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Building a Better 'Anonymous?'
An anonymous reader writes "A hacktivism panel at the DefCon hacker convention was conspicuously missing its star member Aaron Barr, who dropped out under legal pressure from his former company HBGary Federal, debated how Anonymous could channel its efforts for the greater good. Members of Anon attending the discussion chimed in, too."
is channel it for the greater "corporate good"
we long since passed the greater good he envisions and you can look at how we all are treated with caps and costs of the interenet
Anonymous won't do anything productive. They're too busy trying to get doubles.
This is a sig. Deal with it.
Except for the part where you failed and got second :V
I just tuned out after reading "hacktivism".
Will try to keep it short to please the tl;dr crowd.
Whatever they are discussing, it is not Anonymous, the good old "Internet Hating Machine". Wikipedia is defining it as "(...) a group initiating active civil disobedience and spread through the Internet while staying hidden, originating in 2003 on the imageboard 4chan" but it couldn't be farther from the truth.
Check the origins and the unofficial mottos of Anonymous. "Doing it for the lulz", "Because none of us is as cruel as all of us".
Trying to pass anonymous a dark side vigilant group, a collective of Batmans fighting for justice in the shadows is part of the mythology some of these misfit teenagers would like to believe. In reality, the only thing the so called "Anonymous" is capable to do on its own volition is to troll camwhores on Omegle and to ruin teenagers lifes.
All the rest of the stuff that is pinned on them can be divided in two opposite movements:
1. Highly capable individuals, cloaking themselves in the unwashed masses
2. Naive and idealist youngsters in need of a banner to follow.
The first group is responsible for most of the high profile hacks you see, Sony being the most visible example.
The second group is responsible for all the PR you see going around, and the most likely to go down when it finally hits the fan. They would be on Greenpeace, PETA or any other of these protesting groups but choose Anonymous because it doesn't require socialization.
tl;dr: there is such thing as Anonymous, but it is not doing what people are pinning on them. There are hackers wreaking havoc and blaming it on them, and there are naive idealists pretending to be internet superheroes. The real original Anonymous is still busy hacking facebook accounts and tracking down camwhores based on the EXIF of their pictures.
"If you leave Anonymous because you don't agree with something it did, then you don't belong in Anonymous," Housch says.
The problem with Anonymous being so unstructured, (which isn't a bad idea) is that anybody can do anything under that brand. As much as I like the thought and the idea of Anonymous, when they attack innocents I can't be associated with them. That's off target. Oh, they don't attack innocents you say? Well you look at those massive password dumps and tell me that all those folks are "wrong doers". I guarantee that MOST of those users are regular Joes (possibly even members of Anon!) who are just trying to make a pay check. Guilty by association doesn't work for entire corporations from top to bottom. Hell, I saw a mySQL dump of passwords for a nudist colony tweeted by Anonymous. Really? A corrupt nudist colony? When you're THAT off target, that's the kind of BS that's going to be used against you. "Chaotic" is the perfect description of Anonymous, and I don't see how it will be anything but. It's unfortunate.
This is why I don't call myself a member of Anonymous, and don't see myself being a "member" anytime soon. Good messages, poor execution.
Anon does it for the lulz. Doing things for the greater good? Fucking moralfags.
Latest story on El Reg: "Anonymous and LulzSec spew out largest ever police data dump, see the actual article here.
This wouldn't be so upsetting if they didn't include lots of personal information in there; creditcard data, bank accounts, residential info. All about police officers who happen to work at an agency which apparently has hired unskilled IT staff. Still; the only thing this move does is damage and risk the safety of said police officers (how many for example are working undercover?).
SO puhlease spare me your self-rightous bull about "for the greater good". That's the same kind of crap which the cooperation's and governments targeted by anonymous and co used themselves.
If only these kiddiots would get it into their thick skulls that the ends don't justify the means then we'd be getting somewhere. But I think its going to take a long while before we'll ever reach that point.
The presentation on Sat night was the better presentation. It was not on the schedule. It was arranged at the last minute and went off in Track 4. It was recorded so you can see it
Background... Backtrace Security doxed Anitsec (Anony/Lulz) leadership. The presentation ended with a real panel of speakers from both sides discussing the movement and the implications.
Check out the tweets from that night (1900-2030).
Isn't Anonymous kind of synonymous with progressive anarchy? Here are ten things Anonymous could do if they wanted to really be recognized as a positive force for all of humanity:
1. Develop a manner where a person could support themselves legitimately anywhere in the world. (ie: generate legit income from fair labour)
2. Develop a manner where a person could know what organizations to support and which to avoid.
3. Help inform people about what they do that is positive.
4. Cultivate talent.
5. Grow numbers.
6. Maintain their own security.
7. Shun asshats.
8. Give and get some lulz that are positive. Remember sometimes the lulz are funny
9. Create some technologies and give them away to the planet.
10. Develop a future for Anonymous. What is Anonymous in 20yrs? Is it still an underground group of loosely affiliated people? Is it every human being on the planet? What are the goals of this group? What should the goals be? What shouldn't the goals be?
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
How do you know they were members? Did they produce membership cards?
