GoDaddy's support for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in late 2011 likely didn't help its favor in the eyes of Anonymous hackers. In a written testimony to the House Judiciary Committee in November 2011, GoDaddy brushed aside any censorship concerns in favor of policing online piracy.

"Not only is there no First Amendment concern, but the notion that we should turn a blind eye to criminal conduct because other countries may take oppressive steps in response is an affront to the very fabric of this nation," the document reads. A link would be provided, but the site it links to is currently offline.

The @AnonymousOwn3r Twitter account had been silent for the past four days, and had begun tweeting again minutes before it announced the attack. In its , the account declared that it is operated by "the security leader of Anonymous," who is responsible for securing its Internet relay chat, operations and attacks.

Colin Neagle covers emerging technologies, privacy and enterprise mobility for Network World. Follow him on Twitter @ntwrkwrldneagle and keep up with the Microsoft, Cisco and Open Source community blogs. Colin's email address is cneagle@nww.com.

in Network World's Wide Area Network section.