Hacking group Anonymous has said that it will kill Facebook on November 5th according to Cnet. This coincides with the British celebration of Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up the House of Parliament back in 1605.

The group’s press release states “If you are a willing hacktivist or a guy who just wants to protect the freedom of information then join the cause and kill facebook for the sake of your own privacy.” It then goes on to claim that the social media site has been selling information to governmnet agencies, as well as giving security firms access to information allowing people around the world be spied on.

It also mentions the fact that Facebook owns your information, and remains on the site even if you delete your account. Facebook have often been criticized about the way it handles user’s personal information. Facebook do have a few months to get ready for any such attack, so it remains to be seen what will happen come November although after what happened to Sony you can never say never.

Meanwhile The Telegraph is reporting that users from the home of Guy Fawkes in the UK are using Facebook less now. Usage in the country has fallen to its lowest level since 2009 dropping almost four percent. The site is still the most visited in the country with slightly over half of all visits to social networks.

Its share fell from 53.7% in June to 50.1% in July, which according to research company Experian Hitwise is a “significant loss”. YouTube continued to grow in the country with an increase of 1.8%, while Twitter increased its share by 3.5%. It will be interesting to see how Google+ compares over the coming months as the site continues to grow.

The slip by Facebook could partly be put down to the summer holidays, as the schools are off and families go on their annual vacations, or people are genuinely becoming bored of the site. Are you using Facebook less now?

These accounts were banned over the weekend, so it has not taken long for the idea of this new service – wonder if they already had plans to do so. Creating your own social network is not easy, a few of my colleagues and myself tried a few year back, the response was not that bad, but it was not that great either. Our problem was trying to model ourselves on MySpace too much – look where they are now.

According to The Telegraph one of those Google+ accounts blocked was YourAnonNews, and when it happened they had no idea that there were more affected. This is not the first time that such a thing has happened, as in the past, accounts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were also closed. However, we have to remember the reason why they were blocked, as it was due to these accounts not being registered in the correct name.

These social network services are clear when they ask users for their real names, so we could already see this coming. Maybe something good will come from this, as the Anonymous group is a tight group, although the new service will be open to all. Not sure if any people who have been affected by previous Anonymous activity will be signing up in a hurry?

The new site will be called AnonPlus, and we can already see that there is a holding page; we are not certain how long it will take these 18 developers to complete the website, but we all know how fast they can work when they set their minds to it.

On the holding page it goes on about joining a revolution, one that users will never turn their back on. One thing we do know, the security will be very tight, but at least you know you will not be governed by any sort of guidelines – well maybe one – and that is to speak up. One has to wonder if this new service will have an impact on Google+ or Facebook, as Diaspora tried and has yet to make an impact?

An article on Cnet is reporting the group has issued a 900-word statement saying that they are not in the business of stealing credit card information. They go on to say what they do is just political and hit out at what other corporations think of them.

The group had previously attacked the PSN network before but called off the action as they didn’t want to inconvenience gamers anymore, and promised to change tactics with its action against Sony. They say that if Sony conducts an “honest investigation” the group would be cleared of any involvement in the hack.

Whoever is to blame for the hack of the PlayStation Network, all the millions of PS3 owners out there will just be hoping that they don’t experience any problems with identity or credit card fraud. They will also be looking forward to getting back online and resume playing games.

Do you think Sony should be doing more?

There has been no update on the official PlayStation blog now for two days about the ongoing issues, and many people are commenting on the blog and are pretty fed up with the downtime. There has been renewed speculation that Anonymous may have had something to do with the problems. This could go down as the worst downtime the PlayStation Network has seen so far.

Many PS3 owners are annoyed that Sony has not been updating them with what’s going on, and have only said it could take a day or two without giving a more accurate time scale. We have also received many comments from frustrated gamers wanting to play online.

We have had one reader who just purchased some online content for FIFA, before PSN went down. Many are frustrated as we now have the long Easter break to enjoy, but can’t access PSN. Whether this is the work of outside groups, it is extremely frustrating for the normal gamer who just want to enjoy their PlayStation 3.

Tell us what you think of this latest outage?

Patrick Seybold from PlayStation Blog is reporting that both George Hotz and Sony Computer Entertainment America had announced the lawsuit has been settled. It was back on March 31 that an deal was agreed in principle.

Part of the agreement included Hotz accepting a permanent injunction. Both sides said they were pleased the situation had been settled quickly. General Counsel for SCEA Riley Russell said that their main aim “was to our intellectual property and our consumers”.

Hotz also commented and said he was “happy to have the litigation behind me.” The lawsuit had Sony accusing Hotz of breaking federal law by posting information online about hacking the PlayStation 3 console.

Now both sides have come to an agreement and settled the lawsuit will Anonymous end their action against Sony? Time will tell if they decide on continuing their action now the news of the settlement has been made public.

Lawrence Latif from the Inquirer is reporting that now the group is going to focus its actions on the company’s stores. This follows on from the report we gave you about Anonymous stopping their action on PSN as they didn’t want to cause problems for gamers.

The in-store protests are set to take place around the world at Sony retail outlets, but exact locations and time have obviously not been given. This kind of action will hopefully remain peaceful, but Anonymous will have a bigger chance of bringing their cause to the general public.

Whatever happens with the latest cause of action it’s not likely to be a small demo. All this started from PlayStation hacker George Hotz, who now faces legal action from Sony for his exploits. Sony has tried to stop the information he posted on the web about jail breaking the PS3.

How do you feel about Anonymous plans?

Stewart Meagher over at thinq is reporting in an article that the group has said in a statement “that targeting PSN is not a good idea”. They have decided to temporarily stop their action, as they want to find a way of not seriously affecting Sony’s customers.

The attacks on the PlayStation Network will stop today, and the group realizes that hitting owners of the PS3 is not what it wants to do. Many owners of the PS3 have been extremely angry with the problems they have been facing since the attacks started, and some were saying they had lost all sympathy with the hackers.

Anonymous have said it wants to concentrate on Sony itself, and will try not to affect all the gamers out there. The statement went on to say that if gamers were hit with problems it “was not our goal.” During the down time all Sony has said it was down to planned maintenance.

Whether you agree with Anonymous actions are not, it will be welcome news if you are a PlayStation 3 owner.

What are your feelings about Anonymous?

Peter over at The Sixth Axis has given his thoughts on the episode, and while he doesn’t condone piracy for financial benefit, he is not sure about the methods Sony is using. He goes on by saying he don’t necessarily agree with what anonymous are doing, but he can see what they believe that they are fighting against.

PlayStation 3 owners have been hit with the error code 8071053D or 80710D36 when trying to sign on to PSN. There is now a whole forum on the issue with gamers getting highly frustrated with the downtime. Many are saying that the hackers have lost any sympathy, as the downtime is affecting Joe public besides Sony.

Soon after we told you that Anonymous had warned Sony it would be targeting them, PSN and Sony websites started to have problems. Whatever you feel about the hackers case, it has been a very frustrating time for owners of the PlayStation 3.

How do you feel about the PSN downtime?