FBI launches 4chan/Anonymous ‘investigation’
p2pnet view P2P | Freedom:- Were the people behind the recent 4chan/Anonymous DDOS hacks right?
Was temporarily closing down hard-core corporate spin sites such as those run by the RIAA and MPAA, or blogs run by extortion lawyers such as Andrew Crossley, justifiable as legitimate protest?
Or did the interruptions in fact constitute attacks on freedom of speech?
“The FBI has launched an investigation into an online protest that allegedly took down numerous Web sites belonging to antipiracy and entertainment groups, as well as the U.S. Copyright Office”, says CNET.
“Over the past two months, a group calling itself ‘Anonymous,’ with links to the 4chan Web forum and image board, has launched distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) against Web sites operated by the Motion Picture Association of America, The Recording Industry Association (RIAA), Hustler magazine, rocker Gene Simmons, The British Phonographic Industry, and other similar groups in France, Australia, Spain and elsewhere.”
Earlier this year, a group of indie film companies, including Voltage Pictures, makers of the Oscar-winning motion picture, “The Hurt Locker,” began filing copyright complaints in federal court against thousands of accused illegal file sharers. More recently, adult film studios, such as Hustler and Third World Media, followed suit and filed similar lawsuits.
Also this year, the RIAA, the trade group for the four largest record labels, won court decisions that resulted in the dismantling of LimeWire, one of the country’s most popular file-sharing networks. Last week, the RIAA also saw a jury decide that Jammie Thomas-Rasset, an accused file-sharing mother from Minnesota, should pay $1.5 million in damages to the RIAA.
Meanwhile, as some on the file-sharing side have lashed out against the entertainment sector’s attempts to enforce copyright, which they claim limits free speech, some copyright owners say the Anonymous group and supporters are hypocrites. They note that the DDoS attacks do little more than silence dissenting opinion.
When Gene Simmons, bass player for the iconic rock band Kiss, spoke out recently against illegal file sharing, his site, Genesimmons.com suffered outages as a result of a DDoS attack by Anonymous.
People supportive of the entertainment industry took the opportunity to ask where was the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union and other free-speech proponents when their sites were being gagged by Anonymous’ traffic. EFF advocates for Internet users and tech companies and is typically at odds with entertainment companies over copyright issues.
“The silence here is deafening,” said RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy. “Where’s the outrage? Apparently, not all First Amendment free speech rights are created equal. At best, it’s convenient indifference. At worst, it’s quiet cheerleading.”
A spokesman for the MPAA said: “It’s troubling that these groups seem more concerned about the rights of those who steal and copy films, music, books, and other creative resources than the rights of American workers who are producing these products.”
Rebecca Jeschke, an EFF spokeswoman fired right back: “We generally don’t comment on DDoS attacks, even when they happen to us. DDoS attacks get in the way of people seeing content they want to see on the Internet, and of course that’s not something we support. But we don’t comment on them in part because it gives these folks what they want–attention for their stunts. As for the entertainment industry calling on us to criticize it? This is just silly PR gamesmanship, used in place of talking about the real issues of copyright at play here.”
Jeschke’s statement is reflective of the controversy the DDoS attacks have stirred even among some of file sharing’s staunchest supporters.
Mike Masnick, founder of the blog Techdirt, wrote in September that the attacks were “dumb” and “don’t make any real point.” The tech news site, Ars Technica, has also been critical of the DDoS campaign.
‘Where’s the outrage?’
The article is a complete misrepresentation of the realities.
The attacks were hardly numerous, and far from depriving anyone or anything of the ability to speak freely, were transitory and did little or nothing to impede the flow of ‘information’ from the RIAA, MPAA, or anyone else.
These two groups rely entirely on mis- and disinformation ‘press’ releases and specious statements which are continually fed to the mainstream media who then repeat them wholesale as though they come from credible and reliable sources.
There’s nothing in the way of information there; just bullshit.
“Where’s the outrage?” – asks Lamy.
It’s there, and it’s been there for years, expressed against the RIAA for the way in which it’s been allowed to brutalise families across America with phony copyright infringement claims.
