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Anonymous Cancels Drug-Ring Attack
snydeq writes "Anonymous supporters have backed off threats to expose Zeta drug gang collaborators, an operation launched in early October as a retaliation for an alleged kidnapping of an Anonymous follower by the Mexico-based drug gang. Members of Anonymous had posted a video claiming the group could identify journalists, police officers, and taxi drivers who collaborate with the Zeta crime syndicate. Zeta has not shied away from targeting its online critics. In September the crime group hung two people from an overpass warning bloggers and 'online snitches' to beware. The decapitated body of another social-media reporter was found later with a similar warning. Worried about the impact on both misidentified people and Anonymous followers, other supporters of the Anonymous movement worked to dismantle the operation over the weekend. In effect, the group canceled the attack, according to online news site Milenio."
Not so tough now, are you Anonymous?
Their "we can do anything, beware us!!" pissing contest quickly turned around when they realized shit just got real.
They pick on the vulnerable for lulz. That's about it.
..working on taking down Fox News.
#include bier;
I've been happy to hear lately about anonymous's campaign against child pornography distribution. I was even more happy to hear that they were taking action against Zeta. But this withdrawl makes me question the mettle of the group. Any time you fight against organized crime, there will always be fallout. But the only way these groups have been pushed further underground or quashed is by taking action, and typically through infiltration and exposing the key players. If they have it in their ability to expose corruption, and do not do so, then they're just as bad as the corrupt officials enabling the criminals.
Did they not realize that sending 100's of pizzas to the head of a drug cartel isn't going to send the right message in the face of superior firepower?
This whole thing is just funny.
I'm pretty sure that Anonymous would have (did?) discovered undercover moles inside the Zetas...... so the real question is who didn't want to be discovered by Anonymous?
Cowards
Why doesn't Julian Assange release this data, then?
Oh, right. He's too busy begging for money ever since he made his organization a pariah by raping two chicks and haphazardly giving up the secrets of the good guys.
ANONYMOUS: we are basement-dwelling computer nerds who will attack you by hacking your web server and posting your info on the net!
DRUG CARTELS: we will kill you with AK-47s and cut your head off with a machete.
Any guesses to who would win?
I was looking forward to seeing Anonymous members finally pay for their attack on my PS3.
Too bad... A few of those gay masks hanging from disfigured faces in a pool of blood would have gone a long way.
to root for them, but now they are just a bunch of pussies. I hope they can actually do some good. This could be the start of a new revolution.
21st Century Renaissance Man
Here we go again, talking of Anonymous as a unified group. What makes someone a member of Anonymous? It seems claiming to be one suffices. So, someone posted a threat to the Zetas in the name of Anonymous, and another person posted a notice saying Anonymous will not be taking action against the Zetas. That's about all that can be said about this.
Are they attacking /. today because every other link I click I am getting a 404 error.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
buncha losers are now exposed for what they are : cyber-bullying-sissies.
Yes, send a message to the evil guys: If you use evil to intimidate, we'll fold... Idiots.
Dear Anonymous and Friends
I apologize that I thought you were a bunch of good guys. I was wrong.
You are a bunch of pussies. Go back to DDOS-ing meaningless websites.
Yours truly
Anonymous Coward
It's a good thing they backed away. Anonymous usually attacks organizations that are somewhat bound by law and fear of PR disasters, so their retaliation is quite limited. Drug cartels care for neither of them. That's why being a reporter in Mexico is a very risky thing to do.
Had they gone ahead with their attacks, they could have unleashed hell for all bloggers in Mexico. A lot of blood could be in their hands.
Right, because you'd do it if you could.
I mean, clearly you're risking your life fighting Mexican drug cartels right here ... as you call them cowards ... in the safety of your own home ... while you post on slashdot.
I think Anonymous is a bunch of idiots, but you're fucking retarded for calling them cowards.
