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The group Anonymous has protested the bill fiercely, targeting websites of members of Congress who have supported the bill.
Called “OpDonkeyPunch,” the group claims on their chat rooms and on Twitter they are mounting the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on members of Congress, following last week’s coordinated Internet blackout on some websites like Wikipedia against the bills.
Grassley’s office confirmed that his twitter account was hacked while the Senator, who posts tweets directly from his blackberry himself, was traveling from Iowa to Washington, D.C.
Last week Grassley reversed his support for the Senate’s anti-piracy bill, the Protect IP Act (PIPA), stating that while there needs to be a way to stem Internet piracy the Senate bill needs “substantial changes.” In light of last week’s protests and numerous senators pulling their support, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Friday delayed a vote on the bill in order to resolve the problems with the bill.
All erroneous hacked tweets have been since deleted from the Senator’s account.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio