Anonymous has accused CloudFlare of protecting pro-militant websites such as those supporting ISIS (Daesh). CloudFlare’s services help speed up website load times and defend cyber attacks. They also protect against Denial of Service Attacks by routing connections through their own networks. This technology may be stopping Anonymous from taking down certain websites. A recent report accused the startup of protecting 40 websites linked to terrorism.
The activist group had posted a message on its Twitter account which said, “Once again, @CloudFlare have been found to be providing services to pro-#IslamicState websites. Shameful. #OpISIS #Daesh #Anonymous.” In response, Matthew Prince, CloudFlare’s cofounder and CEO said that Anonymous’ claims were just “armchair analysis” and insisted that the company would get no benefit from supporting the terror group. He told The Register, “I'd suggest this was armchair analysis by kids – it's hard to take seriously. Anonymous uses us for some of its sites, despite pressure from some quarters for us to take Anonymous sites offline.” He also said that they would cooperate with cops or federal authorities if they came to CloudFlare's San Francisco Office. He suggested that he would rather take advice from the State Department or the US Government, instead of a faceless Twitter user.
https://twitter.com/GroupAnon/status/666330748085911556
In 2013, CloudFlare had faced similar accusation over a website linked to Al Qaeda. Prince had suggested that they were protecting free speech, and said in a blog post, “A website is speech. It is not a bomb. There is no imminent danger it creates and no provider has an affirmative obligation to monitor and make determinations about the theoretically harmful nature of speech a site may contain…” He also added, “We have never received a request to terminate the site in question from any law enforcement authority, let alone a valid order from a court.”
Last week, Anonymous had taken over an Islamic State-supporting website and replaced it with an advertisement for Viagra. They also posted a message advising the terror group to calm down. They managed to track down the website even though it was located on the dark web, which is the part of the internet not indexed by search engines. Anonymous had earlier declared war on the Islamic State after their attacks on Paris.
Source: Daily Mail