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Griefers Assault Epileptics Via Message Board
An anonymous reader tips us to a story up at Wired reporting on what may be the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on victims. Last Saturday, griefers posted hundreds of bogus messages on the support forums of the nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation that used JavaScript and strobing GIFs to trigger migraines and seizures in users. For about 3% of the 50 million epileptics worldwide, flashing lights and colors can trigger seizures. "'I don't fall over and convulse, but it hurts,' says [an IT worker in Ohio]. 'I was on the phone when it happened, and I couldn't move and couldn't speak.' ... Circumstantial evidence suggests the attack was the work of members of Anonymous, an informal collective of griefers best known for their recent war on the Church of Scientology. The first flurry of posts on the epilepsy forum referenced the site EBaumsWorld, which is much hated by Anonymous. And forum members claim they found a message board thread — since deleted — planning the attack at 7chan.org, a group stronghold."
The members of Anonymous that did these hacks, if, in fact, that is who planned them, are likely not the same people protesting the Scientology organization.
One of the things about Anonymous that makes it different than most groups is that there are no real leaders and that, due to its very nature, nobody really knows anyone else in the group short of a few people that they might know outside the anonymous forums (this is because on a lot of the boards that Anon originated on, posters are forced to post anonymously, hence the name).
So it's really impossible to tell whether the people doing this are the same ones behind the masks at the protests.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
count on it.
Two particular L. Ron Hubbard quotes are especially instructive in this regard- And- Certainly makes you wonder...
Also, Epileptics need to build themselves a Firefox plugin that'll detect any harmful behaviour, and block it Adblock-style. As the tech progresses this plugin could even be integrated into special sunglasses....
"Be light, stinging, insolent and melancholy"
Why did they go through all that trouble? They could have simply redirected 'em to Myspace.
Newbie griefers pretending to by Anonymous are caught posting from IP addresses associated with Scientology.
Obviously 'Anonymous' did this, because the Church of Scientology is so moral as to never stoop to breaking the law and framing others to remove a detractor.
Just how they would never try to drive a critic to suicide or cause the death of one of their own due to denial of basic medical treatment.
Edward@Tomato - /home/Edward/ man woman
man: no entry for woman in the manual.
"Qua!?"
As an epileptic, I find this absolutely sickening. Although I have a very mild form that is not photosensitive, this is a terrible act. For some, seizures do have a small risk of sudden death. When I was first diagnosed, I found these and similar message boards to be an absolutely invaluable resource in finding comfort and support for what is an often incurable and sometimes still stigmatized disease. For me, these forums will never feel like the same safe haven that they used to be.
What signature defines me as a person?
Reminds me of the terrorist attack by the Panther Moderns on Sense/Net in Neuromancer
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
And so, the Scientology strategy of blaming their detractors through a blackbag job worked. They got you to believe this was by Anonymous.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
See Wikipedia for a pretty complete explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griefer
In a nutshell, it's someone that does a deliberately obnoxious or destructive thing to another person, simply for their own personal entertainment.
So, it's not exactly being used correctly. If it was done by Anonymous in response to a supposed threat, that was a premptive strike, not a griefing. If it wasn't anonymous, but simply someone that thought it would be funny, then griefing is a correct term for it.
I've already seen this sort of thing before. About six years ago Reuters had a series of flash based adverts for BMW that produced a swirling pattern on the screen. This advert produced an epileptic fit in one of our users and when I sent an emergency email to Reuters the adverts were pulled.
For someone to do this on purpose is kinda sick.
Ganty
And I am supposed to believe that this is Anonymous branching out from their protest against Scientology, and not some asshat member of Scientology trying to give Anonymous a bad name because...?
Anonymous has a beef with Scientology, and that is the sole extent of their agenda to date, so there is absolutely no reason for them to suddenly decide to launch an attack against epileptics. On the other hand there is every reason for Scientology to try and smear Anonymous in order to gain a more sympathetic ear in any future court actions against Anonymous. Given the track record Scientology has with the use of smear campaigns against people and organisations that try to stand up to them, I'd say it's pretty obvious what's really going on here.
Oh, and expect incoming pro-Scientology astroturfers in 3... 2... 1...
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
More like Snow Crash, or even better: the short story BLIT by David Langford. This story immediately brought BLIT back to mind.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
In other words, I do believe they would do something like you are suggesting.
I also would expect another phone call from them tomorrow for this post :~(
Careful What You Wish For....
It's not even new. I remember a virus in about the mid 90s that would attempt to cause the victim to have a seizure in the same manner. Also there was some Japanese cartoon that accidentally caused seizures in som watchers and it was popular for a while for people to post clips of the offending scenes on their websites. Not much a hack.
