Anonymous Declares "Infowar" on Wikileaks Opponents

[Delusibeta]

but there are other Anons that will probably end up DDos'ing wikileaks and such as well.

Correction: have. It's the excuse the DNS company made when they took out the web address.

 

[Fumbleumble]

I'm sorry but to hell with this rapist. His alleged sexual-assault crime aside, the man has exposed HIGHLY classified material on the damn internet. No, I don't mean historical documents concerning the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Those documents are history are fully protected by the First Amendment's Freedom of the Press, look up the Pentagon Papers for a similar case involving the Vietnam War and government leaks. I know the man is Australian, but I'm going to judge him by the American legal system.

However, what is NOT PROTECTED is divulging secrets that pose a national security threat. Like say the locations of HIGHLY IMPORTANT sites according to Homeland Security. If I was a terrorist (be it for Al-Qaeda, Neo-Nazi, IRA, etc.) then a list like that is essentially a travel log of where to commit the most horrific result. That's not freedom of the press, that's putting people's lives in danger. So please do not act all surprised when you see politicians in my country calling for his head, he's not some righteous savior...he's a fucking asshole

First of all.. his 'actions' are such that anyone of us could be accused of.. this is just a massive smear campaign being organised and funded by the people he is outing....In this day and age you REALLY should be more aware of the lies and methods used against people to keep them quiet or to distract PEOPLE LIKE YOU away from what is REALLY going on. You should start thinkig for yourself instead of swallowing what the establishment throws at you.

Secondly.. of all the shit you have seen and read about the details of what is being revealed by this peson.. ARE YOU REALLY SURE that we shouldn't know about this.. and if we do all just BURY OUR HEADS IN THE SAND who will stop things from getting worse, a TRUE FASCIST SOCIETY..because they are certainly not going to get any better.

As for the arguement 'but people are going to be harmed.. waaaa'.. really?.. then they shouldn't be involved.. THAT is what is causing 'harm' to come to them, not the revelations them self.

Assange is a BLOODY HERO, because he knew fine well he would be roasted,(regardless of his current legal status) and Anonymous are the only ones left who have the balls and resources to stick up for our rights (granted them may have more chaotic motives.. but the result is the same.)

There are some things that NEED to stay secret. At least for now. No justice is being done by leaking ongoing, or soon to be under way operations in the middle east, which could have cost a lot of lives. Also, a lot of this stuff with all of the nuclear bombs, we are all better off not knowing.

When we live in a time where we cannot trust our governments NOTHING should be secret... EVER, even at the cost of lives.. because it the secret government actions that put those people at risk in the first place.

Now isn't a time for secrecy and complacancy.... if we don't stand up against the subversives. and at this moment in time it's the governements and corporate bodies who ARE the subversives, then we are lost..

We are at a turning point in human history and we're going the wrong way.

 

[Danny Ocean]

One question rises to my mind: Why the fuck to the people in charge do things that so desperately need to stay hidden.

That has quite obvious answers, doesn't it? If they are doing things which could be disrupted by one or more groups knowing about them, it's easier to stop anyone knowing about it than just a few people, hence, they classify/censor/ban it, to stop the word getting out.

I'm quite sure that the groups you are referring to knew the things that were leaked and lots more long before the public.

Exactly. That's my other argument: These leaks don't matter.

However, it's quite a different matter to claim that the government should never keep things secret, as you did.

 

[RDubayoo]

Oh noez here comes Anonymous to save the day! Whatever, just another bunch of kiddie haxxors who think they're above the law. You know, like how the people they claim to be opposed to are above the law.

Also, I find it interesting that none of the libs here have pointed out that Assange has focused on the United States, and yet, who's President right now? Oh, that's right, Mr. Big-Hearted Liberal, Barack Obama, who was going to wash away the vile stain of Boooosh and finally return transparency to the US government. Well, apparently that was just a pile of crap if we need Assange to force this transparency!

