No, this is not a joke and yes it can be done. Anonymous, the hacktivist group, has filed a petition online on the White House website claiming that Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) shouldn’t be illegal because it is a form of protest. They claim, and it is correct in my opinion, that DDoS is the digital version of the “occupy” form of protest. It is the equivalent of users hitting the refresh button on a website repeatedly. It slows or stops the traffic to that website. For the time being there are 3500 votes and another 21500 needed for the Obama administration to gain their attention. The goal of 25000 is not very high for Anonymous and their supporters but the goal of 25000 needs to be reached by February 6. You can find the petition and vote for it on the source link.
Source: [DDoS as a legal form of protesting]