Take your computer courage and STFU, you're EXACTLY like them. Big talk behind a computer, and I'm certain you'll shut up and cower in the face of actual danger.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Comment removed based on user account deletion
A group like Anonymous can only operate in a free society where the rule of law constrains the actions of large and powerful actors. Shame and humiliation of powerful players is possible because they are unable to fully marshal their resources to strike back. Sure, Western governments have made some arrests, but in the end, the military and large corporations are limited in what they can do (yes, they can illegally and secretly do things, but the complexity, costs and risks of doing it are extremely high). The cartels however are a different animal, an opponent in an environment with no such constraints. They have repeatedly killed with impunity, and Anonymous members in Mexico are no different. Unless Anonymous' entire membership is in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the cartels are much more likely to drop a bomb on a member of Anonymous than the CIA is.
Stay silent on the cartels, and you might get your man back. Go full bore on the cartels and you might bring them down. Make a stab at the cartels and then back down? That's the worst of both worlds; because you got some of your guys killed, you got nothing for it, and now the Cartel feels even more confident.
It's basic strategy to evaluate your oponent befor going to war. It's in the Bible, for cryin' out loud, which is not a stupid book despite the stupid people who claim to read it. It's also probably in the Art of War or any other basic handbook of military strategy.
Anonymous fucked up BIG TIME here.
Thus I cannot understand what is posted on the web site cited here. And even if I could: Why should I believe it?? As far as I know Anonymous has certain patterns with which they identify their statements. Are there any on the cited web site? Where is the nice jingle or Guy Fawkes?
They're going to take down facebook in a few days? November 5th, I think it was?
I don't think this is legit - if anything the idea of people actually dying would encourage Anonymous to get even more people involved, for the lulz.
Anonymous had a chance to do some good, they pussied out like the fucking poseurs they are.
While I'm at it, we've INVADED countries for lesser atrocities than these barbarian Zeta motherfuckers have committed. WHERE'S YOUR BALLS NOW, U.S.? Send a few dozen cruise missiles up their asses!
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall, re Voltaire
Anon; "We'll expose you if you harm him."
Zeta, "Go ahead. We will kill every man, women, and child wearing a guy fawkes mask."
They have no way of knowing who in their lists were forced into participating, like the school teachers in some communities who are forced to give a percentage of their pay to drug lords or get killed, or the government officials forced to look the other way or have their families kidnapped and killed...
No matter how well they manage to vet that list, some innocent people would get caught in the crossfire once rivals get hold of it.
I am sure they have plenty of members who are in no danger from Drug Cartels, but they realized that the people who they are up against are too brutal and indiscriminate. If the Cartels fight back they will probably kill more innocents than opponents, but that is the whole point really. Better not to stick your finger in their eye to needlessly provoke them.
Best to share their information securely with the FBI and Mexican police. (well, where you can trust the Mexican police anyway). I don’t like everything my government does, but I HATE what the cartels do!
I followed all the links and I have found no evidence that those Anons have changed their minds.
The problem is that targeting a government agency or what have you might lead to them tracing back and nailing the actual people involved, not just someone that happens to be in the same group but was on vacation that week. With these cartel guys, if you've EVER been associated with Anon and they find you, they don't really give a shit, you're fair game to them. They are just as happy making an example of you as they would be to catch the masked clown that made these idiotic threats to begin with. That's a real problem with groups like Anonymous. With no clear leadership, some "faction" can spout off crap that endangers everyone.
You can throw out all the police state, abuse of power crap you want, the bottom line is in the end the FBI is accountable to SOMEONE and subject to laws and public outrage. There IS a limit to what they can and will do to you. The cartels have no such limit.
I have them credit. The egocentric people that talk on anonymous actually made a smart decision. Constantly people get d0xed as members and someone getting ID'ed incorrectly could have life ending repercussions so its smart they laid off and prevent any innocent people from getting hurt under their account.
Palm trees and 8
If you're part of Anonymous but afraid, then you aren't really anonymous. Don't post from home. Go to a Panera or somewhere you can't be traced.
organizations like drug cartels are practically sociopath organizations. it is very tough for even major governments to handle them.
the fact that anonymous is actually taken by the drug cartels as a serious threat that requires this much action basically tells that anonymous is on the same league with them in regard to impact now.
and someone will leak the data eventually.