Last thing: Assange is not a hero. He's just an anarchist and an attention-hound with no regard for the damage he's doing, and the sooner he suffers a "mysterious" accident, the better.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

Hm, I'm kinda indifferent. I think this time Anon has bitten off far more than it can chew, plus if the dude really is a rapist then well he should be punished. Though if this is all just a lie to silence him, then fuck the system I suppose? Viva la resistance?

 

[Saltyk]

I'm sorry but to hell with this rapist. His alleged sexual-assault crime aside, the man has exposed HIGHLY classified material on the damn internet. No, I don't mean historical documents concerning the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Those documents are history are fully protected by the First Amendment's Freedom of the Press, look up the Pentagon Papers for a similar case involving the Vietnam War and government leaks. I know the man is Australian, but I'm going to judge him by the American legal system.

However, what is NOT PROTECTED is divulging secrets that pose a national security threat. Like say the locations of HIGHLY IMPORTANT sites according to Homeland Security. If I was a terrorist (be it for Al-Qaeda, Neo-Nazi, IRA, etc.) then a list like that is essentially a travel log of where to commit the most horrific result. That's not freedom of the press, that's putting people's lives in danger. So please do not act all surprised when you see politicians in my country calling for his head, he's not some righteous savior...he's a fucking asshole

First of all.. his 'actions' are such that anyone of us could be accused of.. this is just a massive smear campaign being organised and funded by the people he is outing....In this day and age you REALLY should be more aware of the lies and methods used against people to keep them quiet or to distract PEOPLE LIKE YOU away from what is REALLY going on. You should start thinkig for yourself instead of swallowing what the establishment throws at you.

Secondly.. of all the shit you have seen and read about the details of what is being revealed by this peson.. ARE YOU REALLY SURE that we shouldn't know about this.. and if we do all just BURY OUR HEADS IN THE SAND who will stop things from getting worse, a TRUE FASCIST SOCIETY..because they are certainly not going to get any better.

As for the arguement 'but people are going to be harmed.. waaaa'.. really?.. then they shouldn't be involved.. THAT is what is causing 'harm' to come to them, not the revelations them self.

Assange is a BLOODY HERO, because he knew fine well he would be roasted,(regardless of his current legal status) and Anonymous are the only ones left who have the balls and resources to stick up for our rights (granted them may have more chaotic motives.. but the result is the same.)

First of all, I'm all for transparency in government. But there are somethings that don't need to be public record. Like what diplomats really think of the people they are talking to. Do you want everyone knowing exactly what you think of them? Probably not, because it wouldn't be pretty in some cases. In the end, this information is frivolous.

The revelation that diplomats were acting as spies for the government is bad, but not shocking. Seriously, I have a very low regard for government and I'm certain that every government does the same thing to some extent. And I'm ok on some level with that being revealed. Yes, it was revealed about MY government, which does bother me on many levels, but enough of that.

But what really bothers me about Wikileaks is all the information about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that they revealed. No matter how you feel about the wars, you have to be aware that there are real people down there. Many of them literally risk their lives and the lives of their families to help the Coalition forces. The only way to secure the help of many people is to guarantee their anonymity and safety. Wikileaks revealed ALL of that. They claimed they removed the names of protected sources, but considering the amount of data they unleashed, I find it hard to believe that they removed all the names. Since then, al-Qa'ida and many other organizations have promised to look through the files and punish whoever they can identify. IF they do, Wikileaks will have blood on their hands.

Now, you say that these people shouldn't have been involved if they didn't want to be hurt. Really? You are a psychopath. No offense meant, but really. You have no empathy for the people involved. Like I already said, many are risking not only their lives but the lives of their families to do what they think is right. The only way to guarantee their cooperation is to guarantee safety. If you would willing sacrifice those people for transparency, you don't understand what others are fighting for. Even those who like you want transparency. Keep in mind that at least Wikileaks claimed that they tried to protect the identities of such people. Even Assange realizes what that means. What about you?