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
Ballsy. Or stupid. Or both.
I keep asking this question but I've yet to see a real answer besides OMG EVIL USA GOVERNMENT:
Why is Anon not targetting more countries that are less free than NATO? You can still be executed in China for dissention and Anon might even actually have enough manpower to make a dent in the Iranian government network, but Anon keeps targetting these dumbshit US corporations that have AT BEST restricted documents(restricted documents being below classified but more sensitive than Unclassified/FOUO). These attacks haven't proven shit and are a waste of everyone's time.
I realize that a lot of Anon is just doing it "for the lulz" or whatever but there has been a lot of attempts to reconcile their attacks with actual justification and it always sounds weak as shit compared to what is going on in Iran or China.
hmmm...hmmmm...greater good...greater good....this implies doing good....! Whup! Something this bunch does not do! Better come up with a better definition! This bunch and good do not fit in the same sentence.
As the widom of Facebook and Google+ will tell you people are more likely to do good when they reveal their real names. Therefore, I theorise hactivists would be more likely to do good in their hacking if they used their real names!
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Did they wear Groucho Marx glasses or Guy Faukes masks?
On what basis is Aaron Barr a "star" anywhere, much less a conference about computer security??
When your (former) company is the poster child for how not to do security, I would think your main reason for showing up at DefCon would be if you wanted to be publicly humiliated.
Quite valid points.
I disagree with all of them :-)
And no, this is not a joke. The simple fact of the matter is that the glacial speed of evolution in goverments, their agencies and multinational monetary institutions has left them way behind from an administrative point of view. In a state in which they cannot anymore supervise their own mass and activities and because of the internal mechanisms that link them all together they turn to solutions too inefficient from their inception on. These choices that are being made and have been being made since the end of WW1 are leading everyone into the same vicious cycle of approving more and more inefficient countermeasures that end up inflating them even more and perpetuating the problem.
Nature millenia ago developed a very good mechanism to take care of such mishaps, it's called SPECIATION and surprisingly it is the only one behavior our economic society has to copy from nature.
So: Sorry but everything you said is irrelevant
-- no sig today
The idea of Anonymous as a brand is stupid to begin with as anyone can use it champion whatever cause they want. If they can find enough other people to go along with it, it might pick up some steam and get something done. Otherwise it just fades into obscurity. For everything that's been done under the Anonymous banner, there's probably only a small overlap in participants. The people who went after the Scientologists probably aren't the same as the ones that defaced some Facebook page or hacked into some company's website. Trying to ascribe any attributes to such a group is utterly pointless.
The beautiful part is that if idiots in law enforcement try to treat it as a group, they end up watching and looking at a lot of individuals who are unlikely to participate in any one event. The information that they have on some kid who made crank calls to a grieving family isn't any good if they're looking for people who were behind the DDOS of some organization. Hiding in the sea of Anonymous makes it harder to be found and makes any efforts to determine what exactly you've done a lot harder.
When you see huge numbers of police acting in complete disregard of the law and beating the crap out of people it becomes a bit of a leap to accept it isn't the majority that acts this way.
Yes I accept that 99% of the time police officers do act quite reasonably but that doesn't make them the good guys either.
Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
like when blueshirt police leaves one group in the city to deal drugs so at least they know where it comes from and what it is (in my sometimes less than humble opinion). I hope they don't fall for it
post ponies.
There is an initiative in somewhat the same general direction taking place in Europe right now called ' Internet Activism Infrastructure Organization '
http://iaio.eu/
It's people from the clusters WeRebuild.eu and Telecomix.org that are behind this new initiative.
http://werebuild.eu/wiki/Main_Page
http://telecomix.org/
Prosp long and liver.
Don't use the name Anonymous. Cease and Desist already.
The Joe's on the street confuse the Group 'Anonymous' with the evil 'Anonymous' posters that are cyberbulling.
Playing right into Zuckerberg's hands of banning all 'Anonymous' posting.
"Ya I heard something about that 'Anonymous" says Joe Normal.
Besides. You can't patent an English word. Everyone knows this.
How are you going to build a brand that way? You can't.
Try this out: http://www.bandnamemaker.com/generator/
Bushy Sax
Corrosion Of The Tendril
Galvanized Ladies And The Crafty Skater
Monochrome Defiance
Monday Pad
Determined Arena
Post-modern Igloo And The Camelot
Mainstream Look-alike
Timely Duff
Ambush Before Rap
Resistance Team
Mineral Of The Exercise
Late Thorax And The Forgotten Database
"Anonymous" is just a theme. It's basically a Halloween costume, just like those Guy Fawkes masks that not coincidentally are associated with them.
If you disguise yourself as Mario, Bugs Bunny or Bart, you are obviously making use of a brand-character belonging to Nintendo, Time Wagner and Fox respectively.
If you disguise yourself as a werewolf, well you are just a werewolf, there is no specific affiliation related to you but at the same time you aren't just anything, you are a werewolf.
W/out law enforcement I'd bank on it we'd have chaos only the meanest bastards would be left or the luckiest.
* Perhaps after that mayhem, & I'm SURE there'd be that then? THEN, there would be peace (by attrition & mutual respect only, & then only MAYBE).
