Statement Or Stunt: FTC Sites Hacked

It’s been reported that several websites owned by the FTC were hacked last Thursday.  Seven domains were alleged taken down, including, business.ftc.gov, consumer.gov, and consumer.ftc.gov.  This is allegedly the second attack on the FTC within a month. The alleged motivation for the attacks was to protest the FTC’s reluctance to prevent a well known search engine from changing its terms of service.  Also, the hackers’ efforts were allegedly in protest of the Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which has come under recent scrutiny for being overreaching and excessively intrusive.  So, what did this act really accomplish?  The FTC’s consumer protection-related resources were hijacked for a period of time.  Taking someone else’s property without their permission does not promote freedom of expression, which seems to be their point.