(Photo: Slash Gear)

In a press release published to Pastebin last night, the hacktivist collective Anonymous announced its plans for the second phase of #OpAngel, an operation executed in reaction to the suicide of famed hacker Aaron Swartz.

Mr. Swartz, a champion of the open Internet, was integral to the creation of RSS and defeating SOPA/PIPA. Over the last week, Anonymous has sought to defend his memory by hacking into MIT’s website and launching an operation against the Westboro Baptist Church when they planned to protest Mr. Swartz's funeral. (WBC backed down after Anonymous threatened to hack them.)

Now, Anonymous has revealed its plans for the second phase of #OpAngel. During this phase, some Anonymous members plan to "publicly endorse" changes to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act proposed by California representative Zoe Lofgren. The changes to this Act are called "Aaron's Law," as Mr. Swartz was prosecuted under certain statutes in it.

Several Anonymous members also plan to participate in online protests leading up to live protests on January 25th. The release says that "multiple Anonymous groups" have vowed to deface or hack into websites belong to MIT and the Department of Justice, with focus on the websites of the prosecutors involved in Mr. Swartz's case.

On January 25th, Anons will congregate in Boston and Washington D.C. for live protests in an effort to combat wide-reaching laws that allow the "unfair" punishment of hackers. "It is our conclusion that dubious laws such as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act serve only to provide prosecutors with the means to selectively target and unfairly punish online activists," reads the statement.