Guardian UK: The Anonymous WikiLeaks protests are a mass demo against control

[marmar]

The Anonymous WikiLeaks protests are a mass demo against control
The actions against MasterCard and Amazon are not 'hacking'. People are just finding a way to protest in a digital space

Richard Stallman
guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 December 2010



Spanish protesters wear masks of the 'Anonymous' group and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Photograph: Jon Nazca/REUTERS


The Anonymous web protests over WikiLeaks are the internet equivalent of a mass demonstration. It's a mistake to call them hacking (playful cleverness) or cracking (security breaking). The LOIC program that is being used by the group is prepackaged so no cleverness is needed to run it, and it does not break any computer's security. The protesters have not tried to take control of Amazon's website, or extract any data from MasterCard. They enter through the site's front door, and it just can't cope with the volume.

Calling these protests DDoS, or distributed denial of service, attacks is misleading, too. A DDoS attack is done with thousands of "zombie" computers. Typically, somebody breaks the security of those computers (often with a virus) and takes remote control of them, then rigs them up as a "botnet" to do in unison whatever he directs (in this case, to overload a server). The Anonymous protesters' computers are not zombies; presumably they are being individually operated.

No – the proper comparison is with the crowds that descended last week on Topshop stores. They didn't break into the stores or take any goods from them, but they sure caused a nuisance for the owner, Philip Green. I wouldn't like it one bit if my store (supposing I had one) were the target of a large protest. Amazon and MasterCard don't like it either, and their clients were probably annoyed. Those who hoped to buy at Topshop on the day of the protest may have been annoyed too.

The internet cannot function if websites are frequently blocked by crowds, just as a city cannot function if its streets are constantly full by protesters. But before you advocate a crackdown on internet protests, consider what they are protesting: on the internet, users have no rights. As the WikiLeaks case has demonstrated, what we do online, we do on sufferance. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/17/anonymous-wikileaks-protest-amazon-mastercard

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I said this last week

it is a social protest... beyond the riot stage, but into the social protest stage.

[glinda]

3. Did you hear the NPR broadcast today of the BBC interview with one of the members in Anonymous?

This covers it pretty much.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Nope, I rarely listen to NPR anymore

[glinda]

5. Actually, it was pretty interesting but totally know where you are coming from.

[femrap]

2. k and r

Go for it!

[mrfrapp]

6. He's right -- as usual

Stallman is the clearest thinker on the issue of freedom that I've come across and I really appreciate his thoughts on this specific subject. I'm a little nervous however of aligning the free-software movement with the 'anonymous' phenomenon because the latter is so easily demonised.

That said, the analogy he makes between web sites and shopping malls is technically sound. I still don't think the chaps masquerading as 'anonymous' should be doing what they're doing because I find it distracting but none-the-less it's difficult to oppose on moral grounds.

[leftstreet]

7. K&R

[bemildred]

8. Anonymous Wikileaks protests are a mass demo of absence of control.

No disprespect to Mr Stallman intended.

[Rex]

9. They go against the status quo, which makes them dangerous

to govts around the world.

[Uncle Joe]

10. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, marmar.