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Member Claims Anonymous "Might Well Be the Most Powerful Organization On Earth"
wasimkadak writes in with an interview with Anonymous member "Commander X" in which he talks about how the hacktivists are the most powerful group on the planet. "Christopher Doyon, a.k.a. Commander X, sits atop a hillside in an undisclosed location in Canada, watching a reporter and photographer make their way along a narrow path to join him, away from the prying eyes of law enforcement. It's been a few weeks of encrypted emails back and forth, working out the security protocol to follow for interviewing Doyon, one of the brains behind Anonymous, now a fugitive from the FBI. Doyon, who readily admits taking part in some of the highest-profile hacktivist attacks on websites last year — from Tunisia to Orlando, Sony to PayPal — was arrested in September for a comparatively minor assault on the county website of Santa Cruz, Calif., where he was living, in retaliation for the town forcibly removing a homeless encampment on the courthouse steps. The 'virtual sit-in' lasted half an hour. For that, Doyon is facing 15 years in jail."
Oh really?
The new issue of Internet Tough Guy Magazine is out already?
... Being able to interrupt poorly-secured websites for a matter of minutes makes you "the most powerful organization on earth"?
...he got hit by them, and clearly only the world's best can do that.
People running around and doing the equivalent of tearing down billboards and defacing storefronts. Big whoops. Last I checked, the major players in the global financial network have actual power. And most central/federal governments, too. This guy needs a cold beer and a sense of proportion. Ok, maybe not the latter; we know that's the one thing that no one in the universe can afford to have. Make it two beers, then.
I expect this organisation would be quaking in its boots if certain other organisations were given free reign to eliminate them. Think FSB, Mossad, the US secrete service, or MI5
So how many guns and tanks does Anonymous control?
And yes, I realize this is like Stalin asking how many divisions the Pope has, but hey, at least I didn't Godwin it!
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
So far there are only two types of 'powerful organizations':
1. Governments, funded by tax payer money, using force (police, armed forces, etc.)
2. Corporations, funded by consumers and banks, using economic power
These two have a bit of a love-hate relationship, so their interactions are a fragile balance (how/how much to tax them, incentives, what they can get away with) and often work closely together (ACTA, TPP).
Having a new, unaligned powerhouse will of course upset that balance. The thing is the old adage 'power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely' will also apply to Anonymous.
Wait, a bunch of douchebag vandals (with a little attempt at extortion thrown in now and then for good measure) think they're the most powerful organization on earth? Oh, that is is good one!
Remind me again exactly what they have ever accomplished?
"Most powerful on the planet!"
"We're still not having sex, nerd."
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
If they spend one taxpayer dollar housing and feeding him, it's a waste. If I were the judge I'd give him a year of probation without internet as a condition.
WTF, this is the USA. We're not supposed to have political pris1581-340 8NO CARRIER.
Aren't members of Anonymous supposed to be, well, anonymous? It's sort of against the entire point of Anon to be going around giving interviews like you're some sort of "leader" of Anonymous or even saying you're a "member"? It's supposed to be a decentralized hivemind; if they do it any other way then they become weak. It's easier to defeat a threat with a face. This dude's a joke.
HAHAHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHAHA
*gasps air*
HAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAH
I'm pretty sure the leaders of the most Powerful Organizations don't have to hide in "undisclosed locations" in Canada.
"Power comes from lying. Lying big, and gettin' the whole damn world to play along with you. Once you got everybody agreeing with what they know in their hearts ain't true, you've got 'em by the balls."
So Anonymous first defines itself as being the collective voice of everybody (with a disproportionate representation of 4chan), then claims it's the most powerful organization in the world. Good for you, guys, really... Now you can take on the Tautology Club.
Unfortunately, I've just formed my own organization, called "Irresponsible", and everybody who doesn't know they're a part of Irresponsible is also a part of it! Because they're irresponsible in knowing what groups they're a part of, see? Since geological processes also don't take responsibility for their actions, they're also part of the organization. Who's the most powerful now, huh?
Now, Irresponsible! Scream at a wall! Tear down posters! Show how mad you are at everything that doesn't appease you by inconveniencing others!
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
It's funny how if a group is *actually* powerful, you never see them making claims that they're powerful. Their actions say more than words.
