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Public Face of Anonymous Leaves Group

Gunkerty Jeb writes "Barrett Brown, the reporter who became a media-friendly spokesperson for the shadowy hacking group Anonymous, says that he is quitting the group in the wake of a public feud that has broken out between different hacker factions within the loosely organized collective."

32 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. Someone is encouraging the dissension by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Pardon me as I break my tin-foil hat out here. But there are a lot of government agencies and companies who have a vested interest in seeing Anon fall to pieces. The timing on this is almost as convenient as Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Julian Assange being arrested for sexual assault (the former right after he pulled decisively ahead of pro-American Nicolas Sarkozy in the polls and the later just weeks after he released a series of secret documents that embarrassed the U.S.). But then, I've always said that pedophilia and sexual assault charges are the quickest way to discredit someone publicly--way better than anything as crude as assassination.

    Don't get me wrong, here. I'm not the kind of guy who thinks the moon landings were faked or that the U.S. planned 9-11 or any of that horseshit. But sometimes the timing on certain events just strikes me as a little too convenient for mere coincidence. And as was done with Wikileaks, the first step in a descrediting campaign is to encourage dissension from within and to get some internal plants/buy-offs to publicly bad-mouth the leadership (Daniel Domscheit-Berg, I'm looking in your direction, little plant). Just don't be suprised to see some Anon leaders suddenly facing rape/pedophilia/sexual assault charges in the near future. You'll know for sure if beautiful women suddenly start throwing themselves at 4channers in public.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by elrous0 · · Score: 2

      Anon won't fall to pieces: they're like a hydra

      You're probably right. But that won't stop interested parties from trying.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    2. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by idontgno · · Score: 4, Funny

      You'll know for sure if beautiful women suddenly start throwing themselves at 4channers in public.

      That's not a sign of a covert government action; that's a sign of the Apocalypse.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
    3. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Insightful

      it's the boy who cried wolf syndrome: conspiracy theory is such a favorite currency of the low iq and not quite mentally sound crowd, that if an actual real conspiracy theory happens, no one will believe it

      the effect of all the low iq and mentally deficient wack jobs constantly running around and crying wolf on conspiracies is to basically ensure that any rational and realistic consideration of an actual conspiracy theory is discounted up front

      all those constantly babbling about conspiracy theories actually help conspiracy theories succeed, because they hide the tiny signals in a fountain of noise

      i frequently laugh at and pour derision on conspiracy theory crack pots. however, i readily admit conspiracy theories are real. its just that they are exceedingly rare because they are so hard to pull off in airtight secrecy. but the dumber you are or the more mentally deranged you are, the more they seem likely, because your fear/ paranoia/ schizophrenia or dim perceptive abilities are unable to see just how incredibly hard an actual conspiracy theory is to actually pull off. how many ways it can fail, and continue to fail, long after the fact. how long has it been from the kennedy assassination. no one, NO ONE, the vast conspiracy has issued a peep about it, even accidentally? no one is still interested? come on! a lone asshole shot kennedy, not some mafia/ cia/ cuban/ whatever plot. occam's razor, my deluded friends, occam's razor

      but conspiracy theories do have value in this world: entertainment. they are a frequent part of hollywood movies, because, like alien invasions or superheroes, they tickle our fancy. even though we know such things are impossible (well, those of us who are mentally sound realize superheros, aliens, and overarching vast conspiracies by secret black ops agencies are impossible)

      please note conspiracy theory proponents: all the noise you dingbats constantly make about conspiracy theories, help to hide the actual real rare ones. not that that fact is going to change your behavior. because you're stupid and/ or deranged. but carry on, i need to laugh. yes, i know: the chemtrails from the government airplanes and the fluoridated water has completely turned me into a sheep. (giggle)

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    4. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by zill · · Score: 5, Funny

      Anonymous Coward writes:

      It's the same as al-Qaeda. Killing bin Laden will not do much.

      Breaking news
      A member of the hacktivist group Anonymous has just announced that their organizational hierarchy is identical to that of al-Qaeda's, thus proving the suspicion that both terrorist groups are related and have been working together. The leaders of the two group could not be reached for comments.

    5. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by LWATCDR · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or they are a bunch of delusional thugs and the delusion is falling apart in the cold light of reality. It has to be big business and the government that wants to see anon fail?
      Fail at what? Being mindless jerks that take there revenge on anybody the feel they can? Like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group)#Epilepsy_Foundation_forum_invasion
      and
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group)#No_Cussing_Club

      The attack on Sony is just the latest example. Anon was at it's best a gang of relatively harmless jerks. Now they are just dangerous jerks with delusions that they have a right to be judge, jury, and executioner.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    6. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by westlake · · Score: 2

      The timing on this is almost as convenient as Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Julian Assange being arrested for sexual assault (the former right after he pulled decisively ahead of pro-American Nicolas Sarkozy in the polls...

