Anonymous: saviours or CIA project?

[-BY]

Non of the anonymous guys would tell if he's in there. They could also be quite cluttered on smaller sites as well. Sometimes the last one you would think about is actually a member in that group.

Anonymous never interested me much at all. Hacking never leads to something good. It may satisfy people's opinion about specific things. Actually always does. It's just not everyone seeing it from the same point of view so ''innocent websites'' as Tsu called them don't need to be innocent for others.

About the main topic. Even if it's a CIA project. It wouldn't surprise me anymore. We all get nowadays watched anyways and help them even with sites like Facebook, Twitter and such.

If you want love from humans be nice to them. It's as simple as that.

[WickedOreo]

Hacking never leads to something good.

Actually, yes it does. Without hacking, computers and phones wouldn't be as technologically advanced. Without hacking, Bill Gates wouldn't have ever came up with Window's (since he modified/hacked Macintosh/IBM's technology) MS-DOS. Nowadays, hacking is considered bad, but think of where it has gotten us.
Realistically, hackers are now hired by companies to test out loopholes and such and to fix security holes. Then there are the bad ones who use that compromised information for their own good.

[Bogdan]

And about the anyone can join part, it may also be a sort of CIA or other institutes who want to get employers "easily" that know how to "work with this kind of stuff". I'll show you an example, last year or so, a romanian hacker was caught for breaking NASA servers, but not only and he was given to FBI to take care of him, but instead of being punished, he had the chance to choose to join NASA and work for them or get the punishment. Why would NASA hire someone who caused troubles to them? Because he cleary know more about their security and stuff than they can do.

Realistically, hackers are now hired by companies to test out loopholes and such and to fix security holes. Then there are the bad ones who use that compromised information for their own good.

I personally associate this group with a freemasonry lodge, it may not be the same thing, but there is something similar. Now I doubt "anyone" can join. Either you will have to do several tests to proove you are trustworthy either if they think you are good enough for them, "automatically" contact you and ask if you want to become a member (and again +tests and stuff). By "anyone can join" that means I can simply go and knock and their know and say "Hello, I want to join you please" and poof, member. No, I think this stuff is way more complicated than that.

It's just not everyone seeing it from the same point of view so ''innocent websites'' as Tsu called them don't need to be innocent for others.

I'll give you an example. In Romania, specially in Moldavia region there are lots of monasteries, most of them have historical value (Medieval ages, some of them even represent the victory against turks, but that's other stuff), and there is one called "Petru Voda" (where voda = voivode, which means it was build in memory to voivode Petru) and they had a site that mostly was for touristic purposes or a few stories about the monks here however, nothing really offending. The site got hacked, everything was deleted and added a spinning illuminati piramid instead. This site was really innocent as it only posted about monks site and tourism. There is another site, christian-orthodox aswell but that love to criticize a lot of things for apparently no reason, that was untouched.
To sum it up: 2 sites, 1 completely neutral, 1 "bad", the neutral one got hacked, the other one didn't, is this fair?

[-BY]

Well. I think they wanted to gain attention with that rather than caring about the site itself. Or like I said above, if you are sick enough these sites can offend you as well. Also. I think fairness doesn't belong to that topic at all. Wether they attack ''innocent'', ''good'' or ''bad'' sites.

About what oreo said. I need to agree there. But while the word hacking contains both mentioned things, your and mine, I meant rather the hacking when the main purpose is hurting others. Didn't made that clear there.
(I'm surprised by your knowledge about that topic overall. : P)

[Kimonio]

There are quite a few people here with the knowledge enought to hack. Suyo could probably hack into a server if he pleased, and there are some who are just as equally powerful here.

Anonymous being Anonynous, there are no tests, because no member's personal information is revealed. Once you don the Guy Fawkes mask, what you do until you remove the mask remains anonymous. Hack Sony, Release a worm online toattack various gaming systems connected to a specific network. Tje members work under network of everchanging IPs, making tracing the hack impossible without it being directed to an innocent being.

[Bogdan]

Anonymous being Anonynous, there are no tests, because no member's personal information is revealed.

Can you provide me source? A source besides those based on Anonymous's members claim? Have you tried to join them as you know there are no tests? Because I really doubt they would let anyone who randomly wakes up in the morning with the feel of joining them, if that is really possible that Anonymous will start to become extinct after a while, since you don't know who is or not trustworthy. And if CIA is behind of this (if because I'm not 100% sure) they wouldn't post test subjects' personal information.

Also Guy Fawkes, from what I know about him, Guy Fawkes tried to get the rid of a protestant king of England and replace him with a catholic queen that'd have personal advantages as he and "his friends" were catholics and surely they could win something from all this. Now Anonymous want's to change the politcal systems so there would be "more freedom" and if by any chance they will do something, of course they'll try to get the control of a certain institution/country/whatever and manipulate it by their own will. Personally the "freedom" could be easily aquired without Anonymous, all we need are the citizens that want to change something, because citizens know what is good or bad for them and the society around them, not a bunch of hackers.

[Kimonio]

the guy fawkes mask is based from v for vendetta, which is why anoonymous wears those masks. they relate to V.

and i actually can join Anon at my choosing, at a risk of being arrested. There are various Anon sites that I have bookmarkd...specifically out of interest. It lets the public mke requests for hackers, or Anon members to take down certain requests. I remember seeing a request made to take down a site distributing child porn and Anon did just that. Though their projects do tend to boggle me a bit.

[Venexis]

For those who remember the Anonymous/Lulsec stuff from a while back, you may recall me being one of the more outspoken supporters of their actions. This, I think, is still a fairly accurate representation of my opinion concerning such "hactivist" groups.

Certainly they seem to pick and choose their battles, as Bog said in the OP, they only defend the "cool" things and punish those that are seen as almost universally bad. Obviously, there are numerous other problems in the world that don't have quite the same notoriety, and these are not targeted by Anonymous despite still being morally wrong. Likewise, there are many good things in the world that put to an end as a result of people not stepping in.

But the important thing to note when dealing with hacker groups is that their primary technique is intimidation. They tend to not bust out the big guns first thing, instead taking the time to put together (rather creepy) videos to let the public in on exactly what is happening (although perhaps it's somewhat biased) and what they intend to do about it if it continues. They make sure to let the target know exactly what it is they perceive as wrong, and the consequences for continuing.

A tactic like this would not work at all without media attention. They first need to establish that there is good reason to fear them, and there is. Their secondary method is the hacking itself, and they are undeniably competent at it.The easiest way to gain such attention is by piggybacking on the issues that are already making the news- the issues almost everyone sees in a negative light, or that the people want but a higher power wants to discontinue. In a sense, they NEED to keep getting involved with these sorts of events to ensure that they are noticed, that people know who they are and to take them seriously, and the smaller things get pushed to the side due to lack of time.

Ultimately, I can't speak for their recent actions, because I have no idea what they are. But I approve of the group's motivation, if nothing else. Whether intentional or not, they call attention to the sorts of things everyone should have a basic idea/opinion about, resulting in a better educated society.

[Bogdan]

But the important thing to note when dealing with hacker groups is that their primary technique is intimidation. They tend to not bust out the big guns first thing, instead taking the time to put together (rather creepy) videos to let the public in on exactly what is happening (although perhaps it's somewhat biased) and what they intend to do about it if it continues. They make sure to let the target know exactly what it is they perceive as wrong, and the consequences for continuing.

That reminds me of ETA, but instead of doing an action in real life they are using the digital world. Still while they did something good I do believe they still did a lot of bad things and even if their intention is to get the attention and simpathy of the people, I still strongly believe that only and only the citizens, the normal people of the society know what is better for them, Anonymous is probably acting by their own will and their target are personal benefits, not society's ones.

and i actually can join Anon at my choosing, at a risk of being arrested. There are various Anon sites that I have bookmarkd...specifically out of interest. It lets the public mke requests for hackers, or Anon members to take down certain requests. I remember seeing a request made to take down a site distributing child porn and Anon did just that. Though their projects do tend to boggle me a bit.

And how do you know these sites are not probably some sort of traps? Even if you don't meet them face-to-face they can still track you and get you in trouble, until I don't have strong proofs they are legit I'm not going to believe it, no matter if "they claim" or "they have a site" or any other like this.