Please spare me your feelings on the wars. I'm no fan of them either. But what Wikileaks has done is irresponsible. In some regards it may be treason or terrorism.

People say that this is what "real journalists" should have been doing. But there's a limit to what real journalists can do. Wikileaks went beyond legal channels to acquire the information. I'm surprised that Assange has not been charged with crimes stemming from what he has done. In fact, I won't be surprised when that happens, nor will I be sad.

The bottom line is this. Transparency is good, but should not endanger the people whose identities you promised to protect. We promised to protect our informants and their identities. Wikileaks has put those people at risk, even if they claim otherwise. Wikileaks will likely have blood on their collective hands. And our jobs will become that much more difficult as a result.

I apologize in advance if I offended you or anyone else. This is a topic that tends to get people hot under the collar as I'm sure we're all aware.

 

[Undeadpool]

I can appreciate what Wikileaks is trying to do, but two things bother me about this guy:
1) See his interview on the Colbert Report. He spins the information that he releases in order to tell a narrative that he likes, he doesn't just release "neutral" facts and when confronted with this argument, he has zero defense.
2) He puts most of his time and effort into leaking stuff about the US, which also means that, like any other political activist, he has an agenda of his own and it is surely more of an agenda than the free exchange of ideas and information. I too would love to live in a world where people didn't have to do bad things in the shadows, but until everyone gets to that point, asking one country to suspend their black ops division is completely irresponsible.
And I agree with the above poster who says that Anonymous going to bat for someone who's encouraging transparency is...a touch hypocritical. They can see the benefit of keeping things (their identities) a secret, so surely they can see the benefit in someone else wanting to do the same.

 

[Delusibeta]

Yeah. My beef with Wikileaks has been that it's essentually controlled by one guy. The fact that the government/company response to the leaks run the danger of blowing up in their faces with stuff like this means no-one's a winner here. As I've quoted earlier, it's a conspiracy theorist's wet dream.

Oh noez here comes Anonymous to save the day! Whatever, just another bunch of kiddie haxxors who think they're above the law. You know, like how the people they claim to be opposed to are above the law.

Cheap music gag response:

Spoiler: What we're dealing with is a total lack of respect for the law...

 

[Danny Ocean]

2) He puts most of his time and effort into leaking stuff about the US, which also means that, like any other political activist, he has an agenda of his own. I too would love to live in a world where people didn't have to do bad things in the shadows, but until everyone gets to that point, asking one country to suspend their black ops division is completely irresponsible.

I don't know about the first point, but this is just ridiculous. He targets the US once, therefore he has an agenda?

Could it not be that the US is just doing the most bad stuff at the moment? You need only look through the archives of leaks to see that he doesn't have a preference for targeting any specific country.

He doesn't leak the files anyway, just distribute them.

 

[Kathinka]

I'm sorry but to hell with this rapist. His alleged sexual-assault crime aside, the man has exposed HIGHLY classified material on the damn internet. No, I don't mean historical documents concerning the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Those documents are history are fully protected by the First Amendment's Freedom of the Press, look up the Pentagon Papers for a similar case involving the Vietnam War and government leaks. I know the man is Australian, but I'm going to judge him by the American legal system.

However, what is NOT PROTECTED is divulging secrets that pose a national security threat. Like say the locations of HIGHLY IMPORTANT sites according to Homeland Security. If I was a terrorist (be it for Al-Qaeda, Neo-Nazi, IRA, etc.) then a list like that is essentially a travel log of where to commit the most horrific result. That's not freedom of the press, that's putting people's lives in danger. So please do not act all surprised when you see politicians in my country calling for his head, he's not some righteous savior...he's a fucking asshole

First of all.. his 'actions' are such that anyone of us could be accused of.. this is just a massive smear campaign being organised and funded by the people he is outing....In this day and age you REALLY should be more aware of the lies and methods used against people to keep them quiet or to distract PEOPLE LIKE YOU away from what is REALLY going on. You should start thinkig for yourself instead of swallowing what the establishment throws at you.

