Anonymous and DDoS attacks: I predict a riot

Is this is the new revolution? Are online protests happening on a huge scale, involving tens of thousands of volunteers? I am talking about the actions taken by Anonymous, the loose online collective and its growing army of hangers-on and coattail-riders.
Something that began on message boards such as the infamous 4chan, for the purposes of attacking the Church of Scientology, has with generous media coverage evolved into a bigger deal. Tens of thousands of volunteers are downloading tools that enable them to participate in the global assault on businesses with which they feel personally aggrieved.
The latest version of this tool includes functionality that means the user can hand of control of their weaponised computer to a central authority to direct and control the attacks.
In addition to the Low Orbit Ion Cannon, or Loic, other variants are being developed and released, including JS-Loic, a JavaScript version ;a completely rewritten version called Loic-2, which supports alternative command-and-control methods such as RSS, Twitter and Facebook; and the Hoic and Goic versions that support more sophisticated attack methods, designed for simultaneous attacks on multiple victims and a plug-in architecture...

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Rik Ferguson @'ZDNet'