Certainly interesting timing on the part of the FBI to execute those search warrants, wouldn't you say? What with Julian Assange featured in an extended interview tonight on 60 Minutes and all.

And the Witch Hunt continues . . .

. . . and so does the laziness and general ignorance of the American media.

This article is so wrong in its labeling of Anonymous and what it did in response to the demonization of Wikileaks, that I feel more dumb for just feeling the need to respond to it. But then I remember there is no substitute for being well-informed and intelligent - something that WTNH, the AP and the FBI apparently lack these days.

1) Anonymous is NOT a loose knit group of "hackers". Anonymous is one of several message boards, and the most popular, on the 4Chan.com website. The Anonymous message board is considered by many to be among the last bastions of true free expression. Over time "Anonymous" has come to refer to the collective consciousness of the 4Chan.com community. But again, "Anonymous" is NOT a loose knit group of "hackers".
http://www.4chan.org/faq#anonymous

1a) The "alleged hackers" are just a very small number of the worldwide Anonymous 4Chan community - more than 99% of which had nothing to do with what the FBI is alleging.

2) "Hackers" is the wrong terminology. Hacking is a legit profession. "Cracking" is not. But neither term applies in the case of the "attacks" carried out on Visa, Mastercard and Paypal. 'Cyber-activism' or 'cyber-activists' are the most appropriate terms in the case that the FBI alleges.
http://www.docdroppers.org/wiki/index.php?title=D...

3) The alleged "attacks" are termed "Denial Of Service" or "DoS" attacks and are among the oldest of their kind on the internet. Popular among cyberpunks in the 1990's and early 00's before the general population understood the importance and need for routers and firewalls.

3a) DoS has become a relatively benign form of cyber-protest. Whether or not it is an arrestable offense is certainly up for debate.

If you need a real world example - think along the lines of 100's or 1000's of non-violent people gathering outside a major US retailer to protest pricing or actions by that company.

4) So the correct way to have framed this article would have been to refer to:

"a group of individuals who may or may not have originated by meeting at a message board known as "Anonymous" which is part of the 4Chan.com community, are suspects in what is commonly refered to as a 'Denial of Service' attack against . . ."

I didn't vote for Barrack Obama, and I won't the next time either . . . but if you think he is Socialist, you haven't seen Socialism yet.

You haven't experienced Socialism until you have have waited in one line to get a number, waited in a second line to pay for the your item and waited in a third line to pick up your item (with no ability to choose which item of the stock you want). The item? A loaf of bread at a Soviet bakery. The experience took over a half an hour.

If you are speaking of the Executive Branch of the US government, I couldn't agree more.

lulz

Wrongo, compadre. You don't even have the facts to support the kind of outlandish, knee-jerk protestation that you are making here. Your type is precisely the reason why corporate mainstream media can be as lazy in reporting the facts of this story and others pertaining to "Anonymous" and "WikiLeaks" as they have been. Their facts are wrong. Their terminology is incorrect and theyd on't seem to care.

The "UConn snot" as you so eloquently speak of, has nothing to do with WikiLeaks other than allegedly being part of a cyber-protest against Visa, Mastercard and Paypal among others.

Wikileaks does not "hack". Julian Assange who was a hacker (see my other post when WTNH gets around to approving it to understand what hacking really is), uses that expertise in cyber-security to allow for anonymous (not the 4Chan.com message board or the people who post there) document drops. Wikileaks then checks those 'drop boxes', retrieves information and begins a lengthy process of vetting that information before deciding to release it or not.

This is all information that has been reported by news outlets other than the infinitely lazy and misinformed mainstream US media.

And the Witch Hunt continues . . .

. . . and so does the laziness and general ignorance of the American media.

This article is so wrong in its labeling of Anonymous and what it did in response to the demonization of Wikileaks, that I feel more dumb for just feeling the need to respond to it. But then I remember there is no substitute for being well-informed and intelligent - something that WTNH, the AP and the FBI apparently lack these days.

1) Anonymous is NOT a loose knit group of "hackers". Anonymous is one of several message boards, and the most popular, on the 4Chan.com website. The Anonymous message board is considered by many to be among the last bastions of true free expression. Over time "Anonymous" has come to refer to the collective consciousness of the 4Chan.com community. But again, "Anonymous" is NOT a loose knit group of "hackers".
http://www.4chan.org/faq#anonymous

1a) The "alleged hackers" are just a very small number of the worldwide Anonymous 4Chan community - more than 99% of which had nothing to do with what the FBI is alleging.

2) "Hackers" is the wrong terminology. Hacking is a legit profession. "Cracking" is not. But neither term applies in the case of the "attacks" carried out on Visa, Mastercard and Paypal. 'Cyber-activism' or 'cyber-activists' are the most appropriate terms in the case that the FBI alleges.
http://www.docdroppers.org/wiki/index.php?title=D...

3) The alleged "attacks" are termed "Denial Of Service" or "DoS" attacks and are among the oldest of their kind on the internet. Popular among cyberpunks in the 1990's and early 00's before the general population understood the importance and need for routers and firewalls.

3a) DoS has become a relatively benign form of cyber-protest. Whether or not it is an arrestable offense is certainly up for debate.

If you need a real world example - think along the lines of 100's or 1000's of non-violent people gathering outside a major US retailer to protest pricing or actions by that company.

4) So the correct way to have framed this article would have been to refer to:

"a group of individuals who may or may not have originated by meeting at a message board known as "Anonymous" which is part of the 4Chan.com community, are suspects in what is commonly refered to as a 'Denial of Service' attack against . . ."

Ohhhhh, right.

News Channels, News Centers, News at Nine, News with Booze - whatever the case may be - they report as Breaking News or regular news or what-have-you, based solely on what are their available storylines for that day. What is the most sensational, titillating or eye grabbing content they have - especially on the website, to get people to tune in at 5, 5:30, 6 or come back to the website for the report after it has aired on TV.

So usually News Stations have no bias for lead headlines so long as they include, assault, fire, car/truck/building damage, casualty and/or financial disaster.

He's a suspect in a sexual assault crime (and several other incidents) and he committed the assault in a predominantly white suburb.