Redhack has revealed the cellular phone numbers of more than 4,000 Turkcell personnel after the cell phone operator decided to give new numbers to ministers and deputies that were disclosed by the Turkish hacking group shortly beforehand Hurriyet Daily News reported .
"The phones of many ministers and deputies have been paralyzed after they were revealed by [us] while the 'Internet censorship' law was being debated in Parliament, leading to the postponement of the session," Redhack said via its official Twitter account late Jan. 15, explaining that Turkcell had reacted by quickly giving them new numbers and filtering the calls.
"We are warning these thieves and those GSM operators protecting them: Censorship is a crime against humanity and those who defend this crime are our targets," the leftist hacker collective said.
"We exonerate those Turkcell workers who are not involved in the incident [of quickly providing new numbers to the ministers]. Here are the numbers of the 4,164 people who work at the Turkcell call center. Are you going to change these too?" it added.
Along with ministers and deputies, the group also published the number of the son of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Bilal Erdogan, and Rasim Ozan Kutahyalı, a staunchly pro-government daily Sabah.
The draft law was put on the agenda amid an ongoing graft scandal that stirred considerable debate as it would enhance the monitoring of any Internet user's activities as well as allow officials to limit keywords more easily.
Many groups came out against the bill denouncing a "violation of privacy," despite the government claiming that the reform would bring Turkey to the "standards of developed countries."
The fresh bill could also revive the activism against authorities' grip on the Internet, as several demonstrations using the slogan "don't touch my Internet" had previously attracted thousands of protesters.