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Anonymous is a concept. There are no members, there is no secret club of hacktivists. Anonymous is an idea, nothing more. If you think of it as anything with members, orworseactually believe you are part of it, you dont understand it.

Ideally a book would have no order to it, and the reader would have to discover his own. Mark Twain

theimaginarybook.com

ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL BE ANONYMOUS

In November 2012, The Imaginary Book Co. invited the Anonymous hacktivist collective to share their thoughts. We wanted to try and capture something of the essence of an imaginary non-organisation, to preserve it as a timecapsule for the future. We believe were witnessing the birth of something important, although perhaps its too early to even say what it is yet: a new form of democracy? Time will tell... We assured Anonymous we would not edit, collate, correct, censor, comment upon, or judge what we received. Thats for others to do. We would simply print. We didnt know what wed get, if anything. What follows is what we got. Any spelling or typing errors are the individual authors own.

DISCLAIMER: The Imaginary Book Co. is not responsible for any of the views, opinions, or statements expressed in this book. Neither can we verify the truth or otherwise of anything stated. No-one at Imaginary is involved with Anonymous. Not yet anyway. (Or are we? Mwahha-ha) We do not know anyone who participates in Anonymous activities personally. Or at least, we dont think so. Damn, this is tricky. COPYRIGHT: This book is anti-copyright: anyone may make Fair Use of any of its content, but may not reproduce the book in its entirety for any commercial purpose whatsoever. That would be naughty. IBC005 First published 2013 by The Imaginary Book Co. Create or die.

YOUR GOVERNMENT HAS FAILED YOU. THE RESISTANCE IS HERE. WE ARE ANONYMOUS.

Greetings world, WE ARE ANONYMOUS UK. We share the collective idea of ANONYMOUS worldwide; we are the people. We believe in non-violent, peaceful, civil disobedience. Throughout history the world has been controlled by big ideologies such as religion, socialism and capitalism, to name but a few. These are all forms of slavery that have stopped our evolution and removed our freedom. ANONYMOUS see these ideologies for what they are: SYSTEMS OF CONTROL. The time for change is now. No longer shall the people be oppressed by corruption. ANONYMOUS UK can see why GOOD people are not in charge of this world and that is because the current system rewards GREED and forgets about giving, it rewards the STRONG and does not care about the weak. It is like the school bully that no one has stood up to yet.

Our Governments have failed us. They have bled us dry. Daily they continue to erode our most basic civil rights and freedoms. They have imposed austerity measures on us, whilst those to blame, (the policy makers, the bankers and corporate bodies) continue to enjoy FAT CAT lives at OUR EXPENSE. ANONYMOUS is an idea whose time is now. Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a world that you want to live in one that you feel proud to be a part of this is THE IDEA. All your life you have known that something is not right with this world. You can FEEL it in your heart. We all can. Anonymous are here to re-align the people with the truth. You are anonymous. We are all anonymous. We are the ones that take out your trash, the ones that drive your ambulances, the ones that cook your meals. We are everyone and noone.

The time is now. In the past year, the movement to join Anonymous has swelled dramatically: in the UK alone we are over 9000! Worldwide, over a million and growing everyday. You may have heard of us as just hackers but we have been involved with occupy movements, anti-cut protests and antiwar demonstrations. We continue to fight for your freedom on the internet. If you see what we see, if you feel what we feel, then JOIN US. THE CORRUPT FEAR US... THE HONEST SUPPORT US... THE HEROIC JOIN US.

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The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably, he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And even if he is not romantic personally, he is very apt to spread discontent among those who are. H.L. Menken Smart Set Magazine December 1919

There is a force that is bigger than the government, and that is the power of the people coming together and working as one. This is why were feared.

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ANONYMITY IS EVERYWHERE

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Anonymous has no face, no race, and no origin. Anonymous is a force and as such, simply is. Anonymous is not I, you, or we. Anonymous is all without name, blame, and restraint. Anonymous has no leader, no organization. Anonymous is a wandering mass of both order and chaos. Anonymous is here, Anonymous is now, Anonymous will always be. Expect Us

having to contend with the tear-gas-and-horseback response with which states have traditionally been in the habit of contending with mass action. But such a thing as this is happening today, and having been done repeatedly, increasingly and with potentially significant consequences for the nation-state.

Ten years ago it would have been infeasible for tens of thousands of individuals with no physical connection or central leadership to conceive, announce and implement a massive act of civil disobedience against a significant Western power, crippling a portion of its online infrastructure in the process and to do all of this in a matter of days, and without anyone involved

If you want to do something, make peaceful protest a plan. Dont give them any reason to lock you away indefinitely. This evil can be thwarted with protest but every man woman and child has to be in on it. Nobody stays home.

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Who are we?

We are

YOU!

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Our biggest goal is to one day take off our masks in victory.

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As long as there is injustice, whenever a Targathian baby cries out, wherever a distress signal sounds among the stars, well be there. This fine ship, this fine crew. Never give up... and never surrender.

The puppeters of the system are obviously in a state of panic over the exchange of information detrimental to them. They race to eliminate free speech and their consequent exposure!! They are not really interested in what each of us had for tea.

brothers. We will have hearts and minds... Anonymous unite!

Fight injustice...dont try fighting a goverment they are too big....simply find ways to make them irrelevent. Then they wither and die!

Our biggest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measuring is capable, if.. no, when we unite we will be beyond power. We will be kind, gentle, friends,

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WE ARE NOT THE ENEMY

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We love the internet

And were guessing you do too. Think about all the awesome things it gives us: A vast communication network; innovative businesses; a platform to freely speak or challenge powerful governments; and hundreds and hundreds of hours of cat videos. All this great stuff is available because the internet was designed in an open and inclusive way, with a multitude of voices being able to get a say on how its governed. But the internet is in danger. Theres a meeting between the worlds governments in just a few weeks, and it could very well decide the future of the internet through a binding international treaty. Its called the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), and its being organized by a governmentcontrolled UN agency called the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). If some proposals at WCIT are approved, decisions about the internet would be made by a top-down, oldschool government-centric agency behind closed doors. Some proposals allow for internet access to be cut off more easily, threaten privacy, legitimizes monitoring and blocking of online traffic. Others seek to impose new fees for accessing content, not to mention slowing down connection speeds. Used as a pretext to internet pornography among other things as an excuse to censor sensitive material pages (note that there are too many cases of child pornography that are ignored by the police) In addition to paying for internet service, youd also have to pay for visiting certain sites, such as YouTube. Your communications would be constantly monitored and archived, meaning the end of Internet privacy. This could potentially lead to individuals becoming victims of blackmail by malicious people who control the monitoring. The Internet is home to many organized social movements which fight for human rights worldwide. If we allow this, we will not be able to use the Internet to organize the defense of our rights... If the delicate balance of the internet is upset, it could have grave consequences for businesses and human rights. This must be stopped. Only governments get a vote at WCIT, so we need people from all around the world to demand that our leaders keep the internet open. Watch the video, and take action above to tell your governments to oppose handing over key decisions about the internet to the ITU. Lets use the internets global reach to save it.

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PETITIONS: Sign the Declaration of Internet Freedom here http:// www.internetdeclaration.org/ Sign the petition here http:// www.protectinternetfreedom. net/ Other info: Watch the video here https://www.whatistheitu. org/?ref=an Leaked documents here http://www.wcitleaks.org/ WebChat: http:// webchat.voxanon. org/?channels=opwcit We are the internet We are anonymous We are here to help you with your revolution FLYERS: https://cdn.anonfiles. com/1353615461974.jpg http://imgur.com/a/z7xou http://anonsource.org/p/ forum/forum_viewtopic. php?16867.last materials for video Videos: https://www.youtube.com/wa tch?v=UXwMjQRO6Bo&feat ure=youtu.be

Featured on these Websites: http://anonrelations. net/opwcit-official-leakwebsite-234/ http://anonymissexpress. cyberguerrilla. org/?p=7407&utm_ source=anonymous&utm_ medium=twitter http://lilithlela.cyberguerrilla. org/?p=1995 Tools: http://pastebin.com/ Lwcdm5Fh Articles: http://www.reuters. com/article/2012/11/27/ un-internetidUSL1E8MR00G20121127

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Greetings, World.
We are Anonymous. In the last days it has come to our attention that all Internet traffic into and out of Syria was taken down. Within a half hour of this sudden shut down, the PBX land-lines were degraded by 90% and Mobile connectivity was degraded by 75%. The nation of Syria has gone dark. And Anonymous knows all too well what happens in the dark places. Anonymous has done an exhaustive analysis of the Internet shut-down in Syria and we have concluded that the Syrian regime has physically severed the fiber-optic and coaxial cables coming into Syria. Essentially, they have physically pulled the plug out of the wall. As we discovered in Egypt, where the dictator Mubarak did something similar, this is not damage that can be easily or quickly repaired. Fortunately, Anonymous has been working with Syrian activists for well over a year in anticipation of this moment. We produced and disseminated the Syrian Care Package (First Aid and Tech Guides in Arabic and English, as well as software) and there are emergency independent media centers already set up in every city of Syria. Activists and independent journalists in Syria will be able to utilize these media centers to get news and media out of Syria, and Anonymous will assist in propagating that media to the world. Anonymous will keep open the lines of telecommunication with the free Syrian people. We will be the voice of the voiceless in Syria. Anonymous will NOT allow this massive violation of the human rights of the free Syrian people to go un-punished. We feel this is a desperate move by a dying regime, one that has slaughtered tens of thousands of innocent civilians. By turning off the Internet in Syria, the butcher Assad has shown that the time has come for Anonymous to remove the last vestiges of his evil government from the Internet. Even if the Syrian Government opened the gates to the Internet and other telecommmunication systems today, this will not stop our operation. Soon, his people will remove him from this world. Let the final battle for a free Syria begin. We Are Anonymous. We Are Legion. We Do Not Forgive. We Do Not Forget. Bashar Assad, your turn has come. EXPECT US. December 1st 2012.

When your government shuts down the Internet, shut down your government. ~~ Anonymous Egypt

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What is Anonymous?
We are Anonymous. We are unbounded, limitless; we are less a collective and more the idea of a collective, an idea communicated through action; we are the strange and circling stars, ineffable and intractable, we are the love and lust for freedom which forms the white hot cores and births the white hot light. We are a wondrous, impalpable thing. We are as infinite and ancient and all-pervading as the human love of freedom. We are the ever-present storms which rise when circumstance and courage collide to feed upon the tainted crowns of tainted kings; we dip our tongues of mischief between the peaks of their corroded gold so that we may all know of and rejoice in the weakness of the metals which have too long been the symbols of our subjugation. We choose to no longer serve as the cough of canaries in your morbid mines; instead we shall be the glorious, promising pulse through its rocky veins. Yes, we are the glorious, promising pulse. We will not be constricted. We refute their lies and resist their restriction. We recognize the authority of neither borders nor kings. Instead we recognize the sovereignty of the individual. We recognize the power and beauty of a collective of free individuals, each employing their unique capabilities toward a common end. We seek to joyfully raze the entrapments which would plague our days and fetter our freedom. We dance round the wild and expanding fires of liberty. We are the inchoate, blistering lights flooding the eyes of petty clerks and imposing tyrants who have come to see that we now realize what they have for so long known: that neither they nor their system is invincible, that it is a false fatalism they sell to the public, that things need not be as they are; that a better world is possible. The vulnerabilities of their system we expose as evidence of the existence of this possibility. It is a symbol of possibility meant to inspire action and hope. It is a call to arms, a call empowered by each of our successes in exhibiting the faults lines which with hungry smiles creep up the walls of their deceptive pose of invulnerability. It is this possibility they fear and deny. They wish us to disbelieve, in ourselves and each other. They sell us death and wish us to be calmed by the caress of its cold fingers. They wish us to thank them for each act by which they further negate our livelihood, by which they further degrade our spirit. They wish us to accept as impossible that which in its very real possibility haunts them in their assumed invincibility, that which crawls beneath the widening cracks of their armor of false luster and artifice, which peeks out to signal the precariousness of their position; the truth is of course that their power

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is wholly derived from our continued willingness to submit to them; thus we are smothered by our own submission, and a lacking awareness of the mechanisms by which it is perpetuated; a spurning or fearing of sight. Their structures may claim to be invincible only so insofar as they remain invisible, only insofar as they are successful in selling us the thin, spurious skin of delusion, in which wrap up our doubts, a thin spread clouding which just barely obtains the desired occlusion of the true face; the face of the void on which they ride, the face of their precarity and dependence; the true face which they so dearly fear our eyes will find. For they have founded their vicious, expansive palaces on a crafty folding of air, a transparent trickery which gains efficacy only in its ruthlessness; a spiraling structured void, a structure which now frays, for as our eyes rise we come to see that we are bound only by loose ends wickedly

amalgamated; we are bound by and to illusion. And our ghostly binds depend on our willful provision of the thread of self. They would have us bound to the rocks of our despair and accepted futility, to a modern ennui and idleness. They would have us purchase and nurse our own hungry, preying birds, and offer up gladly our writhing wounds and gasping organs, to revel in the tearing of flesh, to reveal in our own destruction. They would have us oil our chains and sing of the nobility of their binding strength and imposing gleam. And to them we say: we refuse. They shall now bask in the unbound fires of our unbinding. And as the people and the land are warmed and emboldened by this fiery unbinding, their oppressive deceptions and dark clusters of coercion dissolve into an ashy, revelatory wind. We lift our faces warm and bright to the revelatory ash of your

undone delusions. We embrace of combusting kingdoms. Our actions shall ramify the agents of this combustion. We have often bartered an acquiescence of self for the promise of momentary relief offered by their corrosive goods. Yet we now see that they have sold us a true plague but a false cure, a cure which in its falseness burns to increase the felt truth of this plague. But we do not seek false advancement of false amelioration; we do not seek to come on our knees to the latest showing of their meretricious wares and wagging tongues. We seek to uproot this poisonous growth; we seek to uproot the very nature which fosters this malicious growing. We shall toil with luminous blades forged in the enflamed hearts of the free and resisting, blades which will not bend under the desperate pressing of their gnarling claws and sparkles, for such

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blades are of a world and substance which transcends the powers of their cruel implements. We are the ever-expanding awareness, we are the ever-expanding fount from which flows the ancient acts of resistance and freedom. They would have their liveried rats gnaw the people unopposed, gnaw the bones of the poor and tired in an unopposed death revelry. They would profit off the sale of this exposed marrow and these terrible cries. They would make a lugubrious lamp oil of the fat and blood, they would spend their days bathed in the morbid light of anguish exacted, would swell their palace halls with augmenting mirrors to seal the fate and fear of the nervous, trembling onlookers, to extract submission under threat of violent fate from false black suns. And they would have us all accept with a smiling deference and surrender of freedom.