Read radical news here
I HATE what the cartels do!
Then don't buy pot from cartels, buy from domestic "hippies". We can hurt the cartels far more than anonymous by not sending our money to them.
Is that basically, Zeta told Anonymous "gb2/b/". The innocent and guilty hang every day, whether Anonymous has a hand in it or not. If they wanted to really make an impact on Zeta, they would have kept to their word and responded with, "That's fine, but you have to break a few eggs to make an omlette".
Don't fuck with Russians and don't fuck with ruthless organized crime operations. As the saying goes, you mess with the bull, you get the horns. Fucking with the FBI is messing with the de-horned milk cow, not the bull.
A better move could have been to create a website with good, accesible and easily understandable information for journalists on how to actually be anonymous and protect themselves from the intimidation. Going vigilante against Zetas isn't the smartest thing (turbo-euphemism) to do.
But then, where would be the fun of making video-threats and being cocky, if only for a few minutes?
you're fucking retarded for calling them cowards
you're EXACTLY like them. Big talk behind a computer, and I'm certain you'll shut up and cower
So, you get mad when someone calls Anonymous cowards, but then you say he is EXACTLY like them and basically call him a coward - in effect calling Anonymous cowards. Which is apparently, fucking retarded. Which also means, in an indirect way, you have called yourself fucking retarded. Which , to me, also seems fucking retarded.
"But this one goes to 11!"
Anonymous isn't a person, it's a meme. Even when you identify the people who participate and hold them responsible for the actions of the group, you're doing nothing to define what it is or keep it any less intangible. "We are legion" is another Christianity, another Patriotism, another The 99%, and it is indestructible because it has no body. It is only by the elimination of any memory and evidence that this kind of thing can be destroyed.
Even when governed it has no nature or goal. It is exactly as what each person who is aware of it decides it to be. The way those who call themselves Anonymous see themselves is just as much authority as the way those who do not call themselves Anonymous see them. It is the Ship of Thesius incarnate, My Grandfather's Axe in practice.
Don't bother judging the supposed declarations you see today. Just because you saw one collective of "Anonymous" back off doesn't mean another won't act differently. But still, we'll call them all the same. Every time they do something we appreciate or find unforgivable we'll still blame that same meaningless word.
Zeta made the mistake of having a name.
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
hahaha disregard that, I suck cocks
in the safety of your own home
Hey, some of us post from work.
Fuck you. Seriously. YOU are exactly like HIM are exactly like ME, posting on a topic we know exactly jack shit about on some tech forum- Except YOU are trying to call him out for it while ignoring that YOU are part of the same fucking problem.... Just like I am by making THIS post.
Just like the little 13 year old trash talking bitches on multi-player games ain't so tough when they meet a Marine combat veteran face to face.... Yes b00t2urHead I'm looking at you.
--- If the bible proves the existence of God, then Superman comics prove the existence of Superman.
Anonymous are a bunch of pussies and, apparently, not truly anonymous. But the Drug Cartels are a real problem, and one of our own making.
One may argue that middle eastern terrorists are a problem of our own making because of US foreign policy and the like, but the it's a weak argument. The Drug Cartels on the other hand are undeniably our problem because it's US citizens who are their customers.
What we need to do is simply pass a law that imposes astronomical means-based fines on anyone caught with drugs, both users and sellers. If you're caught with illegal drugs, anything for marijuana to crack, the government simply takes everything you have and funnels it to the fund the national debt. No repeat offenders (you can't do it again if you have no money to buy more drugs). No expensive-to-the-taxpayer jail time for non-violent criminals. No risking American soldiers lives trying to wage another war on combatants who hide among civilians. And if judges are free to apply means-based fines, rich people don't get a free pass. Got $100M in the bank? Judge fines you $999,999,000. Got a job that pays $1M/year too. Judge fines you more than that an garnishes your wages.
