Online hacktivist group Anonymous has hit a related website — mybart.org — of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in retaliation for the San Fransisco subway’s decision to block mobile phone to check a planned protest over a fatal shooting.
Hackers — infamous for their attacks against Visa, Mastercard, Sony and The Sun — stole and posted the names of over 50,000 email subscribers of a BART website. Anonymous also posted the names, street addresses, email addresses and phone numbers of the subscribers.
BART district officials are they are trying to shut down the hacker website.
Anonymous said online that BART made a "conscious decision of ordering various cell phone companies to terminate services for the downtown area inhibiting those in the area from using cell phones — even in the case of an emergency."
"Anonymous will attempt to show those engaging in the censorship what it feels like to be silenced," said the group.
"We are Anonymous, we are your citizens, we are the people, we do not tolerate oppression from any government agency," the hackers wrote.
"BART has proved multiple times that they have no problem exploiting and abusing the people."
BART spokesman Jim Allison has defended the move to block mobile phones as it owned the infrastructure.
"We’re making preparations to try to prevent any unsafe conditions on the platform," Allison told the Mercury News.
"I’m not going to discuss any specifics, other than to say we’re preparing."
