Following calls for an investigation into the prosecution and recent suicide of internet activist, Aaron Swartz, MIT’s website is currently down. MIT’s President L. Rafael Reif today called for an investigation into the handling of the case brought against Swartz for his release of pay-walled academic papers from popular database, JSTOR.
There is a possible connection to the hacktivist organization, Anonymous. An unverified Twitter account, AnonymousIRC, tweeted this curious message:
Anonymous, however, has a history of taking credit from their main verified Twitter accounts, so their involvement is still speculative.
This is an ongoing story, we will update the post as new information becomes available.
Note: An earlier version of this post noted that DOJ.gov and W3.gov, possible redirects to official websites, were also down. In light of new evidence, the fact that they’re not redirecting may not be related to the ongoing issues with MIT’s network.