Honorable Mention - San Francisco
A city of breath-taking vistas, San Francisco is renowned for its international composition, Victorian and modern architecture, progressive/diverse culture, and distinct landmarks, the chief of which is the Golden Gate Bridge -- the Art Deco masterpiece. Pictured: The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

The hacking group Anonymous released the personal information of more than 2,000 Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system riders on Sunday.

The motive for the posting was BART's shutdown of mobile service Thursday night, PC World reported. BART said they feared a rider disturbance, so they shut down mobile service, including access to emergency services.

Anonymous retaliated by hacking into the User Info Database of MyBart.gov and posting it on a Web site entitled MyBart.org.

The information includes first and last names of transit riders, contact information such as email addresses and phone numbers, zip codes, and, in some cases, home addresses with apartment numbers.

MyBart.org also includes a message from Anonymous.

"Thus below we are releasing the User Info Database of MyBart.gov, to show that BART doesn't give a shit about [its] customers and riders and to show that the people will not allow you to kill us and censor us," the group wrote, referring in part to BART police force shootings over the past two years.

The hacking group defended its actions, arguing that none of the information was secured by BART's system and therefore could have been accessed by anyone.

"Any 8 year old with [an] internet connection could have done what we did to find it," the group wrote on the Web site.

"We apologize to any citizen that has his information published, but you should go to BART and ask them why your information wasn't secure with them," the group wrote. "Also do not worry, probably the only information that will be abused from this database is that of BART employees."

Hacking