Hackers associated with the activist group Anonymous have claimed responsibility for a new set of attacks made against the US Federal Trade Commission and consumer rights websites.

Anonymous is known for hacking into governmental websites. Only a month ago, the group was responsible for taking down the government’s anti-scam website OnGuardOnline.gov to protest against the United States efforts to stop illegal online piracy of movies and music. The site was eventually taken offline until it was secure. Now the group said they would be attacking government websites to protest a global copyright treaty.

At least six websites belonging to the United States government were disrupted in the latest assault by the Anonymous organization. The US Federal Trade Commission was the primary target of the infiltration, and along with it the hacker group was able to take down sites for National Consumer Protection Week, as well as, the Consumer Protection Agency.

All of the websites were replaced with messages to the United States government and other international world leaders that they should rethink the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). If the ACTA should pass, a new series of laws could crackdown on the freedom one gains from using the Internet and impose new harsh penalties for users who engage in copyright infringement.

“If the ACTA is signed by all participating negotiating countries, the world can expect a war that [will] rain torrential hellfire down on all enemies of free speech, privacy, and internet freedom,” said Anonymous per their last posted message.

 The organization continued by adding, “There is no doubt that the ACTA is more dangerous and detrimental to our rights than the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act that asked for similar legislation). ACTA will further spread the contagion of stricter copyright enforcement worldwide, at the expense of our essential liberties and basic freedom of speech, expression, and privacy.”

In the statement, Anonymous continued to boast about the content it collected since breaching the websites. The group said it now contains a significant amount of personal data about employees such as where they live, their age, banking statements, and more. 

At this time, all of the websites that were previously hacked into, by Anonymous, are currently up and running appearing unaffected by the attacks.