Anonymous ‘dissidents’ spill the beans
p2pnet view P2P:- Contrary to the “repeated claims of Anonymous members, the group does have ad hoc leaders, with certain members doling out tasks, selecting targets, and even dressing down members who get out of line”.
Who says?
Gawker, whose servers were hacked and “Nearly 1.25 million accounts, including more than 500,000 user e-mails and more than 185,000 decrypted passwords, were posted to the Pirate Bay”, said p2pnet last December, quoting Slate.
Now, “Dissident members of the internet hacktivist group Anonymous, tired of what they call the mob’s ‘unpatriotic’ ways, have provided law enforcement with chat logs of the group’s leadership planning crimes, as well as what they say are key members’ identities”, says Gawker, stating:
“They also gave them to us.”
Aaron Barr, erstwhile head of HBGary Federal, a company which boasted of its work with high-level US government intelligence and security agencies, said much the same thing, to his and his boss’, Greg Hoglund, regret.
Now Gawker is running what it says are chat logs covering “several days in February immediately after the group hacked into internet security firm HBGary’s e-mail accounts”.
They offer a “fascinating look inside the hivemind’s organization and culture”, says the story, going on >>>
They demonstrate that, contrary to the repeated claims of Anonymous members, the group does have ad hoc leaders, with certain members doling out tasks, selecting targets, and even dressing down members who get out of line. They prove that, contrary to their claims, at least one of the hackers responsible for releasing the publishing the e-mail addresses of thousands of Gawker users last December is in fact a key member of Anonymous. They show a collective of ecstatic and arrogant activists driven to a frenzy by a sense of their own power — they congratulated one another when Hosni Mubarak resigned, as though Anonymous was responsible — and contain bald admissions of criminal behavior that could serve as powerful evidence in criminal proceedings if the internet handles are ever linked to actual people.
The logs are from an invite-only IRC chat channel called #HQ, populated by people calling themselves Sabu, Kayla, Laurelai, Avunit, Entropy, Topiary, Tflow, and Marduk.
They were supplied by two individuals who go by the names Metric and A5h3r4 and describe themselves as former Anonymous supporters who became increasingly disenchanted with the movement’s tactics, particularly the extent to which the group’s more sophisticated members tolerate children and teens participating in risky operations (British authorities arrested a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old in January, and Dutch police arrested a 16-year-old in December). They recently launched a firm they call Backtrace Security.
“The bastards are becoming arrogant sociopaths,” said A5h3r4 via chat. “Acting first, not thinking of the consequences. They’re recruiting children. I am a pretty far left person — I believe in privacy and free expression, but Anonymous is a vigilante group now. A mob without conscience. And I worry they will radicalize even more. In short, I believe they’re on their way to becoming a genuine threat.”
Adds the post, after quoting chat logs, “When we repeated Metric and A5h3r4′s claims that Anonymous had become megalomaniacal and vindictive, [self-styled Anonymous spokesman Barrett] Brown replied: “I can also confirm that we have become vindicative megalomaniacs.”
Definitely stay tuned.
Gawker – Inside Anonymous’ Secret War Room, March 18, 2011
p2pnet – Gawker Media servers hacked, December 15, 2010
Slate – Was Your Gawker Password Hacked?, December 13, 2010
much the same thing – HBGary Federal’s Aaron Barr hits the road, March 1, 2011
Anonymous spokesman – Anonymous leader identified: Barrett Brown, March 9, 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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March 19th, 2011 at 10:29 am
Ex-Anonymous Hackers Plan To Out Group’s Members
The nameless revolution that calls itself Anonymous may be about to have its own, online civil war.
A hacker startup calling itself Backtrace Security–made up of individuals who formerly counted themselves as part of Anonymous’ loose digital collective–announced plans Friday to publish identifying information on a handful of active members of Anonymous. According to one source within the Backtrace group, it will release the names and instant messaging logs of dozens of Anonymous hackers who took part in attacks on PayPal, Mastercard, the security firm HBGary, Westboro Baptist Church, and the Marine officials responsible for the detainment of WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning.
