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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?
... Being able to interrupt poorly-secured websites for a matter of minutes makes you "the most powerful organization on earth"?
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.
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
the US secrete service
Yes, those secretions are to be avoided at all costs.
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.
the US secrete service
The sewer authority? I never knew.
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.
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.
That's right. In this month's issue:
Walking the Tightrope: How much physical threatening is too much?
Dealing with NDT "we're dealing with a badass" image macros
Metal album covers as avatars: the Internet equivalent of a Tapout shirt
Skill of 1000 hackers: Interview with Ichsun
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel