Hackers wage global 'cyberwar' in defense of WikiLeaks

[frigidmagi]

CSM

[quote]They're calling it a global "cyberwar." Among the victims: Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Swiss bank PostFinance, and now the Swedish government. Among the attackers: Hackers from Chile to Norway to New Zealand.

"The fact that it’s so global is just a sign of the times. This type of operation has no borders," says Gregg Housh, an unofficial spokesman for the loosely knit "hactivist" group Anonymous, which is organizing the cyberattacks.

Hackers worldwide have launched what they call “Operation Paybackâ€

[Charon]

I love the Anonymous movement. It shows that the younger generation will at least protest openly against what they see as bullshit.

The problem of course, is that because it is such a diverse group, it has no staying power. Maybe a month from now most of Anonymous will have moved on. But on the other hand, you can bet they will be back next time bullshit comes up.

[Destructionator XV]

Does it make me an old geezer to think of them as just a lot of petty criminals? I'd like to see them all hit with $50 fines, but I can't think of a good way to prove criminal activity. After all, it's not a crime to go to a message board nor is it to coincidentally go to a popular website at the same times as a million other people.

(Why a $50 fine? Objectively, they aren't doing a lot of damage, and the individual contribution to it is smaller yet, so anything bigger isn't really justified, and also even a small fine would probably cause large portions of these kids to back off. Who would risk hitting the website if they are going to have to pay for it and get a little criminal record from it? Besides, my contribition is so small the movement can miss me....

Of course the deterrant needs for the individuals to have a good chance of being caught, but that's independent of the penalty. If it was life in prison it still wouldn't scare people if there was a one in a billion chance of being caught anyway.

Edit: Besides, we wouldn't want to feed their delusions of grandeur by giving them serious treatment.

Edit 2: Also, a $50 fine is small enough where if they really want to make the message anyway, they could just do it, pay the ticket and get on with their lives.)