Yes, it's a bit of a slippery slope in terms of the government taking private property, but did you read the shit the drug cartels do? I fear my government like any good American, but I'm way more afraid of the drug cartels, And I don't live anywhere near the Mexican border.
my name Inigo Montoya, you killa my father prepare to die.
---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
ROFL, I guess they realized that there are people out there in the real world that don't fuck around.
you're bitching about a guy bitching about a guy bitching.............
How soon we forget the mess Ronnie Reagan and Oliver North and the Iran-Contra mess. CIA flooding the U.S. with drugs.
I don't think Anon is short on balls, I think they probably didn't have as many damaging names as they implied, better to turn tail and collect more names rather than shoot off a pop-cap and get a bunch of people killed in return. I mean, if they had real damaging info that could threaten Zeta's future ability to operate, they could out it without taking credit.
Until they get back to the Zetas, maybe anonymous could go after the perverts at the TSA. I’d like to know who comes up with the idea that fondling a child’s crotch is acceptable. I’d also like to know who signs off on these policy perversions. Or is that perversion policies?
Anonymous: We are going to release information about corrupt politicians and officers and reveal sensitive data about your bank accounts and properties.
Slashdot: NO! DON'T DO THAT! THERE WILL BE BLOODSHED! YOU ARE NOT WORST THAN TERRORISTS!
Anonymous: Sigh, fine, we won't.
Slashdot: HUR HUR not so tough now, are you?
But... the future refused to change.
the only way to deal with them is with military force
Or abolish prohibition.
Do you not realize who created the black market in the first place, including all the violence and injustice that comes with it?
After living through Reagan's World and Iran-Contra it wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that some "rogue element" of the CIA backs if not completely runs a cartel like this.
See you all in Gitmo.
Hey, here on Slashdot, Anonymous has always been Coward.
*ducks*
I think it's more likely that Anonymous never actually had any useful information to go on after all, than it is that they got scared off.
Mexico has oil! How have we not invaded them yet?
for not being truly (or even partially) anonymous/being an idiot. These people would have never been able to identify any bloggers or anonymous members if they had taken proper precautions. In this regard, they do not have nearly as much power to trace people as a big government does.
Nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Zeta = CIA
Chew on that.
They did the right thing.
I certainly have no love for the Mexican mafia. They're some of the worst scumbags around, and if there was anything I could do to hurt them, I would do it.
However, dumping information without a serious effort at verification could end up with innocent people getting brutally and savagely killed. It's even in Zeta's best interests to make sure it does, to make their opponent chicken out. I don't think that's a game your stereotypical Anonymous member wants to play.
This Mexican drug cartel shit is out of control. They are practically right up our ass. Their presence is felt in almost every community in America, they extort public servants and teachers in Mexico (many have been killed and they demand 50% of their pay), and they flaunt their power or complete lawlessness to the world. Hitler did less than this and it was enough to mobilize the entire fucking globe to stop his party's advance. The Mexican drug cartels make the SS look like fucking strawberry shortcake and no one stands up to this shit. However ineffective "anon" is or would have been I laud them for trying or attempting to do something--whoever they are. WTF People!? Remember too that these drug cartels most likely operate in your community as well--yes IN America. They are everywhere. I'm truly saddened by all this.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
They could end this any time by flipping the Weed Legal and Coke Legal bits in the congressional computers from zero to one.
Play Command HQ online
Lets analyse both contenders and why anonymous can do shit to Los Zetas From one side, Anonymous is basically an internet mob, full of script kiddies and very few "3l337" hackers. Their powers relay on what they can find during google searches, known vulnerabilities of servers, exploits and social engineering. So basically most of their power is from what they can find online, or on any electronic media. On the other side Los Zetas, a bloody Mexican cartel that has a huge monetary power, and from years of fighting US and Mexican authorities I doubt they have a server with some excel sheets with the names and ranks of people of their organization. I am pretty sure they have hi-tech in some aspects but I really doubt they their master plans are on the companies CRM or on their Joomla Website. Most of their organization probably runs on word of mouth from the bosses. They probably change cell phones, emails on regular bases. So what can anonymous do against the Zetas, nothing just get people killed. They have a lot of money, they can certainly pay for people to find someone at anonymous and kill him.
