p2pnet view P2P | Freedom:- “I think the overblown rhetoric of Fox News has exacerbated, not alleviated the problem.”

That’s Anon News in what a post on the site describes as a “Twitter Bitch-fight with FoxNews.com Columnist Dan Gainor”.

Anon News is fast becoming a distribution and media centre for Anonymous and “THE FOLLOWING IS A TRUE STORY, AND TOOK PLACE ON THE EVENING OF FEBRUARY 27″, says an Anon who’d engaged in a lengthy ‘discussion’ with Fux’s Gainor.

But first, “The online activist group ‘anonymous,’ which has used coordinated denial of service attacks — a crude but effective Internet weapon — to temporary disable sites belonging to foes ranging from Scientology to WikiLeaks foes — has turned its firepower on the Koch-backed conservative group Americans for Prosperity, making the group’s site intermittently unavailable tonight”, said Ben Smith on Politico, yesterday, quoting an Anonymous press release, to wit >>>

Dear Citizens of the United States of America:

It has come to our attention that the brothers, David and Charles Koch — the billionaire owners of Koch Industries — have long attempted to usurp American Democracy. Their actions to undermine the legitimate political process in Wisconsin are the final straw. Starting today we fight back.

Anonymous cannot ignore the plight of the citizen-workers of Wisconsin, or the opportunity to fight for the people in America’s broken political system. For these reasons, we feel that the Koch brothers threaten the United States democratic system and, by extension, all freedom-loving individuals everywhere. As such, we have no choice but to spread the word of the Koch brothers’ political manipulation, their single-minded intent and the insidious truth of their actions in Wisconsin, for all to witness.

Anonymous hears the voice of the downtrodden American people, whose rights and liberties are being systematically removed one by one, even when their own government refuses to listen or worse — is complicit in these attacks. We are actively seeking vulnerabilities, but in the mean time we are calling for all supporters of true Democracy, and Freedom of The People, to boycott all Koch Industries’ paper products. We welcome unions across the globe to join us in this boycott to show that you will not allow big business to dictate your freedom.

Says Smith, “The DNS attack appears to have made Americans for Prosperity’s website intermittently unavailable, but it will likely also help establish AfP among conservatives as the key group at Governor Scott Walker’s side.”

The “Twitter Bitch-fight”, meanwhile, went like this >>>

Dan Gainor: Watch the Twitter feed: Lefties celebrating terror attack on AFP by Anonymous backing

AnonNewsNet: FoxNews.com columnist DanGainor calls OpWisconsin DDoS a “terror attack” http://goo.gl/0NojE Well that was quick.

Dan Gainor: Yep

AnonNewsNet: Do you worry whether labeling everything you dislike as a “terror attack” demeans the people who died in 9/11?

Dan Gainor: Perhaps you might look up terrorism in dictionary first before complaining. http://bit.ly/gi7jDT

AnonNewsNet: Maybe you should look up what a #DDoS is before you label it a terrorist attack http://goo.gl/tl347

AnonNewsNet: You’re basically saying that crowding a store with a bunch of friends who buy a single stick of gum are terrorists.

AnonNewsNet: Your poor excuse for rhetoric denigrates the deaths of everyone who died in 9/11. The truth will be known.

Dan Gainor: No, you’re basically saying cyber attacks are benign. They aren’t.

AnonNewsNet: You’re saying a temporary shutdown from a clogged tube is as serious as, say, Stuxnet?

Dan Gainor: Well, that was as idiotic as possible.

AnonNewsNet: Maybe if you knew anything about the mechanics of #DDoS you could make a better-informed critique.

Dan Gainor: A deliberate cyber attack to intimidate is terrorism.

AnonNewsNet: Are you saying that protests are a form of intimidation?

Dan Gainor: Maybe if you knew, well anything, you would agree this is an attack.

AnonNewsNet: Bitch, please. You’re telling me Anonymous doesn’t know jack about the interwebz.

Dan Gainor: No, just doesn’t that this is terrorism.

AnonNewsNet: You insult the memory of everyone who died in 9/11, and every soldier who died from carbombs.

AnonNewsNet: Calling everything you disagree with “terrorism” insults their memory. It’s a Fox News policy, I know.

Dan Gainor: You insult sanity. I lost classmates that day. You are beneath contempt.

AnonNewsNet: 9/11 deaths: 3,000. Troop deaths: 4,000+. #DDoS deaths: 0. Get your priorities together.

AnonNewsNet: If this be terrorism, then I wish Al Qaeda used only LOIC’s.

Dan Gainor: I am unsurprised left likes idea of shutting down political speech.

