Anonymous has reportedly launched DDoS attacks on a host of major websites after file-sharing sites Megaupload and Megavideo were taken down.

The acts of retaliation have seen hackers take-out the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America and a website belonging to the US Department of Justice.

Universal Music's website was also struck in the attacks, which Anonymous has claimed responsibility for through a series of 'official' Twitter accounts.

"justice.gov seems to be besieged by some pirate ships. Can't handle the pirates? Don't sail the proxeas," posted @AnonymousIRC.

So much for Black Wednesday

The Anonymous denial of service spree follows Thursday's news that Megaupload and Megavideo were taken down by a US government department.

The Feds have indicted seven individuals, claiming that those running the site are part of "the Mega Conspiracy, a worldwide criminal organization whose members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale."

The shutdown of the high-profile sharing sites could be in direct response to the mass online protests against the planned PIPA and SOPA anti-piracy bills being debated in the US Congress.

All of the attacked companies have been supporters of the legislation, which would give content providers the right to have websites taken down if they're suspected of copyright infringement.

Anonymous also said: "For #SOPA supporters their#SOPAblackout is today."

Google has suffered the rare indignity of falling below Wall Street expectations after announcing its earnings for Q4 2011.

Company stock dropped a whopping ten per cent in after-hours trading after reporting net revenue of $8.13 billion (£5.25bn) and $9.50 (£6.13) in earnings per share.

While those figures still put the company in a position to be envied by almost every other publicly traded entity in the world, Wall Street was expecting more.

Experts had predicted $8.40 billion in net revenue and $10.49 in earnings per share.

Spinning the positives

Although it's rare that Google misses the mark, the company is heralding it's first $10 billion+ quarter, before "traffic acquisition costs." and a 25 per cent gain on the corresponding quarter in 2010.

The company also announced that there are now 90 million registered Google+ users on planet earth, which is up from the 30 million it reported during the last earnings cool.

However, how many of those 90 million are actively using Google+ is a different matter altogether.