BY DANNY MATTESON

 

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

 

 

You're watching multisource tech news analysis from Newsy.

 

 

 

It’s been a busy week for so-called hacktivist collective Anonymous.

After reported attacks on Research in Motion and the Fullerton Police Department, the group is setting its subversive sights on San Francisco’s subway system.

 

PCWorld explains.   

 

 

 

“Hacker collective Anonymous on Sunday broke into myBART.org, a website owned by San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, releasing the personal information of thousands of users.”

 

 

 

So what did BART do to get the group’s attention? According to ABC -- it was cutting cell phone access within BART’s stations to break up a protest.

 

 

 

“The group says the hacking, as well as a protest planned for 5 p.m. tomorrow at the Civic Center Station, is in direct response to BART’s decision to switch off it underground cell network in downtown San Francisco last week. The protest BART hoped to stop never materialized and the deafening cell phone silence has sparked outrage.” 

 

 

 

In an online posting the group outlined its motivations and issued a warning -- about warnings. 

 

 

 

“We will not tolerate censorship. … Anonymous demands that this activity revolving around censorship cease and desist … We will not issue any more warnings.”

 

 

 

And some writers believe the group accomplished exactly what they set out do -- even if it was completely misguided. Gizmodo explains.

 

 

 

“...Project BARTway was a rousing success. (If you measure success in Thousands of Civilians' Personal Information Being Compromised in the Name of Free Speech.)”

 

 

 

But, fortunately for those users who data was compromised, the info obtained was only semi-sensitive. SlashGear has more.  

 

 

 

“The upside is that no financial information is stored about each BART user, so those believing themselves to be affected will not have to cancel their credit cards. However, the organization warns that members should be wary of potential phone or mail scams, since their details are potentially in the wild now.”