      When did Strauss-Kahn arrive in New York and how many people would know where he would be staying?

      To make this work, you would need to know quite a lot about the organization, staffing and routine of the hotel.

      The plan demands the successful bribery or coercion of a credible victim - in this case a veteran chamber maid with a nine year old daughter.

      You have one chance to get this right or the next time you meet she will be wearing a wire.

      It demands stagng the "assault" in a way that will convice the SVU - which is probably every bit as good as its fictional counterpart.

      The FBI and anyone else likely to be drawn into a case involving a high-profie foreign diplomat.

    7. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by AJH16 · · Score: 4, Funny

      So what you are saying is that the 9/11 truth movement and moon landing hoax conspiracies were really started by the government so they could get away with real conspiracies without anybody noticing? ;)

      --
      AJ Henderson
    8. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by Inner_Child · · Score: 2

      That's not a sign of a covert government action; that's a sign of the Apocalypse.

      So... Saturday?

      --
      Today is red jello day - all workers must eat all of their red jello. Failure to comply will result in five demerits.
    9. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The French Socialist Party gets its best shot in 22 years of winning the Presidency and overthrowing a strongly pro-American regime. But a year before the election, their leading candidate, a guy with no criminal record in his 62 years who is leading by double digits in all the polls, suddenly decides to rape a maid in New York. That's quite a convenient coincidence for the United States and their friend Nicolas Sarkozy, no? That's right up their in convenience with Julian Assange deciding to become a serial rapist just a few weeks after leaking troves of secret U.S. State Department and Pentagon documents.

      Isn't it nice when all your enemies decide to become rapists after they cross you?

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    10. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      OBL had no skill set. His only value was his assets which were largely frozen within a month of the Sept 11th attacks. This the reason Bush's butt wasn't on fire about capturing OBL when asked about it in 2002... OBL, without his assets, was nothing more than a token member of Al Qaeda. Too bad most people don't see him for what he was.
       
      And this isn't to take away from the recent killing of OBL. He still needed to go but he wasn't a significant threat once the groundwar started in Afganistan. If anything his best value would have been as a suicide bomber, a job normally reserved for unskilled jihadists.

    11. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Dude, the CIA OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED doing this shit! It's not like it's a censored secret!

      The problem is with how brainwashed the US population are. Including many here at Slashdot.
      You could tell them straight to their faces, that now they are being raped, insert your cock all the way, fuck around until it rips apart and they bleed, and they'd still form those fake-two-sides of the story:
      A. "Those fuckin' fearmongers and lie-spreading anti-Americans who try to denounce our heroes!"
      B. "Pardon me as I break my tin-foil hat out here. But the timing is almost too convenient. Don't hit me, for daring to even dream about thinking there might be a rape going on here."

      NOBODY seems to ACTUALLY take on a opposing side. As if it were China, where that is banned. Just that nobody forced them. Which makes it even worse, as it means they actually believe it!

      It's plainly obvious, that this is going on here: http://www.zpub.com/un/chomsky.html

    12. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Overthrowing a strongly pro-American regime? Wow, you really don't know Sarkozy or the French very much. He's strongly pro-American only in the context of French foreign politics since de Gaulle, who was almost obsessed with throwing a wrench into American plans in Europe. Sarkozy likes America, but he also likes rich friends who host him during his vacations. The two go hand in hand for him.

      As for DSK, he's apparently had a history of treating women in a less than gentlemanly fashion. The reason that DSK is the Socialists' best hope is because the others are intellectual lightweights (Segolene Royal, ugh) with no achievements to show for from a political perspective.

      --
      Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
    13. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Having them break up into smaller pieces is a good thing. Because you now have a bunch of small groups with limited resources, and more diverse motive. So there will be more smaller attacks which may more easily be thwarted. Vs. a large organization who can do more tactile large scale attacks.
      These people are criminals. The fact that they are using computers to do their crimes doesn't excuse them. It is the same as breaking into a building. They are using "Oh we are protesting" nonsense to try to justify them acting as a criminal, the same way a bank robber justifies robbing the bank stating that the bank is just an evil organization and the money they steal will be covered by FDIC.

      OMG a Video Game System (not even the most popular one) has dropped OS Support, This is worth an attack on a company? Seriously? Out of all the unjust things in the world to fight about this is the best you can do and put your resources on? Whats next Hack Wendy's because you don't like the taste of their new fries?

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    14. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by Aceticon · · Score: 2

      All you need to maintain a proper conspiracy is that the number of those in it is small, that most participants know who the other participants are (and thus can enact reprisals for blowing the whistle) and that it's in the best interest of all participants to keep quiet about it (maybe because of the intensity of possible reprisals).