Secondly.. of all the shit you have seen and read about the details of what is being revealed by this peson.. ARE YOU REALLY SURE that we shouldn't know about this.. and if we do all just BURY OUR HEADS IN THE SAND who will stop things from getting worse, a TRUE FASCIST SOCIETY..because they are certainly not going to get any better.

As for the arguement 'but people are going to be harmed.. waaaa'.. really?.. then they shouldn't be involved.. THAT is what is causing 'harm' to come to them, not the revelations them self.

Assange is a BLOODY HERO, because he knew fine well he would be roasted,(regardless of his current legal status) and Anonymous are the only ones left who have the balls and resources to stick up for our rights (granted them may have more chaotic motives.. but the result is the same.)

First of all, I'm all for transparency in government. But there are somethings that don't need to be public record. Like what diplomats really think of the people they are talking to. Do you want everyone knowing exactly what you think of them? Probably not, because it wouldn't be pretty in some cases. In the end, this information is frivolous.

The revelation that diplomats were acting as spies for the government is bad, but not shocking. Seriously, I have a very low regard for government and I'm certain that every government does the same thing to some extent. And I'm ok on some level with that being revealed. Yes, it was revealed about MY government, which does bother me on many levels, but enough of that.

But what really bothers me about Wikileaks is all the information about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that they revealed. No matter how you feel about the wars, you have to be aware that there are real people down there. Many of them literally risk their lives and the lives of their families to help the Coalition forces. The only way to secure the help of many people is to guarantee their anonymity and safety. Wikileaks revealed ALL of that. They claimed they removed the names of protected sources, but considering the amount of data they unleashed, I find it hard to believe that they removed all the names. Since then, al-Qa'ida and many other organizations have promised to look through the files and punish whoever they can identify. IF they do, Wikileaks will have blood on their hands.

Now, you say that these people shouldn't have been involved if they didn't want to be hurt. Really? You are a psychopath. No offense meant, but really. You have no empathy for the people involved. Like I already said, many are risking not only their lives but the lives of their families to do what they think is right. The only way to guarantee their cooperation is to guarantee safety. If you would willing sacrifice those people for transparency, you don't understand what others are fighting for. Even those who like you want transparency. Keep in mind that at least Wikileaks claimed that they tried to protect the identities of such people. Even Assange realizes what that means. What about you?

Please spare me your feelings on the wars. I'm no fan of them either. But what Wikileaks has done is irresponsible. In some regards it may be treason or terrorism.

People say that this is what "real journalists" should have been doing. But there's a limit to what real journalists can do. Wikileaks went beyond legal channels to acquire the information. I'm surprised that Assange has not been charged with crimes stemming from what he has done. In fact, I won't be surprised when that happens, nor will I be sad.

The bottom line is this. Transparency is good, but should not endanger the people whose identities you promised to protect. We promised to protect our informants and their identities. Wikileaks has put those people at risk, even if they claim otherwise. Wikileaks will likely have blood on their collective hands. And our jobs will become that much more difficult as a result.

I apologize in advance if I offended you or anyone else. This is a topic that tends to get people hot under the collar as I'm sure we're all aware.

and what about us non-americans. there is 6 billion of us out there, you know^^
we would like to know when the us military is again and again murdering innocents or putting people into concentration camps without trial and tries to cover it up. maybe it's for the best of mankind if sensitive information of that kind is getting out, even if or maybe especially because it poses a danger to some people.

 

[mr_rubino]

I'm sorry but to hell with this rapist. His alleged sexual-assault crime aside, the man has exposed HIGHLY classified material on the damn internet. No, I don't mean historical documents concerning the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Those documents are history are fully protected by the First Amendment's Freedom of the Press, look up the Pentagon Papers for a similar case involving the Vietnam War and government leaks. I know the man is Australian, but I'm going to judge him by the American legal system.

