Anonymous' Target Planned to "Take Down" WikiLeaks

[HyenaThePirate]

Frankly considering Wikileaks is only hurting our ability to operate diplomatically by releasing our cables I don't see them as good guys nor do I see anonymous with it's frequent attacks for it's own amusement as good guys.

If anyone should be ashamed it's all those involved in fighting a war that has absolutely no point whatsoever.

Yeah, let's blame the soldiers. Those Iraqis deserved to die for siding with us! As for our own boys, let's be sure to call them baby killer and deny them jobs like we did after 'Nam.

Don't try to control the narrative by changing it to one of 'support our troops' as that is utterly irrelevant. Somebody above said wikileaks has put iraqis lives in danger and that those supporting their action should be ashamed of themselves. It's a stupid position because basic logic says the fact that the US is there in the first place has endangered and taken far more lives than wikileaks could ever possibly do. Besides, do you really honestly think that had the public known everything about what the US was up to before the iraqi invasion it would still have gone ahead?

This times eleventeen. The war itself is an illegal war. The US shouldn't even be meddling in other people's affairs, yet they do it anyways. And the Americans wonder why they are so hated. (Americans as people are super nice, just as a country, they come of as dickish bullies).

Until some asshole with few qualms about butchering tons of people for sport comes along. Then all of a sudden the world goes looking to America to do its "dirty work."
Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those who supports an American foreign policy of interventionism. In my not-so-humble opinion, I'd just as well rather America pull all of it's military, diplomatic, and humanitarian resources back from the rest of the world, become isolationists who are less concerned about having "friends" in the world as with developing trade agreements for what we need, and tell the rest of the world to go #@$! itself. We keep the focus on defending our borders, beef up our military defense, and concentrate on anti-ballistic missile technology. Seal the borders completely. Focus on our own society, improving it, helping our homeless and degenerate, educating our own youth, rebuilding our industry, and getting healthy. Make America #1 to Americans.

And when someone else in the world decides to start a little spat over disputed territory or religion or ideology or whatever, let THEM become the new "bad guy" on the block. My bet is the world will be bitching about China in 10 years. Let them deal with the Chinese, who don't seem to be as concerned about their "world image" as us Americans are.

Just don't call us when you need someone to do your killing for you, even though we're the best at what we do, bub.

 

[nightwolf667]

Because Anonymous is not a group, People don't seem to understand that.
Its a Hivemind, There are no leaders, the closest things they have to leaders are the skilled hackers while the drone/srcipt kiddys DDOs everything the "Leaders" will not resort to such tactics, If 100 Anoymous members get caught, They get replaced with the ease of a click, You cannot even count the number of Anons, It is impossible.

I know that, but what else is there? Even if the number of people involved is small and disorganized, there are still people involved. Either way, their actions cannot be justified.

Take a look at their support of Wikileaks for example. Do you realize how fragile many of the peace agreements in the Middle East are? Assange knowingly strained them by releasing much of the information he did (not to mention U.S. and international relations with many other nations as well - referring to dossiers on world leaders that he released). Such reports could have (and possibly still) destabalize the region (again).

EDIT: Still many of my questions go unanswered.

I'm gonna quote h264's Anonymous propaganda here, if only to prove that they aren't what they say they are. You know, from their own mouths the hypocrisy is revealed best. (Spelling errors are also a plus)

In all of human history, there has never been an innovation which has empowered individual liberty like the Internet.
Simply observe how the most tyrannical of the worlds regimes always pull the plug on the World Wide Web whenever their
people rise up to demand their freedom. The forces arrayed against a Free Internet are powerful and evil, and Anonymous, PLF
is dedicated to fighting against them. We are prepared to go to prison, or even be killed - in this epic battle for
the very soul of humanity. We will defend a Free and open Internet with every tool and tactic at our disposal.

Anon and The Peoples Liberation Front is now, and has from it's inception been a NON-VIOLENT, pascivist group of freedom
fighters. Never have we as a group or individually EVER been so much as accused of an act of violence. No one anywhere
has anything to fear from our group, that is unless they are evil, criminal - or tyrants. Those have much to fear from
us and they DO fear us. For over two decades we have used information and technology to battle in a non-violent way to
win justice and freedom for everyone.

Our secondary mission is to assist liberation movements and groups across the globe in deploying electronic and network
technology. We also provide direct assistance to organized protests all over the world by providing technical assistance,
intelligence gathering, electronic security and cyber warfare abilities.