But until recently, no one was listening.
The DDOS attacks re-focused attention to the kinds of travesties which have been going on not for weeks, but for decades.
And the entrance of the FBI is yet another striking example of the manner in which the entertainment cartels are so easily able to suborn taxpayer-funded agencies, wasting scarce resources and manpower which should be used wholly for the public good, not for purely corporate businesses.
Says the EFF’s Jeschke, “As for the entertainment industry calling on us to criticize it? This is just silly PR gamesmanship, used in place of talking about the real issues of copyright at play here.”
The CNET article is more of the same.
We owe 4chan / Anonymous not condemnation, but thanks for once again forcing the issues.
Stay tuned.
Jon Newton – p2pnet
CNET – FBI probes 4chan’s ‘Anonymous’ DDoS attacks, November 9, 2010
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
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November 10th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
To the MAFIAA: “Freedom of Speech” gives you the right to speak without punishment from a governing body. It does NOT give you the right to spread bullcrap to your customers.
November 10th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
“Apparently, not all First Amendment free speech rights are created equal. ”
Ya right. As if this bag of shit of Jonathan Lamy give a crap about the constitution and the law.
Our country can not afford the corporations of entertainment parasites who by the way are not from the US. These companies shall be expelled and forbidden to conduct any business in the US.
As far as Jonathan Lamy is concerned he should be prosecuted for Treason since he is supporting corporations hostile to the nation.
As far as the FBI investigating, if I was the fed I will refrain from trying to make an example with few scapegoats because the anger of so many people is so red hot with all these rogues corporations around destroying the economy and our democracy that this will constitute a dangerous escalation that with almost certainly trigger drastic retaliation. It is easier to destroy a business than to build one.
This is about to turn into an all out war that could destroy the corporate world and what is left of the economy.
This is the very last chance for the corporations to stop their assault on the public, sit down and negotiate or be totally annihilated.
November 10th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
The US is not a democracy.
November 11th, 2010 at 3:52 am
the fbi doesn’t care, after all they look at cp 24/7 by their own admission (citation needed), allow schools to have webcams in every laptop on at home http://is.gd/gVqSs , lets Webcam-spying school district settles out of court, FBI declines to press charges and related posts http://is.gd/gVqQu , have the biggest database of it in the world, push naked body scanners, TSA Gives Rapists And Illegals The Green Light While Groping Children http://bit.ly/aCUCvX , while arresting pedos… They basically say its ok to if they say it is. The government is not your friend.
November 11th, 2010 at 5:01 am
The corporations have a problem, the US gov’t will snap into action and guarantee BRUTAL retaliation against those who dare challenge the corporate empire.
The little people have a problem, the US gov’t doesn’t give two shits.
Got a problem with that, you American peons? There’s a swat team with some roid-raging thugs waiting to smash your face in and drag you off to some gulag work-camp if you want to make a fuss.
November 11th, 2010 at 8:21 am
[quote]The US is not a democracy.[/quote]
It never was, it was & is all along a Republic which is basically “democracy” for the wealthy few (or ie “Bourgeoisie Democracy”) not everyone else below them eversince the U.S. was first founded.
[quote]The corporations have a problem, the US gov’t will snap into action and guarantee BRUTAL retaliation against those who dare challenge the corporate empire.
The little people have a problem, the US gov’t doesn’t give two shits.
Got a problem with that, you American peons? There’s a swat team with some roid-raging thugs waiting to smash your face in and drag you off to some gulag work-camp if you want to make a fuss.[/quote]
I hope you people are now realizing that the U.S. (and almost the entirety of this world) is capitalist which the government is only there to protect the ones who control the means of production (the bourgeoisie) from the ‘little people’ which is the reality of the situation here if people knew how the capitalist system works.
November 29th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
The FBI has better to do nothing otherwise they will be an escalation that will not be stoppable.
All it needs is another martyr for all the hell to break lose against the corporation of parasites up to the point that they will nolonger be able to conduct business or hire a CEO.