Designer Arrested Over Anonymous Press Release

An anonymous reader writes "A Greek designer named Alex Tapanaris, whose name appeared on the PDF press release circulated by online trouble-makers Anonymous has had his web site disappeared and, according to reports, the unfortunate chap has been arrested. THINQ managed to talk to Alex on the phone, and while he wouldn't confirm his arrest, he 'certainly sounded spooked,' the web site reports. 'No comment,' he said and hung up. The press release sought to explain Anonymous's aims and lack of any formal organization. It explained that the Anonymous name is applied to a shifting roster of individuals who come together on an ad hoc basis, depending on individual concerns and practical, day-to-day matter such as who happens to be online at the time. Clicking on the document's properties revealed Tapanaris as its named author."

Comments

Re:Geniuses

[Anonymous Coward]

Attacking financial services, banks and government websites is probably the best idea in the world.

Yes, it is when you're anonymous. Nobody can stop us, nobody can find us. We won't make the same mistake again.
__
A Tapanaris

Focus on the Drama, not the important cables.

[notque]

The news media continues to focus on the drama surrounding Wikileaks and Anonymous instead of focusing on the cables.

How many US new organizations reported on the Cable from Tegucigalpa detailing that the Honduras Coup was illegitimate? This was a big news story, and an important situation in Honduras that has immediate impact on understanding the Obama administration.

It also shows that the Obama administration lied, and helped support the coup government by their actions.

So.. who is covering it? And compare that to another article on the drama surrounding it.

And that's just one cable. How many more will come out of great importance that everyone will ignore to instead focus on what Assange is doing.

It's not Assange or Anons fault, it's the News doing it. But this is their out.

This allows them to totally ignore the importance of the cables. And keep repeating that "nothing significant" is coming out.

What could possibly be the charge?

[Dr. Spork]

Is he charged with designing graphics? With sympathizing with an unsavory group? How the heck would that arrest warrant look? How is the creation of that document even something in the vicinity of a crime?

Re:What could possibly be the charge?

[Minwee]

How is the creation of that document even something in the vicinity of a crime?

He used the Comic Sans font.

Re:Geniuses

[puto]

Yes, because the Greeks are sooooooooooo calm. They set their own ministry of finance on fire today.

Re:And this is why...

[spun]

NOBODY expects the Business Software Alliance! Our chief weapon is surprise. Surprise and fear. Fear and surprise. Our two chief weapons are fear, surprise, and unlimited duration copyrights. Our THREE weapons are fear, surprise, unlimited duration copyrights, and employees who hate their bosses. Our FOUR, no... amongst our weapons... amongst our weaponry... are such elements... as fear, surprise... can I come in again?

Re:Proof Positive

[arivanov]

Especially considering the fact that Tapanaris means more or less "Thick as a Brick" in more than one language in countries neighbouring Greece to the north.

This smacks of a rather unintentional Bulgarian or Serbian practical joke. Whoever did it did not expect that there may be a real person whose name in Bulgarian or Serbian translates more or less as "Alex The Village Idiot". The most hilarious case of mistaken identity I have heard of for a long time (for everyone but the poor greek).

Re:script kiddies should stay away from fire

[dwarfsoft]

More mature hackers are avoiding it by getting the script kiddies to do the work for them...