Finally, we have an intelligence division which is dedicated to gathering the secrets of the enemies of freedom for the
purpose of global dissemination. By turning their own intelligence techniques and technologies against them, we spy on
them spying on us. We use the data gathered in the furtherance of the above causes.

We are not in this for glory or fame. (lol again) All of our members are anonymous, and bragging of any kind is strictly forbidden. (roflmao)
We fight for the day when fighting will be unnecessary, and all the worlds people will be free.

Operation Anonymous is Internet history in the making. Never before have so many disparate groups of hackers joined
forces to lead and direct a truly staggering number of concerned citizens to form a massive Internet "army". Tens of
thousands strong, OpAnon has successfully crushed some of the most robust web sites in the world, including MasterCard,
PayPal - and even the Swedish Prosecutors web site ! (lol) Dedicated LONGTERM to the defense of WikiLeaks and it's heroic
founder Julian Assange, OpAnon Command meets daily with it's supporters and monitors the situation minute by minute and
issues strategic and target data in realtime to those soldiers of freedom who have joined forces with us.

We Are Everywhere - We Are Legion - We Never Forget - We Never Forgive - Expect Us

I'm not sure but AnonOp command sounds like a leadership structure to me. Also there has to be someone to do all that leading and directing. Honestly, Anon's stuff sounds really hypocritical, like bullshit, and occasionally outright lies that it's hard to disseminate the truth from all of the drivel. After all, how can one defend freedom of speech while attempting to censor and bully those they disagree with?

EDIT: It should probably be noted that in so far of the FBI investigation(and the very limited information available) the feds do seem to be targeting those Anons who behave like "leaders"/staff. IRC channel admins who organize the different "operations" and the like.

 

[AnonOperations]

It should probably be noted that in so far of the FBI investigation(and the very limited information available) the feds do seem to be targeting those Anons who behave like "leaders"/staff. IRC channel admins who organize the different "operations" and the like.

There has to be some kind of structure, they can't have people coming in and spamming etc. These people prosecuted are comparable to forum moderates.

As I witnessed last night and today, press releases are a combined effort from whoever is available and willing to work on them at the time. There is no specific people doing each of them, anyone can help and add ideas etc.

 

[Axzarious]

<spoiler= The Laughing Man would be proud>
http://tenser.typepad.com/tenser_said_the_tensor/images/laughing-man.jpg

Go Anon!

Anon can be quite similar to a Stand Alone Complex eh?

 

[HyenaThePirate]

It should probably be noted that in so far of the FBI investigation(and the very limited information available) the feds do seem to be targeting those Anons who behave like "leaders"/staff. IRC channel admins who organize the different "operations" and the like.

There has to be some kind of structure, they can't have people coming in and spamming etc. These people prosecuted are comparable to forum moderates.

As I witnessed last night and today, press releases are a combined effort from whoever is available and willing to work on them at the time. There is no specific people doing each of them, anyone can help and add ideas etc.

Which goes back to my point I made earlier...
Who controls who does what and ensures that members of Anonymous aren't engaging in corrupt, illegal, or even dangerous activities?
Who vets the materials to make sure that members are releasing doctored documents or even flat-out lies? How do you establish credibility with such an organization where just about anyone can do anything and simply slap the "Anonymous seal of approval" on it.

Just as in this case... which member of Anonymous sat there and reviewed each and every one of those 60,000 documents, parsed the information that was relevant from what was irrelevant, took the pains to protect the innocent from having their personal or private information bundled in accidentally and revealed to the world unwillingly, and redacted anything else that might have been unnecessary to release?

It couldn't have been one person, this information, this "plot" is too new, too fresh.

This is what makes Anonymous dangerous... they boast while saying they do not boast. They attack with impunity without a care to the collateral damage they cause, and offer no reparations to the third parties that might have been inadvertently harmed. When I see a story that says "Anonymous takes collection, pays off mortgage for poor chap that got fired when his companies evil plans were exposed by hacked documents they released", then I'll perhaps view them in a favorable light.

Until then, I'll remain heavily suspicious and wary of them, and perhaps even in support of some sort of Government investigation into their actions. Heck, how do I know that right now I am not being marked for "reprisal" for speaking my opinion and pointing out concerns? I am not an evil man with evil plans, yet my logic and lack of support my sway opinions about them, thus making me a potential threat? How long before someone from Anonymous decides to to take so-called "non-violent" action against me? Maybe even a member that just wants to do it for the Lulz because he's so down for the cause?

