

Anonymous hacks FEMA - dhruvkaran
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/the-grid/FEMA-hack-anonymous-retaliates-us-defense-snowden-transparency

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zalzane
Great, exactly what this situation needs, a bunch of self-righteous vigilantes
trying to evangelize themselves with another leak.

At least Snowden held back any state secrets that would have seriously
compromised national security. I highly doubt that anonymous will be light
handed in that matter. All we can do is hope they haven't found any
information that may put people's lives at risk if leaked.

~~~
fixxer
What really interesting state secrets does FEMA have? This strikes me as
vandalism more than a threat to national security.

~~~
quantumpotato_
See also: anonymous as a false flag operation to enact tighter "security"
measures

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grimtrigger
Anon reminds me of the bomb-throwing-anarchists of the 20th century. Their
bombings gave the government the exact reasons they needed for more government
(the exact opposite of what they wanted).

Anon wants an internet free of surveillance. But they're doing exactly what
they need to in order to justify that reality.

Idiots.

~~~
merlincorey
See:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag)

Now who is the idiot?

~~~
krapp
Why the assumption that this must be a false flag operation? It makes just as
much sense taken at face value.

~~~
lukifer
It's why Anonymous is ill-suited to go after government and intelligence
agencies: it's trivial to infiltrate, and there is effectively zero way to
tell who is actually behind any particular action.

~~~
krapp
_it 's trivial to infiltrate, and there is effectively zero way to tell who is
actually behind any particular action._

That is kind of the point, but you are right in that Anonymous' nature works
against lending much credence to their motives.

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bdg
With the passwords on this list like "gibbs", "campbell", "Dominican2009!",
and... my personal favorite... ___" Password12"_ __... I don 't even have
sympathy towards this situation.

Such incompetence at security with such importance attached to it should
result in prison time and a life-time banishment from office...

~~~
afarrell
How much sympathy do you have to parents whose homes get broken into who used
poor-quality locks on their front doors. After all is it not their
responsibility to provide for a safe home for their kids?

Sigh... I suppose the victim blaming is a necessary consequence of a community
that actually thinks about how to defend against attacks...

~~~
bdg
Are you unable to see the differences between buying a lock on a door to
protect your children and being constantly reminded to pick a secure password
to protect national security?

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speeder
To those that detract anonymous as a sort of rabid crazy dog that charges into
attack without aim...

I think that is EXACTLY their intention, like the US government puts crazy
pressure in Snowden as a "warning" to future whistle blowers, anons are using
the same tactic against US government itself...

If it works or not, I am yet to see, but I can agree with two things:

One, it might make sense.

Two, it is highly dangerous and might cause lots of unintended collateral
damage.

~~~
bargl
My worry is that I think it is premature to abandon our legal methods to fight
back against government tyranny and the abuse of the constitution.

I know that is exactly what Snowden has done (in some ways) but he also had
restraint and wasn't attempting to harm the US. By engaging in war (which is
what the administration will see this as) they could undercut all the work
that other activists are doing.

But like you I can see another possibility, one where this is necessary and
the only way the US will get the message. But I feel it is more likely a
option 2 _Two, it is highly dangerous and might cause lots of unintended
collateral damage._

~~~
harrytuttle
If you look at the UK as a prime example, all hope of legally destroying the
tyranny has been lost thanks to the various terrorism related laws that have
been introduced. The same is true of the US as well now thanks to the ability
to detain people on suspicion indefinitely. The legal system is beyond repair.

Revolution has been destroyed too as the very act of promoting or discussing
it is terrorism under law and people will just be locked up before they have a
chance to express or organise. Our modern communication infrastructure
supports this outcome.

The best thing we now hope for is to survive in quiet obedience or await for a
natural disaster to shift the balance.

~~~
ceol
Thank goodness all those oppressive dictatorships didn't know that they could
outlaw revolution. Otherwise, everyone would have just sat around twiddling
their thumbs because, "Well, it's illegal!"

The fact of the matter is, no one other than a few crazies on the internet
think the UK is a tyrannical state. If it really was, you would have unrest
similar to _actual_ dictatorships, like Syria and Libya. You wouldn't be able
to type out your conspiracy theories, because the internet would be _shut
off_.

~~~
Pwnguinz
False dichotomy. China is a _de facto_ dictatorship (and a _de juris_
Republic), however their citizens can still surf the internet and type out
things (censored, for sure, but a far cry from 'shut off').

Do you really want society to collapse to the point of Syria or Lybia before
you want the citizenry to stand up for themselves? Or is everyone just a tin-
foil hatter until secret police starts wisking people away?

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gweinberg
I'm no fan on Anonymous, but it's worth remembering that any security hole
that they can exploit can also be exploited by other, more malicious groups,
and probably already has been.

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MisterWebz
I'm wondering if highly publicized attacks by Anonymous that do not yield any
useful information or something that would be embarrassing for the government
are actually done by regular citizens, and not by the employees of some
government agency.

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lettergram
I pretty much see anonymous as the black panthers of this generation.

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kunai
I tried to take them seriously until they mentioned Weev as one of their
idols.

~~~
phaemon
Now that's interesting: the article doesn't mention Weev at all...where did
that come from?

