Looks like we’re seeing some tangible results of virtual crimes. 14 Anonymouseurs, in nine states, have been arrested due to their suspected involvement in hacks against PayPal. Why PayPal? Oh come on, there’s always a reason with these guys. It seems that PayPal stopped doing business with Wikileaks so people who wanted to contribute to Assange & co. had to go elsewhere. This led to cyberattacks on PayPal because how dare a private company decide with whom they wish to do business.
Also, Aaron Swartz one of the first builders of the site Reddit, was arrested for downloading with the intent to share over four million academic articles from an MIT database. Over a quarter of those articles were supposed to be for paying customers only. The breach happened some time ago but the arrest just happened yesterday. Many online communities are rallying to his defense saying that MIT did not wish to press charges and that this really is parallel to checking out too many library books.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