That spokesman, who goes by the name Hubris and calls himself BackTrace’s “director of psychological operations,” tells me that the group (Backtrace calls itself a company, but Hubris says it’s still in the process of incorporating) aims to put an end to Anonymous “in its current form.” That form, Hubris argues, is a betrayal of its roots: Fun-loving, often destructive nihilism, not the political hacktivism Anonymous has focused on for much of the past year. “[Anonymous] has truly become moralfags,” says Hubris, using the term for hackers who focus on political and moral causes instead of amoral pranks. “Anonymous has never been about revolutions. It’s not about the betterment of mankind. It’s the Internet hate machine, or that’s what it’s supposed to be.”
Backtrace has posted a triple-encrypted torrent file labeled “insurance”–a tip of the hat to WikiLeaks–on its website, BacktraceSecurity.com, and says it’s posting hundreds of links to copies on filesharing sites. Early next week the group plans to release the keys to unlock that file, which contains the names, pseudonyms, chat logs and methods of the Anonymous hackers. It’s a tactic, Hubris says, designed to cause “maximum fear and distress” for the individuals Backtrace is outing.
…
http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2011/03/18/ex-anonymous-hackers-plan-to-out-groups-members/
March 19th, 2011 at 11:29 am
Scriptkiddies have been around forever, and they’ll always be there. Anonymous is no different. But I don’t think it’ll make any difference to the mainstream Anonymous actions, Operation Paybacks and others.
Is there really a central command? I still like the idea that groups form and disband for specific campaigns which generate their own temporary internal structures.
As-and-when collaborations with as-and-when collaborators. It’s one of the things the net is all about.
Is there a permanent group? More than one, probably. But IMHO it’d be a mistake to think any one of them by any means represents, or is behind, all Anonymous actions.
Cheers!
March 19th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Jon thats pretty much exactly how it is.
March 19th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
“the group does have ad hoc leaders, with certain members doling out tasks, selecting targets, and even dressing down members who get out of line”
BAHAHAHA, since when?
Anons follow whoever has the best idea at any given time. Nobody assigns tasks, and nobody “disciplines” anybody else. I think the mainstream press keep insisting this is some conspiracy (and there’s a single person behind it somewhere) because the idea of genuine hivemind scares the HELL out of them….
March 19th, 2011 at 7:19 pm
I think you very much correct……….
“I think the mainstream press keep insisting this is some conspiracy (and there’s a single person behind it somewhere) because the idea of genuine hivemind scares the HELL out of them….”
These Xanons MIGHT know a few others that are involved, but to say that they know who the leaders are because they were in it??? Not buying it myself!
March 19th, 2011 at 10:38 pm
I am reading all this, and then thinking about the possible fake personalities which were highlighted in the HBGary emails. Is the “Anonymous Dissident” real, or is it a fake person created by whoever benefits from creating cracks within Anonymous and their supporters? I just don’t know anymore what to believe on the Internet. Can’t even trust any reasonable comment on any blog, since it may be “fake”! Anyone share this feeling?
March 19th, 2011 at 11:23 pm
@ Watch57:
In the end it doesn’t matter. Gawker may be well pleased with itself, and Forbes for a ‘scoop’, and it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility the ‘exposure’ isn’t much more than a way to launch a new business to profit off Anonymous.
Whichever and whatever, Anonymous is now firmly established as a hard-edged presence online and, off, and it isn’t going away.
Fake blog comments? Internet flatulence, but the stink doesn’t last.
Cheers!
March 20th, 2011 at 6:22 am
after i read the logs provided on gawker i have to say, i think this is bullshit. too bad for the people in there. the thing on mubarak was kinda.. well.. cheesy
March 20th, 2011 at 3:44 pm
I wonder how many time the corporate parasites are going to try to make up out some fake anonymous “leaders.”
Actually if your read the leaked HB Gary emails this is part of their propaganda strategy.
March 21st, 2011 at 10:04 pm
Backtrace Security – exposed: http://pastebin.com/G2rH2xsw
March 31st, 2011 at 2:13 am
Exposed, please. Not even the right COUNTRY.