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Anonymous Speaks About Australian Gov't. Attacks

Posted by kdawson on from the not-a-spokesman-mind dept.

daria42 writes "The loose-knit collective of individuals known as 'Anonymous' has broken its silence about the distributed denial of service attacks on the Australian government. An individual (who insisted he or she is not a spokesperson for the group) said the attacks were more effective at stopping the government's Internet filtering project than signing a petition, and that the attacks could go on for months." The site where some members of Anonymous are said to hang out, 4chan, got a visibility boost yesterday when its founder moot spoke at the TED conference.

12 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've never heard of this site, "fourchan". It seems like its a pretty cool activist site. Can someone tell me more about it? I'd go there, but my ISP is blocking it :(

  2. Anonymous isn;t really a group by 91degrees · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's more of an activity. Possibly a culture. It certainly doesn't have anyone who speaks for the group as a whole.

  3. Anonymous to Australian Government: by PingSpike · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pool's Closed.

  4. Good Gravy by Mr.+DOS · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...(who insisted he or she is not a spokesperson for the group)...

    ...because the “group” does not have a spokesperson. Remember the “loose-knit” thing?

    The site where some members of Anonymous are said to hang out, 4chan...

    Yeah, let me know when you see Anonymous on there. They're totally a bunch of black shadowy figures hanging out in /b/. Also, last time I checked, this was 4chan rule #4:

    The posting of personal information or calls to invasion is prohibited.

    4chan has a reputation for being a launchpad for this sort of thing, but it's not, at least, not any more. Go blame IRC, go blame any of the dozen clone boards, but it's not 4chan now.

          --- Mr. DOS

    1. Re:Good Gravy by stonewallred · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ebaum's world is where all this stuff blamed on 4chan comes from. It is all Ebaum's World fault. And Gaia.

  5. Re:Impossible! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wooosh.

    There aren't any spokespeople for anonymous, because there isn't any structure to the group. By definition, everyone in it is a "nobody." That's kind of the point.

  6. Anonymous Users vs Anonymous Government by Herkum01 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is an appropriate response to a figurehead politician making these rules, because it is a bunch of anonymous peons that are implementing them. The peons hide behind the facade of a government which they don't have to take responsibility for their actions.

    Governments love when an individual speaks out, because they can release a bureaucratic horde of government employees to crush them. An individual who cannot be expected to address numerous rules, regulations and pressures a government can bring against them.

    So Anonymous vs the government, as far as I am concerned is a fair fight.

  7. Inconsistency. by ladadadada · · Score: 4, Informative

    Summary says:

    "An individual (who insisted he or she is not a spokesperson for the group) said..."

    TFA says exactly the opposite:

    "...received a reply from an individual claiming to be a spokesperson."

    Authenticity of said spokesperson: YMMV.

    --
    Sig matters not. Judge me by my sig, do you?
  8. Re:Impossible! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hello, I am a middle aged man but in it for the CP.

  9. Re:How isn't this a form of terrorism? by FredFredrickson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    DDOS is civil disobedience. They're just loading a site a bunch of times, making the site useless. It's no scarier than protesters having a sit-in, making the area they occupy useless. In fact, it's very similar.

    --
    Belief? Hope? Preference?The Existential Vortex
  10. Re:Impossible! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Except "Anonymous" is the bastard hybrid of a punch of bored 14 year old script kiddies

    Wrong, because this would be a blatant violation of 4chan rules:

    If you are under the age of 18, or it is illegal for you to view the materials contained on this website, discontinue browsing immediately.

    So it is obvious that 14 year olds (along with people from Australia and Iran) are not allowed to access 4chan because of the rules.

    Ref: 4chan roolz!

  11. Re:We Are Anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is a reference to the demon Legion in the bible.

    It has never had this meaning.

    You're both right. It is the same meaning. The biblical story was written around 20-30 AD, during the time of the Roman (You know, the guys who nailed Jesus to a tree) Empire.

    Here's (one of the variations) on the Biblical story of Legion:

    Loosely translated from KJVspeak to modern English: Once upon a time, there was a guy who was apeshit crazy because he was posessed. Jesus said "Yo, Demon! Who the hell are you?" The demon said "My name is Legion: for we are many." Sorta like a Borg collective. Jesus said "GTFO". The /b/tards said "Like, where?" Jesus said "There's so many of you, how 'bout that herd of 2000 pigs over there?" Legion said "good enough for me", and 2000 pigs ran into the sea like a bunch of crazed /b/tards. LOL!

    2000 units. Right about the size of "a division of the Roman army, usually comprising 3000 to 6000 soldiers", or, a Legion.

    They're an army, but they're nobody's personal army. They're a Roman legion's worth of individuals doing crazy shit, in unison, and it doesn't take much to set them running off in an unpredictable (even self-destructive) direction. Call them Legion, for they are many.

    The argument about whether the reference is to the Roman military or the Biblical fable is (heh) moot; it's the same concept.