Change.org: Congress Pressures Hillary Clinton to Denounce Chinese Hackers

Ai Weiwei

​Earlier today, we told you about the Change.org petition, a viral response to the beating of a transgender woman in Maryland. Seeing the significance of this San Francisco-based social-action platform -- which was recently attacked by Chinese hackers --  the pressure is now on for U.S. officials to protect the site from future cyber attacks.

On Monday, U.S. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn) called on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to publicly condemn the ongoing attack on Change.org and ask that the Chinese government punish the perpetrators.

What are the chances of that happening, considering the Communist government imprisons its own critics?

Last week, Chinese hackers brought down Change.org after more than 90,000 people in 175 different countries endorsed the release of  artist Ai Weiwei, who remains in prison after he criticized the Chinese government.

To date, more than 120,000 people have signed the petition asking for his release, according to the site.

Hours after last week's attack, Change.org asked the FBI and the State Department for help, since both have condemned similar attacks on Google.

"I believe this attack on Change.org from outside of the United States is an attack on Americans' fundamental right to free speech and another example of the government of China 's intent to restrain human rights," DeLauro wrote to Clinton. "The American public rightly expects protection from foreign cyber attacks against digital communications."