
Hacktivism gone wrong? Nearly 16,000 whistleblowers have had their info exposed - ramisms
http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201305230032-0022772
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jasallen
I philosophically believe hacktivism or any kind of demonstrative breaking-of-
unjust-rules is a good thing. But 'unjust' is the key. and I think this is
reflective of the wiki-leaks/anarchist culture of "breaking 'any' rule is a
good thing". It ceases to be activism of any sort, and becomes children
playing with firearms. It also serves to undermine the impact of genuine
hacktivism like that of Aaron Schwartz and Weev.

Genuine hactivists/activists harm institutions, and do their utmost to avoid
harming innocents, as they know that undermines the cause.

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BCM43
_the wiki-leaks/anarchist culture of "breaking 'any' rule is a good thing"_

What? I don't think that's actually something many people advocate for. Do you
have links to examples?

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jasallen
...googling Julian Assange is left as an exercise

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hondje
Totally ot but I was just looking at some code he wrote... Beautiful stuff,
very tight. I was looking for something to rewrite in cuda fortran for the
shits and giggles and an seemed perfect given how long bigger anagram can
take. Great way to learn new tricks

~~~
ontoillogical
Which code?

Bigger anagram?

~~~
hondje
Sorry should have been bigger anagramS, autocorrect. He wrote /usr/bin/an the
anagram maker

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aaron695
I don't see this contradicting Anonymous's philosophy at all.

These are people tipping the police off anonymously. This is more often then
not for crimes like drugs that Anonymous does not agree with.

They did exactly the same thing in the US a year or so ago.

The police are 'The man', people acting in secret with the police are not what
Anonymous would see as on their side.

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taybin
"This is more often then not for crimes like drugs"

Citation needed, I guess?

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aaron695
Well really I'd just have to cite Anonymous thinks that. But true I have no
evidence they do actually think this.

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pyre
The idea that 'anonymous tipsters are only/mostly snitching on drug users,' is
a bit tenuous and doesn't seem to have much basis in reality.

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btilly
Which is better? That it is publicized that the security hole exists and
anonymous tips aren't truly anonymous? Or that people continue to trust the
site, while criminal organizations monitor it for their own benefit?

No question that this was an action with the potential for short-term harm.
But I'm not convinced that in the long run it will prove to be a bad thing to
put police everywhere on notice about how important it is to better secure
databases like this.

Heck, if they want to improve, they can do worse than to start with
[http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/05/stron...](http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/05/strongbox-
and-aaron-swartz.html) and see how well it serves their needs.

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pessimizer
What's the difference between a narc and a whistleblower again?

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BCM43
A whistleblower informs on the powers-that-be to the public, a narc informs on
members of the public to the powers that be.

One lets the public or their community decide, the other appeals to an
authority to come into the community and take care of the problem.

~~~
scott_s
People who report illegal actions inside private companies to law enforcement
or regulatory authorities are still called "whistleblowers."

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ChrisAntaki
This is the problem with `Anonymous`. Literally anyone can claim they are part
of it. Any group could use it as a cover.

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sneak
"problem"?

~~~
pyre
Well, for the people that try to classify it as a singular group with a
singular purpose.

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wnight
It just shows why you should always take steps to remain anonymous.

If your name isn't attached to the report you can't be hurt no matter what
happens.

