The loose knit group of hackers that call themselves Anonymous have petitioned the White House in an effort to get distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks recognized as a legal form of protest. The hackers argue that DDoS attacks are not a form of hacking in any because it's little more than repeatedly pressing the refresh button over and over in your browser - on a much larger scale, of course.

The petition, filed on the White House's We the People website, points out that DDoS attacks are no different than any "occupy" protest. Instead of a group of people standout outside of a building to occupy the area, members are using their computers to "occupy" a website to slow it down or deny service to others for a short period of time.

Furthermore, the petition demands that anyone who has been arrested for DDoS attacks be immediately released and such deeds should be removed from their criminal record. One has to wonder, however, whether or not this is even a serious attempt from Anonymous or just the latest prank to spring up on the We the People site.

As The Register notes, the site has become a playground for pranksters in recent time. One recent petition asked that a real-life Death Star be built while another aimed to remake the American justice system in the image of Judge Dredd.

Real or not, the petition will need at least 25,000 signatures by February 6 to be considered by the Obama administration. As of writing, it has just 1,108.