The hacktivist group “Anonymous” has announced it will take down Facebook and Zynga (leading Social Gaming giant, provider of Facebook games such as “FarmVille” and “Words With Friends”) on Guy Fawkes Night, Today, Monday 5th of November. That is, unless Zynga agrees to cancel plans to lay-off 1,000 employees in a outsourcing move to India and stops their “‘outrageous treatment of their employees”.
Facebook and Zynga are very closely affiliated. Quite like Facebook in the Social Network world, Zynga leads the way in the Social-Gaming market, with hugely popular games including FarmVille, Mafia Wars and Words With Friends, which all use Facebook in some way shape or form. This close connection has meant that Zynga is now responsible for a huge 14% of Facebook’s total revenue.
The symbolic nature of choosing Guy Fawkes Night is evident for Anonymous. Guy Fawkes (of course famous for plotting to blow up Parliament in 1605) has become somewhat of an icon for the hacktivist group, adopting the Guy Fawkes masks used in the popular film & illustrated novel “V for Vendetta” as a trademark for their hacking handy-work.
So, is this the day that Facebook falls? Well, it’s worth noting that Anonymous threatened to close down Facebook on 5th November last year as well, although without success. But will they succeed this year?
Source: Time News, Wired, Tech Journal, Daily Mail
