Did DOJ Provoke Anonymous On Purpose?
from the conspiracy-theory-time dept
I've been on record for a while now that I think the strategy of doing DDoS attacks on websites that people don't like is a bad idea, that will lead to backlash. Though, I will admit that I underestimated their effectiveness in some cases. Indeed, even as the Anonymous DDoS attacks on various targets in response to the Megaupload takedown is getting a ton of attention, I'm still convinced it's a bad idea long-term. I should be clear that I understand the response. Also, the response is not a surprise. If we've learned anything over the last few months, it's that large segments of the internet are exceptionally frustrated with attempts to censor speech online -- and when you get that many people frustrated, and then poke them in the eye with a big stick, it's not a surprise that they might react.Over at News.com, Molly Wood is suggesting that DOJ did this all on purpose -- including the timing of the release -- in order to provoke just such a response. This serves multiple purposes for the government. It gives them the chance to make the (obviously bogus and laughable) argument that the wider protests were done by this same group. But, it also gives DOJ and law enforcement the chance to go even further, and use this as an excuse to crack down online and put people in jail. It also gives a (again, bogus) reason to pass far-reaching cybersecurity legislation. The end result could be a lot worse.
Supporters of these actions may claim that it's the only way to be heard. But I'm not convinced that's true. What happened Wednesday showed that there are ways to be heard without resorting to tactics that can be described as vandalism. I don't think it's fair to call it vandalism -- as I've said that I believe that such actions are a lot more like a digital sit-in. But I'm just not sure it's productive. I'm sure it feels good to vent... but the end result may not be productive at all.
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Filed Under: anonymous, attacks, backlash, crackdown, ddos, doj, pipa, sopa, takedowns
Companies: megaupload
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Wait...maybe the third scenario should be outlawed, but only because it's Beiber...
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Re: Annoymymouse
Anybody stop to think that "Anonymous" is really just a creation of the government itself?
This has been their M.O. for years: Create Problem / Provide Solution. Black Ops never felt sooooooo good.
CBMOB
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Sometimes the most clever thing you can do is to appear inept. Try it next time your wife asks you to do the dishes.
CBMOB
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Black Flags
So, if history is any kind of proof--yes, the DOJ provoked this response on purpose in order to start a war.
For historical perspective, see 'Bay of Tonkin incident', sinking of the Lusitania, etc, etc, ad nauseaum. There's really a huge list of just such 'inciting' incidents.
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(a) the incorrect response and (b) "cybersecurity" legislation
(b) Of course, all "cybersecurity" legislation is worthless theater, conducted at the behest of lobbyists for the firms that are lined up like pigs at the trough for federal/state/local dollars. You don't secure systems and networks through legislation, any more than you do via certifications, checklists, or any other nonsense. You secure them by hard work, including designing security in from the beginning and not compromising it merely because it's inconvenient.
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Re: (a) the incorrect response and (b) "cybersecurity" legislation
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Re: Re: Re: (a) the incorrect response and (b) "cybersecurity" legislation
Peace
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What would truly be interesting is if no one voted. At all. As in, no one across the country went to the ballots on election day. At all. How, then, would the facade of democracy continue to be pushed if we the people refuse to participate? The facade would drop, and the process would halt, exposing the corruption within it for all to see.
Or Anonymous could do more than simply take down websites. Why do they stop with that, when they could do so much more? Deprive these companies of their money by penetrating their accounts, and they would be crippled indefinitely. Without money, they have no power. Expose their hidden files and communications for everyone to see, hack into the broadcast transmissions so that the signal by Anonymous in which they explain the truth of what's going on overrides that of all regular channels and thus, the large majority of people would be unavoidably exposed to it.
In the end, conventional tactics will only take us so far. Invertebrate politicians cannot be trusted to support our goals over the long term. If the masses can be convinced, however, and convinced fully, of what's really happening, they will rise up. We must stir the sleeping giant that is our populace beyond what has already been done, until what has happened with the protests appears as nothing compared to what is to come.
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Oops, American Idol is starting. Gotta go!
(This is an example of why the sheeple will never rise up)
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even if you where to round up every willing, intelligent person with more depth than a sheet of paper (of which i would be one) and have them all united, we would still be outnumbered a million to one by sheeple and idiots
the only way to win is become a better shepard than the current ones in power, maybe i should just try and become the next hitler, it seems to be the only way to get people to do anything
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i'd join in on that, i don't even know how to hack but i am very willing to learn how for such a cause
but the problem is i would be one of the handful willing to do so, it is nearly impossible to get people to rise, unite for a cause or do just about anything
maybe if you posted it on 4chan maybe some of the bored trolls might try to do it, but that's not a guarantee either
there is no greater deterrent of effort and breeder of content indifference than knowing the cause you seek requires more than you to accomplish, yet nobody will help or care, all stuck in their own little mires of effort-devoid, content indifference
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The problem is always building that initial momentum. I am hopeful these recent protests are the start of just that though.