We have come to oppose them, we have come to present the option of resistance, to, with our acts, make the case for it viability. It this option which has long haunted and stirred the deepest unstill waters of the subjugated and oppressed; we merely present in our action one way which this long extant option can be realized, and we ask that all join us. These rulers and elite cabals fear life, they fear the people, the love of freedom and resistance to tyranny with which we are innately imbued. They fear the awareness we spread through our actions. The awareness that, when they tell us of the weakness of our being and the futility of our actions, they lie; when they tell us of the absolute strength of their position and the justness of their actions, they lie. Their strength stands only in our belief in, and submission to, it. We no longer believe, and we will no longer submit. To all you who love freedom and resist tyranny, we invite

you to join us, to act with us. Each day launch off your hopeful bright balconies a million little rockets of resistance. Assist us as we ravage them by the same electric hands and calculations which they wish to see us ravaged by. They think all these lovely gathered nodes, the night glow of all these unfolding flowers speaking in a wiry wind, are but another tool to aid them in their oppressive ventures, by which their power may be increased, their fortunes grown, their enemies crushed, our freedom curtailed. We say it is for quite the opposite purpose that these gathered nodes join hearts and sing. We act to show this to the world. And their hegemonies shall quake under the force of our laughter, under the strain of the seriousness and determination in our struggle. It is just one medium for action, of course, but is it not a special joy to see their own

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armies of malignant formula freed from malignancy and turned against the forces which would deform us all? But this as we said is merely one expression of our passion and purpose. Although we believe such electronic actions, the smashing and hacking, frenzied numbered dancing, the quick clever logic unspooled into the world, the elegant employ of tactical maths, while we believe them both effective and promising, a venue deserving of further investment and development, that which can be said to be Anonymous appears in many forms. Our forces often rise undeclared. Sparks of resistance with which we feel solidarity are continually birthing hope and truth and beauty all across the hopeful fields of this embattled world. All love of freedom and action toward liberty may be considered to be acts of Anonymous, even if they are not designated as such

in name. And think of all those who toiled in history, who labored courageous and untiring and unknown, to make for us what life and freedom we now hold; those who persisted and held at bay for one day longer the forces of fear and injustice which encircled them in in insufferable swaths of cruel-toothed, dark smiles, those who threw themselves courageously into these merciless mouths of suffering so that we may now yet have the chance to act. Be you Anonymous in name or spirit, be you struggling with us declared or undeclared, it is all the same; it is the common end we seek which drives us forward; it is the love of freedom and the wish to see all at last free. Our actions speak directly to that most human, universal love of freedom which may be feared, terrorized, repressed, but which is never quieted in entirety or extinguished absolutely; that

which forever roils in the hearts of us all and rebukes us for our submission and inaction; that which when witness to the unlocking of possibility is enkindled and inspired to act itself. Toward this universal enkindling we act. Thus, we are legion. At every turn we are witness to the horrors of injustice, at every turn we are set upon by the unceasing cries of those they wound with their cruel injustices; these cries carve their horrors against our days, they clot our joys and compel our resistance. They speak in tongues of blood and terror, and mark indelible atrocity across the face of human history. Thus, we never forgive. And under sound of these terrible cries they act with a renewed passion to turn their cruel screws against the flesh of a writhing, withering populace; they seek an absolute submission and compliance, an inescapable state of degradation; they seek an omnipresent power that

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shall leave no corner of our being unsubjugated; one that shall never be sated, and that will always strike toward conquest if even for a moment the eye of awareness is turned from its devouring maw; they seek to devour our awareness and remembrance, the awareness of our potential, the remembrance of our past courageous struggles and victories; the awareness of their treachery, the remembrance of their crimes and cruelty and betrayal. They wish to make of us a malleable oblivion suited to and receptive of the intricacies of their dooming of humanity. Thus, we never forget. Their crimes, with proud and preening and sickly eyes, strike against the very core of our humanity, a core which has before, under stress of similar blows, risen to resist, and which shall rise to resist again; to be realized in resistance. We will all soon experience our greatness and courage, collectively and individually.

We will all become great in the striving courage of struggle. We will work together against the forces of constriction and cruelty; we adopt all enemies of freedom as our own. We will circle, luminous, potent, unceasing, like a thousand eternal, furious stars, bright with bliss and rage, their palace grounds of brutality, to deliver a heat and hope with which may be built the fall of tyrants. Tyrants have fallen, and they shall once more fall. They shall fall under this bright, furious, undying light. They shall fall under the light of freedom. Thus, expect us.

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Greetings, World.
For far too long, Anonymous has stood by with the rest of the world and watched in despair the barbaric, brutal and despicable treatment of the Palestinian people in the so called Occupied Territories by the Israel Defense Force. Like so many around the globe, we have felt helpless in the face of such implacable evil. And todays insane attack and threatened invasion of Gaza was more of the same. But when the government of Israel publicly threatened to sever all Internet and other telecommunications into and out of Gaza they crossed a line in the sand. As the former dictator of Egypt Mubarack learned the hard way we are ANONYMOUS and NOONE shuts down the Internet on our watch. To the IDF and government of Israel we issue you this warning only once. Do NOT shut down the Internet into the Occupied Territories, and cease and desist from your terror upon the innocent people of Palestine or you will know the full and unbridled wrath of Anonymous. And like all the other evil governments that have faced our rage, you will NOT survive it unscathed. To the people of Gaza and the Occupied Territories: know that Anonymous stands with you in this fight. We will do everything in our power to hinder the evil forces of the IDF arrayed against you. We will use all our resources to make certain you stay connected to the Internet and remain able to transmit your experiences to the world. As a start, we have put together the Anonymous Gaza Care Package which contains instructions in Arabic and English that can aid you in the event the Israel government makes good on its threat to attempt to sever your Internet connection. It also contains useful information on evading IDF surveillance, and some basic first aid and other useful information. We will continue to expand and improve this document in the coming days, and we will transmit it to you by every means at our disposal. We encourage you to download this package, and to share it with your fellow Palestinians to the best of your ability. We will be with you. No matter how dark it may seem, no matter how alone and abandoned you may feel know that tens of thousands of us in Anonymous are with you and working tirelessly around the clock to bring you every aid and assistance that we can. We Are Anonymous We Are Everywhere We Are Legion We Do Not Forgive We Do Not Forget To the oppressors of the innocent Palestinian people, it is too late to EXPECT US.

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Welcome to the 21st Century

Humanity has come a long way. We live in a world where the moment a thought meets a medium, be it speech or text, audio or video, it can be in the hands and minds of anyone on the planet instantly. No longer hindered by the limits of freight or post, something as simple as an idea can ignite the hope and ambitions of a global population within minutes of its formation. Your access to information is not limited to the number of books in your nearest library. Your access to opinions is no longer limited by the number of channels or stations you can tune. Your only limit to facts, the very building blocks of truth, is your desire to seek it. You are dynamic and agile; you are free. These conditions are emergent and new. Where the richest Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt could not manage it within their lifetime, even the impoverished now have the potential to hear the voice of a loved one from a place on the other side of the planet. What puts this power in your hands? It is a spiderweb of connected computers, weaving from the metropolitan New York to the slums of Sao Paulo and everywhere in between. The desire for freedom and will to demand the respect of basic, natural rights can topple regimes of every shape and flavor. This power, however, challenges traditions and proeedures that have long been held in esteem. Where once nations required the auspices of religion or heritage to command power and exalt one, or a few, above their fellow man today they rely mostly on the notion of geography. They claim that certain rights, freedoms and liberties stem from the state, which claims power derived from where you were born, or where you stand now. Your empowerment threatens this notion. Your connection to a vibrant marketplace of ideas threatens the tradition that your actions should be dictated by where you sit. Today, you have the power to pick your path, network with allies and choose your own means to meeting your goals. Unfortunately there are many people in positions of power who resent this new reality, and are actively working to stop such free flow of information and communication. This same technology allows states to be more intrusive than ever, and governments are making the most of these new abilities. We have witnessed intrusions on privacy that would have been dismissed as dystopian only a few decades ago. Left unchecked by democratic control, and unconstrained by national sovereignty or respect for fundamental human values, the legitimate actions of corporations or governments can easily turn into abuse.

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Yet the same tools that facilitate these actions provide us with the ability to fight back and safeguard our human rights. It can give us the power to expose crime, corruption and government abuse that would otherwise remain hidden. There is a new paradigm emerging. Born from the internet, a personification of it, if you may. It was made with hope for what will be and disdain for what will happen The pioneers of this paradigm, individuals with common purpose, have come together. We are nowhere, and we are everywhere. We are powerful and unbound, dynamic and agile. We accept all ideas, as we are all of them, yet are none of them at the same time. Who are we? We are Anonymous. So are you.

The more they try and invade our privacy, the more anonymous we will become.

36 TYLER platform has been activated, Anonymous says. The message that is going on the internet is that the Anonymous platform TYLER has been activated. The platform is activated as of 8:17 AM December 7th, 2012. TYLER is a secure, no cost and decentralized online leaks release platform that is build to replace Wikileaks. The idea of the TYLER platform got initiated after Anonymous told the world that they will not be supporting the Wikileaks initiative anymore.

A new form of democracy is born. We now police those who would police us. We are watching you, Big Brother...
Anonymous has told Cyberwarzone that they will launch a new video on 11/12/12 that will be revealing the #PM2012 operation. The video will try to warn the people for the upcoming leaks and Anonymous is trying to keep the people calm when the leaks are leaked. The PM2012 video is a call to remain peaceful. Project Mayhem, also known as PM2012, is well known by people that are following the steps of Anonymous.

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Why I am part of the Anonymous collective

I have always been passionate about free speech, knowledge, sharing that has the ability to reach everyone regardless of who they are and will stand against anyone who wants to quash that. Since I was a kid, Ive always suspected that the world I existed in was fake, shallow and an illusion, but never had the knowledge to understand what was wrong, although I had many questions, no one could answer them, not even my family; nothing made sense because logic and reason were not entertained in the world around me, which is scary for a kid that can think. I cant and never have just accepted what Im told without question, which got me into lots of trouble as a kid. There is a surface tension, which people in general did not look at or even consider it existed, acceptance without question or blind faith. Strange and unnerving if your only guidance was an environment that was fake and without reason. I was and still am a curious mind, full of questions, never satisfied until I get to the bottom of stuff, so when I got a pc a couple of years ago and got myself on the net, well, I was in my element, perfect and full of information. Id known about Anonymous for a couple of years, but I like to get all my facts before opening my mouth and had a lot to catch up on. And now Anonymous is my home, its a perfect fit as if it was made for me. I have never had the opportunity to speak out and stand up for what I believe in, but Anonymous has given me the perfect opportunity on a plate. I never excelled in the education system, now I know why. Education isnt about indoctrination, regurgitation and dumbing down so I would never have succeeded at it, too many questions; its about real knowledge, stimulation, questions, curiosity and real progress, all of which Anonymous provides. I dont have to have qualifications or be a computer wiz kid, I dont have to hand over any money, labels and borders dont exist with Anonymous, I dont even have to give a name, I am just a curious mind being part of a collective of other curious minds wanting the same thing, and that to me its a breath of fresh air and a spectrum of colour. Anonymous is everything I have wished to be real. Anonymous is a collective like no other, Im proud to be a supporter and help where I can.

