Hacker Phineas Fisher is Trying To Start a 'Hack Back' Political Movement (vice.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The hacker who breached Hacking Team and FinFisher is trying to get more people to "hack back" and fight "the system." For some, thanks to his targeted attacks and sophisticated political views, Phineas Fisher is quickly becoming the most influential hacktivist of the last few years. In response to his most recent hack where he released a 39-minute how-to video showing how to strip data from targeted websites, specifically a website of the Catalan police union, Phineas Fisher told Motherboard, "Everything doesn't have to be big. I wanted to strike a small blow at the system, teach a bit of hacking with the video, and inspire people to take action." Biella Coleman, professor at McGill University in Montreal, believes Phineas Fisher has a good chance of inspiring a new generation of hacktivists and "setting the stage for other hackers to follow in his footsteps." She says he has been better at choosing targets and justifying his actions with more rounded and sophisticated political and ethical views than Anonymous and LulzSec-inspired hackers. Phineas Fisher told Motherboard, "I don't want to be the lone hacker fighting the system. I want to inspire others to take similar action, and try to provide the information so they can learn how."

Comments

example of his "sophisticated political views"?

[sittingnut]

how about an example of his "sophisticated political views"?
or is that an euphemism for whatever views writer of this puff piece holds?

any real "sophisticated political view" would be nuanced and will not have a binary view of society and groups in it.
but without binary views and resulting simplistic us versus them mentality, there wont be any "targets" to "attack" using illegal methods.

Re:example of his "sophisticated political views"?

[ScentCone]

how about an example of his "sophisticated political views"?

His views are so sophisticated that if you have to ask about them, you'll never understand them. Because, sophistication.

Re:example of his "sophisticated political views"?

[SQL Error]

He's an anarchist. Which these days means an emo kid with internet access.

Re:example of his "sophisticated political views"?

[tigersha]

You are an old-timer and would never understand the fine subtle mind of a modern-day Millennial Hipster

Re:example of his "sophisticated political views"?

[Anonymous Coward]

How about you read the guys writing. He is very clear about his reasoning and it really is not hard to follow. I'm proud of this guy regardless of what americans think, americans are afraid of their own shadow. I'm european and I hope more europeans (assuming he's spanish, could be wrong) follow in what he does. I would if I wasn't lazy and a bit shit. My shame is being too much like americans and becoming completely fucking useless, like all americans.

He is against the overreach of our governments and intelligence services. He is against violent squashing of genuine civil/civic problems within his own society. He is against the balance of power shifting too far away from the peoples of the world and giving more [centralized] power to corrupt governments. He is against fascism in general.

He targeted HackingTeam because
1) Some of the founders are italian fascists (ie. believe in fascist ideology and work in that interest)
2) They sold technology to severely dangerous governments and groups that use that technology to keep their boot on peoples faces.

He gives reasons for his more recent stuff (copy & paste):
More about the Mossos: A brief description in english of the events of 4F, when mossos badly beat and tortured several people and sent a couple people to prison for years on false charges: https://theanarchistlibrary.or...

A documentary on 4F (catalan and spanish with english subtitles), and Patricia Heras, who spent years in prison on false charges and committed suicide. She was on the other side of the city at the time of the events of 4F, but got in a bike accident and went to the hospital. The mossos took the people they tortured on 4F to the same hospital, saw her there, decided she also looked like a squatter, and made up some stuff to charge her with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

An interview (in english, with spanish and catalan subtitles) with a guy who was badly tortured and jailed on false charges after defending a friend from mossos (who weren't in uniform and didn't identify themselves as police) who were harassing her at a nightclub. In a rare victory (he was the son of a diplomat, so had the resources to fight back) the false charges against him were overturned and the police who lied and tortured him were sentenced (well, the 2 of them he was able to identify. The rest got away with it because police don't snitch on each other). https://www.youtube.com/watch?... A documentary (catalan with spanish and english subtitles) on a woman who had her eye shot out by mossos attacking a peaceful demonstration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

A long analysis of the political situation in Barcelona and the direction the elites are trying to develop the city. The mossos do the dirty work, harassing and driving out "undesirables" to reshape the city. https://roarmag.org/essays/pre... Mossos beating Juan Andrés BenÃtez to death. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

In Spain, freedom of speech doesn't exist, at least when it comes to criticizing the police. The rappers at 9:50 are facing fines and jailtime over their anti-police lyrics: https://www.diagonalperiodico.... (you can't make this shit up) Puppeteers are facing terrorism charges over a play depicting police planting fake evidence to set someone up on terrorism charges: https://roarmag.org/essays/tit...

You g

Re:example of his "sophisticated political views"?

[sabbede]

Okay, that's lousy behavior on the part of apparently corrupt officials. How exactly is anonymous vandalism any better? If his political views are so sophisticated, why isn't he engaging the political process and using valid means to promote said views? Like organizing nonviolent protests, engaging with the electorate, using the democratic process to bring about systemic change?

Vandalism only discredits his cause. A sophisticated political actor should have the sense to avoid such blunders; these are the acts of an immature fool. Gandhi was no vandal. Martin Luther King Jr. was no vandal. They were brave, sophisticated and wise enough to use the system to correct its injustices. They persuaded others to join them instead of attacking those who disagreed.

Re:example of his "sophisticated political views"?

[Chas]

Pretty much. Because such "minds" are nearly as sharp as a rubberized butter spreader (so dull you can't even call it a knife).

Basically all these modern script kiddie hacker activist-wannabes understand is "us and them".

So long as they perceive themselves as "the underclass", they're "morally" justified in doing pretty much ANYTHING. And, in their own mind, it's "okay", because they're on the side of "Right".
And if they hurt innocent bystanders? Oh well, to make a omelette... Just so long as THEY are the chef and not the eggs.

In reality, they're primarily power-tripping pseudofascist assholes who would fail a basic ethics course, because they have none.

Re: We need to start with tRump's...

[Anonymous Coward]

There was no evidence Hitler hated women so he is literally worse than Hitler.

Also, Hitler liked dogs, and was a vegetarian. Trump does not own a dog, and eats animal flesh. He is worse in every way.