Anonymous are just poseurs. Not only are they poseurs on world-scale power, they're poseurs on computer hacking, all they know how to do is run DoS attacks. They're an embarrassment.
Anonymous member says something stupid. News at 11.
Sure to be followed up by doing something stupid.
A bunch of delusional 15-year-olds with too much time on their hands doing DDoS attacks? Yawn. Wake me up when they do something useful.
How does crap like this hit the frontpage?
The old people that run the USA seem to be major technophobe. I'm surprised they don't arrest people for knowing how to program computers.
I bet he would have gotten less than 2 years if her used a paintball gun to deface the court house instead of the web site.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
Sure sure. Of COURSE it is.....
Organisation on Earth is the Illuminati and the other ultra-secret societies that are either branches of, off-shoots of, or are just associated with the Illuminati!
Michael
http://s1.sfgame.us/index.php?rec=58163
Quick! Do an IPO before people realize how stupid this assessment is!
Unless Anon can call in an airstrike, or single-handedly cripple a first-world nation's financial system, they don't know what "power" is.
Big talk from a guy in hiding.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Anyone else wish these Jesters got the media attention they deserve.... in other words, none?
Anonymous is another (clearly not the first) example of what I'll for lack of a better term, call a "virtual nation".
It's obvious that the internet allows rapid worldwide communication. It's also obvious that it allows new aggregations of people to sort themselves out - that you can draw together like-minded people from all over the globe.
What's less-than-obvious is to call these aggregates "virtual nations".
But take a look at it from a slightly different perspective. People whose primary news source is Fox news live in the Unites States of America, and are quite proud of the fact. People whose primary news source is NPR also live in the United States of America, and are also quite proud of that fact. But when you ask the two groups of people what they thing the United States of America really is, beyond simple geographic attributes, you get two very different answers, two very different sets of allegiances. It's almost like they live in different nations. Perhaps in some sort of virtual way, they do.
But perhaps the best and worst example of a virtual nation is Al Qaeda. There is a group of people whose allegiance has little to do with physical boarders. Their sense of belonging, their cause, their peers transcend the mere physical. (Note that interesting characteristics don't make it good, and in this case, far from it.)
Anonymous is a less mature, less cohesive, less dangerous version.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Idiot.
It seems like any hacker can do something and claim to be part of Anonymous. Just like any middle eastern group can claim to be part of Al Qaeda or Hamas. Osama Bin Laden actually wrote that he was concerned that so many groups claiming to be tied to Al Qaeda was confusing and diluting their message and also they didn't like getting credit for shoddy or failed operations.
Who controls the British crown?
Who keeps the metric system down?
We do! We do.
Who leaves the Atlantis off the maps?
Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
We do! We do.
Who holds back the electric car?
Who makes Steve Guttenberg a star?
We do! We do.
Who robs cave fish of their sight?
Who rigs every Oscar night?
We do! We do.
Really, a member of the most powerful organization on earth and he's driven from his home and hiding out on hilltops in Canada?
Lets face it, the power of the Belgians is NOT the stuff of legend... the only hint you ever really had was the brief appearance of Jean-Claude Van Damme when he decided to dabble in acting.
Anonymous has NOTHING on the Belgians, or maybe they are the Belgians...?
It appears it has become time to abandon the Slashdot comments section.
To prevent this day from getting worse, I'll just read ERROR as GOOD TH
DDoS = Zerging = not interesting/powerful/intimidating to anyone but a web admin.
Don't get me wrong DDOSing a courthouse is pretty dumb, but 15 years?
The truth is somewhere in the middle.
Come on guys have a heart
These people are fighting the good fight
Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again.
Last I checked, the major players in the global financial network have actual power. And most central/federal governments, too.
Only the people have the actual power. Financiers, governments, crackers, drug cartels, religions, etc. exist solely at the will of the people.
The most powerful organization on the planet doesn't give interviews from an undisclosed location.
I like what Anonymous represents, and much of the hacking that they've engaged in has had a populist appeal, but they are self-limited by their anonymity, and obviously they're no more the drivers of our social change than OBL was . . . he also gave his interviews from an undisclosed location.
