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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."

29 of 397 comments (clear)

  1. Tough guys by SharkLaser · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Tough guys by GameboyRMH · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Their "we can do anything, beware us!!" pissing contest quickly turned around when they realized shit just got real.

      ...when they stopped messing with the FBI and defense contractors and moved up to Mexican drug cartels.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    2. Re:Tough guys by CheshireDragon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or they didn't even have the information and it was just empty threats.

      --
      "That's right...I said it."
    3. Re:Tough guys by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The FBI will not come to one's house; rape and kill one's wife, girlfriend, mother, daughters, and/or sisters while making one watch; and then torture one to death, cut off one's head and leave it in one's lap for the police.
       
      Comparing the FBI to the drug cartels is a text book example of one' foolish hyperbole undermining one's argument.

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    4. Re:Tough guys by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Funny
      Don't we have some armed drones we could use along the MX border?

      I mean, if you're crossing illegallly....you're an invader...*BOOM*.

      Might that not cut down traffic a bit?

      And heck...good target practice for picking off terrorists in other parts of the world.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    5. Re:Tough guys by Algae_94 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Maybe they're just cowards, but I have the suspicion that they didn't want to out anybody, because they didn't want to be complicit in any murders. Zetas is not to be fucked with if they know who you are, but I doubt they have better cyber-intelligence skills than the US gov't which has been unable to identify Anon members. So what names would Zetas have to go on if this operation went on? The People that Anonymous outs would be silenced as weak links, and it's quite possible that Anonymous outs the wrong guys and gets them killed for no reason. It's a big step for a group like Anonymous to go from releasing information that makes the populace more informed about what is really going on to releasing information that will almost certainly result in people dying.

    6. Re:Tough guys by MysteriousPreacher · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Paedophiles and Scientology aren't evil? Christ, you must be from a rough neighborhood.

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      -- Using the preview button since 2005
    7. Re:Tough guys by Killjoy_NL · · Score: 3

      Belgium? ;)

      --
      This is the sig that says NI (again)
    8. Re:Tough guys by jvkjvk · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Scientology is at best annoying and a scam.

      Unless, of course, you happen to be one of the people they have brainwashed (and yes, I mean that quite literally), tortured (and yes, I mean that quite literally), killed, or bankrupted through intimidation using the legal system.

      And they are infiltrating centers of power, a secret society beyond government bounds.

      But other than that, they are 'at best annoying and a scam'.

      Regards.

  2. Bullies. by MarkvW · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They pick on the vulnerable for lulz. That's about it.

  3. Who's Anonymous by fastest+fascist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  4. Re:There was no other possible outcome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I would never back down from some mexican with a machete.

    No, you'd die. Idiot.

  5. I'm glad they didn't by Superdarion · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:I'm glad they didn't by BitterOak · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I disagree. By backing off, they're letting the cartels know that their methods of intimidation work. It will only encourage similar acts in the future. The only way to stand up to bullies like the drug cartels is to defy them, not to cave in to their threats.

      --
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    2. Re:I'm glad they didn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The only way to stand up to bullies like the drug cartels is to exterminate them

      Fixed. Standing up to bullies has never worked. Stopping bullies from bullying does.

    3. Re:I'm glad they didn't by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The only way to stand up to bullies like the drug cartels is to defy them

      ...and then your mutilated corpse is found hanging from a freeway overpass. This is not some schoolyard fight. We are past the point of standing up to the Zetas with blog posts and words, the only way to deal with them is with military force -- Mexico is in a state of what amounts to civil war.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    4. Re:I'm glad they didn't by DragonWriter · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I disagree. By backing off, they're letting the cartels know that their methods of intimidation work.

      Er, the cartels already know that.

      And the discussions between different Anonymous-affiliated factions that I've seen reported didn't focus on fear of retaliation, they focussed on whether an action that would mainly reveal low level people who had been blackmailed into cooperation by the Zetas so that they could get murdered by rival drug gangs was in any way consistent with the ideals Anonymous wanted to advance, or productive in any way.