However, what is NOT PROTECTED is divulging secrets that pose a national security threat. Like say the locations of HIGHLY IMPORTANT sites according to Homeland Security. If I was a terrorist (be it for Al-Qaeda, Neo-Nazi, IRA, etc.) then a list like that is essentially a travel log of where to commit the most horrific result. That's not freedom of the press, that's putting people's lives in danger. So please do not act all surprised when you see politicians in my country calling for his head, he's not some righteous savior...he's a fucking asshole

First of all.. his 'actions' are such that anyone of us could be accused of.. this is just a massive smear campaign being organised and funded by the people he is outing....In this day and age you REALLY should be more aware of the lies and methods used against people to keep them quiet or to distract PEOPLE LIKE YOU away from what is REALLY going on. You should start thinkig for yourself instead of swallowing what the establishment throws at you.

Secondly.. of all the shit you have seen and read about the details of what is being revealed by this peson.. ARE YOU REALLY SURE that we shouldn't know about this.. and if we do all just BURY OUR HEADS IN THE SAND who will stop things from getting worse, a TRUE FASCIST SOCIETY..because they are certainly not going to get any better.

As for the arguement 'but people are going to be harmed.. waaaa'.. really?.. then they shouldn't be involved.. THAT is what is causing 'harm' to come to them, not the revelations them self.

Assange is a BLOODY HERO, because he knew fine well he would be roasted,(regardless of his current legal status) and Anonymous are the only ones left who have the balls and resources to stick up for our rights (granted them may have more chaotic motives.. but the result is the same.)

Their goddamn hackers who fancy themselves as heroes of the digital age. When really their fat, lonely men who just want "to stick it to the man". Assange is no hero, he's just being a fucking asshole releasing top secret information

Let me ask you something, if you were running a highly covert operations, would you like people knowing about it? Kind of undermines the whole notion of "covert operations". And yes, I'm very fucking sure I don't want to know about certain things if other people have access to the information who could use it for destructive purposes.

And you don't think people can get hurt? Here's something from Wikipedia:

"In 2010, Amnesty International joined several other human rights groups criticizing WikiLeaks for not adequately redacting the names of Afghan civilians working as U.S. military informants from files they had released. Julian Assange responded by offering Amnesty International staff the opportunity to assist in the document vetting process. When Amnesty International appeared to express reservations in accepting the offer, Assange dismissed the group as "people who prefer to do nothing but cover their asses." "

That was on Wall Street Journal.

So stay all curled up by your computer praising some jackass with a couple of servers and some classified all you want, you're just praising a man who's going to get people killed

A: You seem to be confused as to what WikiLinks is vs. what Anonymous is.
B: Watching the statists suddenly throw their weight behind Amnesty International after condemning them for so long amazes me. And once again, since they're all mentioning only this incident as if it supports their side (It doesn't. They were given a chance to involve themselves. They ran.), I have to laugh at how easily these people are being coaxed into saying the same things while swearing they're coming to their conclusions independently.
(Yes yes, we all know the line. "Amnesty International r librull! Wait... they don't like teh Assange? Omg, mai trump card hohoho. I won't even have to elaborate.")

EDIT:

Oh noez here comes Anonymous to save the day! Whatever, just another bunch of kiddie haxxors who think they're above the law. You know, like how the people they claim to be opposed to are above the law.

Also, I find it interesting that none of the libs here have pointed out that Assange has focused on the United States, and yet, who's President right now? Oh, that's right, Mr. Big-Hearted Liberal, Barack Obama, who was going to wash away the vile stain of Boooosh and finally return transparency to the US government. Well, apparently that was just a pile of crap if we need Assange to force this transparency!

Yeah, I guess this is along the same lines. Some people don't really know what WikiLeaks is or what it's been doing, but they want to add something, so they just whine 'bout them liberals and that Obama. Then, because they're basically running in circles, they throw out a semi-related sentence or two to get on-topic. This site has become Youtube without the videos.