If I were Anonymous or a member thereof, I'd be looking for a wealthy socially-conscious sponsor to legitimize what I was doing . . . and take the conversation they are trying to have out in the open, where it can't be dismissed.
Until they do that, they're just going to be treated like cyber-terrorists. I suspect that the need that Anonymous is attempting to fill will be met by someone else, wiser and cleverer.
One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel / the next it's rolling over me / I can get back on / I can get back on
Yet the "most powerful organization on Earth" needs to skip borders to run away from the FBI.
/* No Comment */
Anonymous are loud-mouthed vandals and computer criminals. I give a big cheer whenever law-enforcement officials catch some of them.
They give hackers a bad name.
Just reading the title caused me to spit up my fruit loops.
If you can't deploy nuclear weapons, you're not the most powerful organization on earth. Then again, if they have root at a Chinese missle silo, I may be wrong.
bah.
I am afraid that Commander X would seem to have been introduced neither to the FSB nor to Mossad. We know that because he hasn't yet had either a polonium milkshake or a Semtex phone.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
As Nixon once said, "Once you got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
They aren't at least until they can hack Castle Greyskull's servers
I guess hiding on a Canadian hilltop makes you powerful.
If Anonymous is so powerful, then why is one of its major "leaders" hiding in Canada?
Until there is a Guy Fawkes mask on the cower of the Times magazine, I'm the most powerful organization on the planet.
I read that prostitutes don't mind them much, if the price is high enough.
in the hole in his ear?
A powerful organization is an entity that matters. Anonymous is the equivalent of a bunch of taggers - nothing they do will be remembered next week.
Warning! If the world does not admit that Anonymous is the most powerful organization on the planet, we're going to pout.
And deface some websites.
And run some script-kiddie tools.
But most dangerous of all: we'll put out another robotic-voice video of someone in a Guy Fawkes mask!
You have been warned!
Love, Anonymous
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Depends on what they have to lose and how strong the belief in what their doing is.
"Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me". - stolen from Dan C alt.os.linux.slackware
... But then I realized just how many billions of dollars are being spent and the justification is to protect against 'cyber terrorists' like Anonymous.
They might have a case as the most dangerous organization on Earth! Because certainly our politicians and businesses wouldn't just use them as a convenient scapegoat as a method to get funding and appropriations, right? Right?
You ever think that all these stupid twits claiming to be the leader of an organisation that by definition is not an organistaion, are part of a massive false flag operation designed to ensure that the common man doesn't attempt any direct action of his own?
It's losers on the internet engaging in free association to spread mayhem and chaos because there's nothing better to do and we've got no future. That is all.
It certainly sounds like you!
I don't have a sig.
80% of the US is on a sewer system, they can rain down a shit storm of epic proportions.
Theodore Sturgeon would like a word with you...
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
So when can we expect Utopia to be completed? I mean, they're _hackers_; If they can't do it nobody can!
Sarcasm, eh?
I found some video from the interview they did. It looks legit..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJA30w1TAXc
But if they're so all powerful, then why is this tosser known by the authorities (FBI) and on the run from them. Shouldn't he be impervious to their feeble attempts?
If they want, they'll find him pretty quickly, especially as the reporters movements are probably ridiculously easy to trace.
I feel the same way about Oprah's book club...and YES, I am a member!
As Anonymous isn't an organization at all, anyone can call him/herself "anonymous", there is no real group with that name, it's all just groups of hackers and scriptkiddies..
Just like where there's a lack of freedom of speech, noone is complaining about it.
I can only imagine that's why they made this statement...
This is not the greatest sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
...it has been being avoided in doing so.... because TPTB need a person to shoot down to take down the whole.
For whoever this guy was or is , is of no consequence to the idea, whose time has come.
And the power is with the people, the tax payers and they need to tell government where to spend the taxes they pay, me regarding mine and you regarding yours.
This core change really is quite simple and its true to the original Hackers Ethic, Mistrust authority — promote decentralization.
And that means this guy is NOT going to be anyone's centralization.... Because we know their only purpose is to be used by the powers that be, to take down the whole. And for that he is nothing.
Please, see your doctor and get the dosage adjusted before it's too late.
Ironic that they claim to have so much power but are afraid of a flat foot cop on the beat with a pair of handcuffs.