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Here's where you're wrong Adam. The target is not the 8 million, but the representatives who caved and the constituents who sat by. The latter, when faced with a bill that is about cyber-terrorism will counteract the force of the 8 million. It also changes the debate from free speech to (cyber) terrorism. The opponents of a anti cyber-terrorism debate will be depicted as radicals (pointing at the Anonymous DDoS attacks and those cheering them on) or the patchouli oil wearing malcontents of Occupy Wall Street. The juvenile delinquents of Anonymous got played and in a breathtaking instant allowed the entire issue to be reframed.
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Keep in mind that while Martin Luther King always preached peace, he also reminded the government that if they wouldn't deal with him, they would have to deal with others like Malcolm X that might use other tactics that could include violence.
Cops bust heads or use pepper spray, sooner or later groups within the protester ranks will use violence also.
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Response to: Anonymous Coward on Jan 20th, 2012 @ 7:33am
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Of course you shouldn't. It now appears that the "government studies" they so frequently reference...never existed. See this over at ITworld.
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Then again, we know nothing about anonymous. Anonymous could be some puppet group created by the government to pull off these stunts that undermine the anti-SOPA cause (among other things, including giving Microsoft's biggest adversary in the console space a bad name).
And now, I gotta put my tin-foil hat down, because it is already starting to catch fire.
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So then what???
Boycotting doesn't work--the numbers simply get tweaked to show anyone not buying the latest Big Media crap is simply pirating it.
Voting? [twenty minutes of laughter later] Enough...please ....heh-heh-hee-hahahahah my ...hee-hee....sides can't take it any...more...
So what then? What can be done that will produce results, not 'noble failures' because clearly what we have been doing isn't working.
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Do it anyways. They can't survive long if no one pays them. They will go down kicking and screaming and will try to take us with them, but all we have to do is survive. If we can do that, the world will be a better place.
Do not buy, do not download, do not promote the beast. #StarveTheBeast
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Re: Re: So then what???
This will be rough on the creative people who are unfortunately indentured to Big Content, but that's too bad. Like everyone else, they need to pick a side to be on, and if they choose our side, I have no doubt we'll help them out by buying their work. But anybody who sides with Big Content is choosing to share their fate.
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Boycotting
Their sales drop = lost sales to piracy
They have no intention of figuring things out. They are blaming consumers instead. They want to legislate our consumption of media so it's them and nothing else.
Don't you find it strange that MegaUpload really did have a legit business plan and their CEO was replaced a month ago to someone who had support for it?
The "takeover" deserved a response that obviously wasn't going to happen in the news. I can understand why Anon chose the sites they did but for all their work, it made little difference to the public.
Without the public, there is no debate. I wish Anon had chosen their targets better and had put that much work into something that was more demonstrative to the average person.
And it may have been that this was what Anon could do, which was better than nothing.
I just wished the average person had a better understanding of the MegaUpload "takeover" because I doubt they'd agree to the U.S. setting and enforcing laws for the entire world.
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Re: Boycotting
Not if no one goes to the theater AND there is no leaked copy to copy.
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Re: Re: Re: So then what???
There are millions of books in the libraries (and online and used bookstores), there are hundreds of thousands of free movies online (and in used video stores), there is a ridiculous amount of free music online (and in used record/CD shops). One could spend a lifetime exploring all of this and STILL not even get through a fraction of it. There's simply no need to buy the crap being produced by Big Content. Ever.
Go see an independent film. Go see a band, and buy their CD right there -- so that 100% of the money goes into their pockets and 0% goes to Big Content. Buy an author's books directly from them, heck, make sure you tell all these people that you're buying from them to support their work and that you'll keep doing it as long as they stay away from Big Content.
We can win this by voting with our wallets. We just need the will to make it happen.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: So then what???
Hollywood? It's rare there's something that isn't an over done stereo typed formula. Very rare. There's very good independent productions - some streaming TV shows. Vodo is one company I know of. There's tons of others.
I cut the cable and been off big labels for some time now. I love watcing reactions from people who had no idea that good stuff was out there - and it does make Hollywood seem bland.
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Re: Re: So then what???
For example, one of the things that helped drive MySpace in the early days was as a promotional tool for independent artists and labels (in fact I do believe Adele was discovered this way. Then big content moved in and plastered their content all over the site burying the independent stuff way in the back where you really had to dig to find it (in fact I think this media glut was one of the contributing factor in the decline of MySpace's relevance).
The same went for eMusic. It used to be a site devoted exclusively to independent labels and artists (although some of the labels were still RIAA members). I was buying about 8-10 albums a month from them for a few years, until I had to give up my membership for a while for financial reasons (and I hated having to give up my grandfather status). By the time I was ready to go back, the major labels had signed their way into the service, and now when I surf everything is plastered with major label crap and I have to go digging to find independent music.
So I think the file sharing sites should do this in reverse. Clearly they aren't going to be able to eliminate big content from their services, but they should set things up so the that independent material is featured front and center and do their best to bury Big Content as deep as they can.
