Anonymous and LulzSec fire back at FBI in war of words

Anonymous and LulzSec issued a joint statement Wednesday, firing back at FBI director Steve Chabinsky over his comments to NPR that Tuesday's arrests of 14 hackers associated with the groups was meant to send a message that "chaos on the Internet is unacceptable." The response strikes a markedly political tone.

Posted to Pastebin, the statement accuses governments of lying to their citizens and "dismantling their freedom piece by piece," governments conspiring with corporations and wasting taxpayer money, and lobbyists having too much control over day-to-day business "and corrupt them enough so the status quo will never change."

It also goes as far as to tell Chabinsky and the FBI that those involved are not scared of arrests, and there is nothing that law enforcement can do to make the groups stop. It is the most defiant statement from these so-called "hacktivists" so far, and likely will only heighten the resolve of those responsible for the apprehension of these individuals.

"These governments and corporations are our enemy," the statement reads. "And we will continue to fight them, with all methods we have at our disposal, and that certainly includes breaking into their websites and exposing their lies."

No doubt a good portion of the group's anger comes from Chabinsky's comments that regardless of whether or not LulzSec or Anonymous are attempting to hack for the social good, "it's entirely unacceptable to break into websites and commit unlawful acts."

Hacktivists may be beginning to feel the long arm of the law as governments and their respective law enforcement agencies begin to track those responsible for the hacks down, and arrest them one by one. The arrests started in Europe in early June: Tuesday's arrests here in the US were the first in this country related with the groups' actions.

Representatives for the FBI were not immediately available for comment on LulzSec and Anonymous' response.