Feds Arrest GeneSimmons.Com Attacker

gManZboy writes "Federal authorities have arrested an alleged member of Anonymous in connection with an "Operation Payback" attack against the website of Kiss bassist Gene Simmons. The charges stem from a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against Simmons' website over a five-day period in 2010. Simmons apparently drew the ire of the Anonymous set after he lambasted their peer-to-peer (P2P) downloading proclivities during a 2010 MIPCOM entertainment content media conference panel discussion, where he lamented the failure of the music industry 'to sue every fresh-faced, freckle-faced college kid who downloaded material.'"

Comments

Why DDoS Simmons Site?

[ackthpt]

Not a lot of people really visit these sites anyway. If you want to lambaste the guy do it on twitter or facebook.

Advice to Gene Simmons - don't make China angry.

Re:Why DDoS Simmons Site?

[Ethanol-fueled]

What is important to note is that Gene Simmons, being Jewish, is the ultimate bad stereotype and does nothing but harm acceptance of his people. He is greedy, has a large nose, has adopted a reptilian("demonic") stage persona, and is pissing off the same demographic that made him rich decades ago.

In a series of brief interview excerpts shown on Entertainment Weekly's website, celebrities are asked what the best gifts they received were:

BRITNEY SPEARS - ''This little butterfly necklace I got from my little sister. She always liked butterflies.''
GENE SIMMONS - ''Shares in Krispy Kreme. I made a handsome profit.''

My heart goes out to the captured anon and I hope that Gene takes a firsthand look at Krispy Kreme's factory, specifically the oven-baking process.

Re:Why DDoS Simmons Site?

[drnb]

Advice to Gene Simmons - don't make China angry.

Why would China be angry with Gene, where do you think the crap he sells is made?

Re:Why DDoS Simmons Site?

[identity0]

Oh wow, you didn't even post the even more stark comparison with the one below his:

GENE SIMMONS ''Shares in Krispy Kreme. I made a handsome profit.''

DORIS ROBERTS (''Everybody Loves Raymond'') ''At Ground Zero, the policemen and the firemen gave me a flag and a piece of the first tower that went down. I cried so...I asked, 'Why are you giving this to me?' and they said, 'We've been here since 9/11 looking for pieces of our friends. Then we go home at night and turn on the telly, and there you are making us laugh. You bring us back into life.'''

Really, Gene? Did you really need those Krispy Kreme shares? Were you hit by high cocaine prices that trashed your savings?

Mods, please stop hitting the parent post with flamebait tags, it really is insightful about Gene Simmons.

Re:Why DDoS Simmons Site?

[Anonymous Coward]

Didnt realize (or really care) that he was Jewish. Just thought he was an all around jerk... But hey his music is decent...

The lead singer for a band that epitomized monetizing music and you somehow think him being Jewish has any bearing on the matter. Maybe he is just a greedy person? You do realize that greedy people exist right? If you didnt realize he was a jerk long ago you were seriously not paying attention...

Re:Why DDoS Simmons Site?

[identity0]

Boo hoo, did I hurt your feeling by making fun of your favorite clown? At least if it was cocaine he would have an excuse.

Just looked this idiot up, he supposedly claims never to have done drugs? I guess he has no excuse then, other than "I'm greedy as fuck"

But not knowing by memory the personal lives of washed-up has-beens from the 70s means it's not "insightful" to point out that he's a douchebag? You and other celebrity fanboys are sick.

Proxies

[Hatta]

Guess 7 isn't enough.

Re:Proxies

[Lehk228]

more like noobs used 7 proxies all operating under *.fbi.gov

excellent

[Trepidity]

I cannot think of a better use of taxpayer money.

Re:excellent

[Anonymous Coward]

Interesting how nobody in the banking community who caused so much hardship for America, Europe and the rest of the world got arrested, and yet the authorities spent years tracking down a "freckle faced kid" who hacked a useless website.

We all know were the priorities of government and industry lie.

Re:excellent

[the linux geek]

Which specific people in "the banking community" would you have arrested, and for what specific crime?

I agree that they fucked things up, but going into witch-hunt mode might not be desirable.

Re:excellent

[PopeRatzo]

I cannot think of a better use of taxpayer money.

Quoth, Gene Simmons:

"Make sure your brand is protected," Simmons said. "Make sure there are no incursions. Be litigious. Sue everybody. Take their homes, their cars. Don't let anybody cross that line."

