I like the symbolism that Anon has become. Simply put Anon is the anger and frustration of millions (acted on by the few hundred) and is having real effects.
If Anon is taking down Mastercard and Visa, then perhaps our governments will start obeying their own laws instead of trying to manipulate companies into compliance. Or at the very least, our companies might actually question whether obeying the government is in their best interests.
> Simply put Anon is the anger and frustration of millions...
And the idiocy of millions, considering that one of their "bank" targets (PostFinance) isn't a bank. It is a money transfer service operated by the Swiss post office for Swiss residents only. Assange is not a Swiss resident, so they closed his account, and are returning his money to him.
> If Anon is taking down Mastercard and Visa, then perhaps our governments will start obeying their own laws instead of trying to manipulate companies into compliance. Or at the very least, our companies might actually question whether obeying the government is in their best interests.
Let's see--obey an anonymous group of DDOSers, who at most can cause you a short term outage until you add more capacity, or obey the government which has the full power of the state behind it and can actually stop your business and seize your assets...this one is a no brainer.
Just out of curiosity, can you name a time when a Government has responded positively to this kind of attack? Where a protest has defied the law and the Government has reacted by giving the protesters what they want?
Because I can't. In every example I can think of the Government has doubled down on its crack down effort. I suspect we're only months away from a bunch of these people getting arrested for cyber-terrorism.
I suppose this sort of thing can be effective if the government crack down becomes so oppressive that the general public turns on them (See the Kent State Shooting). But that's a pretty destructive way to make your point.
Interesting magazine to be writing about Anonymous. I sometimes feel that the magazine itself is a LOIC for the global banking system. It's possibly one of many publications (nodes) that publishes (DDOS) anonymous writings that seem to usually endorse the position that the world needs more debt.
Very interesting. I’m glad that you pointed out that the Economist is “anonymous”. (If you haven’t noticed, almost all Economist articles are published without a byline). It’s a quirk I’ve never been convinced that they adequately justify. One of my favorite gags is to claim that I write for the Economist? Don’t believe me? I challenge you to prove that I don’t.
How is publishing in any way analogous to a denial of service? If I purchase a copy of the Economist, it does not impair anyone else's economic activity or ability to do business with me. Your suggestion that they promote indebtedness doesn't seem very consistent with the content either.
Really? They seemed to print hand-wringing articles about how developed countries are too far in dept semi-regularly until the recent financial crisis. Example:
http://www.economist.com/node/275183
I'm surprised. I thought they organize mostly on 4chan, and then go down to IRC channels spontaneously and temporarily, and keep their identities only temporarily. Am I to understand that there are actually people who have a persistent identity? Who are "in charge"?
There was an article on New York Times online today as well. It's pretty funny to read how mainstream reporters try to explain Anonymous to their readers whose experience of the Internet begins and ends with email and Facebook. There was no mention of 4chan anywhere in the NYT article (probably for the best).
[+] [-] electromagnetic|15 years ago|reply
If Anon is taking down Mastercard and Visa, then perhaps our governments will start obeying their own laws instead of trying to manipulate companies into compliance. Or at the very least, our companies might actually question whether obeying the government is in their best interests.
[+] [-] tzs|15 years ago|reply
And the idiocy of millions, considering that one of their "bank" targets (PostFinance) isn't a bank. It is a money transfer service operated by the Swiss post office for Swiss residents only. Assange is not a Swiss resident, so they closed his account, and are returning his money to him.
> If Anon is taking down Mastercard and Visa, then perhaps our governments will start obeying their own laws instead of trying to manipulate companies into compliance. Or at the very least, our companies might actually question whether obeying the government is in their best interests.
Let's see--obey an anonymous group of DDOSers, who at most can cause you a short term outage until you add more capacity, or obey the government which has the full power of the state behind it and can actually stop your business and seize your assets...this one is a no brainer.
[+] [-] kmfrk|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TomOfTTB|15 years ago|reply
Because I can't. In every example I can think of the Government has doubled down on its crack down effort. I suspect we're only months away from a bunch of these people getting arrested for cyber-terrorism.
I suppose this sort of thing can be effective if the government crack down becomes so oppressive that the general public turns on them (See the Kent State Shooting). But that's a pretty destructive way to make your point.
[+] [-] steveklabnik|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mcantelon|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanielRibeiro|15 years ago|reply
http://twitter.com/AnonOpsNet
http://twitter.com/anonops
http://twitter.com/AnonOperation (not official, but seems to be working along: http://twitter.com/AnonOperation/status/12652603078877184)
This tweet (http://twitter.com/#!/anonops/status/12651605946015744 ) is a wary thought on how things can scalate, and how badly: if we can't have twitter account, nobody can
I just wonder if any of this will come on the panel with Tim Bray later tonight: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1981547
[+] [-] JSig|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonshea|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anigbrowl|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Symmetry|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanielRibeiro|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alanh|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] icegreentea|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] orblivion|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] count|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] URSpider94|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] known|15 years ago|reply