FBI acts against 40 Anons
The execution of 40 search warrants by the FBI against alleged members of Anonymous is part of a co-ordinated operation with the UK’s Metropolitan Police Service, which made five arrests yesterday.
The FBI hasn’t announced any arrests yet and isn’t giving up much information about its targets. Its press release is pretty clear, however, that it is treating the DDoS attacks amounted by Anonymous as criminal acts. In part, the release says:
“The FBI also is reminding the public that facilitating or conducting a DDoS attack is illegal, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, as well as exposing participants to significant civil liability.”
The FBI also points out that it is not acting alone.
“The FBI is working closely with its international law enforcement partners and others to mitigate these threats. Authorities in the Netherlands, Germany, and France have also taken their own investigative and enforcement actions. The National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA) also is providing assistance.”
For its part, Anonymous, bless ‘em, have decided to up the ante by declaring war on the UK Government. It’s worth reading the open letter in full, for entertainment if nothing else. It attempts to characterise the DDoS attacks as a hip form of civil protest, but we’ve already seen the authorities are having none of that.
The letter also attempts to excuse the DDoS attacks by pointing out how little damage they did - in other words, Anonymous is making a virtue out of its own ineffectiveness. Why not take this at face value? Well, simply because of my experiences in the Anonymous IRC channels. The Anons participating in the attacks and reporting back via IRC were clearly intent on damaging their targets - they said so in no uncertain terms.
The Internet has a major part to play in civil protest - that’s being demonstrated in Tunisia and Egypt, and is why the governments of those countries are attempting to shut down services such as Twitter and Facebook. But the Anonymous attacks are not in this class. These are over-excited teenagers who’ve watched the Matrix too many times and are keen on a bit of cyber-vandalism because they think there are no consequences. I think they’re in the process of being disillusioned on that last point.
There’s nothing wrong with ‘hacktivism’. People have a right to protest and the Internet has provided a new channel for organising and executing these activities. But when you break the law in order to make your feelings known, you need to be sure that your motives are good, your targets are legitimate and your methods are warranted. Anonymous attacks against the Egyptian Government arguably fall into this category. Its attacks on PayPal, MasterCard et al did not.