One possibly better use of taxpayer money would be a Predator strike on Gene Simmons' house, then making sure that his progeny are all imprisoned, to the seventh generation.

I do believe however, that lenience should be shown to the eighth generation, because to do otherwise would be overkill.

Re:excellent

[Oligonicella]

"I'd let the power and resources of the FBI determine who to arrest."

And they've found no one to arrest. Of course, being that they aren't arresting any top bankers, etc, now it's a conspiracy. "But asking ME who I would go after sounds like a Troll."

Well, no. Since you're AC, you could be anyone.

"Interesting how nobody in the banking community who caused ... who hacked a useless website."

But, let's play. You see, you asked (obliquely) why the feds weren't pursuing people in the banking community. You left if very vague so as to infer collusion. You were simply then asked to provide names and crimes so the process could begin.

You had none, so to deflect that little truth, you yelled Troll.

Interest thing is, you're the Troll.

I'll provide some proof, instead of simply hollering.

"I'd let the... FBI determine who to arrest." and "... asking the FBI why, ... they haven't found anybody to put in jail." express two opposing views.

Either you have the confidence in the feds to determine who to arrest or you don't. You stated you did, but everything you've written says you don't. This allows you presumed moral authority on either side of the issue.

Iow - Troll.

Re:excellent

[PopeRatzo]

Why not just skip using the taxpayers money and stop watching the show?

"Show"? There's a "show"? I had no idea.

My desire to see a predator strike on Gene Simmons has nothing to do with any "show".

Re:excellent

[Anonymous Coward]

How about they start with Jamie Dimon (fraud: robo-signing), Lloyd Blankfein (fraud: MBS sales), and throw in Hank Paulson (coercion, fraud) for good measure?

That you would let these complete and total unethical assholes off the hook so easily is extremely disturbing. I sincerely hope you are just trolling. When you wake up one day and wonder why everything went to hell, look at the actions of the above people and realize they were major contributors to it. Not just them either, thousands like them, hiding in the shadows of legal grey areas, loopholes, and outright purchased freedom from prosecution. Steal trillions of dollars and claim it's a-ok because they managed to skirt the law through arcane convolution that prosecutors couldn't understand. Issue threats like "tanks in the streets" whenever regulation or prosecution talk was brought up.

These individuals are truly worthy of the title "financial terrorist".

Oh, and fuck gene simmons. Another worthless stain on capitalism's bathroom floor.

Re:excellent

[Cajun Hell]

My desire to see a predator strike on Gene Simmons has nothing to do with any "show".

Why shouldn't the predator strike be a public performance? You want to be the sole witness? You selfish bastard.

Who the hell actually listens to KISS songs?

[antifoidulus]

I thought the whole point of KISS was the live shows, are there actually people out there who routinely listen to their music?

Re:Who the hell actually listens to KISS songs?

[Spodi]

Of course! Just like GWAR, they are famous for their beautiful and melodic music, not their elaborate stage performances that involve covering the audience in monster blood and semen.

Re:Who the hell actually listens to KISS songs?

[M. Baranczak]

What's a record, grandpa?

Re:Who the hell actually listens to KISS songs?

[Artifakt]

People point out that there are some very good bands that have never made the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Rush and Yes for two). Then they mention that Kiss hasn't either, and all the Rush and Yes fans realize the process isn't completely broken and chill.

Re:Who the hell actually listens to KISS songs?

[Critical Facilities]

While I completely agree that both Yes and Rush should absolutely be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I think that Kiss should be in as well. There is no comparing Kiss with either Rush or Yes in terms of musicianship or songwriting to be sure. But, in terms of showmanship you do have to acknowledge Kiss. I'm not saying they're for everyone, and yes they were over the top but you have to admit that at the time, they were an absolute phenomenon. In the late 70's, you simply couldn't escape Kiss, they were everywhere, and I think that to try to ignore the fact that a rock band from New York City was able to promote themselves into this all consuming cultural force (for better or for worse) is crazy.

In some ways, Kiss really set the bar for bands to really dial up live shows to levels they really hadn't been before. No one had done pyrotechnics like that before, not on that scale. I'm not saying that they invented using flame pots on stage, or wearing make-up, but that they really took some of those theatrics, and raised the bar on creating the "rock star' persona and then inflating it to stratospheric levels. It was an utter exaggeration of every aspect of the characters they had invented.