After all, if the idea is to make Big Content irrelevant, we shouldn't be making content so convenient for them should we? If the really want it so bad, make them work for it. In contrast, making it much more convenient and accessible for people to find alternatives to the big content industries also helps accelerate their demise.
Of course the idea is still a very rough work in progress, but we've been working to spread the idea so others can come up with ways to build upon it.
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However, taking a lot of actions, over a long period of time, is very effective. The major corrections and improvements that we have had before have never been fast or easy. Name it -- abolition of slavery, voting rights, reproductive rights (including the right to use birth control itself), and so forth were all the result of a war fought over the long haul -- generations. You must never stop fighting or stop remaining vigilant, even when it all seems pointless.
It is not today we're fighting for, really. It's not even tomorrow. It's more like next week.
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Addiction
Anonymous when it comes to DDoS is like a smoker trying to give up knowing it is bad for them. For weeks if not months they have been a good little activist group but then comes along that one really bad day when 4% of the Internet just got deleted. Like the smoker it becomes all "f**k it, I need this, it has to be done" or in Anonymous's case "someone has to pay"
Fine one bad day and they deserve our understanding with no real harm done. They even had their anger covered on prime time news and many web stories so they certainly had their grievances heard.
At the end of the day though the point still stand that DDoS is bad for Anonymous and to give it up they have to do. Had they gone their usual route they would so be targeting New Zealand right now but I doubt that will happen.
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It will never make it that far. One of the more minor co-defendants will cut a deal and exchange for testimony that will sink the rest. I just saw this movie, it was called "Ninjavideo" I think.
What people should really worry about is what they had stashed in their cyberlockers. Now the government has the keys. So anyone with kiddie porn, libraries of infringing content, bank records from hidden offshore accounts, terrorist manuals, bomb making recipes, evidence of narcotic transactions, etc. should be shitting themselves.
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Riddle me this
Because we know the FBI & alCIAda would never practice false flag terrorism on it own people. /s
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110929/16075316140/fbi-successful-breaking-up-yet-another-i ts-own-plots-to-bomb-us.shtml
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Republicans on the whole are not beholden to Hollywood/IP. The southern and great plains states that skew heavily Republican could not give a flying flip about Hollywood's IP rights. They dont get campaign donations from that crowd anyway and they will see this as a great opportunity to peel votes off of Obama/Democrats.
Also votes DO matter in the House of Representatives. Remember they get elected every two years which means they cant just rely on the "cheating" or big turnout of a Presidential election to stay in office, plus their offices can be beseiged as is what happened to my Rep to make him come out against it. This is why the House had a much more vehemently anti-SOPA stance then the Senate/White House.
Like I said, this is a bad bad move on the Obama Administration's part PARTICULARLY if small businesses start bashing them for taking down their files AND the company even somewhat successfully fights back in court. That would be a massive blowup in the administration's face.
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Isn't resistance futile?
Anonymous got played with the megaupload's takedown, internet users have been played by the media company by using pirated p2p software that was produced BY THE BIG ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES? I feel like I've been played a total fool and I'm not happy. But there really isn't much better places to go in the world either. Other places are just as bad.
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they'll pass the shit either way, it's a war to the knife, Anon just figured that out a little earlier than some of us.
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Does it always work? No, there's times where you get lots of sympathetic attention but still fail (such as the massive protests/civil disobedience to Scott Walker's Union Busting bill in Wisconsin).
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Anonymous wasting time
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However I somewhat do agree with you Mike that Anonymous' DDOS responses are at least ineffectual. Is anyone going to care that witehouse.gov happens to go offline for a few hours? What does that really accomplish?
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Not a chance this was goading
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I agree, so then what?
The media reports on the Megaupload arrests verbatim from the press release for the DOJ and the media (controlled by the MPAA et al) never even question the allegations.
Megaupload is tried and convicted in the media already the actual legal process will be no more than a formality. The feds a have a very high conviction rate and so they will most likely win their case in court.
So now what?
What a mess.
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http://www.gnupg.org/
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RE
Have two choices,
1 boycott big content
2 Armed revolution against the Government
( the third Option is just roll over and take it up the ass from Both)
My powder is Dry but it's a boycott I'll try,
if that fails, it's Politicians that will go up against the rails
this has Only just begun, but I will always have my gun
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Wow that was terrible
Otherwise, you are just a terrible writer. You've written 3 sentences of substance and then 17 others which are disclaimers. This is like reading the manual on a toaster.
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The result was
Lip service.
What laws will be passed after the next election?
We sure have a lot of people in jail in our free countries.
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Doesn't matter
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Until we can provide for ourselves and each other, (whether it be energy, communications, etc.), they will always keep Us bound. And they will eventually place whatever limitations and restrictions on the things we "purchase" and "own". If it were up to them, they would charge us for every second we live, and every single breath we take! (Or we will be able to buy a YEAR'S worth of breaths for a 30% discount- ***if we agree to a minimum 5-year contract...lol)
We should spend less time flexing our muscles, and more time using them.
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A thought
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Uh...
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