If you follow internet news at all or have TorrentFreak and/or Slashdot in your RSS you’ll have noticed that there’s been quite the battle going on between Pirates and Anti-Piracy types. I’ll save you all the legal stuff and try and break it down as best I can.
One of the major torrent sites, The Pirate Bay, was hit by an anti-piracy company called Aiplex. Many users of the site were rather upset, including a group known as “Anonymous”.
Anonymous decided to launch Operation Payback, a plan consisting of DDoS against the people involved. For the less technical, a DDoS attack if done on a large enough scale can bring down a website and make it inaccessible. Since the initial attack back in September a number of sites have been added to the target list.
In an interesting turn of events one of the attacked websites (ACS:Law) encountered an error when re-instating the site after an extended downtime leading to the exposure of all their private emails. This may not sound so bad, except for the revelation that this law firm was going after completely innocent people in a cash settlement scheme. Sending unsuspecting internet users letters accusing them of illegal downloading and offering to drop all charges for a large sum of cash.
What all this has done is brought real attention to what is going on in the Digital Rights world. (For an interesting, and probably best, look at Digital Rights I suggest you go and read Cory Doctorow’s article “The Real Cost of Free“) Top of the list? The ACTA: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement which has been discussed between countries including: USA, Canada, Australia and the UK but all behind closed doors. I’m not a legal brain, but from what I can understand, wading my way through all the articles and whatnot is they want the ability to go through the data you’re sending on the internet. This concept is being presented in more ways than this. Essentially the money behind the governments want to restrict how we use the internet. Including screening videos you upload on private servers (such as backing up photos and digital media) to make sure you’re not uploading copyrighted materials.
It boils down to this: Under the guise of “copyright protection” the government wants the right to look through every thing you do on the net.
Yes, you can argue they already do. But if that was the case, why would they need this legislation?
Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of meat and mineral, we are from the Internet. The new home of social consciousness. On behalf of the future of this culture, I ask you of the obsolete past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.
We have no elected government, nor are we ever likely to have one, so I address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty itself always speaks; anonymity. I declare the global social space we are building together to be naturally independent of the tyrannies and injustices you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any real methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear.
Governments derive their judicial powers from the consent of the governed. You have neither solicited nor received ours. You have not engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor did you create the wealth of our marketplaces. The rapid growth of government censorship of the Web has not escaped our notice. Cyberspace does not lie within your borders. Do not think that you can build it, as though it were a public construction project. You cannot. It is an act of nature and it grows itself through our collective actions.
You claim there are problems among us that you need to solve. You use this claim to further impose unjust restrictions on our civil freedoms and rights. We cannot allow this. We consider this your formal warning, that if you continue to impose unjust control on us, you will meet with disaster.
We are anonymous, we are legion,
We do not forgive, and we do not forget.
Expect us.
Related Links:
- Death of ACTA: http://www.youtube.com/douglby#p/u/6/elUwRb4DroU
- In the Courts: Judge Warns of End to Stop File-Sharing Cash Demands
- ACS:Law In Shambles: Possible Bankruptcy?
- Operation Payback – official link
Wow, that was actually extremely interesting to read. I knew all about the copyright stuff, but I didn’t know about that whole law firm thing. crazy. awesome post.
Oh thank you! I find it interesting how much of the really good stuff doesn’t wind up in mainstream news. People are only getting half the picture, at most.
There is always a theory that the mainstream news outlets seem to be purposefully misreporting this in order to quell publicity to it. This could be to stop people wanting to join in, or it could be that they don’t take it seriously enough. The UK is definitely not being told about this stuff on TV, there is a lot of talk about “Anonymous” on American TV News and even on News TV in Spain.
Oh I couldn’t agree with you more. But I think the interesting thing is the way the news is being spread even without mainstream media attention. For example, the first day of Operation Payback I was in the IRC channel where they were organizing (as an observer of course)… there were about 60 people, give or take. Last week when writing my post… over 500 and I’ve heard the numbers continue to grow.
We’re reaching an age were the majority of people don’t get their news by watching the “news”… it’s interesting and it’s awesome. The less censorship the better I say! I want my news un-filtered and un-politicized please