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Anonymous Begins Teaching Hacktivism on IRC (softpedia.com)
Softpedia reports that "At the end of April, members of the Anonymous hacker collective announced the launch of the OnionIRC, an internet relay chat network where the group says it aims to teach people about hacking and hacktivism." [Chat logs are available through the @OnionIRC Twitter account.] Classes cover topics like open-source intelligence and how to use nmap and bash, but "The teachers and the main people behind this campaign have been focused more on promoting the principles of hacktivism than anything else...classes on the idea of Anonymous itself, hacktivism in general, and civil disobedience."
An anonymous Slashdot reader writes:
The group's actual hacking activity has died down in the past years, with less "hacks" and more DDoS attacks, which most of the times are carried out by attention-seeking members. Because of this, the group's older members created the OnionIRC as a way to recruit and train new members.
Meanwhile, Softpedia reports that an Anonymous group is now targeting the mayor of Denver for dismantling homeless shelters, by bringing new attention to unconfirmed rumors that he once visited a prostitute.
Meanwhile, Softpedia reports that an Anonymous group is now targeting the mayor of Denver for dismantling homeless shelters, by bringing new attention to unconfirmed rumors that he once visited a prostitute.
There is a lot of lame users on some IRC servers. Pirated content (movies especially) is still served readily on IRC. They have pretty much automated and anonymized the process too so only the incredibly ignorant get busted anymore.
Is it illegal to visit prostitutes in that jurisdiction?
The problem with Anonymous is that as often as it picks a good cause, it picks childish bullshit.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Anonymous is not a unified group. It doesn't really pick a cause, instead using a form of the same algorithm used by bees to select a nest site: Any bee can suggest a site. If they say it's good, other bees go to check it out. They assess the site and return to the meeting, and if they liked it they show their seconding with an appropriate level of enthusiasm. This in turn encourages more bees to look, until by a rough consensus every bee is dancing about the same place - then they all move off together. Unified action without a leader.
(Yes, this is what honey bees do, encoding location vectors in body movements and site evaluation in duration of display. Bees are cool.)
To be fair, I don't think most organises of disruptive protests offline think about that in great detail. The standard chain of reasoning seems to be rather simpler:
1. A problem exists.
2. The government is unable/unwilling to help.
3. So lets break stuff and make lots of noise until we force someone to take action.
Plenty of protesters accept that they may go to jail for their cause, but few actually seek that end.
The problem with Anonymous is that it is anonymous. Anyone claims the name and dilutes the brand and makes it look worse.