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Anonymous Cancels Drug-Ring Attack

Posted by Soulskill on from the easier-said-than-done dept.

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."

9 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 CheshireDragon · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

      --
      "That's right...I said it."
    2. 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.

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      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    3. 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.

  2. 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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  3. 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."

  4. 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
  5. 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.

  6. 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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