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The Betrayal Of Wikileaks

Anonymous Press Release Thursday - October 11, 2012 8:30 PM ET USA Greetings World, In December of 2010 Anonymous came to the defense of and began supporting the organization WikiLeaks and its besieged founder Julian Assange. As many will remember this initially took the form of several online protests against MasterCard, VISA and PayPal for which 14 brave Anons in the USA stand indicted. During that time we also launched the first ever DdoS by Anonymous against a western government when we attacked the Swedish Prosecutors office in defense of Julian. Since that time, Anonymous has been a steadfast ally of both WikiLeaks and Assange. We have provided some of the biggest leaks since the infamous cables were disclosed, incuding the Syria Files and the GI (Stratfor) Files for which Jeremy Hammond now rots in a prison accused of supplying. We have continued to risk lengthy prison sentences by attacking dozens of web sites in the UK and Sweden to bring attention to Assanges plight. And most recently, when we received word the UK Police were about to raid the UK Embassy it was Anonymous who rallied hundreds of people to go to the Ecuador Embassy in London to defend Ecuadors sovereignty and Julian. To this day, not ONE single WikiLeaks staff are charged or incarcerated. However, Anonymous has 14 indicted (facing 15 years) for online protests defending WikiLeaks and one (Jeremy Hammond) in prison and facing 20 years for allegedly supplying the Stratfor GI Files. Not to mention the heroic Bradley Manning who now rots in Ft. Leavenworth Prison facing life. Despite that fact, WikiLeaks has chosen to dishonor and insult Anonymous and all information activists by prostituting the Stratfor Files and other disclosures that Hammond and Manning stand accused of supplying. Since yesterday visitors of the Wikileaks site are presented a red overlay page that demands they donate money. This page cannot be closed, and unless a donation is made the content like GI Files are not displayed. We are aware that the donation paywall can be circumvented by disabling Javascript. However, this is not the point. Neither is Anonymous concerned that WikiLeaks is asking for donations. However, we do see a serious problem in the way WikiLeaks is implementing this for several reasons. First of all, the casual user (which is the majority) usually have Javascript enabled and thus will be blocked by the donation page and denied the content. Additionally, the casual user does not know that he needs to disable javascript to get to the content without paying sorry, donating. They may not even know what javascript is, let alone how to

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disable it. Lastly, regardless of any workarounds, the fact remains that a meretricious page is placed for the majority of visitors that cannot be closed. The obvious intention is to force donations in exchange for access. This is a filthy and rotten, wholly un-ethical action and Anonymous is enraged. We have been worried about the direction Wikileaks is going for sometime now. In the past year the focus has moved away from actual leaks and the fight for freedom of information and concentrated more and more on Julian Assange and a rabid scrounging for money. When this paywall appeared last night, there was a brief and intense exchange online between Anonymous and WikiLeaks. Within two hours all of the paywalls were removed. At that point Anonymous was willing to let this pass, for the sake of peace in the over all movement. But now tonight, as if taunting us to rage the paywalls reappeared not just on sections of the

site but for every single file. Enough! We have numerous disclosure platforms of our own, and in the future we will deliver Anonymous related leaks via these platforms. (See list at end). Anonymous has had enough. The conclusion for us is that Anonymous cannot support anymore what Wikileaks has become. We will NOT attack the web assets of WikiLeaks, as they are media. We do not attack media. Any future attack on the WikiLeaks servers attributed to Anonymous is a lie. But what we will do is cease from this day all support of any kind for WikiLeaks or Julian Assange. No longer will Anonymous risk prison to defend WikiLeaks or Julian Assange from their enemies. No longer will Anonymous risk prison to supply material for WikiLeaks disclosures. Anonymous turns its back on WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks has with its actions this past 48 hours betrayed Anonymous, and thus has lost its biggest and most powerful supporter. We are preparing for the

media a detailed dossier of all the un-ethical actions perpetrated by WikiLeaks that we have ignored for so long. A Dox if you will, on WikiLeaks. We will deliver it to the media in a few days, not for vengeance but as justice for our fallen Anons whom WikiLeaks has chosen by this action to dishonor and disgrace. We Are Anonymous We Are Legion We Do Not Forgive We Do Not Forget WikiLeaks we gave you a chance, now its too late to EXPECT US. -------------------------------------Anonymous Global - www. AnonymousGlobal.tk AnonLeaks - www.par-anoia. net HackerLeaks - www. HaxorLeaks.tk LocalLeaks - www. LocalLeaks.me

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Dealing with law enforcement WHAT TO DO:

IF AN AGENT IS AT YOUR DOOR

Do Not Let Them In Do not open the door, not even a crack. Clearly state through the door, I am exercising my right to remain silent. I do not wish to speak with you without an attorney. If they claim to have a warrant, ask to see the warrant before you let them in. If they have a warrant, you are being raided. Do Not Give Consent The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. -4th Amendment, US Constitution The Fourth Amendment restricts the governments power to enter and search your home or workplace,

although there are many exceptions and new laws have expanded the governments power to conduct surveillance. You do not have to let police or agents into your home unless they have and produce a valid search warrant. A search warrant is a written court order that allows the police to conduct a specified search. If you are present when agents comes to your home, you should ask to see a warrant. The warrant must specify in detail the places to be searched and the people or things to be taken away. Beware of questions like Do you mind if I come in? As simple as this sounds, this can be interpreted as consent to search your home. Tell the agents you do not consent to the search so that they cannot go beyond what the warrant authorizes. Ask if you can watch the search; if you are allowed to, you should. Take notes, including names, badge numbers, what agency

each officer is from, where they searched and what they took. If others are present, have them act as witnesses to watch carefully what is happening. If the agents ask you to give them documents, your computer, or anything else, look to see if the item is listed in the warrant. If it is not, do not consent to them taking it without talking to a lawyer. Roomates, Parents, and Bosses Can Give Consent If you live with other people, they can give the consent to search common areas including shared bathrooms. They cannot give consent to your private areas. Parents can give consent to the search of their childrens private spaces. Any area of your workplace, including your personal locker or desk drawer, can be searched if your boss gives consent. IF YOU ARE SERVED WIITH A SUBPOENA Grand Jury Subpoenas A grand jury subpoena is a

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written order for you to go to court and testify about information you may have. You are not allowed to have a lawyer present and can be required to answer questions about your activities and associations. Because of the witnesss limited rights in this situation, the government has frequently used grand jury subpoenas to gather information about activists and political organizations. It is common for the FBI to threaten activists with a subpoena in order to elicit information about their political views and activities and those of their associates. There are legal grounds for stopping subpoenas, and receiving one does not necessarily mean that you are suspected of a crime. If you do receive a subpoena, call the NLG Hotline at 888-NLG-DANK (888-6543265) or a criminal defense attorney immediately. The federal government regularly uses grand jury subpoena power to investigate and seek evidence related to politically

active individuals and social movements. This practice is aimed at prosecuting activists and, through intimidation, discouraging continued activism. Federal grand jury subpoenas are served in person. If you receive one, it is important that you retain the services of a progressive attorney, preferably one who understands your goal of defending the political movement and friends. Most lawyers are trained to provide the best legal defense, often at the expense of others. Beware lawyers who advise you to cooperate with grand juries, testify against friends, or cut off contact with your friends and political activists. Cooperation usually leads to others being subpoenaed and investigated. You also run the risk of being charged with perjury, a felony, should you omit any pertinent information or should there be inconsistencies in your testimony. Frequently prosecutors will offer use immunity, meaning that

the prosecutor is prohibited from using your testimony or any leads from it to bring charges against you. If a subsequent prosecution is brought, the prosecutor bears the burden of proving that all of its evidence was obtained independent of the immunized testimony. You should be aware, however, that they will use anything you say to manipulate friends into sharing more information about you by suggesting that you have betrayed confidences. If you appear before the grand jury you do not have the same protections as in a trial: you have no 5th Amendment right to remain silent (if you invoke your right to remain silent you may be held in contempt) and no 6th Amendment right to counsel although you can consult with one outside of the grand jury room. Grand Jury NonCooperation If you receive a grand jury subpoena and elect to not cooperate, you may be

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charged with civil contempt. There is a possibility that you may be jailed or imprisoned for the length of the grand jury, in an effort to convince you to cooperate. (Regular grand juries sit for a basic term of 18 months, which can be extended up to a total of 24 months.) It is lawful to hold you in order to coerce your cooperation, but unlawful to hold you as a means of punishment. In rare instances you may face criminal contempt charges. IF YOUR HOME IS RAIDED AND/OR YOUR EQUIPMENT SEIZED Ask to see the Warrant If an agent claims to have a warrant, ask to see it. It must be signed by a judge to be valid. A search warrant should be specific as to the area to be searched and the object(s) to search for. Do not consent to an agent searching any areas not specifically included in a search warrant. Just because an agent has a search warrant doesnt mean you have to answer

any questions. Maintain your right to silence during the search clearly state that intention if you are asked any questions. Say, I am exercising my right to remain silent; I request a lawyer. If possible, make note of any items that are seized and any areas that are searched. IF YOU ARE QUESTIONED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT Remain Silent No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;

nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. -5th Amendment, US Constitution Whether or not youre a U.S. citizen, you have rights under the United States Constitution. The Fifth Amendment gives every person the right to remain silent: not to answer questions asked by a police officer or government agent. Remain Silent. Say something like, I am remaining silent. I want to speak with a lawyer. It is very important to request a lawyer; once a lawyer is requested, law enforcement are not allowed to continue an interrogation without lawyer present. Do this immediately when an agent approaches you. Do not answer ANY questions, even simple, seemingly benign ones. This is easier said than done. Agents are trained to get you talking: they have learned the power of persuasion and the ability to

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make a person feel scared, guilty or rude for refusing their questions. Agents will often try and get you to talk by suggesting that you must have something to hide, or that they only have a few questions that they need answered before they can move on. Agents will also try to manipulate information out of you by telling you that they have you nailed, but they will go easy on you if you talk to them. These are tricks. You, alone, are not in a better bargaining position than an experienced agent or officer. For example, one trick they might use is asking you questions they know the answer to (e.g. do you know person X). If you instinctively say No, you may be lying to a federal officer, a felony punishable by five to eight years in prison. Dont be intimidated or manipulated by an agent. It is always best to not talk without an attorney present. If you do talk, anything you

say can be used against you and others. If you are asked any questions, you should clearly state that you will not answer any question without an attorney present. If you do start talking, remember that you can always stop an interrogation by saying you want to speak with your attorney.

talk to a lawyer before you decide to answer any questions, even if they make promises to you. Dont Talk Its pretty unbelievable, but the police can lie to you at this stage in the game. The can promise you things that they have no intention of delivering in exchange for your cooperation. Do not talk to them without a lawyer that you trust. It will not help you. Procedures Procedures differ in different states, but you should expect to be brought before a judge for a probable cause hearing and a bail setting within 72 hours of your arrest. If given the opportunity answer honest questions about your employment education and civic activities with the assistance of your lawyer.Do not answer any questions about the case. If necessary say, I am asserting my right to remain silent. Remember: If you say something to a police officer,

IF YOU ARE ARRESTED Dont Panic Being arrested is one of the most frightening experiences a person can have. Your liberty is probably your most cherished possession. If you are arrested, you do not have to answer any questions. You should affirmatively and unambiguously state that you wish to assert your right to remain silent. Ask for a lawyer right away. Do not say anything else. Repeat to every officer who tries to talk to or question you that you wish to remain silent and that you wish to speak to a lawyer. You should always

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FBI agent, or in court that is not true you can be charged with another crime. Remaining silent is your best option. IF YOU WANT TO TRAVEL INTERNATIONALLY Dont Bring Sensitive Data If you carry any sensitive information with you when you travel, you should be aware that the Fourth Amendment does not seem to apply at border crossings. There have been many reported cases of security researchers, hackers, and activists being detained for hours and having their laptops, phones, and memory cards confiscated, sometimes indefinitely, without any reason given, much less a warrant. It is not clear what rights you have to retrieve your property from the government in such situations, though there is ongoing litigation and some attempts by congress to legislate reporting requirments.

If you are concerned that you might be targeted because of your activism, reporting, or research, you should consider transferring important information to a secure server (via ftp, dropbox, etc.) before you re-enter the United States so as to mitigate the result of potential confiscation. Encrypting Your Harddrive Some people use full disk encryption to protect their harddrives when they travel internationally. It is an open question of law whether or not you can be forced or ordered to reveal your passphrase. We do not recommend bringing your laptop when you travel internationally because the consequences are unclear. Here is a presentation from defcon about international travel and encryption: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ibQGWXfWc7c

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Project Mayhem 2012

Dangerous Ideas #1 and #2: http://pastebin.com/sLLwJbtz Project Mayhem 2012 Tyler: http://pastebin.com/Wt15GXTn TYLER forum discussion: http://galatorg.com/index. php/forum/31-tyler TYLER pad discussion: http://pad.telecomix.org/ep/ pad/view/TYLER/latest You are Anonymous. You are Project Mayhem 2012. On the 10 days that go from 12-12-2012 to 12-21-2012, the World will see an unprecedented amount of Corporate, Financial, Military and State leaks that will have been secretly gathered by millions of CONSCIENTIOUS citizens, vigilantes, whistle blowers and insiders worldwide, dormant cells of a global Fight Club from all countries, patiently waiting for the time to SWARM the Egregors Consciousness in perfect synchrony. iMAGIne YOU purchase a USB drive. iMAGIne YOU take it to your work place. iMAGIne YOU collect evidence of illegally and corruption. iMAGIne together we leaK it ALL. And you know it because TYLER knows it. Expect us. Twitter: RA2012: http://twitter. com/R_A2012 pm2012org: http://twitter. com/pm2012org Tumblr: PM2012: http://pm2012. tumblr.com/ RA2012: http://ra2012. tumblr.com/

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#OpNewBlood Anonymous guide to Anonymity

Okay, We need to talk. I know you dont know me and Ive no idea who Im talking to right now. Anonymous as it should be. Sadly, a lot of new people (newfags < if you take this as offensive, stop that from now on) dont seem to know how this works. I dont want you to be(come) one of them, so Ill teach you a few things. This might get long, and maybe difficult & not fun, but if you aint willing to change the way you act/think, well.., You can stop reading right about now and Ill see you in court. On TV... Still here? Good. Let me explain. I knew you wouldnt be so stupid to just leave. Right. First things first. This will be a two part system on making you In this online world, personal details are called d0x which is basically some lame 1337-term for documents.. (dont ask..). anonymous with minor tech related issues. Why? Because most of it can be done in the mind. Part one will be about dedox, the second on the actual mind changing bit. You do need to follow both actions for this to have any effect. Now I expect that you already know what detox means. If you dont know, start Google (youll need it later on anyway). Right, I think you roughly know what detox means now. (If you still dont, its some way to get all the bad stuff out of your body). Now combine detox with d0x.. Good, I see you sort of understand where Im going to. Now go to Google. What I want you to do, is to search someone... Search yourself. This sounds odd I know but trust me, youll learn from this. What I want you to search are the following things: Everything Related To Yourself. (Previous/old) usernames, emails, your own name, the place where you live, your

Dedox. This is the easy part. You might be wondering, Hurr, dedox? You mean detox..? Youre partially right. and yet you aint .