      This is why government conspiracies are such a popular theory (and probably also popular in practice), since governments do have the strongest power to silence and punish whistleblowers.

      In addition to this, it also helps if the nature of what is being hidden by the conspiracy is so outrageous that if somebody does blow the whistle on it, they can be made to look like nut-cases, creating the interesting paradigm that it should be easier to maintain a conspiracy around a set of events that looks highly unlikelly than it is to do so around a set of events that looks like just a variant of common occurrence.

    15. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 2

      The tragedy is that the French Socialist Party was willing to put up with someone who's a rapist - with one Socialist leader telling her own daughter not to report a sexual assault by home - in order to have a stronger candidate against Sarkozy. If this came from nowhere, you'd have a point, but the warning signs about this guy were all over the place.

    16. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Informative

      You know, I bet if Martin Luther King had went on a talk show back in the 60's and alleged that the FBI was spying on him, attempting to infiltrate and discredit the SCLC, and sending letters to his wife alleging affairs--everyone else on that talk show would have laughed and called him a paranoid conspiracy theorist.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    17. Re:Someone is encouraging the dissension by Maltheus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      how long has it been from the kennedy assassination. no one, NO ONE, the vast conspiracy has issued a peep about it, even accidentally?

      Actually, E. Howard Hunt, one of the engineers of the Watergate break-in, audio recorded a confession on his death bed to his son. He also implicated Cord Meyer, Frank Sturgis, David SÃnchez Morales, William King Harvey, a French gunman who worked for the Mafia, and Lyndon B. Johnson. He could have made it up, I suppose, but he's hardly some crackpot. He's someone who would have been in a position to carry it out. And since it was a deathbed confession, there was no glory to be hounded.

      But you're right. Nobody cares or this would have been a much bigger story. People have been conditioned to blindly reject anything that might even hint of a conspiracy theory.

  2. woot by Osgeld · · Score: 5, Funny

    drama from something that doesn't even exist, ladies and gentlemen we have hit web 3.0

  3. it used to be fun by aahpandasrun · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm so sick of Anonymous taking itself so seriously. It used to be about raiding barbie message boards, annoying habbo hotel players, and prank calling Tom Green. Even the recent project forever alone, getting guys on okcupid to unsuspectingly meet at a pay phone in times square is what Anonymous was always about. Not this stupid hacker / legion bullshit. It's stupid.

    1. Re:it used to be fun by PhilHibbs · · Score: 2

      It's like the plot to Fight Club, isn't it? You like the fighting, but not Project Mayhem.

    2. Re:it used to be fun by PhilHibbs · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm not sure what a "newfag" is, but I agree, there's been a lot of people spouting stuff like "Anyone can be Anonymous", "how can anyone deny it was Anonymous, when Anonymous is my cat", etc. recently, clearly they don't know anything about Anonymous.

  4. The real reason why he left by simoncpu+was+here · · Score: 4, Funny

    Barrett Brown can't Triforce.

  5. Isn't "the public face of Anonymous"... by futonrevolutionary · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...an oxymoron?

    1. Re:Isn't "the public face of Anonymous"... by Random2 · · Score: 2

      Prime example: The president of the US. Compare how often you hear about 'the Bush/Obama/Regan administration' versus the names of the people who actually did the work, like Jacob Lew, Arthur Laffer, John Roberts, etc. It's far more convenient to brand one person/few people as the label for a group, and then force them to 'take responsibility' for the organization, whether or not they even know of the events.

      --
      "Our goal each year should be to increase the number of goals we set for ourselves!"
  6. Maybe Anonymousnwill go back to being anonymous? by mkraft · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Maybe Anonymous will go back to it's roots instead of having "leaders" and "spokespeople".

    Hmm, maybe I should have posted anonymously. :)

  7. Isn't the public face of Anonymous... by digitaldc · · Score: 2

    ...a Guido 'Guy' Fawkes mask?

    I didn't know that something called 'Anonymous' could have something called 'public' - seems nonsensical.

    --
    He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
  8. Re:Loosely organized? by pspahn · · Score: 2

    I would have chosen "Poorly Unorganized".

    --
    Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
  9. Re:Post Group Organization??? by LWATCDR · · Score: 2

    Welcome to the myth of Anonymous.
    Anonymous didn't take personal data from the Sony Network. Anonymous has no members so just because some people that say they are members of Anonymous did the attack you can not say Anonymous did it.
    Followed by.
    Anonymous fights for internet freedom!

    sigh....

