
Domain Name Seizures Potentially An Elaborate Hoax - HectorRamos
http://grandgood.com/2010/11/27/domain-name-seizures-of-popular-rap-file-sharing-sites-potentially-an-elaborate-hoax/
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frisco
I've wondered for a long time what 4chan vs the government would look like.
They're unbelievably creative and resourceful (see
[http://www.urlesque.com/2010/11/18/hot-topic-rage-guy-
shirt-...](http://www.urlesque.com/2010/11/18/hot-topic-rage-guy-shirt-4chan-
racism-troll/) for a good recent example). I figured they wouldn't go straight
up against it, protesting in the street and writing emotional op-eds. They
tried this once, with Scientology, and it didn't seem to get them anywhere.
They're best at playing mind games and finding the most ironic ways possible
to win, exploiting what they're given -- in this case, controversial domain
seizure.

Good news doesn't travel nearly as far or as fast as bad news on the internet;
some of us will read this post, assuming it turns out to be true, but not
nearly as many and we won't react nearly as strongly as we did to the "WTF THE
DHS IS SEIZING DOMAINS NOW" posts.

GWB was a pretty disastrous presidency, but it didn't usually threaten to
impact the internets' daily lives as much as some things now are. The internet
is beginning to get mad at the government, and the trolls are heading to
Washington. 4chan is the internet's immune system.

~~~
trotsky
_I've wondered for a long time what 4chan vs the government would look like._

V&

~~~
frisco
I disagree, though, because it's more subtle than that. I mean yeah if they
started threatening people or stuff they'd get shut down pretty fast, but
they're master trolls and aren't that stupid. I actually think remarkably few
of them would get partyvanned -- and that as the vanning ratio increased, it
would be totally counterproductive for the authorities and only serve to
inflame things further.

~~~
redthrowaway
They aren't master trolls by any stretch of the imagination. The race guy/rage
guy tactic was creative, probably the most creative thing I've seen them pull
off in a while. It worked for 2 days, before hot topic figured it out.

If this was a hoax, the government would simply say, "no, that wasn't us.
We're looking into it." That would be the end of it.

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spindritf
What about this statement:

"“ICE office of Homeland Security Investigations executed court-ordered
seizure warrants against a number of domain names,” said Cori W. Bassett, a
spokeswoman for ICE"

from <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/technology/27torrent.html>? Seems to
confirm that at least some of the seizures actually happened.

~~~
obsessive1
I think they seized some domains, but not necessarily the ones this article is
talking about. If this is a hoax, it works particularly well, as ICE does't
seem to have confirmed which domains it has seized.

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dotBen
I am very curious of 4Chan's "Anonymous" userbase.

Most community structures have identifiable leaderships of some kind yet 4Chan
has no usernames and no way of communicating provenance of a given user --
either in terms of reflecting reputation or simply being able to accurately
know that two posts in a thread were by the same person/the OP/etc.

Hoaxes and stunts like this _(if this is true)_ are either truly, truly
remarkable or the work of a closer sub-set of folks who are in more private
inter-communication away from 4Chan for the purposes of coordination but
represent themselves to be part of the massive 4Chan community, perhaps for
plausible deniability more than anything. It also makes wonderful fodder for
the media to make even more of a FUD story out of.

Given that most of 4Chan does seem to be bored teenagers posting pornography,
penis jokes and occasionally child pornography I'm inclined to believe it is
the latter.

~~~
cmelbye
Actually, there is such a concept as usernames on 4chan. I forget what they
call them, but using a special syntax in the username field that includes a
password of your choosing, the resulting post will look slightly different and
have a hash next to your username that will always be the same for all of your
posts. Of course, it's completely optional and most users opt for anonymity.

~~~
steveklabnik
"tripcodes". NSFW: <http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Tripcode>

> It works like this: In the name field, type a name, followed by #, followed
> by a password (or phrase, whatever). Then send a message as usual. You'll
> then see your name, followed by said 'gook. You should then promptly close
> your browser and GTFO the internets for wanting recognition on an anonymous
> message board.

They've been allowed and disallowed on /b/ at various points in time.

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dangrossman
Wild West Domains is GoDaddy, so strike bullet 3 off the conspiracy theory.

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vaksel
new SEO strategy: add the image, get millions of links, rank well...profit

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Luyt
Even is this is a hoax, it serves well to keep vigilant when dealing with
something important as freedom of speech and censorship. Luckily the online
community hadn't fallen asleep yet.

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wladimir
Interesting. If it's a hoax, it's very well done. And a good reminder of how
the world is going to look with the ACTA in place.

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davidandgoliath
We'll know Monday once the thanksgiving weekend is over and any details are
posted to ICE.