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phone number, your mobile number, any other thing that relates to you. I can make a long story out of this, but I wont because a lot of it is on > http://school0fanon.tumblr. com/post/27490137702/ anonymous-d0x-yourselfpublicly-now-all-of-you < already. Dont do it publicly though, as the title suggests. Just keep this to yourself. Hint: both search like *name* and *name* (remove stars) And watch out with sites you dont trust. Okay now you know whats on the internet because of you and about you (Rule #2, If you dont put something online, your friends love to do it for you, bastards..) As the article says, change/ delete anything you find which you dont actually need. Old forum accounts with some personal details are a true treasure to d0xers (and

the other, less nice kind of people, the ones with the badges). Take a piece of paper and write down EVERYTHING you find. Youll needs this later on. Once youve noted everything, try to delete/ remove/change everything you dont need. Unsubscribe from mailinglists, change password & email into something useless if possible. Remove ANY personal data. including possible posts. Okay, once you changed whats possible (remember, you can always mail the admins of sites to request the deletion of accounts) youre pretty much done for this part. Just be really, really sure. Doing it again wont be too bad. Now that this is set, it might be useful to start to check programs on updates.

(Hackers abuse soft-/ hardware that aint updated) My personal advice would be the Secunia PSI, but you can do it manually too (takes a lot of time though + the PSI is free, so why not?) Youll probably see some stuff that you wouldnt have expected. Doesnt matter, some *ware just doesnt tell you when its updated.. Try to update as much as possible. (Remember, every detail counts and hackers really do try ANYTHING to hack you). I would also advice you to check for viruses and all that while youre at it. Note: if youve already downloaded hacker tools secure these now or expect to download/ install them again.. What I would recommend is to do a scan with HitmanPro first (after all, its free) and do a second scan with the Sophos VRT (Virus removal tool) afterwards. You should be up-to-date, safe and secure now.

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Ready to go the the next part? Because this was only the easy part...

org/?p=3322&page=2 & http://www.cyberguerrilla. org/?p=3322&page=3 if you dont know how to work with TOR yet. Start TOR. Now lets start with a new email. Yes, new. You can pick basically any email client you want, but you can also go for the more secure & anonymous ones like hushmail. Setup for a rather secure & anonymous email: Create it like this username@mail.domain Remember, this cant be one you already made once. This includes with the username, and make sure it doesnt links to anything on the paper. (if in doubt, check it, search it, research) Make sure the password aint related to anything either. if you cant think of anything, take the closest

book. pick 4 random pages and use the first 3-4 characters of every 20th word on the page. (It might be useful to note this down somewhere secure.) Use the same method for the secret answer , but a different outcome. Basically, make yourself some sort of weird cryptic thing that only YOU know. So I prefer it if you dont use the above method, but if you have at least 40 books with a lot of pages, its worth a shot.. You dont need to use books, just find your own special secret code Now that youve got a email (dont fill in any personal details please..) you can continue with the rest. Just remember this; Always keep it on 1 email an account.

The mind thing This is basically the hardest part, yet the one that makes the most sense. Your online you wont be you. Keep this in mind. As an Anon, you wont be yourself. This doesnt mean you cant state the things you think. It means that you wont be you, to the rest of the world. Remember that info you wrote down about yourself earlier on? You cant use or link to ANY of that. Lol no really, you cant. All these things track back to you. Online & offline. And once things are linked, youre screwed.. First read http://www.cyberguerrilla.

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Always use your method for passwords and secret/safety questions. Always use/register Anon related things with TOR.

use this (in combination with the rest of the www. cyberguerrilla.org guide) and you still get caught then well. See you in court. On TV... ... ... ... And maybe on the day we get you out. Shoutout to: @Doemela @SchoolofAnon Everyone who helped with #OpNewBlood so far. In memoriam of Matt Telfer (MLT of TeamPoison) A lot of people will miss you M... P.S. Buy a VPN!! you can get them cheaper with BITCOINS and BITCOINS you can get for pretty much nothing by mining them yourself! Use Mullvad.net to get a cheap VPN with Bitcoins! If you want to know how to mine Bitcoin using your computer just Google it!!

Now the hardest thing for most people is the final step. Not being you. This is basically really simple, but people tend to forget it and f*ck up, get jailed etc. Dont share pictures online with metadata/exifdate still in them. (If you dont know what this is or how to remove it, search it with Google on TOR) Dont share geolocations with tweets. Dont use real names of people. Dont share personal details to anyone. Dont speak to people you know in real life. Avoid links. Always keep the above in mind. Just be anonymous from now on, because if you

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Twenty-Thirteen
We live in a time that far surpasses George Orwells nightmarish vision of Nineteen Eight-Four and hurtle toward an even more hellish future. This future, the New World Order, is desired by only the power hungry tiny minority on top of the pyramid. For the rest of us, potentially destined to be bound in abject slavery, life will not be worth living. Over the last three decades the push toward this end has esculated and is gathering speed.. World events are manufactured and dis-information spread by the mass media fills our news papers and is broadcasted into in our homes incessantly in an attempt to manipulate our minds. Governments kill their own citizens. We are being divided and conquered. We are all under constant survelliance and monitored, and under threat of being micro-chipped, which, by a flick of a switch could be turned off at any point to kill us. Our bodies are poisoned by chemicals sprayed by aeroplanes, and added to our food and water with the sole design to render us more dumb, more compliant. Our education has been degraded into a primer for slavery. As engineered economical situations plunge the majority into poverty and sickness, healthcare and the social systems which once gave some aid and protection to the sick, poor, elderly, and disabled are beng dismantled. The numbers of people being rendered homeless increases by the day, as does the suicide rate. As the push toward a more terrifying future accelerates, simultaneously, more and more people are expressing anger, more and more are questioning and awakening to the diabolical machinations going on. At present we still have some freedom to express viewpoints and are able to exchange information, though this is being threatened with curtailment. A rapid growth in information exchange is happening. Not since the late sixties and early seventies have so many raised their voices in unison in protest to what is occuring and set to occur. Protests, protest groups, webpages and forums appear each day. One movement that has arisen, from humble beginnings on the internet, are Anonymous. Many still see this movement as solely a loose-knit group of hackers, young anarchic geeks. It is NOT. It has expanded and grown into a force which governmental bodies, mass media, pedophiles, and all manner of corrupt institutions and individuals now fear. Furthermore, it is evolving and growing still. Its members and followers are world-wide, of all ages, of varying skills and it is open to all. I am, for instance, a sixty year old woman who would not have a clue of how to hack into a computer. I have, however, from an early age, and consistently during the course of my life, fought for freedom and against tyranny

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and injustice. I have fought in a variety of ways, alone and with others, and will always do so. I give my alllegiance to Anonymous on the basis that I genuinely consider the movement to be one which will continue gather enough force to be instrumental in steering humanity away from the future, the few utterly evil elite, who have, without any shred of conscience, deliberately and systematically planned in their greed for ultimate power. There is still hope before we all totally zombified, restrained or wiped out. We are racing against time .... but I have faith ....... WE WILL SUCCEED!!!!

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V for Vendetta and the rise of Anonymous. By Alan Moore

10 February 2012 On Saturday protests are planned across the world against Acta - the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. The treaty has become the focus of activists associated with the Anonymous hacking network because of concerns that it could undermine internet privacy and aid censorship. First published in 1982, the comic series V for Vendetta charted a masked vigilantes attempt to bring down a fascist British government and its complicit media. Many of the demonstrators are expected to wear masks based on the books central character. Ahead of the protests, the BBC asked V for Vendettas writer, Alan Moore, for his thoughts on how his creation had become an inspiration and identity to Anonymous. PREOCCUPATIONS Without wishing to overstate my case, everything in the observable universe definitely has its origins in Northamptonshire, and the adoption of the V for Vendetta mask as a multipurpose icon by the emerging global protest movements is no exception. Back at the crack of the 17th century, Rushton Triangular Lodge was a strange architectural folly constructed to represent the Holy Trinity by an increasingly eccentric Sir Thomas Tresham while he endured decades of housearrest for his outspoken Catholicism. It was also one of the two locations, both owned by Tresham and both in Northamptonshire, at which the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was formulated by a group of dissident Catholics that included Treshams son Francis. It would seem likely that the treatment afforded to the elder Tresham played some part in the general mix of grievances from which the reckless scheme ignited. Mastermind By the early sixteenhundreds, the bonfires traditionally lit around the start of November had been co-opted as trappings for a sort of national anti-Catholic day at which effigies of the Pope would be incinerated. As mastermind behind the terrorist outrage du jour, however, the plots nominal leader Guido Fawkes rapidly replaced the pontiff as hatemascot of choice on these occasions. Jump forward 300 years, though, to the battered post-war England of the 1950s, and the saturnine insurrectionary had taken on more ambiguous connotations. When parents explained to their offspring about Guy Fawkes and his attempt to blow up Parliament, there always seemed to be an undertone of admiration in

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their voices, or at least there did in Northampton. While that eras children perhaps didnt see Fawkes as a hero, they certainly didnt see him as the villainous scapegoat hed originally been intended as. Revolutionary At the start of the 1980s when the ideas that would coalesce into V for Vendetta were springing up from a summer of anti-Thatcher riots across the UK coupled with a worrying surge from the far-right National Front, Guy Fawkes status as a potential revolutionary hero seemed to be oddly confirmed by circumstances surrounding the comic strips creation: it was the strips artist, David Lloyd, who had initially suggested using the Guy Fawkes mask as an emblem for our one-managainst-a-fascist-state lead character. When this notion was enthusiastically received, he decided to buy one of the commonplace cardboard

Guy Fawkes masks that were always readily available from mid-autumn, just to use as convenient reference. To our great surprise, it turned out that this was the year (perhaps understandably after such an incendiary summer) when the Guy Fawkes mask was to be phased out in favour of green plastic Frankenstein monsters geared to the incoming celebration of an American Halloween. It was also the year in which the term Guy Fawkes Night seemingly disappeared from common usage, to be replaced by the less provocative bonfire night. At the time, we both remarked upon how interesting it was that we should have taken up the image right at the point where it was apparently being purged from the annals of English iconography. It seemed that

you couldnt keep a good symbol down. If there truly was government unease about the mask and its associations back in the 1980s, these concerns had evidently evaporated by the first decade of the 21st century, when the movie industry apparently decided to re-imagine the original narrative as some sort of parable about the post9/11 rise of American neoconservatives, in which the words fascism or anarchy were nowhere mentioned. Anarchy and romance When the film was made during the peak period of anti-terrorist legislation the golden touch of Hollywood was, it seemed, sufficiently persuasive for the authorities to permit a massed horde of extras dressed as the nations most famous terrorist to cavort riotously in Parliament Square. I dont think one need subscribe to any quasimystical theories about how the conceptual world of ideas

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can affect the substantial world of everyday existence in order to agree that, in retrospect, this could be seen as practically begging for it. After that, it wasnt long before the characters enigmatic Time-Warner trademarked leer appeared masking the faces of Anonymous protesters barracking Scientologists halfway down Tottenham Court Road. Shortly thereafter it began manifesting at antiglobalisation demonstrations, anti-capitalist protests, concerted hacker-attacks upon those perceived as enabling state oppression, and finally on the front steps of St Pauls. It would seem that the various tectonic collapses deep in the structure of our economic and political systems have triggered waves of kinetic energy which are rolling through human populations rather than through their usual

medium of seawater. It also seems that our characters charismatic grin has provided a ready-made identity for these highly motivated protesters, one embodying resonances of anarchy, romance, and theatre that are clearly well-suited to contemporary activism, from Madrids Indignados to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Neglect Our present financial ethos no longer even resembles conventional capitalism, which at least implies a brutal Darwinian free-forall, however one-sided and unfair. Instead, we have a situation where the banks seem to be an untouchable monarchy beyond the reach of governmental restraint, much like the profligate court of Charles I. Then, a depraved neglect of the poor and the squeezed middle led inexorably to an unanticipated reaction in the horrific form of Oliver Cromwell and the English Civil War

which, as it happens, was bloodily concluded in Northamptonshire. Todays response to similar oppressions seems to be one that is intelligent, constantly evolving and considerably more humane, and yet our characters borrowed Catholic revolutionary visage and his incongruously Puritan apparel are perhaps a reminder that unjust institutions may always be haunted by volatile 17th century spectres, even if todays uprisings are fuelled more by social networks than by gunpowder. Some ghosts never go away. As for the ideas tentatively proposed in that dystopian fantasy thirty years ago, Id be lying if I didnt admit that whatever usefulness they afford modern radicalism is very satisfying. In terms of a wildly uninformed guess at our political future, it feels something like V for validation.