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  10. No such thing... by HotTuna · · Score: 2

    First of all, if there is such a thing as "Anonymous" then this guy left it the minute he identified himself. Second, 10 minutes on 4chan should be enough to convince anyone that /b/tards can't organize their way out of a paper bag. Third, ponies.

  11. When did Anonymous (i.e. 4chan) become heroic?!? by LordRobin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Those of us who have know of 4chan for 10+ years can't help but be a little perplexed at this transformation of Anonymous into "Hacking Heroes of the People". For as long as I remember, Anonymous, or as they used to call themselves, "/b/tards", were more known for pulling elaborate Internet trolls, vandalizing web pages, and basically creating chaos just "for the lulz". Far from being heroic, these people could be a nightmare. Get the wrong kind of attention from the Anonymous horde, and find your personal information posted all over the web.

    Then they chose a few targets who everybody agreed deserved it: white supremacists, Scientology, arrogant corporations. Suddenly the media decides they're heroes and everyone just eats it up.

    Sorry, I don't buy it. This is the same group that popularized the phrase "TITS OR GTFO", who created Pedobear. I don't buy that these people have suddenly grown Hearts of Pure Good. In their heart, they still get off on creating chaos for fun, and eventually they'll go back to it. Some 4channers will web-harass some teenage girl who made an ass of herself on the Internet (as already happened once), or do something else morally reprehensible, and will use the Anonymous banner because why not? Then the media's collective head will explode as they try to understand why their wonderful Internet Bandit Heroes have turned bad.

    ------RM

  12. Anonymous is the mob, it has leaders but denies it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The mob claims not to exist. They claim to be legitimate businessmen. They claim to have no hierarchy, structure, or internal planning.

    Those are all lies.

    Anonymous is an on-line gang. It has leaders, structure, goals. It denies them all because if it didn't, it would be obvious it was a gang and it would be subject to increased scrutiny and prosecution under RICO statutes.

    As the on-line world becomes darker and darker, people who use the Internet will flock to gangs, just as minority children do in inner cities. Gangs offer them protection and meaning in a chaotic, dangerous world. Gangs lure them in with women, drugs, and attention. Anonymous lures them in with pornography and jokes and gives them a place where they can be as racist and sexist as they want to be.

    However, like everything else in the world, ultimately it comes down to money. Someone is funding Anonymous. Someone is protecting them from the government (really, if a Japanese gang attacked one of America's biggest corporations, do you think the US might press Japan to go after them?).

    Who? Why, the US government, of course. Anonymous is a government-funded, government-protected para-cyber-military organization for engaging in false flag attacks against foreign corporations and foreign governments. Because of the outrageous behavior of Anonymous, the government has plausible deniability regarding their connection; in fact, the mere idea of the US utilizing anime and meme-obsessed "newfags" for false flag hacking operations against, say, Iran, sounds ludicrous. And indeed it should, because members who are attacking Iran are not posting memes and child pornography. They have very little to do with those members. Those members are the smokescreen. Their attacks against, for example, Second Life, were merely screening exercises afforded to a group of malcontent white metrosexual men to build an army of followers.

    You might respond "What about Scientology?" Do you think the US government cares about Scientologists? That was a clear effort to define Anonymous as "outlaws."

    And "What about Wikileaks?" Yes, what about Wikileaks? After all, do you think the US government is really scared of Wikileaks? Aside from Manning, who clearly violated his responsibilities in the military, has the US targeted any members of Wikileaks? The database Manning "compromised" was likely compromised dozens of times by foreign powers. No effort was made to keep it secure. And the data released by Manning? It merely supports the notion that the US did not attack civilians in Iraq. Almost all of the embarrassing information "leaked" by Wikileaks was detrimental to other powers, not the US. The US came off as, mostly, clean.

    The US isn't afraid of Wikileaks. Why should it? Do you think Wikileaks has the power of the Soviet Union's intelligence agencies at the height of the Cold War? Chinese intelligence agencies? British? Japanese? German?

    If the US is prepared to defend its intelligence against those powers, Wikileaks can pose no threat. Period. "But what about all the people in the US government calling for Assange's head?" Like, who? Palin? She's a private citizen. Huckabee? Another private citizen. There have been no attempts by the US to even charge Assange for conspiracy in the Manning leak. Zero. Why? Wikileaks is absolutely no threat.

    And since Wikileaks is absolutely no threat to US businesses or government interests, it can be seen as an asset. Yet another para-cyber-military organization for the sole purpose of revealing "leaked" information regarding powers that we want denigrated.

    Wikileaks + Anonymous = the perfect tool for going after weaker regimes and organizations with absolutely no egg on the face of the United States government.

    No, this isn't a conspiracy theory. I don't claim the government started either organization, but only that they found them useful and likely have moles inside them helping steer them the way they want.