FBI Arrests 14 in Raids Against Anonymous

[Andy Chalk]

FBI Arrests 14 in Raids Against Anonymous

More than a dozen members of Anonymous have been arrested as part of a nationwide sweep being carried out by the FBI.

The FBI carried out raids early this morning on houses in New York, New Jersey, California and Florida, arresting 14 people as part of an ongoing investigation into the activities of the online activist organization Anonymous, including attacks against numerous corporations and government agencies. Computers and related equipment were seized from at least some of the homes.

"I can confirm that we're conducting law enforcement actions relating to a criminal investigation," FBI spokeswoman Alicia Senisbaugh told Fox News [http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/07/19/exclusive-fbi-search-warrants-nationwide-hunt-anonymous/]. The specific charges being brought against the arrested Anons are not yet known.

The difficulty for law enforcement, as ZDNet [http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/fbis-anonymous-challenge-cast-a-wide-net-vs-distributed-hacking-group/52665] points out, is that trying to take down Anonymous is like "playing a game of Whac-A-Mole." Its membership is a loose, globe-spanning collective, it boasts no conventional leadership and anyone can "join" - or leave - at any time. Law enforcement agencies can track down individual members responsible for specific crimes, but actually bringing down Anonymous is a whole different, and far more difficult, kettle of wax.

Anonymous' recent exploits include DDoS exposure of corruption [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105954-Anonymous-Declares-Infowar-on-Wikileaks-Opponents] in the acrimonious Wisconsin labor dispute.


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[King Toasty]

Anon is probably going to state that those weren't it's members.

Which, in a twisted way, is technically right. The Anonymous Collective and it's rules for "membership" sort of defy English language. A member, but not a member because there's no membership, so everyone's a member, but you can't, but you can, but you BLARG.

 

[Actual]

They don't get it. Anonymous is everyone who stands up to fight injustice, corruption and censorship.

If I do it and hide my name I'm Anonymous. And every time I hear about governments stomping down on people trying to make the world a better place I'm more tempted to join them.

If Anon's crimes were in real life and not the internet they would be smashing windows and chaining themselves to business gates in protest. The local police would give them a fine or small jail sentence, but because it's the internet and they threaten large company's finances they're called terrorists and people call for their execution, it's ridiculous hysteria.

 

[KaiusCormere]

Good, sounds like the FBI is doing it's job.

 

[Roserari]

Stop going after Anon and go after Lulzsec, geniuses. They're the immediate thread and are far more dangerous than Anon.

 

[Drakmeire]

Well that makes me happy.
I'm sick of those attention whores being in the news. For every remotely good thing they accomplish they pull off 7 forms of douchebagary.
Or I'm just thinking that all the idiots calling themselves members aren't really that deep into the community and just take on the name.
so FBI, aim for Lulzsec, they're the real problem right now.

 

[bjj hero]

Thats what the FBI are paid to do. You break the law, you accept the consequences. If there is no evidence that these people have broken the law they will not be charged.

 

[AngryMongoose]

"Playing a game of Whac-A-Mole."

It's more like punching smoke. Poisonous smoke. Poisonous smoke that hates you can gets more poisonous the more you punch it.

 

[Mouse_Crouse]

If Anon's crimes were in real life and not the internet they would be smashing windows and chaining themselves to business gates in protest. The local police would give them a fine or small jail sentence, but because it's the internet and they threaten large company's finances they're called terrorists and people call for their execution, it's ridiculous hysteria.

But that's the problem... the internet IS real life. It's not some magical fairy-tale land where your actions don't really matter. You are responsible for your deeds (and mis-deeds) just as anywhere else. Just because you are usually hiding behind a screen name and computer monitor, dosen't mean you aren't really committing crimes. Causing billions in "real world" losses and breaking "real world" laws will (and should) get you in just as much trouble.

I'm not saying you don't know the difference, because I know that wasn't your point. But my point is there is far too many who think they can hide on the internet and get away with it.

 

[pirateninj4]

Why do people keep blaming Anon for shit they didn't even do? It's Lulzsec that's messing with all the shit that people didn't want messed with.

I for one, applaud their efforts to bring the corruption and BS to light. Anything is better than being a sheep led blindly by the powers that be.

