Anonymous Attacks US Government

[Azaraxzealot]

It's official.

Anonymous has declared war on America.

i know. to quote myself when gene simmons declared war on them

Finally! Someone's sticking up to these internet terrorists!

if attacking the government doesnt scream "terrorism" to you, i don't know what does.

 

[Danpascooch]

Well I don't particularly support what they're fighting for, but to their credit, at least Anonymous gets shit done. How many other protest groups can say the same?

I actually do at least partly support this particular viewpoint, but even if I didn't, you're right, it's cool to see a protest group that cares enough to actually do something.

 

[La Barata]

Cool, now let's see it do some real damage. DDoS attacks are one thing, but if they can actually make some good things happen to the Government I'm all for it. It would be nice to actually have rights again.

Rights? In America? Surely you jest. (non sarcastic, seriously)

 

[Velocirapture07]

What a bunch of radical idiots. How can one be pro-piracy? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I don't understand these idiots at all. Why don't they do something productive with their time like figure out a mature way to voice their opinions that doesn't involve childish protests and hacking?

I have no respect for these angsty and unthinking teenagers spreading their retarded anarchist like bullshit. And don't give me that "nothing changes without revolution" crap. The worst excesses and atrocities have been committed in the name of revolution. These are just stupid kids with too much time. Maybe they'll declare war on me now! Oh, God I'm shaking in my boots, bunch of delinquents.

 

[Popido]

Finally! Someone's sticking up to these internet terrorists!

if attacking the government doesnt scream "terrorism" to you, i don't know what does.

Pff...

Terrorist are laaame. We should call them The Opposing Force. It would go well with all that "Hackers" and "Pirates" stuff.

 

[Jonci]

Good luck people of Anon. It will be very hard to be a nuisance from federal prison.

 

[A Pious Cultist]

Government is a necessary evil, and while it is truly necessary, we, and it, need to remember that it is evil. Targeting government institutions with anything, especially when you're trying to protest government actions, is always a good idea.

How very, very, very misanthropic of you.

Denial of Service attacks are dickmoves and won't accomplish anything whatsoever. Don't encourage them.

 

[Dastardly]

Anonymous Attacks US Government

The internet group Anonymous has struck a blow against the very heart of copyright law in America.

Taking on loud-mouthed rock stars like Gene Simmons [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104513-Gene-Simmons-Declares-War-on-Anonymous] is one thing, but yesterday Anonymous had bigger fish to fry. As part of two months long "Operation Payback," Anonymous attacked the US Copyright Office website [http://copyright.gov/] with a denial of service attack, successfully taking it down for around half an hour.

Anonymous targeted the site because it is "Perpetuating the system that is allowing the exploitative usage of copyright and intellectual property." The US Copyright Office not only records details about copyrights, it also provides expert advice to Congress on copyright issues, as well as aiding with drafting new legislation. With that resume, it's not hard to see why the strongly pro-piracy Anonymous might consider the Copyright Office a particularly tempting target.

The websites of the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association of America and the British Phonographic Industry, amongst others, have also been attacked as part of Operation Payback, with the RIAA site reportedly taken down for three straight days last week. Anonymous says it will keep up the attacks until it "stops being angry" and has organized actual physical demonstrations to take place tomorrow in various cities around the world.

Source: Torrentfreak [http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-ddos-takes-down-the-united-states-copyright-office-101103/] via GamePolitics [http://www.gamepolitics.com/2010/11/04/anonymous-takes-down-us-copyright-office]


Permalink

So now they're using their whole "defending freedom" bullshit as an excuse to interfere with democratic process? Whether or not the topic of this "revolt" is right, the method is abysmal. It's a bully-minority imposing selfish beliefs of others, masquerading as a force for good.

I really would like to see them cross this particular line. They'll likely be met with an "equal but opposite" force of shadowy figures known as "Invisible." And thanks to Invisible, you'll start seeing members of Anonymous disappear bit by bit. It's one thing to attack private websites, but if you start showing you're willing to go after the government, be prepared for them to go all counter-revolution on your ass.

I'm sick to death of Anonymous. Their methods are just bully tactics. Their reasoning is pathetically illogical. They're just immature kids who don't like rules, they've learned how to put tacks in the teacher's chair, and they've convinced themselves they're so much smarter simply because the principal hasn't taken enough interest to squash them down yet. Well, they're rapidly moving toward pissing off the wrong people--the sort of people that know all of their tricks, but have the kind of training, experience, and funding to really make life hell.

The best part about a "war" like that, if and when it happens, is the government's guys won't pull little publicity stunts. They'll get the job done quietly, so we won't have to read all about it the whole damned time.

 

[Gene O]

I'm not a hacker myself so I don't really know, but isn't a denial of service attack a less ballsy version of leaving a flaming bag of poo on a doorstep? In both cases it's annoying and the reason people do this is so they can stay anonymous (you know, so they don't get beat up for being little brats.)

They can dress up their actions as much as they want with speeches about rights but if they want to impress anyone outside of their own circle they need to a find course of action that doesn't scream 'bored and spoiled thirteen year old.'

 

[Timbydude]

While I guess I respect a group that can actually take action instead of just talking, this particular cause is unfounded. The copyright system is necessary; people can't just have everything for free.

In terms of "exploitation", I don't really believe there has been any. After all, copyrights wear off after a while anyway.

 

[Whichi]

It's official.

Anonymous has declared war on America.

"Eurofags are trolling USfags"

That's the Idea I was getting when I read that headliner. But it seems to me that Anonymous is one for taking down the biggest influential target to leave mass chaos. It is me or does anon reming you of Kotaro Fuma? First they're trying to attack Gene Simmons because he thinks that every human being who downloads music should be sued for every penny that remains, and now anon is attacking the America's center of "anti-piracy" bullshit.