AnonNewsNet: See, now it isn’t hard to talk about this as a “free speech” issue, is it? Calmate, amigo.

AnonNewsNet: Now can we plz have a convo about money in American politics? When money=speech, rich=theloudest

Dan Gainor: So you oppose Soros then?

AnonNewsNet: I’d say yes. I wouldn’t personally trust his money. Then again, I don’t trust any corporate money at all.

AnonNewsNet: At least Soros, Gates, Buffet acknowledge that low top marginal tax rates = moar money for the rich.

AnonNewsNet: There’s also serious issues with insurance, banking lobbyists controlling decision-making.

Dan Gainor: Then you should oppose the union protests like me.

AnonNewsNet: “Oppose Soros” =/= “agree with you.” Nice try though.

AnonNewsNet: At least we’re having a conversation now rather than accusing each other of being “terrorists.” That’s a start.

Dan Gainor: Depends on whether you did the attack. My original comment stands on that.

AnonNewsNet: Well, considering Fox’s previous treatment of Anonymous, I felt it necessary to nip it in the bud. http://youtu.be/DNO6G4ApJQY

Dan Gainor: A group that tries to silence political speech is what then?

AnonNewsNet: I’d say it’s a group left out of the moneyed advertising system of modern American politics.

AnonNewsNet: I reckon the official #Anonymous consensus is that authentic grassroots campaigns can weather a little disruption.

Dan Gainor: I gather I don’t much care.

Dan Gainor: They could collect cash rather than commit crime.

AnonNewsNet: Don’t you think that defeats the purpose of keeping money out of politics?

Dan Gainor: How/why do you propose that?

Dan Gainor: People give money for things they support. How/why stop that?

AnonNewsNet: Look, I’ll be the first to admit that union fund-raising contributes to an arms race of contributions

AnonNewsNet: I’ll repeat myself: When money=speech, the rich speak the loudest. Do you really want govt’s listening to banks?

Dan Gainor: Lots of forms of legal speech. I support them.

AnonNewsNet: The issue is that economic inequality will lead to political inequality as well. And that’s a threat to democracy.

AnonNewsNet: Some voices being several orders of magnitude louder than others is the beginning of aristocracy

Dan Gainor: Constitution doesn’t seem to mind.

AnonNewsNet: Look, I know you may think of the Founding Fathers as gods, but they were guys with cutting-edge 18th Century ideas.

Dan Gainor: Not Gods, ordinary but superior men.

AnonNewsNet: Guys who didn’t forsee anyone holding onto 10,000 lifetimes of wealth. Except for kings.

AnonNewsNet: Giving voice to the voiceless is the art of democracy.

Dan Gainor: Giving voice to ALL is democracy.

AnonNewsNet: People have the right to speak, but there’s no guarantees in the world that they’ll be heard.

Dan Gainor: There’s no RIGHT to be heard. Just a right to speak.

Dan Gainor: Stopping speech is a BIG threat to democracy.

AnonNewsNet: The issue is whether things are “legal” or not, they can and do have unintended consequences.

Dan Gainor: Nice thing about a free and unabused internet is we all have a voice.

AnonNewsNet: Yeah, which is why #Anonymous is still functioning, despite being #DDoS’d three times a week

Dan Gainor: I wouldn’t support an attack ON them either.

AnonNewsNet: Well, that’s life. DDoS’s have existed since the 80′s. Somehow Anonymous is using them as a form of protest.

Dan Gainor: No, they are using it to intimidate. That’s terrorism.

AnonNewsNet: Since when has registering a grievance been a form of intimidation?

Dan Gainor: It’s not registering anything to shut down speech.

AnonNewsNet: The website will be there in the morning. Just like the WI Statehouse will be there when the protesters leave.

Dan Gainor: Meanwhile, it’s been silenced. You know that’s wrong but won’t admit it.

AnonNewsNet: The only way to shut down OpWisconsin is to DDoS Anonymous. Or wait 6 months for the arrests. So effective, our govt.

Dan Gainor: I am not sure that had a point.

Dan Gainor: Silencing speech is NOT free speech.

AnonNewsNet: Now, you’re right that #DDoS is a poor defense of free speech. Which is why #Anonymous runs other ops.

AnonNewsNet: Which is why I said it was a “poor defense of free speech.” Other Anons made that very point back in December

Dan Gainor: Yet today happened.

AnonNewsNet: I don’t think you understand how Anonymous works. There isn’t a way to shut them down except DDoS-ing the hivemind.

AnonNewsNet: Or, in other words, the only way to prevent a coordinated silencing of free speech is to silence that speech preemptively.

Anonymous doesn’t follow orders. We don’t play nice. We don’t agree.

