TYLER: Anonymous' New Wikileaks-Style Service

According to a new report, the international political hacking group Anonymous wants to start a new service similar to Julian Assange's Wikileaks. The new service would reportedly expose the secrets of governments and major corporations.

The effort would be right in line with Anonymous' established penchant for carrying out attacks against the UK government, Church of Scientology, and internationally-recognized firms like Visa, MasterCard, and Sony.

Financial, Legal Troubles Sideline Assange

Anonymous' new service is important because Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been sidelined by legal problems that have, at least in part, brought his reputation into question.

Those same legal issues have also had a dramatically negative impact on Assange's finances, making it almost impossible for him to keep Wikileaks running.

A report in The Hacker News indicates that Anonymous will carry forward the idea behind Wikileaks under the name TYLER. At the moment, it's unclear whether or not the name represents something, or is an acronym.

Anonymous Service "Like Wikileaks on Steroids"

At any rate, someone identifying themselves as an Anonymous representative has said that TYLER will be "like Wikileaks on steroids."

The new secret-busting service is reportedly scheduled to exit beta testing in early November, and to have an official launch date of December 21, 2012. (Source: zdnet.com)

Like Wikileaks, TYLER will attempt to "expose corruption malfeasance and counter Internet censorship," the Anonymous representative said.

The Anonymous rep has also indicated the hacktivist group has been planning TYLER for some time.

TYLER appears to represent a total break between Assange and Anonymous.

Attempts by Assange and Wikileaks to raise money through various strategies have reportedly angered some members of Anonymous. In a statement, Anonymous declared that TYLER will allow the group to "cease" supporting Assange and Wikileaks. (Source: techhive.com)

"No longer will Anonymous risk prison to defend WikiLeaks or Julian Assange from their enemies. No longer will Anonymous risk prison to supply material for WikiLeaks disclosures. Anonymous turns it's back on WikiLeaks," the statement said.