Anonymous calls for PayPal boycott

Jul 27, 2011, 22:53 GMT

San Francisco - Anonymous, the hacking group notorious for targeting government and corporate website, called Wednesday on its supporters to boycott online payments company PayPal.

The call came less than a week after US authorities arrested 14 alleged Anonymous activists in connection with a December attack on Paypal's website.

Anonymous members are charged with organizing that attack in retaliation for Paypal cutting its ties with whistle-blower website Wikileaks. But its new campaign relies more on the old-fashioned boycott rather than new-fangled cyber-attacks.

'We encourage anyone using PayPal to immediately close their accounts and consider an alternative. The first step to being truly free is not putting one's trust into a company that freezes accounts when it feels like, or when it is pressured by the US government,' anonymous said in an online communique.

'Join us in our latest operation against PayPal - tweet pictures of your account closure ... spread the word.'

While some individuals have tweeted their compliance with the Anonymous call, a spokesperson for PayPal said the company had not experienced any unusual account closure activity, according to The Wall Street Journal.