I am Anonymous
Is this guy (Doney) for real? If he really just said all that, and actually experienced that, and has that information, every agency on the planet is hot on his heels right now. So either hes stupid, or amazingly intelligent and somehow managed to avoid all the surveillance cameras on those places.
Imho, most of what hes saying is bull in order to cause a storm of government activity (on a completely cold trail). If he has any brains at all, the descriptions he gave them were completely random and he just pulled off a massive troll. FOR TEH LULZ!!!1
He defaced a non-critical local government website. It did not cause any disruption of important services, he did not benefit fiancially or in any other tangible way, and the attack only lasted 30 minutes.
For that he gets a penalty similar to what he'd get if he'd committed murder one. wow.
Not that I condone the crime, but any system that far out of touch with reality deserves to be taken down.
I checked Wikipedia: they were going to release information on Zeta only because they had kidnapped an anonymous member. Los Zetas actually released their member, that's why they rescinded on OpCartel:
On 6 October 2011 a man identified himself as a member of Anonymous posted a video on the Internet (YouTube) under the account MrAnonymousguyfawkes stating that Los Zetas had kidnapped one of their group members and demanded Los Zetas Cartel release the individual.
And you believed it? Here, I have a bridge to sell.
I always post as AC because I am too lazy to create a username or log in.
More powerful than the banking cartels that have basically strip minded the US Treasury for TRILLIONS of dollars? I don't think so.
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
Corollary to:
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
In the event that you make a ridiculous, delusional statement that demands laughter as an appropriate and natural response, you are not on step 2 and therefore destined to win. It is only a reasonable response, and will be followed by an immediate return to step 1. You must strip yourself of your misconceptions before Gandhi's theorem applies.
grow some balls and apply your rights and do your duty and tell the government where they are going to spend your taxes.
I agree they wouldn't even make the top 1000 "most powerful organizations on Earth" but... Doesn't matter if they succeed to take down a website for a minute or a year, or even if they succeed at all. What matters is that it gets the online community talking
So do the the Kardashians.
about the issue.
What issue?
That's where the power comes from.
By that measure the Kardashians are a nuclear-armed superpower or something to that nature.
Is it the right kind of power or the wrong kind?
There is no power there. Stop reading too much into this rhetorical, make-believe shit.
That's up to each individual to decide.
People deciding that stupid shit is important (exhibit A: the Kardashians) does not necessarily imply that it is important.
To this story.
One day you will be imprisoned for it, If you do not act now.
Wake up it is a million time worse than you think it is.
If your FBI most wanted is your so called script kiddies.
Slashdot poster claims Internetuser1248 "might be the best lover, and also the coolest person in the known universe"
To be part of anonymous, you just have to call yourself anonymous.
For example, I can deface a website, write "we are legion never forgive never forget blah blah" and it becomes yet another action of anonymous. The anonymous that DDOS MasterCard and the one that hunt down child porn may be completely different groups that don't even know each other.
Saying that anonymous is a powerful organization is as stupid as saying that the opensource community is a powerful organization. They are certainly powerful, have similar ideas and often work together but they are not an organization.
Because anybody can be a memeber. It's sort of like saying the human race is the most powerful race. Pretty much trite and meaningless when you think about it.
He got a year probation and 75 hours of community service.
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/appeals-court-upholds-ruling-that-spares-g20-protester-from-jail-time/article2418653/
-- Terry
For tweeting about security fences and being into model rocketry.
He did do a year in lockup waiting for his case to get to court, last I read. Thanks for the link. "Welcome to Canada, kid. Bend over."
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
I think the Zeta's might have something to say about who holds more power as an organization.
"Give me control of a nation's money supply, and I care not who makes its laws." - Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Casteism
.. They just seem to hit low-value targets. I mean, yeah, potentially Anonymous could be very, very strong... but Commander X facing 15 years in prison for a 30 minute virtual sit-in on some county level govt website?
If you're going to risk prison, especially in this police state nation, then I'd say go after something worth the risk. When I see Goldman Sachs actual trading links to the NYSE disrupted.. hell, I don't care if it's just for 15 seconds.. then I'll give them some acknowledgement as being "powerful". But websites? Meh..