Vigilante Hackers use Old West Tactics for Justice

dismorphic writes "Angered by the growing number of Internet scams, online 'vigilantes' have started to take justice into their own hands by hacking into suspected fraud sites and defacing them. These hackers have targeted fake websites set up to resemble the sites of banks or financial institutions in recent weeks, and have inserted new pages or messages. Some say 'Warning - This was a Scam Site,' or 'This Bank Was Fraudulent and Is Now Removed.'" So maybe it's not a posse of horsemen, but it's still kinda cool that someone is taking care of those who would defraud the public.

Comments

I agree

[Dancin_Santa]

We just don't see enough people hanging from trees for marrying outside their race.

Oh, your concept of right and wrong is different from mine?

Re:I agree

[MoneyT]

How do you erode the rule of law where the law does not attempt to rule?

Re:Hmmmm

[ergo98]

Hacking into these legitimate companies doesn't do anything to hurt the scammers.

?

You think that it doesn't hurt phishers when their "closer" is rendered inoperational? Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm going to bet that some phisher that used their botnet to send out millions of emails (losing a number of their bots in the process) is going to be pretty pissed when some whitehat knocks their server offline before all of the morons enter their username and password.

Re:Jury nullification

[MetalliQaZ]

The problem with vigilantes is this:

What happens when they come after YOU, and you don't have due process to protect you?

-d

Re:Self policing society

[DerekLyons]

I see this as another example of the self-policing that goes on here on the internet. Slashdot is another example on several levels. For example, this forum provides a means for people to express their feelings about a variety of subjects. And this forum is not mob rule, we moderate each other, and we moderate the moderations. Inflammatory and extremist talk is not tolerated silently.

Only so long as the inflammatory and extremist talk isn't something disliked by the Slashdot Hivemind... If it is, inflammatory and extremist talk is *encouraged* where it's not outright rewarded.

• For instance, in the recent article about 911 and Vonage, virtually every post supporting Vonage and calling the victim 'stupid' was modded *up*, whereas virtually every one criticizing Vonage for it's misleading marketing material was modded *down*.
• In a recent article about militarizing space, virtually every article criticizing the Administration and misreading the various treaties was modded *up*, while pointers to correct interpretations of the treary was modded *down*.
• In virtually every article about the Shuttle, posts praising Soyuz are modded *up*, and posts pointing out that it's not as safe as propoganda would have you believe is modded *down*.

The same can be seen in any article about MicroSoft, SCO, and a vast variety of other topics.

Slashdot is indeed ruled by a mob - a mob extremely intolerant of dissident views and facts that fail to meet it's fore-ordained conclusions.

On another level, Slashdot is the pulpit where the topic of freedom gets a lively and ongoing discussion. Freedom to use and create software, freedom to exchange ideas, data, tools, freedom of expression, etc., etc.

Certainly - If you define 'freedom' as 'I can do whatever the hell the I want without any restrictions or respect for other peoples rights, except maybe the people I agree with'. The same Slashdot that gets annoyed about GPL violations is the same Slashdot who openly espouses theft of *other peoples* IP.

And that's the ultimate tragedy of vigilante justice - it's almost always represents the views of the 'men on white horses', not those of society.

The 'net is not quite the free-for-all that some believe. And this self-regulation, self-policing, self-examination that is already the norm, is proof of the responsibility and maturity of so many here who make the net what it is; a cool place now, and a thing of hope for the future.

It's almost utterly unregulated and unpoliced - except for very small corners. And virtually all of those small corners are intolerant of anything 'not them'. They aren't about freedom - they are about bigotry and isolationism.