I am surprised that sufferers of this condition can't get filtering software for their computer though that analyzes what is happening on the screen and blacks out, or otherwise makes safe, dangerous content. Looking for strobes should be a fairly easy thing. Hell, I'd be surprised if a lot of ad banners don't cause seizures.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
I have a relative in the Fire Alarm business and he tells me about the restrictions on strobe lights on long corridors, they have to flash simultaneously because the random flashes could cause a seizure during a fire. I thought, "wow, that's right. I wonder if they actualy thought about it before hand, or if they wrote the regulation based on a real incident."
Anyway, having that on my mind, I was looking at some of the more garish web sites and thought to myself, "I wonder if someone would construct a site that could trigger an epileptic seizure. Well, now we know.
As for "Anonymous" be the same anti-scientology "Anonymous," I would bet with 99% confidence that if there is such an accusation, it is scientology that did it. We know "why" anonymous is going after scientology, whether you agree or disagree, they have a cause. The epilepsy incident has nothing to do with that cause, and furthermore undermines it. It only makes sense that since it undermines the cause of "anonymous," it was likely done by scientology since they are the ones with the actual motive.
Maybe this is how Anon rolls on 7chan, but the Anon of 4chan simply does not work like this. Perhaps someone encouraged them, but usually such an idea would be met with accusations of using /b/ as a personal army. The raids I have seen always target pornographic webcams, racist radio shows, or rival internet groups such as Gaia. Anon may laugh at harm that happens on others, but they aren't actually malicious when it comes to their own actions. It is more their style to troll a dyslexia forum with garbled paragraphs. I suppose this could be the doing of a minority of truly evil people who take advantage of the anonymity, but this just seems too convenient of timing. I believe the Co$ is to blame for this.
Is that true?
Not the actual "attack" itself, of course. But immediately, someone mentioned "anonymous" and everyone knew who they were, that they had a beef with scientology, and that scientology was possibly behind it to discredit them.
This shows that scientology is losing the PR war. They are completely out of their league when they can't actually identify and personally harass their detractors.
For linux tips: http://www.linuxtipsblog.com
with Firefox open about:config search for image_animation_mode and set to none
with Seamonkey in preferences > Privacy & Security > Images select Never to Animated images should loop...
not sure about Opera as i don't have it currently installed, and as far as Internet Explorer i have no clue since i do not have or use windows...
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Obviously you were just in the wrong newsgroups.
Er, how about this: people who run websites need to be competent at it.
Many forum software packages have the ability to selectively or globally disable the upload animated GIFs. Given that they're forums for suffers of epilepsy, you'd think it'd be fairly high up on the list given that photosensitivity is a well-known symptom.
Similarly, a sticky forum post on "How to avoid a seizure when browsing the web" would be helpful. Links to Firefox plug-ins, and the like.
Next thing you know, someone claiming to be part of Anonymous will be posting pictures of pizza on weightwatchers forums, and pictures of beer on the AA forums.
Man, I thought I was 1337, but it seems those days are gone. Great, now what am I going to do when my dad finds out I don't understand the internet anymore?
To disable animation in Opera you go to Tools > Quick Preferences > uncheck "Enable GOF/SVG Animation"
The media never could grasp the correct usage of hackers (hackers versus crackers
Ok, that battle was lost literally 20 years ago, give it the hell up already. Seriously, you're only deluding yourself on this one.
hackers versus script kiddies
I've always assumed that script kiddies are a type of hacker who use only code/exploits written by other people instead of writing their own.
and confusing Anonymous for hackers isn't likely to help.
Yes, well, if they're going to be a group, maybe they should get a name that isn't completely moronic.
Comment of the year
boards for epileptic support shouldn't be written with javascript and image upload ability in the first place? Just a thought.
I almost bitchslapped you down as Overrated but decided to reply instead. Those boards are using standard PHP BBS packages off the shelf. They're already pretty buggy; on the EFA you keep getting immediately logged out, you keep losing posts, etc. Surprisingly epileptics don't tend to be experts at putting together crackerjack bulletin boards secure from unconventional cyberattacks that nobody anticipates, like asshats uploading strobe light movies. I guess they have to shut down their mailing lists, too, in case a Scientologist uploads an attachment.
Most of the seizure-induced hallucinations I get while staring at a computer screen happen when I'm using Eclipse. Blocks of code start disappearing into blind spots or they fly across the screen but somehow remain at their home positions. It's actually kind of annoying because I know I have 20 minutes to check the shit in. Although it's visually-related epilepsy, it doesn't seem to be photosensitive so a trick like this probably wouldn't work. It's more shocking and insulting than anything. But one thing I will say about epilepsy is that you have to put up with a surprising amount of shit from people.
Hello, Slashdot. We are Anonymous.
