

Masked Protesters Aid Time Warner’s Bottom Line - sp332
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/technology/masked-anonymous-protesters-aid-time-warners-profits.html

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raimondious
This is always a weak argument, "if you're so anticapitalist, why aren't you
completely removed from the grid??" Just because you're opposed to something
doesn't mean you don't participate in any part of it. Part of the frustration
of people who are anti-establishment is that you have to participate in a
corrupt system to exist in society.

~~~
william42
To be completely honest, it wasn't really an anti-Anonymous argument, although
there is a touch of irony there. If anything, the article mostly talked
through Time Warner's perspective.

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praptak
Not every Anonymous mask. I've seen a do-it-yourself 3d paper cutout of the
Fawkes/Vendetta mask you can print, cut out and glue together to get a
royalty-free mask. Oh yeah, found it:
[http://forums.whyweprotest.net/threads/need-graphic-
printabl...](http://forums.whyweprotest.net/threads/need-graphic-printable-
guy-fawkes-mask.34051/)

~~~
arthurgibson
If you use Time Warner cable to download it, they comp themselves.

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cipherpunk
The black bloc tactics would seem to be far superior to the use of such `V'
masks, due to the highly generic nature of black clothing, scarves, etc. Alas.

~~~
vog
The black clothes have the disadvantage that people associate them with
violence and political extremism, opposing the goals of the Anonymous
movement.

However, maybe some other color would do.

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davedx
This is the top of the front page of HN, really??

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16BitTons
>This is the top of the front page of HN, really??

My approach is to go to the "new" link at the top of HN, find an article that
I consider HN-worthy, and upvote it.

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nirvana
Maybe I'm being dense, but I don't get the point of this article. If the
Church of Scientology owned a significant share of Time Warner, then there
would be some irony. Or maybe I missed it and Anyonmous is an anti-capitalist
organization?

Frankly, I think this is the right mask to use. It is consistent with the role
the mask portrayed in the movie V for Vendetta. Further, this image is mostly
free of the negative political implications of just about any other mask
(e.g.: Imagine in Anyonmous used a Richard Nixon mask... they'd look like bank
robbers or the topic of richard nixon would muddy the waters. Nobody is
debating Guy Fawkes when they see people in the mask, because the mask is the
supposed to be a mask and the original mask wearer was using it as a symbol of
fawkes protest, not fawkes politics, etc.)

~~~
rdp
The irony is that a multi-national corporation is profiting from the mask that
many people associate with a protest group that attacks, among others, multi-
national corporations.

~~~
jbooth
So, if you're ignorant as to what the people in anon publicly claim their
motives are, and listen to someone else's inaccurate description instead, this
is totally ironic! Haha!

In other breaking news, all computer parts are manufactured by multinational
corporations.

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Jun8
This is ironic beyond words! It brought to mind that the anarchist,
underground book that Winston Smith wanted to read so long and finally managed
to do so in _1984_ was penned by a government agent. Whatever you do, the
machinery somehow can get back to you!

What Anonymous should have done is to create their own, unique design, OS'ed,
and put it online with an Apache 2.0 license.

P.S. On a different note, Fawkes was a bad guy, if he had succeeded, many
people would have died. That's obviously not the way to persuade people.

EDIT: Are the downvoters against OS'ing the mask or using Apache 2.0 license
for it. Or maybe they don't agree with the fact that Fawkes was a "bad guy".
We'll never know because they don't bother to leave any comments.

If it's the latter: Look, _anyone_ , repeat, anyone who plans to blow up
people, for _any_ cause whatsoever is a bad guy in my book. It doesn't matter
how many people you kill, or what kind of people they were. If you disagree
with this one, there isn't much to discuss, continue the downvoting if you
want.

On the other hand, if you think that Anon's use of the mask does not portray
the real Fawkes but the movie's depiction of him, that's a different matter.
Then we can discuss how V's politics differ, if any, from Fawkes.