"....that our parents own."
A vicious lie. I don't live in a house my parents own.
I inherited it from them.
Two posts ago you were calling them 'pussies' too.
Such a big man you are.
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal
Ok, let's see... the media claimed that some anonymous member of an amorphous group threatened a drug cartel. Now the media claims that that anonymous person changed his mind. Sure, whatever...
And posted while still logged in - pity...
...but you are also a mall ninja.
You're really anonymous after your face has been ripped off, fingers cut off and your teeth have been ripped out with pliers. No one will ever figure out who those kids were.
They are fuckng cowards is all, give me the zetas info and I'll dump it all over the place. hell ill register a domain name zetasinfo.com or something and display it proudly
It could simply be that they got their guy back quietly and thus the threat is no longer required.
Unfortunately, when it comes to monsters, without overwhelming brute force (Like government force) the only way to beat a monster is typically to become an even bigger monster, even if temporarily.
It would involve their names being released and then anyone who even associates with them being found hung off a bridge or skinned like a carrot, make the Zeta so scared to even come out as such to their own that they can not function. You achieve that you effectively win if you can keep it up long enough, but then the hard part comes when you try to stop. It is harder to become a human again after you have been a monster than to go from a human to a monster.
But since the Zeta are also a business, there is one more way to achieve that, take away their cash flow, which for that to happen, it would take the US legalizing marijuana which is their main source of income which would effectively cripple them (as well as the majority of US organized crime as well).
So right now, there are 3 ways to take them out, 2 of them require government action, 1 does not. And since the US government wants the crime local and domestic and the added control it gives them of its people, the only option that could realistically happen would be mob justice, there isn't many who would do such a thing, but there are enough in the world that it could be done (assuming the government doesn't put a stop to the people fighting back)
I think that more likely the cartels called anonymous' bluff and they backed down once they realized that this was actually real. Anonymous is made up of a few thousand members that do nothing but talk a lot of shit, make threats, etc. and a small handful of skilled hackers. In the past what has happened is that one or two of the hackers have broken into something (i.e. sony) and released a lot of data while the rest of the group takes all the credit. But even the skill of these few hackers is questionable. The servers they broke into had known security vulnerabilities that were unpatched due to incompetent administrators, one guy actually gave out the password to his server after some social engineering. The recent "child porn bust" was some "genius" who managed to write a script to return a list of names and other information that was publicly available in the first place.
I suspect what happened here is that a lot of members said "we're going to take down the cartels", the cartels didn't like that and responded by killing people. So now you're left with a bunch of shit-talking idiots and a few good hackers. The hackers aren't exactly useful here because I'm pretty sure the drug cartels don't go around storing details of their crimes on insecure servers. MAYBE some cartel member has an email account that might be of some use, but good luck hacking into a gmail account that you don't have any prior knowledge of. The rest of the anonymous members decided that maybe they should stop poking a hornet nest and tried to play it off as "well, we don't want anyone else to get hurt" rather than "we threatened some bad people, couldn't back it up, and got someone killed so we're not doing that anymore".
-1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
The problem is that some US grows are run by Mexican cartels. It is becoming increasingly problematic, not just a law enforcement problem but an environmental problem. The cartel grows are pretty bad about contaminating local water, etc. Hence the reference to a local hippie grower, they are generally a bit more respectful of the land they live on.
Cowards, I guess any and all grow giant cyber nuts behind perceived anonymity of the internet, and when the going gets tough they tend to shrivel. I really do wish something would actually take on the cartels and do something. It is outrageous the acts they get away with, the people they hurt and kill. Not one nation but multiple held in the grip of merciless thugs. Bullets do not kill ideas, but they do kill the people with ideas, until some entity, be it collaborative group of individuals, or a government agency takes action countless people will perish.
It is the day Anonymous (in any sense of the word) got some sense. I am actually impressed (after spending my breakfast reading IRC logs for a laugh) that so many people spoke so concisely and with reason. The gist of their conversations: Going to jail is one thing but being decapitated is another.