Dan Gainor: I get it. They don’t.

AnonNewsNet: No, you don’t. DDoSing or shouting louder to prevent a person from being heard isn’t going to go away.

Dan Gainor: Those who attack and intimidate should be shut down.

AnonNewsNet: I don’t think you get the irony in trying to shut down those who shut down others.

Dan Gainor: Locking up criminals is a crime?

AnonNewsNet: Ancient Greece used to banish those who broke the law. There are different models.

AnonNewsNet: There’s some cognitive dissonance in defending life, liberty, and property by taking it away from others.

Dan Gainor: It’s a group that supports an idea.

AnonNewsNet: And a group which objects to it. How we resolve conflicts usually depends on speech on equal grounds.

AnonNewsNet: The thesis is that the flood of money in politics drowns out everyone else.

AnonNewsNet: When people’s objections aren’t heard, they tend to fester and break out in other ways.

Dan Gainor: The left ignores that thesis when it helps them.

AnonNewsNet: We don’t. And we’re not pleased with Obama giving in to banking, insurance lobbyists.

Dan Gainor: Then protest, vote, write letters. But don’t SILENCE the rights of others.

AnonNewsNet: Well, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now if it weren’t for OpWisconsin, would we?

AnonNewsNet: I sincerely worry about the state of dialogue, because these forms are invitations to be ignored.

Dan Gainor: Is that a rationalization for silencing speech?

AnonNewsNet: It’s an invitation to look on the bright side. At least no one’s dead.

Dan Gainor: True. But taking away freedom is a bad start.

AnonNewsNet: It’s a better form of dissent than suicide-bombing. And I still don’t see you saying shouting down is “terrorism.”

Dan Gainor: Shouting down isn’t SHUTTING down.

AnonNewsNet: AFP still has twitter, flyers, people on the ground, faxes, FB, and other websites. It’s not “shutting down.”

AnonNewsNet: And the object of “shutting down” and shouting down is both to interfere with being heard.

Dan Gainor: That’s another rationalization. Let’s shut down left on Twitter and see how you feel then.

AnonNewsNet: Y’know, #Anonymous was put through that, too. We objected but then coped. And here we are.

AnonNewsNet: I really don’t think you understand how many hypothetical censorship sob stories #Anonymous has lived through.

Dan Gainor: Anonymous doesn’t have a good track record ya know.

AnonNewsNet: Yeah, pr0n and lolcats FTW. Real paragons of all-American values, #Anonymous is.

Dan Gainor: I think you are heading down a debate cul de sac.

AnonNewsNet: Well, considering this was the only way we could open up an actual conversation, I call it a win for OpWisconsin and Anonymous.

Dan Gainor: And I call it criminal.

AnonNewsNet: Y’know, it’s frustrating that the only non-violent conversation-starters are labeled “criminal.”

Dan Gainor: They used a cyber attack to silence opposition. Yes, criminal.

AnonNewsNet: Well let me know when you’ve given up on the cost-effectiveness on the legal system dealing with DDoS’s.

Dan Gainor: So we should ignore all expensive crimes?

AnonNewsNet: If it’s impossible to enforce the law evenly, then it’s impossible to enforce it justly.

Dan Gainor: Lol that’s about your fifth rationalization.

AnonNewsNet: You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.

Dan Gainor: It means you keep trying to justify illegality as somehow legit.

AnonNewsNet: And I keep arguing that you calling a #DDoS “terrorism” is overblown rhetoric to slander those you disagree with.

Dan Gainor: And you are defending an attack on free speech and the Constitution which makes you wrong.

AnonNewsNet: I’m saying that it and the underlying issues for WHY it was done are troubling trends in America.

AnonNewsNet: What I’m saying is, if the frustrations aren’t vented somehow, there’s going to be a goddamned revolution here.

AnonNewsNet: Whether or not #DDoS is illegal, the sentiments behind it and the #WIunion movement are building up.

AnonNewsNet: If we can’t have a reasonable discussion about it as a country, then we will explode in one way or another.

AnonNewsNet: And I think the overblown rhetoric of Fox News has exacerbated, not alleviated the problem.

AnonNewsNet: “Tea Party folks are patriots,” while union protesters are “rioting on the streets.”

AnonNewsNet: Question: Do you honestly believe that Fox News is “fair and balanced”?

AnonNewsNet: Well thank you for the convo. I look forward to your column calling us terrorists & pedophiles.

Stay tuned.

Follow me on Twitter.

Politico – ‘Anonymous’ takes down Americans for Prosperity website, February, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 28th, 2011 at 10:11 am and is filed under Freedom, P2P. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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