.info with the most horrendous filth porn and human gore imagery to be found online.
Anonymous, peacefully campaigning against the Church of Scientology, condemn this attack.
There is also little doubt that those who would attack a site such as this, and unprovoked, are the same 'Unnamed People' who covered the anti-Church of Scientology Campaign wiki page, Projecct Chanology on partyvan
It is possible that these were both orchestrated by anti-moralist members of 'the chans', but it is also not impossible that the 'Church's' online operatives managed to instigate this unprecedented attack to discredit the peaceful protesters.
Perhaps 'the chans' do not realize they are being manipulated.
Sadly anonymity is a catch all, literally anyone can and will say "I am Anonymous", even The Church of Scientology is "Anonymous" when they connect to public FTPs. You can not have the security of anonymity both inside and out, without the problems of defending against anonymous insurgents, just ask Wikileaks.
Condolences to any harmed.
This attack, as any violent attack, is condemned by Anonymous.
Though the 'Church' will push this at every opportunity, it will feed their policy of ad hominem attack. It does not in any way negate the crimes of the 'Church', they cannot hide behind another.
We will legally fight the corrupt pyramid scheme organization that is the Church of Scientology regardless.
Knowledge is free.
We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.
Yup, and in fact the stupid London 2012 olympics logo trailer could trigger epilepsy and had to be removed from the web site. The fact that it is uniquely offensive in its own right without being combined into a mind-wrenching flashing animation makes the whole thing even worse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag
The cult is doing this to make Anonymous look bad.
I used to be a Scientologist, and I can tell you based on first hand experience that this is EXACTLY what the cult would do.
This is not the work of those who fight and oppose the cult of Scientology.
The cult has already taken to creating fake videos and messages that appear to be from Anonymous and that contain threats of violence against the cult itself. This latest stunt is simply the next step in their campaign of demonizing Anonymous.
The problem with Anonymous is that anyone can pretend to be part of the group. While they are highly resistant to efforts by the cult to target them as individuals, they are vulnerable to false-flag tactics such as this one.
This is not the first time the cult has done this. Back in the 70's they targeted a woman for writing a book that revealed the evil nature of the cult. The cult responded by forging evidence linking her to a fake bomb threat, among other things:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Freakout
She was facing a long prison sentence until the FBI accidentally discovered that the cult had set her up while conducting another investigation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White
Scientology is evil. It is something that most people who have never dealt with the cult have a hard time understanding or believing. To describe the nature of this cult to someone who is unfamiliar with it is very difficult because polite society lacks the terms needed to accurately convey the depth of evil found within this organization. It is also difficult because an accurate description defies belief. Most people are unable to contemplate something so evil actually existing in the real world.
But scientology is that bad, and it is real. Its victims are a multitude and its crimes are horrific.
But don't take my word for it, read up on it yourself:
http://www.xenu.net/
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/
Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
you are the 4th or 5th person with a low post count asserting that Scientology could not possibly have done this and that they aren't afraid of anonymous.
a pattern emerges
the pattern says go back to clearwater
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
I don't feel guilt. I understand why I should, but...
Don't fret about it. Guilt is no more than a built-in pro-active self-preservation thing. It's an internal warning bell that lets you know that when your civilized neighbors catch up with you, they're going to beat the shit out of you, or maybe even kill you. Don't worry about ignoring it, it's not there for anyone else's benefit.
It is scary, real, and a major force on the rise.
The proper way to say this is:
"They LAUGHED at me when I was [born deformed/dismissed from my university post/lost the vote 434,555 to 1], but soon, when my [super Internet weapon/fiendish subversive plot/giant mutated killer penis clone] is finished, THEY'LL BE SORRY!!"
OK, it sounds like "anonymous" is just a really poor spelling of "asshole".
Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
Akin to the nigger race maybe..
More akin to the racist brand of Anonymous Coward.
Agree with parent. The whole point of being anonymous is that people don't know who you are. Now, one or more persons might specifically take on the pseudonym "Anonymous" (capitalized), but then that would only be applicable within a very specific context, and certainly it would be silly to say, "But *I'm* the *real* Anonymous!" Imagine a conversation like this:
A: "Someone suggested that taxes be raised. I didn't know who it was."
B: "Really? Someone whom I didn't know had suggested that taxes be lowered. Boy, this person that we don't know sure has trouble making up his mind!"
(Yes, I know that "anonymi" is not the correct plural. Yes, I know that "anonymous" is not spelled "anonymus". If the plural of "mouse" is "mice", perhaps the plural of "anonymous" is "anonymic"?)
404555974007725459910684486621289147856453481154 in hex is "You sank my Battleship?"