 

[sapphireofthesea]

Stand Alone Complex (see the Ghost in the Shell first season of the same name for description).
Think that about fits the bill on what anon is.

 

[sapphireofthesea]

Stand Alone Complex (see the Ghost in the Shell first season of the same name for description).
Think that about fits the bill on what anon is.

Edit: Double post due to issues with the Captcha

 

[ryo02]

even if they are members of Anonymous do the FBI know if they actually commited any crimes?.

 

[fabiosooner]

If Anon's crimes were in real life and not the internet they would be smashing windows and chaining themselves to business gates in protest. The local police would give them a fine or small jail sentence, but because it's the internet and they threaten large company's finances they're called terrorists and people call for their execution, it's ridiculous hysteria.

But that's the problem... the internet IS real life. It's not some magical fairy-tale land where your actions don't really matter. You are responsible for your deeds (and mis-deeds) just as anywhere else. Just because you are usually hiding behind a screen name and computer monitor, dosen't mean you aren't really committing crimes. Causing billions in "real world" losses and breaking "real world" laws will (and should) get you in just as much trouble.

I'm not saying you don't know the difference, because I know that wasn't your point. But my point is there is far too many who think they can hide on the internet and get away with it.

This, one billion times this.

Also, to the FBI, I'd say: it doesn't matter if you'll bring down the Anonymous the 'organization' or whatever. You won't fully stop crime ever either, so that's not an issue to bother with. But by bringing people down for the specific crimes they've committed, the FBI shows *other people* that joining this 'movement' isn't trivial. It isn't for those who are not ready to accept the consequences. Terrorism or not, this is about committing crimes to support one's ideology; if one truly believes in that ideology, one must be ready to pay the price it exacts.

 

[flaming_squirrel]

Anonymous is probably pretty easy to take down, once you've arrested enough of them the others will simply quit the game in fear of being v&.

Now that I've abused enough memes, these guys are not in any way hardened criminals, if they feel threatened by 'the law' then they'll stop attacking. Trying to arrest all of them though is pretty much impossible.

 

[SammiYin]

Those poor little angels, they should have locked their mums garage doors then the FBI wouldn't get to them.
This is what happens to people who stand up for Truth and Justice and other pathetic ideals that people think can only be achieved by hacking and making the internet a shitty place.
Keep fighting you brave, masculine heroes. While you fall this day, your brothers are ready to take up arms and make a few websites crash, Batman would be proud.

 

[Actual]

If Anon's crimes were in real life and not the internet they would be smashing windows and chaining themselves to business gates in protest. The local police would give them a fine or small jail sentence, but because it's the internet and they threaten large company's finances they're called terrorists and people call for their execution, it's ridiculous hysteria.

But that's the problem... the internet IS real life. It's not some magical fairy-tale land where your actions don't really matter. You are responsible for your deeds (and mis-deeds) just as anywhere else. Just because you are usually hiding behind a screen name and computer monitor, dosen't mean you aren't really committing crimes. Causing billions in "real world" losses and breaking "real world" laws will (and should) get you in just as much trouble.

I'm not saying you don't know the difference, because I know that wasn't your point. But my point is there is far too many who think they can hide on the internet and get away with it.

I'm not saying that because it's the internet there should be no punishment, I'm trying to understand why committing a crime on the internet warrant FBI raids and life imprisonment if the baying public doesn't get the death penalty they want. While committing an analogous crime in the physical world would be worth a slap on the wrist.

Sitting in front of bulldozers costs that company thousands of pounds but we don't hear about high-profile court cases against those who do it, they just spend a couple of nights in a cell.

 

[aba1]

They don't get it. Anonymous is everyone who stands up to fight injustice, corruption and censorship.

If I do it and hide my name I'm Anonymous. And every time I hear about governments stomping down on people trying to make the world a better place I'm more tempted to join them.

If Anon's crimes were in real life and not the internet they would be smashing windows and chaining themselves to business gates in protest. The local police would give them a fine or small jail sentence, but because it's the internet and they threaten large company's finances they're called terrorists and people call for their execution, it's ridiculous hysteria.

see if it was real life they would not be smashing windows or chaining themselves to fences they would be sneaking in and stealing confedential information about customers and other such things which is illegal and yes it would attract the same amount of attention.