Operation Hot Pockets: 4chan, Anonymous Trying to Get Assange Back Online

Rafia Shaikh
4Chan, Anonymous Start OpHotPockets to Get Assange Back on Internet

Reports earlier in the week claimed that Ecuador's government had disconnected Julian Assange from the Internet. The government later on confirmed these reports, saying that it didn't want to be involved in interfering with the US presidential election. "Ecuador, exercising its sovereign right, has temporarily restricted access to part of its communications systems in its UK Embassy. Ecuador does not cede to pressures from other countries," it said in a statement.

Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has lived in the Ecuador's UK embassy since mid-2012 after a British court ordered his extradition to Sweden to face questioning over two charges of sexual assault.

4chan, Anonymous working to create free hotspots for Assange

However, his troubles renewed after he announced sharing leaked documents that could potentially change the results of the US election. Following Ecuador's decision to cut off Assange's internet connection, members of 4chan and Anonymous are rallying to get Assange WiFi, who is currently only getting his daily internet dose from the Canadian comedian Bobby Mair. Mair is literally reading the internet to Assange.

But, Mair is soon getting off of his duty of standing all day to "read the Internet" to Assange, as Operation HotPockets is going live. The Next Web reported earlier that Operation HotPockets involves members gathering around the embassy, in shifts, to create wireless hotspots for Assange.

https://twitter.com/0HOUR1__/status/788591352925790208

The operation goes live today, but there is no word on how many people have actually showed up so far.

For those worried, WikiLeaks is on full pace even after their founder lost the internet connectivity. The group released a fresh batch of documents following the third presidential debate last night. On Ecuador's part, the decision to cut Assange's internet appears to be symbolic as the South Amercian country wouldn't want to get the threats that US is currently sending to Russia.

The US government has formally accused Russia of hacking computers of government officials and election offices. The documents released through Wikileaks are also said to be coming from Russian hackers. The US intelligence agencies and the government have promised retaliation against Russia for trying to interfere in the election process.

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