Piratbyran Co-Founder Says Stop DDoSing Polish Sites

bs0d3 writes "Since the news was released that Poland will sign ACTA later this month, activists have taken to the streets in protest. Also, Anonymous has aimed their DDoS cannons at Polish websites. A government minister admitted the government had failed to fully consult the public on the issue. Piratbyran Co-Founder Marcin de Kaminski has been following the issue on ACTA in Poland, and agrees with activists that Anonymous' DDoS is hurting the situation. Now the Polish government is trying to speed up the signatory process, making a statement of not giving in to 'cyber terrorists.'"

Comments

Great logic

[hawguy]

The government says "Hey, we really didn't consult the public before we agreed to this, but you know, since some anonymous organization from outside our country is attacking our internet sites, we have no choice but to screw the public as we originally intended and the blame rests soley on Anonymous."

Sounds like a convenient excuse to do what they were going to do anyway, but now they have a scapegoat.

Re:Great logic

[Xest]

"The government says "Hey, we really didn't consult the public before we agreed to this""

I don't know why this is being billed as the government admitting any kind of fault, I thought the whole point in ACTA was to get it produced and signed off without the public even finding out, hence the secrecy of negotiations in the first place?

I think when they say they admit they didn't consult the public they're not saying "Yeah, we kind of should have consulted the public", they're saying, "We didn't consult the public, because that was the whole fucking point of ACTA".

Any news?

[mwvdlee]

Anonymous has been randomly attacking sites for the fun of it for most of it's existence.
They're not interrested in political issues, just attacking sites using any random excuse they can think of to justify their vandalism.
If they ever had ideological goals in the past, those have long since gone.

Re:Any news?

[Mick R]

Very "black and white" view you have there. Anonymous would say they had a reason for every action they've taken, but since you've decided it was all just for fun I guess none of that matters. I don't necessarily agree with every action they've taken, but I can understand why people would want to do some of the things they've done.

Re:Any news?

[AK Marc]

They do have a member list, but every entry is the same.

Re:Any news?

[Hentes]

If you want to fight the law by breaking it than you need to be "very black and white". You have to be perfectly clear what your goals are and how will you try to achieve them. You have to take your actions consistently with your communication. Otherwise, you are just a vandal.

It's like saying that "Hey, this cop might have shot two innocent people but it's very black and white thinkign to call him a murderer. I mean, he also shot three criminals that sure balances it out isn't it?" .

Easy solution

[thej1nx]

1. Anonymous should simply change their demand then. "We will continue to DDOS the websites unless the all the ministers in present government continue to occupy their position and stay in politics".

2. The Polish government will then announce that they refuse to give in to cyber terrorists and shall immediately resign en masse,and quit politics...

3. Profit!

Punishing the wrong government.

[Hozza]

This does seem like a bizarre reaction from the hacktivists. The Polish government is in the news because they're one the longest holdouts in signing up to ACTA. Surely one of the governments that signed up quickly and quietly, with the minimum of public discussion, is more worthy of our scorn.

Re:Punishing the wrong government.

[Serpents]

The Polish PM boasted in December that pushing the adoption of ACTA was one of the greatest successes of Polish presidency of the EU. They have recently removed this info from his website

Hardly unique.

[SuricouRaven]

I'm sure there are plenty of historical precidents in which an action is regarded as a form of legitimate protest by the perpetuators, but a form of illegal violence by the state. Eventually the judgement of history will decide, but that can take decades - and really just depends on who wins, and thus who writes the history books. If the US had lost the war of independance, we'd be teaching that the rebels were a bunch of selfish thugs who just wanted to get out of paying taxes.

Re:Hardly unique.

[walshy007]

If the US had lost the war of independance, we'd be teaching that the rebels were a bunch of selfish thugs who just wanted to get out of paying taxes.

You mean to say they weren't? of all the colonies britain put around the world the US seems to be the only one where it resulted in a large war, the rest all progressed along peacefully. Lets not forget that the people of the US were the ones that started violence and hostilities. They wouldn't have even won without the french's support (since the english and the french were always at each others throats of the time, the enemy of my enemy is my friend etc)

The 'taxation without representation' Business could be construed as an after the fact justification. Initially very few americans even wanted to fight the english, they were fairly content. Only after the violent acts were done and britain came down hard on them was support gained. This could be likened to present day fighting in the middle east - a limited number of people cause a ruckus for another country, they overreact and create far more support for the initial cause by the reaction.

How it looks in Poland

[lukaszg]

Currently ACTA is present here (Poland) in every news since a couple of days. People are furious, I think because: 1) Something such important was done behind their back 2) It certainly may limit freedom and may be cause of many abuses. Top government sites were hacked (as far as I know by different groups, some were quite funny). Despite large number of protests politicians seem to pretend that everything's alright and that they can continue with signing the act (yesterday polish ambassador in Japan was given permission to do that). What's funny is that Prime Minister says it won't change anything - so why to sign up? Many protests are being organised, similarly as with SOPA there are lists of politicians who support the act, some start to have doubts knowing that it may influence their appearance and perhaps future elections (in three years). I think that decisions are already made and nothing can be done. Some more info: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/01/22/poland-netizens-protest-governments-plan-to-sign-acta-next-week/ .

Re:So...

[Totenglocke]

Every political party (except the Greens) voted for it. Very few NZ citizens agree with it.

Hence why I laugh at the notion that the people actually control the government in a democracy. The politicians do whatever they please because the people have no recourse but to vote for a different politician with the same goals.

Re:this means

[Baloroth]

And now they have every justification for doing so in the eyes of most of their citizens.

Great job, anonymous! /sarcasm

Re:this means

[iamhassi]

And now they have every justification for doing so in the eyes of most of their citizens.

Great job, anonymous! /sarcasm

Actually, as of yesterday the Polish government is reconsidering signing the treaty.

Great job, anonymous! /nosarcasm