No, I'm not a die-hard Kiss fan. Yes, I do own a few albums. I was born early enough in the 70's to be just at that perfect age to think that Kiss were almost like superhero's. I dressed up as Gene Simmons for Halloween in the 2nd grade, and the nuns at my Catholic school were friggin' terrified. I think Gene is an arrogant asshat just like everyone else. But, I still have to acknowledge that they certainly had an impact on rock music as an industry. I also think that while some folks like to pretend that they don't know a single Kiss song, get them in a bar and put a few beers in them, and see if they don't sing along to a few bars of "Cold Gin", "Rock and Roll All Night", "Calling Dr. Love", "Heaven's On Fire", "Detroit Rock City", or "Beth".

Gene Simmons is a gigantic ass

[BitHive]

Just listen to some of the shit he says to Terry Gross:

http://www.erim.net/archives/gene-simmons-and-terry-gross-inteview

Re:Gene Simmons is a gigantic ass

[bipbop]

Your link has a typo. Working link:

http://www.erim.net/archives/gene-simmons-and-terry-gross-interview

Re:Gene Simmons is a gigantic ass

[Anne_Nonymous]

I enjoyed the first 2/3rds of the headline very much.

Re:Gene Simmons is a gigantic ass

[bcrowell]

I listened to the whole interview, and I thought it was a kick. He's obviously very insecure, and he's projecting a manufactured persona, but he's also pretty funny.

Gene SImmons

[geekoid]

is a has been ass who thinks the world owes him money.

He is a marketing genius

[ArchieBunker]

You name it and he has s KISS logo slapped on it, everything from coffins to condoms...

Re:He is a marketing genius

[DeathElk]

Gene is amazing at marketing.

Gotta love him.

No. No you don't.

Re:He is a marketing genius

[elrous0]

I do admire his ability to stand out as one of the biggest assholes in rock, a field DOMINATED by huge assholes. It's like he's dedicated his whole life to being the most selfish, arrogant prick on the planet--with great success. I almost think that being a musician was just a means to that real end. I picture him telling his fellow kindergarteners "When I grow up, I want to be the biggest douchebag in the world."

Big surprise

[RobinEggs]

Anonymous would be a lot more effective if they focused on one thing longer than a week...they've done everything from embarrassment campaigns against child pornographers to hacking secret societies and crime syndicates to various political hacks to that one bizarre incident where they organized a hate mail campaign against a teenager with an anti-profanity site.

They fancy themselves hacktivists but they don't seem to try very hard at sending messages to the public, which I assume is who you'd like to reach if you think the entire government and corporate landscapes are irredeemably corrupt.

Bottom line, I don't get them. I don't think they have to be an absolutely coherent, focused force with an official spokesperson in a tie to be taken seriously, but they usually don't even seem like they're trying to change something; they're just fucking around and punishing people at random.

Re:Big surprise

[rev0lt]

So, are you saying an internet mob still behaves like a mob? Interesting :)

Re:Big surprise

[Trepidity]

you do realize that "Anonymous" is just any person who calls themselves that, right?

Re:Big surprise

[rtb61]

I see you fail to understand 'Anonymous'. There is no group, there are only individuals who choose to conduct a protest activity and donate the outcome of that activity to 'Anonymous' rather that taking individual or group credit for the activity.

So anyone at any time can conduct protest activity and proclaim that activity to be the work of 'Anonymous'. There is no group, no conspiracy, just individual choice to participate in protest activity. In the case of denial of service, nothing more than the temporary non-damaging disruption of a marketing channel and where more than one person participates, all that counts is the individual effort. So they must prove that the persons who was involved actually did disrupt, rather that the total efforts of many people ie you can not change one person with an outcome produce by many people, only their individual impact can be measured and whether that would have impacted the service.

Re:Big surprise

[artor3]

Unless of course you do something dickish as part of anonymous, which is quite common. They're just a roving mob of thugs. Sometimes they attack someone who deserves it. Sometimes they attack someone who they thought deserves it, but is actually innocent. Sometimes they attack someone who did do something wrong, but their attacks are all out of proportion with the deserved punishment. Sometimes they just hurt random strangers for laughs.

They're basically a sterling example of why anarchist mob justice doesn't work.

Re:Big surprise

[Ginger Unicorn]

Anonymous isn't one roving mob of thugs. It's just a self-applied label any random mob of thugs can give itself on an ad-hoc basis to attempt to convey some sense of menace. Which is why expecting any of these completely unrelated groups of people to follow some predetermined M.O. is naive at best.

