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Anonymous Vows To Destroy Facebook

DarkOx sends this snippet from BusinessInsider: "Anonymous has vowed to destroy Facebook on November 5th (which should ring a bell). Citing privacy concerns and the difficulty involved in deleting a Facebook account, Anonymous hopes to 'kill Facebook,' the 'medium of communication [we] all so dearly adore.' They continued, 'It is not a battle over the future of privacy and publicity. It is a battle for choice and informed consent. ... Facebook keeps saying that it gives users choices, but that is completely false. It gives users the illusion of and hides the details away from them "for their own good" while they then make millions off of you. When a service is "free," it really means they're making money off of you and your information.'"

27 of 575 comments (clear)

  1. if not at least deface it! by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 5, Funny

    if not at least deface it!

    1. Re:if not at least deface it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      How would we tell? Have you seen what people post?

    2. Re:if not at least deface it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hm...

      Outcome 1: Facebook is "destroyed" (somehow, I guess; unless air raids are involved on the server farms, are they aware of the long-term memories of most Facebook users?). Everyone is "liberated" in a "glorious" "revolution" of genericness, ambiguity, and sheer comic book levels of concretely-defined, crystal-clear morality and happiness for all*? Overall: Good, in theory. I guess? Probability: Immeasurably negligible.

      Outcome 2: A bunch of kids who depend on such social media for even the barest simulation of a social life execute their plan to "destroy" Facebook (again, somehow; just go with me on this, it'll be less painful for all of us if you stop asking questions that will inevitably have no answers) and obviously underestimate Facebook's sheer data capacity and redundancies. Said kids wind up embarrassed by their inability to follow through on their promises and hope the internet forgets this (look, if you keep asking questions like "how", we're not going to get anywhere, all right?). Overall: Acceptable. Probability: Above average.

      Outcome 3: These kids are bluffing and won't do anything. As the internet is tired of their shenanigans, they don't get the apocalyptic levels of global panic they were looking for. Fearing embarrassment, they bring out the same old ambiguous, contradictory lines about how Anonymous is everyone and no one, there is no Cabal^H^H^H^H^HAnonymous, fear fear fear fnord, blah blah blah. Overall: Neutral. Probability: Average.

      Outcome 4: Anonymous fails hard. They try to execute their plan, they find government agents waiting for them, they get tracked, they get busted. The world enjoys a good laugh, since schadenfreude swings both ways. One kid manages to get into the Twitter feed to give an unintentionally cartoonish "I'll get you next time, Gadget, NEXT TIME!!!"-style post. Overall: Very good. Probability: Very low, but definitely measurable.

      Out of all the possible outcomes to this, none are terribly bad, I have to admit. I guess the possibility of victory, to them, outweighs the sheer pain and suffering that would be incurred if they JUST STOPPED USING THE DAMN SERVICE ALREADY IF IT BUGS THEM SO FUCKING MUCH.

      *: Yes, I'm aware that the imagery they're invoking comes from a movie based on a comic book where said morality is quite opaque. Therein lies the irony.

    3. Re:if not at least deface it! by Oxford_Comma_Lover · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Outcome 5: Anonymous neither fails nor attacks on that day. The announcement is misinformation. Perhaps it is a distraction from a different target they intend to hit on the same day, is a distraction because they will be hitting facebook before that.

      Outcome 6: Anonymous has already obtained information that, when released, will be a major public relations scandal for facebook, or perhaps will be evidence of criminality. The information will be released on that day.

      In any event, this appears to be Anonymous trying to do something to hurt the U.S. Intelligence community, with the side-effect of raising awareness of data privacy issues.

      --
      -- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
    4. Re:if not at least deface it! by deathguppie · · Score: 3, Informative

      In any event, this appears to be Anonymous trying to do something to hurt the U.S. Intelligence community, with the side-effect of raising awareness of data privacy issues.

      Oh, ya that higher morality thing that Anonymous has going.. like the time they tried to fill youtube with porn.

      --
      once more into the breach
  2. Uhm... DUH. by MikeV · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How long did it take the Anonymouse script-kiddies to figure this out?
    "When a service is "free," it really means they're making money off of you and your information.'"" Hello - that's been the model of free services for as long as services have been free. You guys need to get a refund for that pot you're smoking and go detox somewhere. People consider it an amicable trade. A few are inconvenienced - boo hoo. Grow a pair and move on.