APK
P.S.=> No, society is in place so that we progress, peaceably (not just in conquering)... & there isn't any progress made on a battlefield that never ends except for killing!
I mean - heck, the internet today shows us that, that there's an element of outright criminals out there victimizing the weak, just like in society too - without "cops online" or police period keeping the peace? It's be utter mayhem, not a doubt in my mind... (& without societal social contracts of law between us, that's what we'd have - unending battlefields & chaos, everywhere... people are REALLY good @ 2 things though, without society: Feeding themselves & killing... & fear is the taskmaster behind law & it's enforced by PAIN or the threat thereof, how f'ing sad, but there's the WAY IT OUGHTA BE, & there's the WAY IT IS...)
... apk
Yes, that's right - for illegally entering my apartment without a warrant, & scarring me for LIFE (over my eye in fact with a baton, & beat the shit out of me (I did not raise a hand, you do that? They can blow you away, or put you away for a LONG time is why).
This happened right around when Rodney King got his ass whipping & in fact, around 1991 iirc, & JUST before it (they hushed it up & settled out of court with me though, because what happened to King happened to me with permanent consequences).
For years afterwards (MANY years in fact)? Hey, I feared any policemen, that's right (psychological damage bigtime).
I got over it eventually when police helped my family trackdown a robber that hit us twice (when we finally took some gunshots @ him in our home in fact).
They did such a good job the 2nd time tracking the little bleeding bastard, and thru a snowstorm (tracks got buried fast & blood too), that I had to realize "Hey, not all of these fellas are jerks, most are decent guys doing their jobs protecting us from the REAL criminals!"... that's right.
Without them doing that, I'd bet even though he got plugged he'd try it again, or one of his "crew" would. They were hitting our neighborhood, left & right (especially old ladies' homes). They SURE "f'd up" trying us though, especially a 2nd time...
BOTTOM-LINE, is this: You can bet that without police protection, inner urban areas like I live in & have for the majority of my life (except for highschool, my parents didn't want myself OR MY BROTHER growing up in "felony academy" environs, so I got "shipped off" to suburban highschools & got partial academic/athletic scholarship aid (Room & Board + a bit more @ a great college for Lacrosse (LeMoyne, a national many time champ or divisional champ in division II)) TRULY WOULD BE A LOT WORSE!
APK
P.S.=> Put it THIS way, I know, & have known, most of the "thugs" around here, & probably would have become one IF I stayed around here longer in my youth... if there were NO POLICE? They'd "Eat everyone ALIVE"... they're feral bastards is why & constantly in and out of jail, like it's a career or something - some are not "so bad", but their lives are NOT to be "envied", that is certain!
... apk
I am replying to myself because I can't be bothered to reply to an anonymous coward:
dear anonymous coward: I can't be bothered to take your reply seriously, sorry.
-- no sig today
Subby,
Stop using these asinine question headlines. It's not clever. It's trite.
Anonymous isn't a force for anything other than it's own amusement. If they did something good it was out of caprice.
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2369876&cid=37029380
* Also - What EXACTLY makes you my "superior" in the art & science of computing then, since you seem to be inferring that "AC's" like myself are inferior to you "registered LUSERS" around here then in your reply now, also?
(I'd love to see the answer to that much on YOUR part, because then, once you show me YOURS? I'll show you mine, & we can "compare notes"...)
Since you have obvious reading difficulties, I also suggest you get your "hooked on phonics" lessons out & study them again, using my post reply above to yours as practice material... you NEED it!
APK
P.S.=>
".yrros ,ylsuoires ylper ruoy ekat ot derehtob eb t'nac I :drawoc suomynona raed :drawoc suomynona na ot ylper ot derehtob eb t'nac I esuaceb flesym ot gniylper ma I" - by justforgetme - ANOTHER /. TROLLING WANNABE SUPERIOR "Registered LUSER" (1814588) on Tuesday August 09, @03:41AM (#37030380) Homepage
"???"
Uhm... Could we get a translation of that wannabe superior registered LUSER "troll-speak/trolllanguage" of yours, please?
---
I'd also like to impart some wisdom on you, on the grounds of which you have attempted to imply that you are "superior because you are a REGISTERED 'LUSER'" on /., to myself as an AC poster on:
---
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society..." - J. Krishnamurti
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* And, you're a troll - no questions asked...SEE MY SUBJECT LINE ABOVE!
Yes, it must have just have been another done nothing of significance with his life troll spewing his off-topic b.s. again & not contributing to the ongoing conversations. Oh well - No biggie!
("ReVeRsE-PsYcHoLoGy", for trolls - Courtesy of this code by "yours truly" in less than 1 second flat):
---
#TrollTalkComReversePsychologyKiller.py (Ver #2 by APK)
def reverse(s):
try:
trollstring = ""
for apksays in s:
trollstring = apksays + trollstring
except:
print("error/abend in reverse function")
return trollstring
s = ""
print reverse(s)
try:
s = "Insert whatever 'trollspeak/trolllanguage' gibberish occurs here..."
s = reverse(s)
print(s)
except Exception as e:
print(e)
---
... apk