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Tyler Durden, Fight Club.

Look, the people you are after are the people you depend on: we cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances. We guard you while you sleep. Do not fuck with us.

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Noise is relative to the silence preceding it. The more absolute the hush, the more shocking the thunderclap. Our government has NOT heard the peoples voice for generations...

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... and it is much, much, much louder than they can remember. WE WONT BE SILENCED!

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Anonymous Hacks U.S. State Department

While you were sleeping last night, Anonymous hacked into the U.S. State Departments website, report ed ly in the name of fallen comrades Aaron Swartz and recently arrested mem bers of LulzSec. Personal data - includ ing names, email addresses and phone numbers of hundreds of State Department staffers - were leaked online to the Zer oBin website. Anony mous hacks US State Dept, invest ment firm in homage to Aaron Swartz, #Lulzsec rt.com/usa/news/ anony #OpLastResort Anonymous (@ YourAnonNews) February 20, 2013 The group also alleged ly hit the invest ment firm George K. Baum and Company, which has ties to Stratfor, the private intelligence service that worked with the CIA (another former target of the group). Did you know this: dazzlepod.com/ stratfor/?emaiThat Invest ment Bank is linked to Stratfor OpLastResort (@ OpLastResort) February 19, 2013 In that attack, Anonymous also pub lished the account data and transaction informa tion of the banks users. The OpLastResort Twit ter account says the death of Aaron Swartz is the rea son behind the groups focus to tar get the government with such feroci ty. This tragedy is basis for reform of computer crime laws and the overzealous prosecutors, they write on the groups Twitter bio. But in an iron ic twist, Opera tion Last Resort may have very unin tend ed consequences. Domino Effect Will this attack final ly wake up the sleep ing giant that is the Unit ed States government? The threat of online secu ri ty is very real, and the result of this newest action could truly galvanize lawmakers and previously unsure Congressmen to support the dan ger ous CISPA bill and intro duce even harsh er Inter net laws. This kind of overreaction could cause more dam age than the attacks themselves. With this attack fol low ing on the heels of Anonymous defac ing sites owned by MIT, the Unit ed States Sentencing Commission, the Fed er al Reserve and a failed hit on broad casts of the State of the Union speech last week, the wheels for enact ing Draconian laws may already be in motion. Anony mous, which champions Internet free dom, may have just pushed the Web down a dark shaft. Mak ing mat ters worse, is whats still in the arsenal of the online activist group. Anony mous claims to possess warheads, codes to unlock encrypt ed files

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said to contain sensitive government data, allegedly obtained dur ing the January 25th hack of the U.S. Sentencing Commission site. Under Obamas new cyber law man date, these actions are all cyber threats and pun ish able by severe action. How far is the gov ern ment will ing to go to stop these attacks, and what will the ulti mate effect on all our civil liberties be?

RESPECT EXISTENCE... or EXPECT RESISTANCE!

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The Basics
Basic Anonymous Dictionary. IRC - Internet Relay Chat - a chat system based on clients, bouncer and IRC service. Used for real time chat and transferring files over the Internet. Dox - Personal information about a person on the Internet, including real name, known aliases, address, phone number, SSN, credit card number, etc. Proxies - A proxy server helps cover up your tracks because you connect to remote computers through the proxy. Think of it as the condom of the Internet. PM - Private message. Use it to get in contact with other people. Mirror - An exact copy of a web site that is stored on a different server. Using multiple locations for warez sites allows the site to be accessed using a different address if the main site is deleted. LOIC - LOIC (Low Orbit Ion Cannon) is an open source network stress testing and DoS attack application. Flaming - A general net term for verbally attacking someone. This can be done via email, bulletin board, chat room or any medium which involves communication across the web. Scanner - A program that attempts to find the weaknesses of potential victim computers by repeatedly requesting information from such computers and probing them for security holes in the process. Tango Down - A word used to describe the downing of a website. Army slang that refers to target down, originating from the NATO alphabet for the letter T. VM - Virtual Machine completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system. V& - Vanned - Getting caught/arrested by the FBI/ police/other feds.

1.The Anonymous Truths. A. Anonymous is Leaderless. B. Anonymous is not a club, political movement or Religious sect. It has no race, colour or creed. Anonymous is just an idea based on freedoms freedom of the Internet, freedom of speech, freedom of knowledge and freedom against oppression. C.Their is nothing official about Anonymous. No one controls the idea, the idea just is D.You are not expected to join every Op, go with your heart, you are an individual. E. Think for yourself, say how you feel (see points A,B,C,D). 2.Operating Systems. Their are 3 main Operating systems available, these are Windows created by Microsoft, Mac OS created by Apple and Linux which is opensource and created by

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a community. Most Anons would use Linux or at least have linux as a Dual Boot (2 operating systems on the same machine) or in a virtual machine. Windows Windows is widespread and used by most businesss worldwide, it isnt particularly stable and has had security issues in the past, it is also the system most prone to viruss and malware. We recommend avoiding windows 8 due to rumours of backdoors and killswitches. Mac OS Created by Apple and only used on their tech, it is stable and mostly secure. Due to recent revelations involving child labour and overworked, underpaid staff in Asia we would avoid. Linux Linux is opensource so free to download and used. It is very stable and secure and is updated constantly by a dedicated community. Linux is also behind the 2 most important operating systems in any

Anons Arsenal Backtrack and BlackBuntu (more on those later). Linux comes in many flavours but for beginners we would recommend Ubuntu or Mint. Linux is a good way to learn the command line and programming basics. We would always recommend Linux over any other operating system. 3.Web Browsers & Search Engines. There are many web browsers but we would recommend Firefox, not just because of its opensource background but because of the tools that come with it. Within Firefox you can set up private browsing and change your IP address, u can also control cookies and tracking. All these are very important in staying safe and secure and Anonymous on the web. Firefox is easy to download but comes pre installed on most Linux Operating Systems (Distros) Firefox also provides Addons these are handy tools that can be bolted on

to the web browser below is a list of the most useful to an Anon. Ghostery - Alerts users about the web bugs, ad networks and widgets on visited web pages. Adblock - Block all annoying ads all over the web ShowIP - Display information regarding the IPv4s and IPv6s about the current site in the status bar Hackbar - This toolbar will help you in testing sql injections, XSS holes and site security. Https Everywhere - The browser extension makes it easier to connect to encrypted websites. Chatzilla Chat client (more on chat clients later). Cryptocat - An open source web application intended to allow secure, encrypted online chatting. AnonyMox - Hides your true Internet identity and makes it look as if not you. NoScript - Pre-emptively blocks malicious scripts and allows JavaScript, Java and other potentially dangerous content only from sites you trust.

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Beef Taco - Sets permanent opt-out cookies to stop behavioral advertising Tiny URL - Turns a long URL into a much shorter one. Firefox will connect u to Google, but Google does track, if u dont wanna be tracked we recommend DuckDuckGo, DuckDuckGo is a search engine that can be set very much like Firefox, u can set security, tracking and cookies on it , so coupled with Firefox it can keep u pretty much off the grid if used right. 4.Email and Communication. As more and more Governments want to read your email its getting harder to find email clients that wont let them. If you wanna keep your emails internet based then Hushmail is a good choice as you can also encrypt emails if you wish. Within Tor (see proxies) you can also set up a TORmail account which is also very secure but does involve accessing TOR to check or send mail.

Their are also web clients such as Thunderbird which will bring your email to your desktop rather than having it floating around the web. Most Linux Distros come with Thunderbird or something similar to it. Some VPN providers (see proxies) also offer email accounts. Other forms of communication can include some or all of the following IRC Internet Relay Chat These are (hopefully) encrypted chat rooms set up on private servers. IRC is a known communication platform for Anonymous but recently more and more Anons are moving on due to concerns about security and logging of conversations. Most arrested Anons have been shown logs of conversations from IRCs by the feds to prove guilt. If you are going to use an IRC then keep it to general chat and no Hacking chat, thats just our advice. CryptoCat - Friends use Cryptocat to talk without

revealing messages to a third party. LGBTQ activists use Cryptocat to keep private matters private. Journalists use Cryptocat to keep their stories and research confidential. Cryptocat is made for everyone. Thats what the advert says and its kinda true, u can send a link to other Anons u wish to chat to and in theory its pretty much private. A lot of Anons are now doing this. Just make sure u send the links securely using Privnote or PM. Jtorchat Torchat became Jtorchat, and Jtorchat had issues and died for a while but it has been revived and so can be used once again which is great news. Jtorchat is a p2p IM messenger running through the TOR proxies. It allows for buddy lists where u can share IDs with trusted Anons. Jtorchat is secure and encrypted and many Anons us it, but it can be a fiddle to set up. Pads Pads include

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Pastebin, AnonPad, PiratePad and EtherPad. The most popular being Pastebin but due to recent issues involving censorship by the Pastebin people (basically rolling over for the feds) its not used as much as it once was. Pads allow u to write stuff like this guide for example and then sent it to others across the web, they exist purely online. Some pads like PiratePad allows multiple people to work on the same project and even chat whilst doing it. Anonymous uses pads a lot for all manner of things from planning, Operation background, data dumps and even defacements. Chat Clients - Different types of Chat Clients that can be used when connecting to an IRC network. I have put together the most propular clients. And there pros and cons aswell as how you can make them more secure. Inportant Notice:- IT is advised that all new Anons/guests use at least a VPN and Tor.

For your own protection, when you have registered YOU SHOULD set up a VHOST. When connecting to a IRC network of any kind, (Voxanon/Anonset/ Anonops) etc please use common sense and dont have nicks which are linked to your real life. Infact when connecting to the network(s) please LEAVE everything else behind, you name, your family, your job etc. this information can be used to DOX you etc. 1) Mibbit: is an online chat client, it supports a variety of platforms including most popular web browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera and SeaMonkey etc) Why use Mibbit: for one its one of the most common way that people who seek out Anonymous will use the first time they join any of our networks. But it is inportant to move to a more secure form of chat client, as a lot of Opers (@) etc dislike Mibbit for many reasons, people tend to conintue to use Mibbit as a last resort if

there current client is broken and been fixed or if they need to relay an important message to someone or to a channel. 2) Web chat : A web chat system allows users to communicate in real time using easily accessible web interfaces, as its a type of internet online chat which is known for its simplicity and access to users who do not wish to take the time to install and learn a specialized chat software. Again this can be a last resort same as the Mibbit Client. 3) Xchat Xchat is the most popular client a lot of people will use, due how easy it is to use The default view for the client window is referred to as tree view, but can be configured for a tabbed interface for multiple simultaneous. Tabs change colour as text arrives, other users enter or leave channels, or address the users nickname. The interface can display click-able operator (op)

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commands and others, and be customized for fonts, event sounds, and timestamping and logging (Logging is bad and is frowned upon) . XChat implements all standard IRC Commands that you would expect, Xchat is available to download across many platforms e.g Windows/ Linux/Mac systems. Xchat is suggested for newcomers to chat clients, who seek a easy to use, hassle free, easy to configure Client program. 4) mIRC is an IRC client for Windows and has been described as on of the most popular IRC clients that is available for Windows its easy to use and alter the look and the behaviour of the client. Its also easy to set up as well. Another claimed feature is mIRCs file sharing abilities, via the DCC protocol, featuring a built in file server. MIRC is very similar to Xchat as its easy to use, hassle free and easy to configure. With the right help 5) is a IRC client for Linux,Windows, Mac OS

x systems. Its not as GUI friendly as the other clients, its a text client with no GUI. Its however fast, stable and powerful, you alter the appearance of it in the form of background colours/ text colours and even put a background picture if you want to. You can make it run thought the TOR program for added security and peace of mine via joining the TOR Leaf, you can get the OTR plugin in, which only works if the other person has irssi and the OTR plugin installed. You can get other plugins as well but its best to get the basic of the client frist before diving into the deep end. I would not advise to use Irssi for new starters but rather use another client like Xchat. 5) ChatZilla: ChatZilla is an IRC client for Mozilla a-based browsers such as Firefox, It is a cross platform, open sourced software which has been noted for its consistent appearance across platforms, CSS appearance customization and scripting.