Which leading member of Anonymous, if any, who has any real clout within the organization can give me a personal assurance of safety and privacy? I don't want the Government in my business, but I sure as hell don't want Anonymous in it either.

 

[nightwolf667]

It should probably be noted that in so far of the FBI investigation(and the very limited information available) the feds do seem to be targeting those Anons who behave like "leaders"/staff. IRC channel admins who organize the different "operations" and the like.

There has to be some kind of structure, they can't have people coming in and spamming etc. These people prosecuted are comparable to forum moderates.

As I witnessed last night and today, press releases are a combined effort from whoever is available and willing to work on them at the time. There is no specific people doing each of them, anyone can help and add ideas etc.

But this undermines the idea that "anonymous has no leadership" because you just admitted there to be leaders (in whatever context you feel it's necessary to put it). Just because you say there are no leaders, doesn't mean there are no "leaders". You say you are not an organization and then proceed to behave like an organization through press releases (let's not even get into the American jingoism presented towards Iran) recruitment drives through youtube and elsewhere. I hardly consider the death threats made against one of the Swedish prosecutors who was working on the Julian Assange/Wikileaks case to be nonviolent, I hardly consider the death threats and erroneous intimidating phone calls to Aaron Barr's home to be non-violent. I don't consider the threats of extortion made against HBGary for his removal in exchange for the retrieval of the stolen data to be non-violent either. Sure no physical acts of violence where committed but Anonymous still threatens those involved.

I don't think the U.K considers Anon's declaration of war against their government to be a particularly nonviolent action done by peaceful protesters. If everyone is involved with the press releases, than anyone who's idea it was to release such a stupid release is culpable.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I might not support Anon 100% but I'm glad that their activities revealed this.

Lets just hope they don't do something like get access to nuclear weaponry...

 

[JemothSkarii]

I'm gonna start my comment here by saying I have a slight bias towards anonymous, but I'm gonna be as fencesitting as possible.

Firstly, for those people that Anon are bad because they do this without honour, fight with underhanded tactics and so on and so forth, let me ask you this; if you had far less resources and power than your opponent, what would YOU do?
Let me quote Code Geass (cos that's where I saw it)
"What do you do when there is an evil you cannot defeat by just means? Do you stain your hands with evil to destroy evil, or do you remain steadfastly just and righteous even if it means surrendering to evil?"
Not meaning to say Anon is good and the others are evil, but if they went up against something like that which threatened what they are going to protect, and would lose if you did it in the normal, 'honourable' way, would you fight it back with an evil? Heroes of past have won fights with underhanded tactics, staining their hands as 'evil'. Honour is not necessary in being the good side, so stop saying Anon are bad because they fight with no honour.

On the other side of the Spectrum; what if in the extreme case they get found of all of this and the Bank of America starts losing more stocks and such? The American economy is in the hole already, and if the largest bank goes down, what the hell will happen then? Yes, Corporations are easy to corrupt and are quite cruel, but sometimes it is a necessecity to have, otherwise more good would be lost than the evil.

 

[Nukey]

Heh, I love the modern world, never before could we foil "The Man" with such ease.

Hey, Anonymous, if any of you read this, do us all a favor and overthrow the government of the United States, or at the very least the Tea Party, neither of them are helping and I'm sure you fellas could do it. xD

 

[BlindChance]

Anonymous is a "hero"?! Nobody's a fuckin' hero here! It's just everyone being dicks to a different degree! The banks and corporations are dicks by default, Julian is a dick for giving the hornet's nest a good old hefty kick and making the US look worse than it already does, and Anonymous is being a dick just because they don't like anyone trying to get back at Julian for being a dick! It's just a gigantic dickfest! Dicks! Dicks everywhere!

This is my new favorite quote of the Internet, from anywhere. I'm putting up "Dicks! Dicks everywhere!" as my motto.

 

[Torrasque]

<spoiler= The Laughing Man would be proud>
http://tenser.typepad.com/tenser_said_the_tensor/images/laughing-man.jpg

Agreed.
Time to sit back and watch the cyber-punches roll.
Godspeed Anon.

 

[Lucifron]

Keep fighting the good fight Anon, and don't let the masturbatory proponents of the status quo sway you from your course.