    1. Re:Uhm... DUH. by darkmeridian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "A few are inconvenienced."
      I don't think people understand how much information companies like Google have on its users. Unless you are completely off the grind living in a shack in Montana, credit card companies know what you're spending your money on, as does PayPal, eBay, Google Checkout, and Amazon. So does all the tracking websites with the persistent cookies. Your email, your most intimate thoughts and angriest words along with your buying habits are all in there. Google Voice is fucking ridiculous in terms of getting information. It knows who you call and text, and its learning what you're saying. (Voicemail transcription, anyone?)

      If I went to your Google.com/Dashboard, I'd know a great more about you than you thought you were giving up. And that's only one aspect of the web. You are giving up more than you think.

      --
      A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
    2. Re:Uhm... DUH. by artor3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I know what I'm giving up, and I give it up gladly for the services I receive. You may disagree. But who are you to tell the rest of us what we should and shouldn't do?

      Why should I care that some companies know my buying habits? I am one of billions. There exist some unfathomably vast spreadsheets with a row that indicates I like oatmeal for breakfast and enjoy the works of Terry Pratchett. Why should that bother me? If anything it means that more stores will stock oatmeal and more quality humorous fantasy books will get made.

      They certainly don't have my most intimate thoughts, because those rarely leave my lips and never enter a computer. They may have a few angry letters I wrote, but so what? I'm one of billions. No one's likely to see it, and unless it's something really egregious, no one will ever care.

      Frankly, I think you're paranoid. You think that people care about tracking you, personally. Let me assure you, you're not that important. No one cares. That's a good thing. You're one of billions, and well below the notice of multinational corporations. If you're afraid of using facebook, fine, but don't go demanding it be destroyed because of your fear.

    3. Re:Uhm... DUH. by postbigbang · · Score: 5, Interesting

      But wait until you try and do something about the world. Maybe you'll run for political office. Or want to help out at child care center down the street. Wanted that teacher's license? Maybe someone will find out that people that google Cheerios, fucktards, and pantyhose are statistically proven to be terrorists and need to be rounded up and vilified. They'll look around for a while until that one row in one table in one database outs you. Then you're toast.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    4. Re:Uhm... DUH. by Dunbal · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A people that is willing to judge your leadership by something you might have done years ago which they found out about on facebook doesn't deserve a good leader. Maybe they should stick to the other kind - the too-good-to-be-true whitened teeth clean new shirted smooth talking liar who is going to rape them in the face the first chance s/he gets. You know, the kind we have all the time.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    5. Re:Uhm... DUH. by postbigbang · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's the point. No one walks on water unless it's frozen. Everyone deserves anonymity, but none of us get it. Google and others can read my cookies and figure out any little dark secret they want. Maybe they'll get http_referrers and keep appending the list. The method doesn't matter, the ad-based economy is designed to optimize selling to you at the price of your privacy. They'll put 2+2 together, however, and come out with 44.13833.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    6. Re:Uhm... DUH. by atomicbutterfly · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But wait until you try and do something about the world. Maybe you'll run for political office. Or want to help out at child care center down the street. Wanted that teacher's license? Maybe someone will find out that people that google Cheerios, fucktards, and pantyhose are statistically proven to be terrorists and need to be rounded up and vilified. They'll look around for a while until that one row in one table in one database outs you. Then you're toast.

      The fact you had to use hyperbole to make you point, in fact destroys your point. Act sensibly on the net and you'll be fine for the most part. These 'what if' scenarios are so statistically insignificant, particularly if you follow the sensible part I mentioned, that it's basically a barrier to being able to use technically in a useful and fun manner.

    7. Re:Uhm... DUH. by The+Dawn+Of+Time · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No one "deserves" your protection. You aren't their nanny, no matter how certain you are that you know best.

    8. Re:Uhm... DUH. by sjames · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In an age where people have ACTUALLY been thrown off a flight and threatened with arrest at an airport because they had a PICTURE of a gun, it's not necessarily an exaggeration. The "authorities" have gone insane and cannot be expected to operate in a rational manner. They might attach odd significance to nearly anything,. much like any sufferer of schizophrenia.

  3. Um... by hedgemage · · Score: 4, Informative

    No American has any idea why the 5th of November is significant unless they read comic books. At least that's the truth for me.

    1. Re:Um... by kaliann · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hey! Some of us saw that Natalie Portman movie!

    2. Re:Um... by Darinbob · · Score: 3, Informative

      I couldn't make it through that movie. Very awful.

      I find it strange that Guy Fawkes idiot ends up being a hero or a symbol of freedom/anarchy/whatever. Guy Fawkes was not out to promote any sorts of liberties, he wanted to replace a Protestant monarch with a Catholic monarch. He failed at that, failed at achieving any aims at all, and so he's a hero because he's a reminder of no matter how badly you screw things up, someone is always a worse screw up than you.