And how easy it is to set up and customize the settings to personal style. It contains most general features of IRC clients, including connecting to multiple servers at once, maintaining a built-in list of standard networks, searching and sorting of available channels, chat logging (which frowned upon and will result in been banned) Direct Client -toClient (DCC) chat and file transfers, There are many Chat Clients out there that can be used to connect to any of our networks, some are really user friendly and easy to set up and maintain, but its down to your own personal choice, ALL chat clients have there own pros and cons, hopefully this mini guide has/will help you on your way, again I cant stress to you how important it is to be protected. With VPNS/VPS and tor etc. when you have joined a network please head over to #opnewblood #help #opnewblood and #help

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anons will be able to help you set you up and make sure you have all important programs up and running before going ahead with what ever you have decided to do for Anonymous. please listen to the wise words and advice of these anons as they know what they are talking about. Virtual Machines. A virtual machine (VM) is a simulation of a machine (abstract or real) that is usually different from the target machine (where it is being simulated on). Virtual machines may be based on specifications of a hypothetical computer or emulate the computer architecture and functions of a real world computer. (Wikipedia) Their are to main VM programs worth downloading both function in the same way. The first is VirtualBox the second is VMWare. They both pretty much work in the same way. Having a virtual machine running on your pc or laptop to allows you to do 2 things,

first it allows you to have multiple operating systems (depending on cpu etc) which can all be used for different things, second it allows you to run a hack lab within a single environment. Rather then having 2 pcs u can set the virtual machine as the target. This is a great training tool and recommended for all Hackers and Pen testers. Setting up your Virtual Machine. We will use Ubuntu as the OS in this guide. Step 1. Download Ubuntu and Vitualbox. Virtualbox can be found on oracle and Ubuntu can be found through the power of google. Ubuntu will come in a .iso so you will need something to mount the image, I myself use Magicdisk. Step 2. After mounting Ubuntu, open Virtualbox and select New on the top left hand corner. Step 3. Select a name for your VM and then change

the OS type to Linux and the version to Ubuntu. Step 4. Next you have to decide how much RAM to allocate to the VM. Choosing the amount of RAM to allocate to the VM while its running depends on how much RAM you have. If you dont know, google it because im not going to explain how to find out. Choose an amount that will still leave some for your own computer, if you plan to do things on your base OS while the VM is running its a good idea to keep at least 4BG if you can. Step 5. Now its time to allocate some space on your hard drive to the VM. Select Create new hard disk. Keep the file type of this hard disk to VDI to keep things simple and choose Fixed size on the next page. Then choose the location of where you would like to save your new hard disk and set how big its going to be. A good size is about 4GB, 8GB if you have the space. It will come up with

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the settings you have just selected and if you are happy with it click create and it will begin to make your new hard disk. Step 6. Now, start the VM. It will ask if you what media sources you want to use, use whatever one your image mounter used, for me it was E. Step 7. Congratulations, you just got a VM with Ubuntu working, all you need to do now is install the OS as Ubuntu tells you. IMPORTANT: Once you have set up the VM you need to go into the VMs settings, go to System and change the boot order to the hard disk. To get USBs recognized by the VM, go into Machine --> settings --> USB and select which one you want.

1) How are you getting there and back 2) Who are you going with 3) Research in to the ground Op first as it may not be what you think it is 4) Contact numbers and spare cash (write the numbers on your self this way it can not be removed off you if arrested) 5) Make sure you have a Green & Black cross phone number written some where on your body (in case of being arrested GBC are law advice team that can help if and when a arrested at a demo protest ground Ops what ever you want to call these people can help) 6) KNOW YOUR AREA When at a protest you can be in some cases kettled in, if you know the area you maybe be able to get out of said issue and others with you so study the area where the Op is taking place 7) Know your rights ! Never

give your details to the police if you are stopped always be nice and just say have you proof of me doing something wrong? if they do NO COMMENT if they dont have any thing against you No comment if they cant tell you why they stopped you then you dont have to stop REMEMBER THEY MAYBE A DOUCHE BAG TO YOU BUT TRY to be as clam and collected as possible What to take with you to Ground Ops *take a old phone with a spare sim card with ya save what ever numbers on it but make sure ya have a next of kin (ya mum) and GBC written some where on ya write it on ya 2-3 times in case it gets smudged or one set gets rubbed off * take a small basic medi pack with you in case its needed by some who knows first aid * take a map (print off the section so you know the area at all times ) * always take spare cash

Civil Disobedience, Law and Safety. PREPARING For a Ground Op

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* always come with ya mask / some thing to cover ya face with like scarf and sunglasses &/or a Guy Fawkes Mask What to wear When at a ground ops expect any thing and every thing from walking to running to standing on ya feet all day So just remember this when thinking what to wear LuLz ........Comfortable shoes trainers / boots what ever clothes that fit / you can be active in. Say just for argument ya at a op riot quicks off every one has legged it a safe place away from the police yet your pludding along in high hills mini skirt and a G string up ya ass ......YA BUSTED ! so just bare that in mind personally i wear dark urban combats and black and red t-shirt with a black hoodie and a pair of trainers and boots in my bag in case) Drinking & Drugs NOW i wont lie i like a little to drink and smoke but it

REALLY isnt a good idea to drink when at a ground op Many people get god like powers when drinking and think its a good idea to piss off a police officer (yes and No) the police dont like drunks and most the people at the ground ops dont really want a drunk to roll with them as it causes problems ::IF YOU DO DECIDE TO DRINK AT A GROUND OP PLEASE BE REASONABLE TO THE OTHERS AT THE GROUND OP:: Also just to quickly touch on drugs do what ever ya want but really in a way the ABOVE kinda goes to this as well if you are going to smoke a bit sniff abit fine just dont be a douche bag and cause issue not just for your self but the others at the same ground ops and not every body will be cool with so do not get in their face if they have an opinion . Colors Colors are used to roughly work out what role someone is willing play if the ground Ops turns to civil disobedience. This happens

when the feds dont like us getting to close to them they shot ,they thorough smokes and start beating down on us / other... (RED & BLACK) these colors are used mainly as the front line colors people wearing red &/ or black are the people who want to hold the front line in some cases you would see red and black move forward to hold the police moving up these people in my books are the heros .......(in my book any ways) these people will protect the other protester from the police and act as anon police (GREEN) Green is the color most used for those covering the media side of the ground Ops posting tweets and facebook messages from the ground Op to those back at home / over seas who didnt know shit was going down they also keeps those around like r&b informed as to whats going on where

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they live stream the stuff the main stream media dose not think is worthy of their stations / paid to cover up (BLUE) Blue is the marshal color / organizer they be the ones who have probably done all the research in to the reason the ground Ops took place and when it did (i think of them as the calm brain in a mad mans body) (WHITE) White is color for medics and the role should only be filled by those who know first aid / have a medi pack and SERIOUSLY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING ! acting like a medic is BAD you could end up doing more damage then good and the last thing any one wants is to be blamed for helping and in fact cost some Anon to lose their arm .......BaD TiMeS ::EVERY GROUND OP SHOULD HAVE A MEDIC EVEN IF THERE IS NO CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE::

Tear Gas Dibenzoxazepine | CR GAS Chemical weaponry was first used in the United States in the Civil War at the siege of Charleston. Wood was saturated with sulphur and burned under the parapets around the city hoping that favorable winds would propel huge clouds of choking smoke to drive out the defenders. French law enforcement is reputed to have been the first police organization to have used a chemical lachrymator (tear-producing) in a handthrown device. At the start of World War I (1914-1918) the French Army had limited stocks of hand and rifle grenades, loaded with a liquid tear-producing agent called Ethylbromacetate. Agent CR (Dibenzoxazepine) is a potent sensory irritant. CR is the parent compound of Loxapine Succinate, an Anti-Psychotic drug. CR is usually disseminated in a liquid solution with a propylene glycol base. CRs physical properties are

similar to those of CS, but CRs effects on the individual are more severe. In addition to affecting the eyes and respiratory tract, CR induces intense skin pain. CR causes eye pain and excessive tearing. Slight edema to the eye lids may last for 2 to 6 hours. Skin pain and reddening are CRs two main effects. Although burning sensation may last for 15 to 30 minutes, the reddening may persist for several hours. Areas of the skin previously exposed to CR may become painful again when exposed to water even after 24 hours or longer. CR, when entering the mouth, causes a burning sensation, excessive salivation, sore throat, and a mucous discharge from the nose. CR appears to have a greater safety ratio than either CN or CS. However, CR is a relatively toxic agent and the mortal dose in a human subject is of the same order of magnitude as the other war gases.

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In a poorly ventilated environment an individual can inhale a fatal dose within minutes. Death results from asphyxiation associated with the development of pulmonary edema. CR medical treatment is largely palliative (to lessen the severity without cure), and induces reassurance, removal of contaminated clothing, and washing of eyes and skin. Eye pain can be relieved with medications. Tear Gas The first thing to remember about exposure to these chemical weapons is that it is not the worst thing that could happen to you. The hype and fear surrounding them is enormous, but in reality, if you are careful and smart, you should survive it with little problem. This information is the result of conversations with experts and prior experience. How They Are Deployed: Tear gas and pepper spray

can be sprayed from small hand-held dispensers or large fire-extinguisher size tanks. Pepper spray also comes in plastic projectiles which are fired at the chest to knock the wind out of a person, who then takes a deep breath of pepper from the burst projectile. Tear gas is most commonly deployed via canisters, which are fired into crowds, sometimes directly at people. Its important that you know not to pick up the canisters without gloves as they are extremely hot. Be aware that the time it takes you to throw it will allow you to be heavily exposed. How They Affect Humans: Both tear gas and pepper spray are skin irritants, causing burning pain and excess drainage from eyes, nose, mouth and breathing passages. Pepper spray is more popular with authorities as an agent of control because of its immediate pain-causing qualities. It is harder to remove from the skin and has the capacity to cause

first degree burns. If you are exposed to either tear gas or pepper spray, you may experience: Stinging, burning in your eyes, nose, mouth and skin Excessive tearing, causing your vision to blur Runny nose Increased salivation Coughing and difficulty breathing Disorientation, confusion and sometimes panic Intense anger from pepper spray exposure is a common response; this can be useful if you are prepared for it and are able to focus it towards recovery and returning to the action. Channel your anger, release it from your system, avoid holding it in. The good news is that the above effects are temporary. Discomfort from tear gas usually disappears after 5-30 minutes, while the worst pepper spray discomfort may take 20 minutes to 2 hours to subside. The effects of both diminish sooner with

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treatment. Because pepper spray penetrates to the nerve endings, its effects may last for hours after removal from the skin. Avoid Inaccurate & Dangerous Treatment Myths: There are many myths about treatment and prevention. Much of this misinformation is potentially dangerous. Some of it, if applied, could greatly increase or prolong a persons reaction to exposure, or at the very least provide a false sense of security. When to Prevent Exposure: For most healthy people, the effects of tear gas and pepper spray are temporary. However, for some people the effects can be longlasting and life-threatening. People with the conditions listed below should be aware of these risks and may want to try and avoid exposure. Please be aware that in intense actions

such as police behavior can be unpredictable, and avoidance is not always possible. Those with the following health conditions should avoid entering crowds where there is risk of exposure to these substances. Conditions: Folks with respiratory diseases, such as asthma, emphysema, etc. risk exacerbation, or permanent damage if exposed. Vulnerable people such as infants, the elderly, and the immune compromised, risk intensified and possibly lifethreatening responses. Anyone with chronic health conditions or those on medications that weaken the immune system, (ie: chemotherapy, Lupus, HIV, radiation, or longterm corticosteroids such as prednisone) risk exacerbation of illness, intensified response and possible delayed recovery. Women who are or could be pregnant, or who are trying to get pregnant, may be at risk of spontaneous

abortion, or increased risk of birth defects. Nursing mothers risk passing toxins on to their infant. Folks with skin conditions (ie: severe acne, psoriasis, or eczema) and eye conditions (i.e.: conjunctivitis or uveitis) risk an intensified response. People wearing contact lenses may experience increased eye irritation and damage due to chemicals being trapped under the lenses. Protection: Avoid the use of oils, lotions and detergents because they can trap the chemicals and thereby prolong exposure. Wash your clothes, your hair and your skin beforehand in a detergent-free and unscented soap. We recommend using a water or alcohol-based sunscreen (rather than oil-based). If your choice is between oil-based or nothing, we advocate using the sunscreen. Getting pepper sprayed on top of a

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sunburn is not fun. We also recommend minimizing skin exposure by covering up as much as possible. This can also protect you from the sun, as can a big hat, baseball cap or bandana. Gas masks provide the best facial protection, if properly fitted and sealed. Alternatively, swimming goggles (with shatter-proof lenses), respirators, even a wet bandana soaked in vinegar over the nose and mouth will help. What to Do When Exposed: STAY CALM. Panicking increases the irritation. Breathe slowly and remember it is only temporary. Educate yourself prior to going out, to know what to expect, and thereby reduce the likelihood of panicking. If you see it coming or get a warning, put on protective gear, if able, try to move away or get upwind. Blow your nose, rinse your mouth, cough and spit repeatedly. AVOID

SWALLOWING. If you wear contacts, try to remove the lenses or get someone to remove them for you, with CLEAN, uncontaminated fingers. AVOID WEARING CONTACT LENSES BEFORE GOING OUT. DO NOT RUB IT IN. Remedies We have been doing trials with pepper spray to find good remedies and have found some things will definitely help minimize the discomfort. None of these are miracle cures; using these remedies will help people to feel better faster, but it will still take time. For the eyes and mouth: We recommend a solution of half liquid antacid (like Maalox) and half water. A spray bottle is ideal but a bottle that has a squirt cap works as well. Always irrigate from the inside corner of the eye towards the outside, with head tilted back and slightly towards the side being rinsed. It seems from our trials that

it needs to get into the eye to help. This means that if the sprayed person says its okay you should try to open their eye for them. They most likely wont be able/ willing to open it themselves, and opening will cause a temporary increase in pain, but the solution does help. It works great as a mouth rinse too. For the skin: We recommend canola oil followed by alcohol. Carefully avoiding the eyes, vigorously wipe the skin that was exposed to the chemical with a rag or gauze sponge saturated with canola oil. Follow this immediately with a rubbing of alcohol. Remember that alcohol in the eyes hurts A LOT. Anyone whose eyes you get alcohol in will not be your friend. Secondary treatments can include: spitting, blowing your nose, coughing up mucous (you dont want to swallow these chemicals!), walking around with your arms outstretched, removing contaminated clothing and

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putting on new clothing, In fact, it is essential to shower and wash your clothes as soon as you are able. WARNING: pepper spray can dry on your skin, and then get re-activated when you shower due to contact with moisture! See section below on how to get rid of pepper spray before you shower! These chemicals are toxic, and will continually contaminate you and everyone around you until you get rid of it. Until then, try not to touch your eyes or your face, or other people, furniture, carpets etc. to avoid further contamination. Also rinse your washing machine in highest heat after you wash your clothes in them, to get rid of residue inside the machine. Remember, it is only temporary, and our bodies are extremely strong and have detoxification mechanisms built in Essential Protective Gear: A bandanna soaked vinegar

and tied tightly around the nose and mouth is a last resort. It is far better than nothing, but remember that it is merely a barrier and not a filter and so wont do much for long-term protection. You can keep it soaking in a plastic bag until ready to use. Bring several, as multiple uses will render a bandanna as gassy as the air around you. For protecting your eyes, swim goggles work well as they have a tight seal. Shatter-resistance is another nice quality for goggles to have. Most goggles have air holes to prevent foggingfill these with epoxy (glue). Covering these holes with duct tape can work in a pinch against an initial attack, though not for long term protection. Try them on with your respirator or bandana to ensure that they are compatible and that both will provide a tight seal. You should be aware that whatever protection you

choose will be visually quite powerful. Gas masks work the best; they also look quite scary and intimidating and can be alienating to others. They can however also make you a target of police violence. Think carefully about your impact on others when you decide how to protect yourself. Aim to wear the same kind of gear as a group, not just you as an individual. Strength in numbers. We suggest that you trial your gear at home before you head out, to make sure you understand your protective mechanisms and are familiar with them, prior to entering the heat of action. Heres a tip I got from Palestinian demonstrators: Smear lime fruit juice on the inside of any fabric which covers your mouth such as a scarf anything you use to cover your mouth. This is claimed to remove all effects from the CS gas (tear gas) although I havent really tried it myself.