 

[Super Toast]

What a bunch of scumbags. HBGary, I mean. But Anonymous has its moments too.

 

[Pandaman1911]

This is my new favorite quote of the Internet, from anywhere. I'm putting up "Dicks! Dicks everywhere!" as my motto.

Well please don't credit me as the author, that's already an established meme...

 

[Ghengis John]

Don't try to control the narrative by changing it to one of 'support our troops' as that is utterly irrelevant.

Why not? What part of "If anyone should be ashamed it's all those involved in fighting a war that has absolutely no point whatsoever." isn't an insult to our soldiers? I think you got a little heated and said something stupid. Now that you find yourself in an indefensible position you'd like to back out. But nothing will erase the fact you said it. And nothing erases the fact it makes the irrational extremity of your opinion plain for all to see.

Somebody above said wikileaks has put Iraqis lives in danger and that those supporting their action should be ashamed of themselves. It's a stupid position because basic logic says the fact that the US is there in the first place has endangered and taken far more lives than wikileaks could ever possibly do.

Ah so two wrongs make a right now? Definitely a stupid opinion then. What's the harm of another corpse or two on the pile right? One or two more dead Iraqis doesn't really make a difference right? So wikileaks has the right to get whoever they want killed if they can generate a few more headlines, because hell, that's just logical. I'd love to see you feed that line to those people's friends and families.

Besides, do you really honestly think that had the public known everything about what the US was up to before the iraqi invasion it would still have gone ahead?

We knew enough about the situation in Iraq to know not to go. All of our foreign intelligence outlets agreed there was no connection between Saddam and 9/11 and likely no WMD's. A large segment of the nation was simply angry enough to ignore reason and evidence, choosing to believe what it wanted to hear. Failing to catch Bin Laden was a major snafu and it left people seething. The people in power who had something to gain from that took their chance. It was a stupid war to enter from the start, and I was against it from the get-go. That said even with wikileak's existence the public at large still doesn't know what the US was up to behind the scenes before the invasion. Ask them. The common people don't listen. So in that respect the site has failed. They have managed to get some of our collaborators killed though, and ruined the ability of foreign nation's dignitaries to feel they have the freedom to speak candidly through our embassies in private so bravo wikileaks for throwing a wrench in the wheels of diplomatic mediation. As it stands wikileaks seems to be fueled by an anti-American vendetta more than a cause. Case in point, Jan 18th they were given data about wrong doings in Swiss banks. they state they have no plans to publish this information. What happened?

I think that it's naive to think there is a good guy and a bad guy in all this. Are Assange, Wikileaks, and Anonymous douche bags? I think so. Are Bank of America and the US Government also douche bags? Absolutely. That's how the system works. Douche bags end up in positions of power because that's what they strive for.

Well said.

 

[fates_puppet13]

i love watching the faceless internet trolls give profesional comapires a beatdown for being corrupt and attacking wiki leaks

 

[Chibz]

The anonymous vs bank/FBI/etc is less a good vs evil fight and more a chaotic neutral vs lawful evil fight.

The lawful evil organizations are working against anon for what they do best: dedicated self interest. They seem to operate with some semblence of honour, and (usually) within the confines of the law. Unless they can get away with breaking/bending that law. Or, for that matter, completely rewriting the law for their own gain.

Anonymous is thoroughly chaotic neutral (overall). The "moralfags" may be shades of good and the shadier parts of anonymous may be shaded with evil but overall. Neutral. They're only in this because they feel personally wronged, and that their personal freedom has been attacked. Mostly if you leave a CN person/group alone, they won't ever quite pick that fight with you.

Just to make it abundantly clear, Chaotic Neutrals tend to...

Fight Dirty
Flee a battle that's obviously going poorly
Gloat over a victory
Perpetrate humiliating pranks on an enemy
Refuse a fair contest/challenge
Taunt an enemy into fighting
and walk away from a challenge

 

[Binerexis]

It really isn't difficult to hurt Anonymous' credibility. Besides, Anonymous isn't this amazing group of cyber vigilantes looking out for the good of everyone, they're children on a message board. Just because people use this perceived persona to hide behind doesn't mean that's who they say they are.

Come on guys, one of the first things you learn on the internet is that not everyone is who they say they are; to say that all these attacks are done by Anonymous is just silly.

 

[rioki]

Any way, this thread needs more DESU!