Anon will win, government will lose, Gene Simmons will fade into obscurity, and the world will return to peace once again, until another Larger-than-life troll comes into play

 

[Ernil Menegil]

Think about it, for a second, and I mean REALLY THINK ABOUT IT: If the US government actually did cave into anonymous, what would happen? Let's see:

1) Goodbye every single software company in the US. Since all your code is freely available and able to be copied, why would make a single cent? That's a couple of hundred thousand jobs gone right there. Anonymous would feel REALLY PROUD of themselves, ruining all those lives if they get their way, right?

2) Goodbye every single Biomedical, biotech, and pharmaceutical company in the US! With your formula's and compounds no longer protected by law, every single generic chemical factory can make your drugs, and you get NOTHING FOR THEM! That's REALLLLLY going to give incentive to investors and scientists to do the research, right! I can imagine the sales pitch now: Hey, want to spend decades of your life and billions of other people's money to make a drug that will give you zero return?! You would! Great! It also comes with no salary!

3) Goodbye openness and progress, HELLOOOOOOO corporate secrets and espionage! Good to have you back! Without the patent system, NO ONE will EVER divulge how their stuff works or how to make it! Which is really swell since that results in monopolies and the breakdown of shared research! Instead of waiting 20 years for new inventions to wear out their patent, now, since they are no patents, they'll ALWAYS be secret because no company will ever divulge ANYTHING TO ANYONE, EVER! Which will really be great because that means that people in poorer nations will never be able to make generic versions of anything! Fantastic, Anonymous, if you get your way, you'll kill millions! Bravo!

4) Goodbye High-tech industries, agri-tech industries, engineering firms, software companies, silicon valley in its entirety, aeronautical firms, publishing companies, movie studios, and of course GAME STUDIOS, if Anonymous get their way.

To all you Anonymous supporters... how old are you? I mean really? Because I get the impression that you're nothing but a bunch of really angry, socially inept teens without a shred of sophistication or understanding of how the world actually works. I don't think you really think about the consequences of what you are proposing. I don't think you have a SHRED of understanding on economic or industrial values. I don't think you even know what the purpose of a patent is! And certainly, CERTAINLY, NONE of you are creators or researchers or writers or makers of anything. Again, don't want to get all Ayn Rand on you (because I don't like Ayn Rand), but people who are opposed to copyright are generally leeches who want something for nothing. Who don't create or write or invent, but just use and use and use and use and use. So of course you're against copy-right - you've never invented or made anything that could be copy-righted. It's only natural that they don't understand the worth of what they seek to steal.

Ai, ai. Again with the theft comparison. Really, people, think through your concepts.

The world and the arts survived and experienced progress without the intervention of market and industry for the better part of Human history. Your cavalcade of populistic demagogue rhetoric stinks of alarmism and a clinginess to modern concepts of economics which is very far from doing anything for the Arts, instead doing more for the economic interests that have subjugated the Arts. This helps none but those who would put a price tag on Humanity's progress as a species.

Currently, the fashion industry not just lives off designers copying from eachothers' work, it thrives thanks to it. Go ahead and check. There is no copyrighting that can possibly stop designers from starting up from someone else's work and doing something with it themselves. Built constantly on top of its past notions, the fashion industry sees itself becoming a fast-growing monolith, not just in wealth but in originality, precisely spawning from the copying and the replicating.

The world needs to re-think copyright law. The world needs to re-think the concept of Art. The world needs, above all, to re-think the concept of economy. There was a time when science and the Arts were not slaves to modern economy, when books could be copied and distributed to whoever wished to pursue them, when culture could flourish freely, when opera concertos and plays could be replicated in the streets and the back-alleys. In this day and age, when the past restrictions on literacy are gone, what better a time can there be for the right to the freedom of distribution? We currently have all the tools necessary to replicate the same grade of progress that can be noticed in the fashion industry. And we will certainly not reach there while we slap price tags on ideas and ideals.

In an Extra Credits presentation, the speaker quotes a very significant piece of literature; paraphrasing, an idea is just as worth as the man who births it. Therefore, it is priceless. To offend it with harm or slavery is to hamper the growth of ideas. It is to halt progress itself, to freeze it in time. I, for one, would rather look forward to seeing Humanity progress forward, rather than remain in stasis.

 

[BrownGaijin]

...and has organized actual physical demonstrations to take place tomorrow in various cities around the world.

Physical demonstrations you say? Cue the INTERPOL, MI5, FBI and/or CIA in 3... 2... 1...

(Any of my fellow Yankees know what the first two are? I'll give you a cookie the the first one who answers correctly.)

 

[rossable]

this blows my mind and leaves me speechless. i am currently incapable of formulating any opinion on this matter.

 

[Monstrion]

lol @ all of you thinking "brats who want to download stuff for free". You should really look into the matter before commenting on it, because you have no idea what is happening.

Anyway, some anons are just bored, some like to jump on bandwagons and some see a point in all this. Sure, shooting down a site for 30 minutes may not look like much, but at least they are doing something. This more like doing a head count. If motivated properly, I dont doubt they will go much farther than some DDoS attacks.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Uh.....Guys? You know they just took a web site down for half an hour, right?

Not exactly Pear Harbor, you know?

 

[Xanthious]

I hope all these pro copyright folks are still holding to those beliefs when the US starts blocking certain websites like Iran and China currently do. Go look up COICA (Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act) and see if that doesn't make you think that maybe things are getting a little out of control in the name of protecting intellectual property.