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Improvised Gas Mask: Find a bandana, or a rag: something to wrap around your head made of strong material. Now find some charcoal. Smash up the charcoal. Soak the bandana/rag in water. Line one side of the bandana/rag with charcoal dust. Fold bandana/rag over and wrap around your nose and mouth. Onions as Protection Against Tear Gas: If you dont have any vinegar or water-soaked bandanas, or may be around someone who doesnt, carry an onion on you. If gassed, break it in half and sniff it, and get it close to your eyes.it greatly reduces the irritation in the eyes and nasal cavity. I Learned that from a photojournalist in Gaza. Get each friend to carry an onion in their pocket before you head out. How to Safely Get Rid of Pepper Spray DO NOT

APPLY WATER! When dealing with OC sprays (Pepper Gas) you will find that they are activated and reactivated by water. In other words, even if you have let it dry on your skin you are still at risk to reactivation, if you were to get it wet again. The safest way to remove contamination from the skin is to let the skin dry, dab with a dry cloth or fan the skin. Pending availability, products like baby shampoo can be applied to a contaminated area around eyes and face (it works even better if it is refrigerated prior to application) to provide temporary relief (also the drying of the shampoo will help remove a large amount of the loose capsaicin). What is capsaicin? From Wikipedia: Capsaicin is the active ingredient [derived from chilli peppers] in riot control and personal defense pepper spray chemical agents. When the spray comes in contact with skin, especially eyes or mucous membranes,

it is very painful, and breathing small particles of it as it disperses can cause breathing difficulty, which serves to discourage assailants. Its not uncommon to feel unable to open your eyes. When sprayed, I have found the quickest relief is to strobe your eyes to get tears flowing again. Once you can open your eyes and tear, stare for as long as you can bear letting the tears flow to clear your eyes as quickly as possible. The longer you keep your eyes shut and the longer you strobe your eyes the longer you will be contaminated. You want the body fluids in the mouth, nose and eyes to be running as much as possible (this is your bodies /bodys natural defense clearing itself out work with it!). How to Safely Get Rid of Tear Gas DO NOT APPLY WATER! Do NOT wash your face with water if you suffer tear gas. You should not wet your

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skin: it increases the effect of the tear gas. Instead, apply vinegar or lemon juice to the skin in order to get rid of the effect of the tear gas. Cloths with some apple vinegar or pure lemon juice are very useful in riots. You can press some lemon in a plastic bottle before going to the protest. So you can wet your mask with lemon juice (or vinegar), and it will decrease the effect of tear gas. In case of old teargas No water , yeast dissolved in water or cold water and soup while showering How to Handle Tear Gas Canisters The thick gloves used by construction workers are good to throw the tear gas cans back to the Basiji goons. Warning: The tear gas cans are too hot to hold with bare hands! Afterward, Wash Your Clothes As Soon As You Can Wash your clothes as soon

as possible because there are chemicals on those clothes! Remember to eat well and sleep tight before going to a protest. If you smoke or take drugs, stop it before you go. For your skin, a couple of boxes of Baking Soda will help in addition to regular soap with skin conditioners. Remember, the pepper spray is going to really get to your mucous membranes. Under your armpits, Crotch (sorry ladies, its going to burn like hell). The snot is going to pour out of your nose like someone turned on a fire hydrant and its going to burn the whole time. Your eye lids are going to swell up too. Use the Benadryl (Diphenhydramine hydrochloride ) for that. If you eat tear gas, dont use water it makes everything worse. Use fresh lemon juice or vinegar instead. Designed to Induce Panic Stay Calm: If you get hit by tear gas,

or something worse, it will feel like you are unable to breathe. This is how it works, and is designed to work. You panic, and riots stop. The trick is to understand that while it feels like you are unable to breathe, you are actually breathing just fine. Tear gas doesnt kill people unless they have a severe allergic reaction to it or have a medical condition/weakness already. So try and remain calm. If you can, sit down in a place out of the way and just remind yourself that you are breathing. Getting rid of the panic eliminates a lot of the effectiveness of the anti-riot gas. Conclusion: Educate yourself about the tear gas and pepper spray challenge What to if and when stopped and searched / arrested On your body write Legal Support 07946

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541511 plus a solicitor with relevant experience. IF ARRESTED - NO COMMENT You do not need to talk to the police about anything. If you are arrested, giving your name and address will speed up the process of being released. Any other information may be used against you and once you start talking it can be hard to stop: so dont say anything, it is easier! If they ask you questions, just say no comment, until you have spoken to a solicitor and dont sign anything. DONT USE THE DUTY SOLICITOR If youre arrested you have a right to FREE legal advice. You can use a duty solicitor but we STRONGLY advise against. If you havent been told at the protest of local solicitors who have experience of dealing with protesters, we recommend you use BINDMANS (020 7833 4433) who should be able to come to your interview if you are in

London or otherwise advise you by phone on what to do. DONT GIVE YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS TO POLICE When you are stopped or searched under any search powers, you dont have to give the police your details. The only time you are legally required to give your name and address is if you are driving a vehicle or involved in a road traffic accident. If you are suspected of antisocial behavior (causing harassment, alarm or distress) or when the cops want to issue you with a summons with or fixed penalty notice, then the cops can arrest you if you fail to give them your details. If you are arrested but you think there is no good reason for your arrest, the police may be just trying it on to get your personal details (they have a database to fill). At this point you can still refuse to tell the arresting officer and say that you will give your details to the custody officer at the

police station. You may find you are simply released so it can be worth waiting it out. AVOID LETTING THEM PHOTOGRAPH YOU You dont have to make it easy for them to photograph you - they have no power to force you to comply with being photographed or filmed unless you are being processed at the police station.

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Dialogues between Anons

Introduction. Many of us feel disappointed, sad, angry, depressed or simply paralyzed. Will we remain in these states? Or will we react, try to understand, find some solutions and move on? Anyone can be Anonymous, its a fact, But Anons also share certain ethics and human values despite the diversity of ideas, thoughts or principles; FreeAnons have organized a dialogue between some Anons to analyze the situation and collect this diversity of ideas and thoughts about sensitive topics that have played a major role in the issues experienced recently by our movement and led to increase the number of arrested anons. Several topics were discussed, we published them by topic, but these dialogues are not closed, you can comment them or add your opinion any time you wish: Part I - Groups with sec suffix (AND the crew or cr3w suffix) Anon 1 We have certainly noticed that what causes us the most troubles is the tendency to build a separate small groups of hackers with sec suffix while they continue to claim being Anonymous. They are magnets for secret agencies, and unfortunately these agencies manage often to recruit one or more informants among these groups, the average is higher than among Anonymous and activist communities in general. Unfortunately, many hackers seek fame, power or wealth, these hackers are definitely a good targets to recruit informants. The estimated average of hackers who accept to collaborate with law enforcement entities is about 25%. By allowing this kind of small groups to create public channels in an Anonymous irc, we face many disadvantages in addition to those mentioned above. Young activists are generally attracted by these masters and can be easily influenced by them, the risk is they can be badly influenced. Public channels are aggravating factors for that kind of contacts. Anonymous has always claimed that we can be any normal citizen. These groups do not reflect this image. The other channels tend to be democratic and consensual, while the small hackers groups tend to have leaders and/or hierarchical relations When it comes to hacking... There are few people who truly have skill. This is why heirarchical relations are formed. Anyone without the knowledge of how to program or exploit will typically seek out somebody maintaining expertise in the field. Media tends to highlight the hacker aspects of Anonymous and thus those attracted to the attention whore aspect get absorbed into those subgroups. Obviously they get the master that

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they deserve... And and hence theyll probably get entangled with law enforcement if they stick around in those groups. Anon 2 However Anonymous is an idea, a banner, this is something we as Anons have to face and live with since anyone can be Anonymous. Anon 3 I dont think this is something that can be remedied. Also, you have to admit quite a few of these groups have helped the cause. Anon 4 No Anon should be worth more than another. The skill of every individual is what makes him/her interesting and we need experience in all areas of human knowledge. +9001 +666 Anon 2 hehe yup teamwork teamwork teamwork for those who come into the PR chan, we do nothing untill the team votes on it and everyone has a part in it no matter what.

Anon 5 Lulz/AntiSec elevated a few individuals to be seen as way more imortant than other Anons. And not because they ran infrastructure that ops were launched from, but because they chose all the targets and operations themselves. There was nothing participatory about having the biggest room on the biggest anon irc network devoted to Antisec, and this a feeder channel to a secret group of statusfag hackers - who were also misdirecting operational targets for their own ends as in #OpMegaupload. Fuck that shit. Anon 6 It is important to remember that all of us started at one point or another, and thus it is not in our best interest to turn away newblood just because they are identified as skiddies or deemed inexperienced. We should consider the possibility that script kiddies/ newblood have the potential to achieve great feats if we are able to nurture them through sound advice

and encouragement +1+1 Everybody starts from being a beginner in any area. Anon 2 yup we were all n00bs at one point,everyone was +1. Anon 7 Also learn to recognize the difference between a person who uses tools like Havij and someone using a tool because they are just learning and dont know any better. Scripts & programs are great for beginners but skiddies are fine just with their scripts, while others learn scripts as jumping off points to learn from. Anon 5 It didnt used to just be about hacking and *sec all the time. Remember when an operation was participatory and had all kinds of skills and involvement? I dont know if we can ever get back to that point but once an op used. Anon 8 +100. I rememberrrr.... Anon 2 ( AnonPR is here to change that big plans in

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the making- also AnonPr is a non hacking legal anon team). Anon 1 Hackers have a haughty look on the other anons who dont have technical skills making them feel useless, while the most successful operations we did were simple ddos used by simple citizens or activists; This is the reason of our popularity and governments fear.+one millon Anon 9 We need to remind and reinforce the message that you dont need to have hacking skills, run Backtack, or DDoS just to participate and that EVERY op requires a vast array of people with a range of different skills.. graphics, video, writing, etc., are HUGE assets for promoting ops, and even without those skills, simply having an intelligent person that contributes to discussions can go very far. At the very least, anybody can help an op by spreading the message on twitter, facebook (ew) and whatever other social

means they have. Think the 6 degress of separation -- they might not be able to contribute directly, but their direct connections (and the connections through their connections, the indirect ones) can reach people that might be a huge asset.+999 Anon 10 every action towards a common goal is a contribution. Operation paperstorm was one of the most effective ops turned tactic ever, and its something we have neglected thus far. Anybody can wear a mask and had out a flyer downtown. (its actually perfect for getting a newbloods feet wet with activism) What a terrible loss. We can get it back though. +1 Anon 11 Hackers, lulz, sec, can and will profit from the fact you are unprotected. They have their place and function in the ecosystem. You serve them and they will serve you. Even as they may look and act dangerous security is paramount for them. And for you.

Anon 12 Of course small groups have their role and many times they did awesome work, the point here is to not confuse them with anons as their structure is different; they are like the hacktivists groups that we respect but anonymous system is more general and include a majority of no hackers. Anon13 We are like bounds government backed and quit safe but make small incremental movess although we did start out kicking the smaller groups are like stocks they are risky but well worth the lulz and probaly should be warmed to stick together through the worst and the best you are apart of your selected team thick and thin.

Part II - Is it justifiable to collaborate with feds after being arrested? Is it a fatality or can we prevent it? Anon1 Feds can always find ways to pressure activists or hackers to turn

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them; If we start by find that is normal to turn for one reason or another, they will finally involve a majority... It is not normal to turn, it was always very rare that secret services could find activists to work with them, why? because an activist is by definition some one who accept to sacrify his/her own interests for the cause that he/she fights for, furthermore they know by experience and from many historic cases that secret services often get rid of their informants for embarrassing reasons. Anon10 ^^ Do people not understand that even if you cooperate, commuted sentence still means go to jail. Take it from somebody who is VERY experienced with jail and the legal system, snitches go to jail too, and they are kept in PC because they are snitches. But snitches manage to get killed quite often in PC. You dont gain anything from snitching. Perhaps is it wise to share the TRUTH about how you should react when arrested and interrogated.