      And Americans don't need to read comics books to know what 5th of November is. We have real books here that can be read instead. This is is taught in history classes (well, at least pre no-child-left-behind).

    3. Re:Um... by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is a lesson in the Gunpowder Plot for those Anonymous children. The Gunpowder Plotters didn't restore Catholics their liberties, they in fact pretty much fucked over English and Irish Catholics until the 19th century. Anonymous is creating the conditions under which governments will ultimately be able to justify destroying a free and open Internet. They're stupid, self-centered and uneducated, basing their world view on a fucking movie of all things, and they are going to fuck us all over.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  4. Baby, Bathwater. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anonymous may have a technical point about Facebook's motives & mechanisms, but they've missed the point. Facebook has become something of a default mechanism for people to stay in touch and communicate, and for some people to store photos etc. To do anything to take down Facebook would be hurting many millions of blameless people. It's all very well to say that people could just go and find an alternative like Google+, but in the end it's not up to anonymous to decide unilaterally that Facebook=Bad. If they want people off Facebook "for their own good", they should mount a public information campaign and let people decide for themselves. Militancy in this case is simply the wrong, most hurtful approach.

  5. Re:meh by jaymzter · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And with this.... Anonymous jumps the shark.

    --
    If thou see a fair woman pay court to her, for thus thou wilt obtain love
  6. Re:It would be interesting... by artor3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The majority of people on facebook are well adjusted, sociable people. Facebook is used to let your friends know what you're up to without having to call them one by one. It's used to share photos, without having to email out links to an online album. It's used to make plans and invite people to parties. Yes, it's also used for stupid shit like Farmville, but even the people who play that generally do other things too. Methinks you're projecting.

  7. Target by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The world is crumbling around our feet. the Middle East is lighting on fire. England is Rioting. American Congress caused the value of the dollar to fall through the floor and our major enemy is Facebook?

    1. Re:Target by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The world is always crumbling around our feet...

    2. Re:Target by ScentCone · · Score: 3, Informative

      The world is crumbling around our feet

      Just like it's done so many times before, only worse. Not that you can trouble yourself, of course, to read about the Dark Ages, or either of those pesky World Wars, or the 1918 flu epidemic, or anything like that.

      the Middle East is lighting on fire

      Yeah, just like it's been for thousands of years.

      England is Rioting

      Just like they've done before. Not that you've, again, bothered to study any history, or heard about the time London really burned down, or was bombed to rubble - just pick one episode and bone up on it.

      American Congress caused the value of the dollar to fall through the floor

      Ah, OK. It's now clear that you're completely clueless.

      and our major enemy is Facebook?

      No, that's the fashionable target for a bunch of simpering script kiddies. There's no "our" there.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  8. Anono-hypocrites by MikeV · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Authoritarian governments by definition rule people because they think the people cannot self-rule. As in, authoritarian governments think they are "saving" their people. With that in mind, balance this quote from Anonymouse: "Some of these so-called whitehat infosec firms are working for authoritarian governments, such as those of Egypt and Syria." ...with this one a few sentences down:

    "One day you will look back on this and realise what we have done here is right, you will thank the rulers of the internet, we are not harming you but saving you."

    Sound familiar? Anonymouse are doing what those they claim to fight against are doing. Just another dictatorship that claims to be "rulers of the internet" that defends its "dictatorship" with petty DDoS attacks and makes outlandish and extremist claims that are on par with the "We will destroy America" claims we hear from the dits in the Mid-East. In the end, Anonymouse are nothing but wannabe digital terrorists and nothing they have done or will do matters. Their activities are as much a waste of time results-wise as the Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda and all the years of ridiculous and resultsless claims, proclamations and violence had accomplished nothing, while one humble fella with a can of gasoline and a match set the dominoes falling, toppling governments in one simple act of self-immolation. And, interestingly, as much as they brag about being anonymous, a bunch of them are being rounded up by the Feds. So much for anarchistic intelligence.

  9. Question how concerned is Mark? by DarkOx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Personally I'd be very worried if I were him. Groups like Lulz Sec have shown they have people among them who are highly capable and are able to create substantial economic losses for their targets. Anonymous has had less success notable their failure to take down Amazon, and the Credit Card processing companies. Still the threat is credible and Facebook being a one trick pony (they have no business out side their website) could be really hurt by an attack.

    Me thinks Anon better come up with something a little more clever than a DDOS though or they are going to be the ones getting schooled.

    --
    Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  10. Whose fault is that? by adamofgreyskull · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And yet the rest of the world knows why the 4th of July is significant.