[GPG key in journal]
Yeah, screw the 240 million websites that use Javascript every day without causing seizures! We should throw them all out the window immediately because of this one offense! Also, I think C++ was used to write a virus once, so let's destroy all C++ compilers and programs! Help us make the world safe again, Dogun!
Comment of the year
To disable animation in lynx you go to ... uh... carry on.
File: 120624198932.jpg-(7.37KB, 196x200, 3doitfaggot1frtbwrsgbds.jpg)
//-->
/r/ sticky ;_;
//-->
MIEN EYES Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:13 No. 2501134
Epeleptic forum raid..
1) Make account. 2) Spam flashing gifs, party hard etc. 3) Troll the userbase. 4) ??? 5)PROFIT!! CURRENT TARGET:http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/efforums/forum/
Precious Javascript Weapon:
window.location = "http://gilf.co.nr/myeyes"
ALWAYS WEAR A CONDOM!
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:14 No. 2501142 | this has potential for lulz and win.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:16 No. 2501165 | anon armed and ready.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:22 No. 2501208 | First good fucking idea I've seen in days. I'll be right over there once I'm done fapping on my bosses desk.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:23 No. 2501214 | Good principal, probably won't work in practice.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:23 No. 2501217 | this is relevant to my interests
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:25 No. 2501231 | Wait, their forums support Javascript? That means...they support HTML? FUCK this will be too easy
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:30 No. 2501289 | Haha. Holy fucking shit. I wrote that code...fuck that, Anonymous wrote that code. For Anon By Anon. The Javascript is a nice touch...I'ma go flood that shit now.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:32 No. 2501296 | >>2501134 }} oh wow, thats gotta be the best idea ive ever heard, well done.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:36 No. 2501322 | File: 120624335935.jpg-(67.39KB, 850x719, FreeInternet.jpg) By the time I got there, you have all already filled it with seizurebait. GOOD FUCKING JOB, ANONS, WELL PLAYED.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:37 No. 2501337 | I laughed really hard.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:38 No. 2501346 } someone get a cookie stealing script and post it on a legit thread, then hack the whole thing, give it epic flashing index.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:38 No. 2501352 | File: 120624350150.jpg-(32.28KB, 1138x48, 1206240592977.jpg) >> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:39 No. 2501360 | >>2501352 }} lol'd
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:39 No. 2501366 |
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:42 No. 2501388 | File: 120624374380.jpg-(5.90KB, 1030x41, epilepsy.jpg) also, requesting sticky
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:42 No. 2501395 | >>2501352 }} I fuckin lol'd hard
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:43 No. 2501400 | This is evil
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:43 No. 2501403 | OH GOD HOW DID I GET HERE IM NOT GOOD WITH COMPUTER
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:44 No. 2501409 | >>2501134 }} Hi I'm going to hijack your thread nao. Where did the Do It spider expert originally come from? Sadly despite months of lurking moar I have yet to figure out where I've seen this bitch before.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:44 No. 2501412 | The name pedrobear made me lol. +1 internet to whoever that is
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:44 No. 2501413 | this isn't funny my brother did that way. Also, sticky this, plox.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:44 No. 2501418 | >>2501413 }} died* I fail.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:47 No. 2501435 | I haert u so hard anon lol.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:47 No. 2501436 |
window.location = "http://www.hey.doyouhaveepilepsy.com/"
Even better script
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:47 No. 2501438 | Ah god, I love you evil bastards.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:48 No. 2501450 | Is somebody DDoSing it too, cause it's getting slow as fuck
Ooookay, anyone getting a "Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex" vibe from this whole thread? Seriously, if you were all in a virtual-reality chat room instead of /. this would be the Laughing Man discussion down to a T...
Meta will eat itself
Background: I'm not a WoW player or an FPS player. I generally don't play online games against other people, and I avoid forums set up in a way that encourages casual trolling. I got excellent scores on the verbal sections of the SAT and GRE :-)
I like the words "griefer" and "griefing" and would not hesitate to use them in conversation. They are not redundant with other words that are already in my vocabulary. I know other words like "jerk" and "asshole" and "sadist," but they're a bit different. "Sadist" is similar to "griefer," but even "sadist" describes a person's character more than his actions.
To me, "griefing" suggests something open, superficial, and habitual, while "sadism" suggests something profound that may be entirely hidden. A griefer might leave a broken bottle on an old man's back porch and laugh about it, but would probably feel sick if he saw an old man crying with glass stuck in his feet. A sadist wouldn't bother leaving the bottle if he couldn't watch.
Griefers wish they were sadists, but they aren't. Thus, they must take an industrial approach rather than a hedonistic one -- "How much pain have I caused?" instead of "How much pain have I enjoyed?" The internet is a perfect place for griefing, because you can gloat about a person's suffering without experiencing the empathic response that a real, live, suffering human being might provoke.