FBI Cracks Down on ‘Anonymous’

‘Anonymous’ is just a word
Technology • Views: 32,489

The FBI has served more than 40 search warrants in the investigation of the cyberattacks against several major financial institutions.

‘Anonymous’ is finding out how un-anonymous they really are.

The F.B.I. investigation is part of a larger international inquiry into a loose confederation of hackers calling itself “Anonymous” that coordinated the cyberattacks against the Web sites of companies like PayPal, Visa and MasterCard late last year after they severed ties with WikiLeaks.

Law enforcement agencies in France, Germany and the Netherlands have also sought to find members of the group. On Thursday, the authorities in Britain also executed several search warrants and arrested five people, whose ages were said to range from 15 to 26, accusing them of playing a role in the attacks. …

The F.B.I. said that facilitating or conducting such an attack is illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Jump to bottom

32 comments
1 austin_blue  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 7:54:01pm

I legally changed my name to “Anonymous” last July. I am in fear for my life.

2 Kragar  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 7:55:14pm

But the LOIC on my computer was just a virus!
//

3 Mostly sane, most of the time.  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 7:55:16pm

Anonymous is now learning that there are limits.

Too bad their mamas didn’t teach them this.

4 Mr Pancakes  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 7:55:31pm

Barrett better watch out.

5 BryanS  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 7:57:33pm

Sorry to bolt on the new topic so soon, but has anyone been paying attention to the Egypt near revolt lately. Their government has just shut down all cell service and 100% of all internet in and out of the country.

6 Killgore Trout  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 7:59:00pm

re: #4 Mr Pancakes

Barrett better watch out.

He has free legal services provided to him. The kids he encourages to carry out the actual crime, not so much.

7 austin_blue  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 7:59:09pm

re: #5 BryanS

Sorry to bolt on the new topic so soon, but has anyone been paying attention to the Egypt near revolt lately. Their government has just shut down all cell service and 100% of all internet in and out of the country.

Yup. Molto nervoso in the Gubmint. Tunisia has rocked their world. Hosni is asking for soap.

8 BryanS  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 7:59:11pm

Slashdot story on the new Egyptian crackdown with relevant links.

[Link: yro.slashdot.org…]

As bad as Iran got with DinnerJacket’s fraud elerction, they never went quite that far.

9 engineer cat  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 7:59:19pm

Anonymous

i really enjoyed his victorian pornographic novels…

10 prairiefire  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 7:59:32pm

Reality bytes.

11 BryanS  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 8:00:12pm

re: #7 austin_blue

Yup. Molto nervoso in the Gubmint. Tunisia has rocked their world. Hosni is asking for soap.

Here’s hoping for a liberal revolt rather than an Islamic one.

12 Kragar  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 8:00:19pm

re: #5 BryanS

Sorry to bolt on the new topic so soon, but has anyone been paying attention to the Egypt near revolt lately. Their government has just shut down all cell service and 100% of all internet in and out of the country.

Did that 5:30 pm EST, after AP posted a video of a protestor getting shot

13 deranged cat  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 8:00:26pm

Anonymous live in their own world.. i bet it stings to realize that real life isn’t like 4chan.

14 austin_blue  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 8:02:07pm

re: #11 BryanS

Here’s hoping for a liberal revolt rather than an Islamic one.

Ding ding ding!

15 DaddyLawBucks  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 8:05:06pm

does anyone know what the protesters are demanding?

16 Kragar  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 8:06:52pm

BB is trying to argue that because the Hacktivists try and help with Tunisia, its OK for them to break laws.

Anonymous: a net gain for liberty

It’s pretty ironic that ‘hacktivists’ have been arrested for support of WikiLeaks, given Anonymous’s aid for the Tunisian revolution

Its not ironic, you dip shit.

17 BryanS  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 8:06:56pm

re: #14 austin_blue

Ding ding ding!

As was the case with Iran, twitter seems to have more going on than the news outlets—here’s a fun tweet:

Anon_normal
Anon_VV: Everything ██is█████ ████ ████fine ███ █ ████ love. ████ █████ the ███ Egypt ███ ████ government ██ #jan25 #Egypt #censorship
1 day ago via web · Reply · View Tweet

18 austin_blue  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 8:08:25pm

re: #15 daddylawbucks

does anyone know what the protesters are demanding?

Freedom from a 31 year tyranny.

But it’s omne of *our* tyrannies, So it’s difficult.

19 BryanS  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 8:08:34pm

re: #15 daddylawbucks

does anyone know what the protesters are demanding?

A end to dictatorship, it seems.

20 DaddyLawBucks  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 8:10:53pm

What? Representative government? Who do they think they are Iraq? I still have a feeling this is going to turn out badly for us, that extremism will come to power.

21 Obdicut  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 8:27:50pm

re: #16 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

Because those little brown people couldn’t have a revolution without western white boys helping them out.

Bullshit. Tunisia had a revolution because of the lack of food, and because a man set himself on fire. The ‘hacktivists’ are dilettante spectators.

