Japanese Proverb
The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.
More than a dozen people were arrested in early morning raids Tuesday in what was described as a major legal offensive against the Anonymous hacker collective, it was widely reported. The arrests of at least 14 individuals coincided with raids in New York, California, New Jersey, and Florida, the reports said, citing unnamed …
... and their defense, "What would Rupert say?"
"Officer, I was misinformed, I trusted my 4-year-old brother when he said I should volunteer my unused computer CPU cycles to his class project - I had no idea that there was a hacker bot running on my computer.
Can I go now?"
...like, "what was his name again?" - "AaaaaRGH!" - "Oh, you should be more careful - did you hurt yourself? Now, what was that name again?" - "XenuAAAaaargh!" - "No, try again. We've got all day, you know."
"We've spoken to your college - they say you're suspended until we finish with you. That means no graduation this year, or maybe ever. Your girlfriend has already told us that she thought you were weird all along. Your parents, I hear, are planning another kid. Now, I'm gonna pretend that you told me a name already, but I didn't hear it right. D'you wanna play?" - "NoAAAaaargh!"
I hope they really don't know each other's names, but I suspect, human nature being what it is, that too many of them do, to make for the perfect anonymous system.
Good luck, guys.
But don't fucking do torture. One, it's not necessary - most of these middle class young adults know that they're over their head, so any competent FBI agent could get plea-bargains out of them without lifting a finger. Secondly, using physical violence is still likely to get the charges thrown out of court in most first world jurisdictions. And thirdly, do you really want the reincarnation of Saddam's Mukhabarat operating in the US of A?
I despise this sort of physical violence. I knew people who were beaten up by the Queensland Police during the Joh Bjelke-Petersen era, just for protesting against the government. Batons in public; phone books in private. Not because the protestors did much, but in the coppers' minds they were just fucking dirty hippies. Were they wrong to be protesting? Said government turned out to be corrupt, with the Police Commissioner ex-Sir Terry Lewis in particular being jailed for 10 1/2 years. They weren't wrong at all.
BTW - what's causing all this AaaaaRGHs" in your little dream scenario? Slaps? Street Directories? Hammers? Pliers? Electric Shocks? Or did you think it would be cool to dabble in some masturbatory onomatopoeia without imagining the nasty things people can do to other people? That would be bloody typical.
These are the first of many. Lay in popcorn, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Badger beer, Poachers ales, Jamesons, Bushmills or whatever hits the spot. There will be trails of tears across the world as people try to convince juries that they honestly didn't know what was happening. That includes the core members.
(Pardon the bad rendition of the french)
There are I presume two sorts involved in these actions: the dedicated and those who do it for a bit of a laugh.
Whether the ones picked up by the authorities are in the first group or the second, it will blunt the enthusiasm of those who might participate in the future.
Welcome to the united states of america.
The country is broke. The borders are open. ICE is enforcing piracy laws. The FBI/ATF are running guns to Mexico.
The same FBI is raiding the homes of college students for going after corporate america.
Isn't it great to be an american? Hang that flag high.
This is what our grandparents fought and died for. This is what your tax dollars go for. Protecting corporate america.
For fear of becoming another Gary Mckinnon and being sent on a US holiday?
No, probably blabbing away because he "thought it was a laugh to hack", does no harm, just like bank robbery and tax fraud are "victimless crimes"
March, Protest and even piss off the "corporate" people, but once you break the law you turn from Activist to Criminal, no defence can change that, as NOtW editors are finding out
First let me start once again by saying, "Lulz @ script kiddies".
In your quest to be l337 (fame and recognition from random anonymous strangers, for those not in the know AKA those who have active social lives and see Lulzsecs/Anon's activities as pointless) you failed to realize the consequences of your actions. I can sympathise somewhat with the under 18 crowd because you don't know any better and some of those up to 25 years old cuz you're still shedding the stupidity of youth.. But 30 + years old? 46?!?!?
Let's take a walk down memory lane. The BBS era, I was 16. There were several underground l337 boards, I was on a few. Some were active carder boards wherein if you agreed to receive kit at your house you would get to keep 1 or 2 items (new PC etc.). Tempting as it was there were always rumours on the message boards (never covered by mainstream media) about the FBI waiting and subsequently seizing all the loot, whatever other computers & electronics were in the house and arrest of recepient.
No thanks, I didn't need that in my life, so there went my chance to be super l337. Point is even then with all the illegal activity on the primitive version of the internet I was still aware of the consequences and chose to be a l@m3r. Thankfully I was off to university at 19 and was too busy studying/partying/working to care about being l337 anymore.
With all the mainstream coverage of people getting caught why do people persist? Even if YOU don't get caught one of your 'associates' who is will spill the beans and cooperate with the authorities to avoid stiff sentence. The next time you see 'toxic' in a chatroom it may be someone else looking over toxic's shoulders as you both chat.
The worst part for the members of Lulzsec/Anon have is they have no life and getting caught means having all their PC and electronics seized, meaning no more internet meaning the end of their life!