And nothing of value was lost

[girlintraining]

The loss to the KISS artist was estimated to be in the tens of dollars, the FBI reported today, after rounding up one of the freckled, young college kids mentioned. The FBI plans to drain the young adult's blood and pump it into the ancient man to revitalize him in time for his next comeback tour, which will feature duets by him and Lars Ulrich talking about how hard it is for them to get by on only a few hundred million a year. Common Sense was unavailable for comment at the time of the article's publication...

Re:And nothing of value was lost

[fsckmnky]

Thats an interesting analogy. If the event were being held a public place, say, a county owned park, I would imagine that no, it is not illegal for the protesters to boo down the Nazis.

However, if the event were being held in a private venue, and the protesters prevented the Nazi's and the people who paid money to hear them speak conduct their event without interruption, then I would have to say yes, it is in fact illegal.

In this case, Mr Simmons was paying to host his website, and his fans and customers were paying to access his website, which makes denying Mr Simmons the ability to broadcast his website, and his fans the ability to receive that broadcast, an illegal activity.

Re:And nothing of value was lost

[fsckmnky]

15 years sounds like an extremely harsh punishment given the circumstances. In fact, since its just some stupid rock bands website, I wouldn't expect justice to include any jail time at all.

The draconian measures that have been written into law concerning "computer crimes" versus any other type of crime, seem to me to be a knee jerk reaction to a problem that is/was beyond the means of the legislators ability to deal with it. As a result, they passed a special law concerning computer crime, that could have been framed within the context of any other number of already existing laws.

A fair and reasonable society and justice system would meter punishment proportionate to the offense, such that, no side of the equation is imbalanced.

Do I agree with the current state of legislation concerning "computer crimes?" ... not at all. Do I think people should be given free rein to to interfere with the internet and other peoples computer systems just because they have a script programmed for the task ? Again, not at all.

Re:Who is Gene Simmons?

[Rockoon]

I guess you were born after KISS Saved Santa. I blame our history teachers.

Re:Gene SImmons

[GumphMaster]

Yeah... my hairy arse :)

Kids stealing from hardworking artists, huh?

[The Archon V2.0]

where he lamented the failure of the music industry 'to sue every fresh-faced, freckle-faced college kid who downloaded material

Wonder if he's so quick to lament the failure of manga publishers to sue every fresh-faced, freckle-faced college kid who traced material and then sold it as their own?

For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, look into Nick Simmons' "Incarnate". Not hard to find, just search for the words "Simmons" and "Incarnate" in a search engine and notice how many times the world "plagiarism" can turn up on a single results page.

Re:Kids stealing from hardworking artists, huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks for the informative comment. Tasty tasty hypocrisy.

Found a nice link: http://bleachness.livejournal.com/446299.html

The Title Got My Hopes Up

[Ben_R_R]

I first read it as "Feds Arrest Gene Simmons". You can imagine my disappointment.

KISS = worst rock band ever

[TiggertheMad]

i think gene simmons is a gigantic douche, but script kiddies are even worse.

You are wrong. The kids will grow out of it in a few years.

Re:KISS = worst rock band ever

[Sebastopol]

bahahahahaha!

to really understand the success of KISS, you had to be around in the 1970's. black sabbath was still "underground" (far too scary for the masses), and music was still harmless, sappy, and/or depressing. kiss comes along and every 14-18 year old suddenly had a raging hard on to terrify their parents. sad to look at it this way, but KISS were the badasses of pop metal. and even the term metal is a stretch: their music was too melodic and "bluesy" to qualify. of course, when i see posters for slipknot i don't think we've come very far, but pre 1980's new wave, KISS was THE way to freak out parents.

today, with a generation raised on 2-girls-1-cup, KISS looks like a trite bunch of pussies.

Re:Not a mob, a bot

[Rennt]

...first they DDOS mid-east countries for trying to stop free speech, then they DDOS this guy when he exercises it?

Maybe they think free speech trumps copyright? Maybe they saw Gene's outburst as a direct attack against their freedoms? I don't know their motivations, but in any case I don't see anything inconsistent about their actions in your example. If somebody uses their freedom of speech to be a dick they have to live with the consequences. That has nothing to do with censorship.

Re:Ethanol-fueled ignorant comment

[Hognoxious]

Ethanol-fueled: Please, could you explain what does it has to do the religion of a human being with the way that person behaves?

Assuming you meant "could you explain what a person's religion has to do with the way he behaves" and not the ungrammatical tripe you actually wrote, surely the answer is quite a lot.

Isn't that the point of religions - getting people to do this and not do that, for various values of this and that?