    5. Re:I'm glad they didn't by Hatta · · Score: 5, Informative

      We are past the point of standing up to the Zetas with blog posts and words, the only way to deal with them is with military force

      Or legalizing drugs in the US, removing the lions share of funding for the Mexican cartels.

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    6. Re:I'm glad they didn't by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They can be if they are levied against the entire population (and not just businesses), which, of course, is only possible when organized crime is more powerful than the state.

      Keep in mind that, historically, governments have evolved pretty much as organized crime that managed to stomp all its competition within specific borders. When you think about it, peasants giving their produce to a feudal lord who uses it to feed and otherwise maintain his own private army that lets him stay in power, is not really any different than school teachers paying to Zetas who uses that money for exact same purpose.

  6. Re:And just as anonymous was starting to make a di by BitZtream · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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
  7. POSEURS! by spidercoz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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
  8. summory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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."

  9. Comparison by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 4, Insightful
    • Defense contractors -- if you are caught, you spend time in prison, and the far right calls you a traitor.
    • FBI/DEA/other cops -- if you are caught, you spend time in prison, and the far right accuses you of putting cops at risk.
    • Child pornography -- if you are caught, you might go to prison but probably not, and the far right lauds you as a hero fighting for the children.
    • Zetas -- if you are caught, they torture and kill you, torture and kill your family, and put your corpses on display.
    --
    Palm trees and 8
  10. Forgetting what "Anonymous" means by Aphoxema · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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?"
    1. Re:Forgetting what "Anonymous" means by Aphoxema · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As much as I'd like to see the headline "Anonymous Takes Down Zeta, Infamous Drug Cartel In Tatters", I really don't think Anonymous threatens Zeta. If Anonymous reveals names, Zeta will just start killing people associated (even remotely) with Anonymous until they stop. Zeta doesn't seem to have any moral issues with blood and gore. Besides, if Anonymous reveals names, what will it matter if Mexico's often corrupt politicians don't act on it?

      Well, it's true for anything. That's the problem with even trying to consider "Anonymous" as any kind of entity with any involvement, and even the qualifications for membership is shaky, philosophically or otherwise. Do I stop being a member if I say I am a member? If I say I'm a member of Zeta, it's the majority of that community that has the right to say I'm not or just cleverly show me I'm not with a bullet to the face. The majority of Anonymous can't make that decision so easily because there's no validity in membership because then... well, they'd no longer be "Anonymous" if they could at all identify each other not would they have any way to verify how many members there are and who are the originators.

      That's where the power is. Zeta can try to kill anyone they think is Anonymous but, for all they know, they'll have to kill every person on Earth or even their own membership to annihilate those people who've chose to associate with Anonymous. Even after eliminating with any certainty every member of Anonymous, because it is an idea it would be entirely possible for another person to take up the vague title again.

      As for naming the members of Zeta, anyone can just do what Zeta does to others. There's nothing barring a person who thinks they're following the will of Anonymous from murdering someone. For both groups, they may rely much in their lack of identification to persist, but Anonymous is at much less risk of actually being identified.

      This is a serious question that's due for an answer, and I fear most people haven't begun to realize that.

      --
      "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
  11. Damned if you do, damned if you don't by Requiem18th · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.
    1. Re:Damned if you do, damned if you don't by oddjob1244 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

  12. Re:wrong by mr1911 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

    They took "Anonymous" about as seriously as they take any snitch. Do you actually think that Mexican drug cartels consider Anonymous a serious threat? Are you fucking retarded?

    Yeah, they go through the trouble of killing someone and displaying their mutilated bodies as foreplay. Are you fucking retarded?

    They kill snitches and display their mutilated bodies because snitches are dangerous to the organization. They harm the families of snitches because snitches are dangerous to the organization. The more public the execution and the more those around the victim are harmed, the more dangerous they were to the organization.

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  13. Re:And just as anonymous was starting to make a di by Mr.+Freeman · · Score: 3, Informative

    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".

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