 

[Falseprophet]

Given all the crimes and coverups perpetrated in the last decade in the name of the "War on Terror", I no longer take Western democratic governments at their word regarding talk of "national security interests". You have evidence these leaks were a threat to security, produce it. Otherwise I'm not interested in a bunch of politicians spin doctoring to cover their butts and those of the dictators they do business with.

(I don't take any non-democratic governments at their word either, but I never did before so nothing has changed that.)

NB: If you don't also unequivocally call for Scooter Libby (or whoever was pulling his strings) to be called before a firing squad after being proved and convicted of violating national security and putting the lives of intelligence assets in jeopardy, your calls to assassinate or execute Assange will be dismissed as the hypocrisy they are.

If he publishes secrets from other countries as well, not just the US, he will probably gain a bit more credibility in being a whistle blower rather than someone with what seems like a grudge against the US, leaving him open to criticism and such.

They've been doing it for years:

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20101026/161087816.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8166662/WikiLeaks-China-has-been-hacking-online-files-since-2002.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20023994-501465.html

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/11/29/wikileaks-annoyed-politburo-member-reason-for-googles-china-exit/

http://thenextweb.com/asia/2010/11/29/china-directs-local-media-outlets-to-stop-reporting-wikileaks-content/

http://web.archive.org/web/20080314204422/http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Wikileaks:About#Who_is_behind_Wikileaks.3F

 

[Fuselage]

Anonymous do realise that they're supporting a rapist?

Oh actually, they probably don't care. Since when should the well-being of people matter over anarchy directed to the governments.

If anyone actually did the research you would know that the rape charges were false, made up because the condom split during sex and she thought that it was deliberate, I think the other said he had no condom during sex but lied about it not being consensual.

 

[EBonhawk09]

Personally, I 100% support Wikileaks, Anonymous, and Assange on this. The people have a right to some transparency in their own elected government.

 

[Delusibeta]

They've been doing it for years:

The problem is that, essentually, it's only been fairly recently that Wikileaks turned into a "one-man-and-his-press" site like it currently is. Back then, Wikileaks was actually a wiki (with heavy moderation, admittedly, but still a wiki).

 

[AgDr_ODST]

normally Im all for whatever hijinks Anonymous is up to but this time I say fuck them and Wikileaks....the dipshits who run and contribute to that site have no business doing what they do....

 

[ResonanceSD]

I'm amazed how the unabashed proliferation of a nation's sensitive info is no longer defined as 'treason'.

It's because he's not a US citizen.

 

[KiKiweaky]

I'm sorry but to hell with this rapist. His alleged sexual-assault crime aside, the man has exposed HIGHLY classified material on the damn internet. No, I don't mean historical documents concerning the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Those documents are history are fully protected by the First Amendment's Freedom of the Press, look up the Pentagon Papers for a similar case involving the Vietnam War and government leaks. I know the man is Australian, but I'm going to judge him by the American legal system.

However, what is NOT PROTECTED is divulging secrets that pose a national security threat. Like say the locations of HIGHLY IMPORTANT sites according to Homeland Security. If I was a terrorist (be it for Al-Qaeda, Neo-Nazi, IRA, etc.) then a list like that is essentially a travel log of where to commit the most horrific result. That's not freedom of the press, that's putting people's lives in danger. So please do not act all surprised when you see politicians in my country calling for his head, he's not some righteous savior...he's a fucking asshole

Ha you actually believe the rape claims? Its utter bullshit and a smear campaign, dont fall for it.

He's given some of the most powerful people and governments in the world a bloody nose its no surprise their digging shit up on him. If other posters are to be believed, he's making sure stuff wont endanger peoples lives before its released.

Historical documents on the Iraq/Afgan war? Its still going on so its more than relevant. Oh and btw since when would the IRA want to go and blow shit up in America? What would be the point in that?

 

[-Samurai-]

When will these stupid kids grow up and enter the real world with the rest of us? Oh yeah. Never.

Anonymous. Pffffft.