Online mischief makers Anonymous are set to launch a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on the website of the US Chamber of Commerce later today, in retaliation for the organisation’s support for the draft PROTECT IP Act.

The ‘hacktivist’ collective announced it would launch the DDoS attack at 20:00 Eastern Standard Time.

If passed, the ‘Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property’ Act – ‘PROTECT IP’, for short – will allow US Justice Department officials to force ISPs and search engines to block access to web sites it believes to be infringing US copyright laws, and would require other companies such as advertising network providers and payment processors to cease doing business with them.

Anonymous said that the US Chamber of Commerce is being targeted for its support for the bill, which critics accuse of having disastrous implications for freedom of speech and the open exchange of information online.

The collective issued the following call to arms yesterday:

“As pioneers of this new world, it’s our duty to resist and fight those who attempt to stop us. Whether you’re a journalist or blogger, or a participant of Anonymous, or the activists on the ground who protest against these corporate thugs and oppressive regimes and risk everything for freedom of information and speech, we are all in this battle together and we have a responsibility to protect our civil liberties.

“This attack tomorrow will send yet another message to the pigs that run the state that we will not be another cog in the f****d up clock that these corporate entities attempt to preserve through their political puppets in Washington.

“This is our world now and we will fight for it. Take it or leave it.”