I am still a tiny bit disappointed that they didn't follow through with their threat!
..and ohh, where is WikiLeaks when Anonymous needs assistance!? ;)
They really should get in the game and do something that is of some value to everyone. Anonymous, you say you want to free the people from oppression yet you back down to the drug cartels because they sent a message back to you threatening your own existence. Boohoo!! STOP being the cowardly pussies that you have suddenly become and get to work. You have nothing to worry about if you say you are as good as you say.
Just like the end of Prohibition ended the hold that organized crime had cities like Chicago and New York?
The cartels have already made their money and amassed large amounts of capital. If they lose one source of income (the drug trade) they'll simply re-focus on other sources of income (kidnappings, protection rackets, etc.) and, thanks to the war on drugs, they'll have the resources to do it.
While drug policy is one of the few issues I happen to take a libertarian stance on, I think we need to go into the debate with our eyes wide open. Decriminalizing drugs may decrease drug related violence from the cartels, but we can expect a veritable explosion of violence in other areas as the cartels broaden the way that they make money. So, at least in the short term, things are likely to stay the same or even get worse on the violence front.
e-cojones ain't real.
Anon should stand up for what it is they truly believe in. To kowtow like this just gives Zeta the strength to continue. It's that whole "the terrorists have already won" scenario. If you're afraid, that's fine, but just say so--and don't hide behind the mask making "we're gonna get you" videos and not actually do anything. The dog has no bite.
There is this concept you need to learn about called hypocrisy. BitZtream was just pointing it out.
I am sure they will be exposed via another route. They (Anonymous) will probably tell the principal and then you will allllll see!
Yea and that is really dangerous, you could loose your job!
Wired's Danger Room speculated that the original threat video wasn't even done by Anonymous but by someone else trying to start a fight between the two: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/opcartel/
A coworker pointed out the obvious: these cartels ARE terrorists and they are killing US citizens and police officers. We roll into the middle east every time some clan get uppity but our government will sit idly by while Americans are murdered by these criminals. Why don't we fly a few predators UAV's over Mexico and take out some cartel targets? Why is our government doing nothing?
Sure, but to be a hypocrite in this case you'd have to advocate that Anonymous take on the cartels. I don't think that is what is going on here. As usual the criticism is not very cogently stated, but I take the gist of it to be an attack on Anonymous's naiveté in thinking they could take on the drug cartels, in thinking that the cartels were no different from Anonymous's prior targets.
I'll put an even finer point on it. This incident demonstrates the danger of believing political hyperbole. I believe that HBGary is willing to be an opportunistic leach on the public good, and without somebody like Anonymous there wouldn't be any counter-argument to "everybody else does it." That doesn't obligate me to believe they are the moral equivalent of a Mexican drug gang. HBGary is evil, alright, but it's a contemptibly petty kind of evil, like a shopkeeper who cheats his needy customers. The drug gangs are more like serial murderers. Greedy, unprincipled shopkeepers and serial murderers are both evil, but on a different scale. Being able to see that is a good thing.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Most organized crime groups and gangs operate primarily out of fear. When the Anonymous group took them on, they were making the Zetas look foolish and not really capable of managing their own house. Other operations (and the people they're trying to inspire fear in) would see this as weakness. If a group of nameless online hackers can hurt them, how powerful are they? Just the threat by Anonymous is both embarrassing and humiliating.
Organized crime generally manages poor leadership internally, but gangs counterattack in the only way they know how: threaten to hurt, maim, and kill a lot of people. I think the ugly truth is, if you want to hurt gangs, you have to accept this response.
Although many people here have dogged US intelligence agencies, they would have been the best route to get someone back who was kidnapped, even if it meant the victims weren't US citizens. Intelligence on the Zetas infrastructure in exchange for hostage negotiation isn't unheard of.
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If the bad guys are able to do this, then Anonymous isn't anonymous enough and should improve its tech ... or its spycraft.