22 Kronocide  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 10:22:03pm

re: #16 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

BB is trying to argue that because the Hacktivists try and help with Tunisia, its OK for them to break laws.

Anonymous: a net gain for liberty

Its not ironic, you dip shit.

Those of us who are keen on liberty – particularly those of us who choose to work with Anonymous rather than the various western governments that have shown themselves to be comfortably complicit with tyranny – are the first to acknowledge that every private entity should be free to deny services to anyone they choose, and for whatever reason. But none of the DDoS “victims” are truly private entities. Each involve itself in the governance of the world’s states in general and that of the US in particular, by way of “donations” to those politicians who regulate the financial industry with occasional success, as well as through such things as the MasterCard International Employees Political Action Committee.

How mind numbingly stupid. Anarchist logic wrapped up in an intellectual’s tweed jacket. A bow tie presentation of this.

23 SpaceJesus  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 10:35:07pm

re: #22 BigPapa

how is this guy such an internet commentary hotshot yet also such an idiot

24 Kronocide  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 10:52:13pm

re: #23 SpaceJesus

how is this guy such an internet commentary hotshot yet also such an idiot

SJ…. Glenn Beck!

Even in today’s information society style still trumps substance. Or as Limbaugh used to say ‘style over substance.’

25 Hector1980  Thu, Jan 27, 2011 10:52:37pm

They will be ok. They went through 7 proxies.

26 Alexzander  Fri, Jan 28, 2011 12:09:52am

There is an IAMA (basically a Q&A) on Reddit right now with someone who was hit with some kind of warrant for all of his computer items. He foolishly posted the warrant without censoring it (his name and everything is there!). Everyone one reddit is telling him to delete the whole thing. Check it out:

Reddit Q&A with Person hit by FBI

27 ryannon  Fri, Jan 28, 2011 3:50:34am

re: #6 Killgore Trout

He has free legal services provided to him. The kids he encourages to carry out the actual crime, not so much.


You really don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.

28 Typhaeon  Fri, Jan 28, 2011 4:49:29am

OK, say what you will about actually prosecuting these guys, but 10 years in prison for a temporary disruption of traffic seems more than a little bit stupidly Draconian.

29 wiffersnapper  Fri, Jan 28, 2011 6:27:39am

I bet 4chan will respond to these search warrants the best they know how. Stupid pictures, memes, and comix.

30 ihateronpaul  Fri, Jan 28, 2011 10:50:36am

re: #26 Alexzander

There is an IAMA (basically a Q&A) on Reddit right now with someone who was hit with some kind of warrant for all of his computer items. He foolishly posted the warrant without censoring it (his name and everything is there!). Everyone one reddit is telling him to delete the whole thing. Check it out:

Reddit Q&A with Person hit by FBI

AHAHHAHAHAHA what a dumb kid.
I know someone just like him.

31 Egregious Philbin  Fri, Jan 28, 2011 7:00:36pm

I briefly protested with anonymous against Scientology, I am an ardent critic of the cult. But I stopped, because I found the people in anonymous to be stupid little anarchist punks, and they were very awful people. I hope they get busted, big time.

BTW Tom Cruise is still a horrible little monster.

32 samgak  Fri, Jan 28, 2011 8:46:52pm

Given the number of people who have to participate in these DDoS attacks for them to be effective, those who are prosecuted will be a tiny fraction of the total, making them little more than scapegoats. I don’t support DDoSing, but pretending it is a serious crime on par with rape, manslaughter etc (which receive similar jail sentences to what is being proposed) is obscene.

It’s good to see Wikileaks back in the news though. Hopefully Assange leaks the bank documents soon.


This article has been archived.
Comments are closed.

Jump to top

Create a PageThis is the LGF Pages posting bookmarklet. To use it, drag this button to your browser's bookmark bar, and title it 'LGF Pages' (or whatever you like). Then browse to a site you want to post, select some text on the page to use for a quote, click the bookmarklet, and the Pages posting window will appear with the title, text, and any embedded video or audio files already filled in, ready to go.
Or... you can just click this button to open the Pages posting window right away.
Last updated: 2023-04-04 11:11 am PDT LGF User's Guide RSS Feeds

Help support Little Green Footballs!

Subscribe now for ad-free access!Register and sign in to a free LGF account before subscribing, and your ad-free access will be automatically enabled.

Donate with
PayPal Cash.app
Recent PagesClick to refresh
Best of April 2024 Nothing new here but these are a look back at the a few good images from the past month. Despite the weather, I was quite pleased with several of them. These were taken with older lenses (made from the ...
William Lewis
8 hours ago
Views: 85 • Comments: 0 • Rating: 3
Texas County at Center of Border Fight Is Overwhelmed by Migrant Deaths EAGLE PASS, Tex. - The undertaker lighted a cigarette and held it between his latex-gloved fingers as he stood over the bloated body bag lying in the bed of his battered pickup truck. The woman had been fished out ...
Cheechako
3 weeks ago
Views: 371 • Comments: 0 • Rating: 1