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Anonymous Belgium unmasked as commercial law firm

12:22 13/06/2013

The group calling itself Anonymous Belgium, which had threatened to “liberate the internet” by launching an attack on Belgian cyberspace on June 15 has revealed its true identity: a Brussels-based commercial law firm specialising in IT law and intellectual property. "We are not hackers. We only want to raise awareness of internet censorship," it announced.  “We're not after fame. We're after freedom in a censored digital age. After four years of censorship on the Belgian internet, we thought it was time for a change. We took a radical approach, in order to finally put the matter on the public, legal and political agenda,” the group explained on its website.” The law firm behind the ‘group’, Mylex Brussels  said in a statement: "We believe that internet access should always be free. Today the Belgian government blocks up to more than 80 websites. This goes against the principle of open government and is not in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure. (…) Who makes the rules? Can anyone who feels aggrieved ask to have a website blocked? How is our democracy different from censorship-happy state?" The law firm defends its use of the Anonymous alias, saying "if we had used our own office name, the impact would not have been the same."

Written by The Bulletin