The debate over the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act may not be over, but for the moment both bills have been tabled in the US Congress. One person apparently didn"t get the memo. Today, an unknown hacker took over the Twitter account of US Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. As Computerworld.com reports, the hacker used his time on the account to release anti-SOPA and PIPA messages to Grassley"s followers.
At one point the hacker posted, "Chuck is a supporter of SOPA, PIPA and ACTA, meaning that he wants no privacy for private accounts." In fact Grassley, a Republican, posted word on his web site on Wednesday, the day of the SOPA-PIPA Internet blackouts, that he no longer supports the Senate-based PIPA bill in its current form, saying that it " .... needs more due diligence, analysis, and substantial changes."
Grassley"s Twitter account was later recovered and the false Twitter messages have now been deleted. Grassley"s password for the account has, naturally, now been changed. Another post on the Senator"s web site states that, "The incident was reported to the Senate Sergeant at Arms." We suspect this may not be the last we hear of hackers making their point against SOPA and PIPA.