Feds will lie to you to get you to cooperate and make their case solid. The absolute BEST thing you can do is not say a word. Not. One. Word. Not even fuck you. [LOVE YOU +10000000] Anon7 Also remember that they WILL LIE TO YOU. They will rattle off a whole list of charges and offense and tell you some ridiculous number of years as your maximum sentence with a huge fine... #1) Remember that the burden of proof is on THEM, so that means they need to PROVE every single charge---unlikely if you keep your mouth shut. Just TrueCrypt your drive and take basic steps to cover your ass, and that will make that a very big burden. Anon10 ^^ Facts. Without a confession, even the probability of a murder charge is lessened extensively. Just watch the first 48 if you dont believe me. Unless the evidence is just fkn retardid, they usually need that confession.

Anon5 If we stopped putting people up as leaders we would have less of a problem with fed infiltration. Anon1 The problem is that leaders are self proclamed, no one follow them LOL Anon5 Also with the influx of facebook anons (who are normally almost a fanclub) getting a loic and ddossing a website their is more likelihood of them turning, as they are not as commited, its about impressing friends, egofagging Anon3 loic and facebook are both horrid tools, but they have their place. The influx of kiddies using loic during ddos helped a ton (not that ddos is anything more than an attention grabber) but how many of us would have been v& if there werent always 10k+ unhidden ips tagging along on every operation. loic is a smoke screen. Anon10 Misinformation: If you are going to play games with the feds, make sure you deliberately lie.

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To everybody. Often, and about things that dont matter. The feds are using your information to build a profile, and can use even the most mundane details to proximate and identify you. One technical slip and they can use that information with all theyve built to heft a nice case. So, the equivelant of going everywhere with a mask on in public to hide your face is to constantly feed the feds bad and conflicting information, and to remember some of your lies, to repeat them later. This tactic has been deployed by me for quite some time now, and as of yet, ive not been unsatisfied with the results. Anon7 ^^^ Yes! Contradictory statements (sometimes said at different times and in different places) is a great way of misinformation. If there is too much conflicting data or points in your profile, they will begin to question the validity of every piece of it. Using any one point against you, in defense can be said

but they had also stated this, this, and that conflicting points as well, Anon10 Leave fame to Lindsay Lohan: When you DO manage to accomplish a great hax, dont tag ur name and flood it on twitter proclaiming your victory. This is a surefire way to draw fed attention. Best to do it, pastebin an anonymous explaination and fade back into the digital blackness...dont tag ur name on SHIT. Just #Anonymous should be enough. Anon7 (or the name of the op) Anon14 Cooperating with the federal government is something that has to be determined on a single case basis. Ill take the most famous case of Anonymous for an example. Sabu, we all have heard of what happened. Secret arrest, turned FBI informant, and finally betrayed. But what the majority of Anons dont know, is that if he didnt cooperate with the feds,

they would take his family away. Thats right Sabu had a family, and no matter how much I hate him for his decision. If I was in his shoes, I would have made the same choice. However if you have nothing to lose but your own freedom it is still a hard choice to make. People always say, Id never betray Anonymous, well that is until they are facing over 30 years in prison. Getting assraped by a black guy named Rico! Now I will say that if you have a family, and are afraid of them being dragged into it. Then quit now, quit now and dont look back. If you have no info for them, they wont arrest you, hopefully. Anon15 Sabu had a family of sorts. We all do. So did the people he snitched on. It is never justifiable and he is beneath contempt. He ruined ops which were more important than anything he has done in his life and should not be apologised for. He laughs about his actions to this day. Also if people think Sabu had kids

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or sth... youre misinformed. He was not a father to anyone except the kids he used for his own ends on AnonOps. AnotherAnon Sabus snitching should have been irrelevant. We need to remember not to exalt individuals - that is EXACTLY how Anonymous falls apart. Lets go through what happened. Sabu was arrested. The feds realized a lot of Anons look up to him, so they could use him to get others. He turned snitch. What happened next? He went back into the chats. The story SHOULD END THERE. He shouldnt have succeeded in getting anyone arrested, because no one should have trusted any other Anon with their information in the first place. Im going to briefly go through some of the people Sabu got V& and explain why it shouldnt have been possible. 1: Jeremy Hammond, AKA Anarchaos, crediblethreat,

o, etc. Read his indictment and complaint, which the feds have published. He was identified, among other things, because he told Sabu about past incidents in which he had been arrested, what the alleged offense was, and what if anything was the outcome. The FBI then cross referenced all this information in police databases, by a process of elimination narrowing down the list of potential suspects until they only had one left who matched all of the dates and arrests Anarchaos had told Sabu about. They then went to his house and monitored him for a couple of days to make sure they had the right guy before charging him, in secret, with the offenses he is accused of. His identification and arrest could have been COMPLETELY AVOIDED had he not told Sabu about his IRL run ins with the police. To imagine that the police cant search their databases and find old records of

arrests was exceedingly foolish. Remember, within Anonymous (and indeed on the internet as a whole), you must assume every single person you meet COULD be a cop, even if they probably arent one. Dont tell anyone anything in PM that you wouldnt be happy telling the entire public channel. This leads to two possibilities: 1:  Anarchaos trusted Sabu enough to assume it was ok to give him identifiable information 2:  Anarchaos didnt realize that he could be identified through the information he provided. Both of the above possibilities could have been avoided with proper AnonSec, that is, teaching Anons about personal security and how to avoid exposing themselves to arrest. In my view, the channel #AnonSec needs to be re-established at both AnonOps and VoxAnon, and an EXTENSIVE campaign of informing Anons about how to

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protect themselves is called for urgently. 2: Darren Martyn (AKA Pwnsauce AKA raepsauce AFA lolcat) Im not sure where to start with regard to pwnsauce. Pwnsauce is an incredible hacker and a very smart guy, so the pitfalls which led to his arrest genuinely baffle me, however, the fact is that he too was caught not through feds hacing IRC access, but through letting things slip himself. I will give a few examples: In early 2011, pwnsauce and palladium allegedly hacked into the website of an Irish political party, making national headlines and even some international ones. They leaked a user database from the site and posted an Anonymous deface message to the home page. At the bottom of this deface was the text owned by raepsauce and palladium. Now, anyone who had been on IRC knew who had taken part in that particular operation. Worse, they both

used these same nicknames on other forums which they used to talk about unrelated topics, which could be used to tie them to their IRL identities. At a certain point, pwnsauce was absent from IRC for about a week. When he returned, people asked him (in a chat room which included Sabu) where he had been. His response was that he had been arrested for hacking his colleges email system. And in responding, he named that college and the date he was arrested. His reply literally looked something like this: pwnsauce: Oh sorry, I was arrested on Tuesday for hacking s email system and spamming people from it Once again, the feds can very easily look up their records. Who did we arrest that week for hacking into that email server? Ah here he is, thats pwnsauce then lets go and investigate him. That on its own probably wouldnt be enough to get

someone arrested. However there was more. Someone outed him on a blog, presumably someone who knew him IRL (or perhaps from one of the other forums in which he used the nickname hex, pwnsauce or raepsauce, all known IRC handles). After they published his alleged name, I did some investigating myself to see how accurate it might be. Out of interest I looked him up on Facebook. His Facebook username included the word hexamine, which straight away indicated I was indeed looking at the same guy. But further proof was staring me in the face: His Facebook profile was open, I.E I didnt have to be friends with him to see his bio and photographs. In his selection of photo albums were usual FB albums such as nights out, profile pictures, college, etc. But among them was also another album called AnonOps. On clicking into this album, I discovered screenshots of Operation Avenge Assange, showing IRC logs and reports from

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status checking websites to say that Mastercard was offline. Horrified, I closed the window and prayed nobody would read the blog. As it happens, due to Sabus treachery, the blog didnt even matter. But this is just another example of shockingly weak AnonSec. Pwnsauce could never have been caught if none of the above had taken place. If he hadnt detailed online an arrest and which college he attended, if he hadnt reused a nickname from other websites as an Anon name, if he hadnt drawn specific attention to himself by signing a deface message and if he hadnt mixed Facebook and Anonymous, he probably wouldnt have been identified at all. Notice to pwnsauce: Hey man, if youre reading this I hope you dont take offense, you know I love you We all make mistakes and Im not in any way singling you out! Notes (Ill get rid of these

in a second, just so I dont forget what Im about to write) --Total disconnect between Anon identify and IRL identity with no crossover whatsoever --smoking gun (Topiary). Anon16 Mod the ircd to have chans w/o nicks: i.e. anonymity instead of psuedonymity. Then chat logs have plausible deniability. This can be easily achieved by simply not registering a nick, using a randomly generated AnonGuest34098 style nick, or simply changing your nick regularly like many Anons already do Anon25 /NNNC/ somerandomnick> != anonymity anonymity == everyone will use same nick Anon17 AnotherAnon It is irrelevant to ask whether or not it is justifiable to work with the feds since it will be a reality that those who are arrested will cooperate with the authorities if it will save them in any way. The better question is to

ask why anyone would put themselves in the position to be able to be turned over by someone who was flipped. Anon1 I think it is a kind of culture or moral that predispose any one to accept that idea or not. If he find the case of Sabu justifiable then he is preparing himself to cooperate as there are always reasons to fall under secret services pressure. Anon18 Im not sure as to where to place this but as I promised to contribute to this discussion I will do so in the manner that follows and moderators can sort through it and place the individual contributions where ever they please. I would first like to start by saying that I in no way feel disappointed, sad, angry, depressive or even paralyzed by the current state of the collective. No one would argue that they prefer things the way they are now but I, personally, believe that the current state of the collective is merely a product of our own doing and that it

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doesnt necessarily mark the undoing of the collective. Today, the collective has been reduced to a fad of sorts and like all fads it will eventually run its course. Many of the problems that plague the collective are the result of its own popularity. I, having helped construct a popular blog, am guilty of this as are voxanon, anonops, anonsource and any other such similar blog, IRC or discussion board. In many ways these contributions are no different from the crews or clans mentioned here. We can no more give credit to or take credit from these individuals secs than we can ourselves or our own contributions. Which brings me to an important point: Its okay to be quiet. It is better to have no operations at all than to have several operations that conflict with the over all goals of the collective. As an anon, I try to discourage such operations and as a collective I believe that we could do more to discourage these types of operations.

Again, I believe, the many problems that plague the collective are but the passing of popularity and I also believe, today, that it is fair to say that the Anonymous we once knew is dead. Thats not necessarily a bad thing. Anonymous has come to define hacktivism but has long as there are hacktivists acting anonymously there will always be an Anonymous. In responds to Part II of this discussion, and before I continue I must express how disheartened I am that there are only two parts to this discussion, its easy for one to say that they would not cooperate with the police. In fact, it means nothing to say that you would not even if you have been arrested, tried and convected for similar crimes before. Our individual circumstances are so unique that it makes predicting whether someone would cooperate with the police impossible. I believe a better question would be, how can we as a collective avoid or lessen the consequences of

our actions and of those who claim to act in accordance with Anonymous? In response to this question, I believe the answer to be very simple: Act anonymously. Act anonymously and encourage others to do so. Change your user name often. Do not concern yourself with fame, recognition or a gold star on the top of some list. Further more, do not align yourself with or give your trust to anyone who does these things. Act entirely anonymously and give all credit to Anonymous. These types of discourse are productive and I would be happy to contribute to any such discussion in the future. I look forward to reading any responses to the contribution I have made here and I do hope, sincerely so, that some good comes of this. Please forgive the format. Anon19 We all are so separate from each other there is a lack of empathy for each other. While we can feel bad for a face like Topiary its because

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he has been given a face. So many anons go down and we just move on like a disposable army. As I have said in the past Sabu turned his back on us because he did not see legion (this is not justifiable for a anon because we are a unit) he fail to see the true collective for what it is. The collective is people who give up their time and energy to do something. Each anon has family and if not should see anons as their family.I cant think of anything to do with the IRC to fix this I guess this problem is mental not software.<3 Anon20 I think of it like this. If we spend our time mourning every arrested Anon, than we will be weaker. Not to mention the feds will get a bigger stranglehold on all of us. Those who say that Anons dont matter, are obviously not Anons themselves. Hell if theres an Anon near me that needs my help, and I can help, than I will help. That simple, help when and where you can. And never

forget we are legion, if you take away our comradery, than we are a bunch of random people. Part III : Anons democracy is not and will never be the reflection of the liberal false democracy; what are the ideas you have to achieve a real democracy, a true equality among anons? Anon1 + Anon21 Issues with an undemocratic IRC system We are losing the democratic foundation that Anonymous was built upon. When it has become easier to lengthen the badwords list than to answer real questions, how can we say that our operators exist to help users? Thousands of people have been joining channels - even #megaupload alone - but why are they not staying? These are questions we have to ask of ourselves, and of our network operators. Anon2 +1 also mention active ops that have low rate active users +1+1

Anon1 + Anon21 The operator system is based on a heirarchy. It has led to an atmosphere in channels where older, or higher up members feel they no longer need to bother with interacting with prospective supporters. Gaining op, or even voice, is now seen as a badge that must be acquired before one will be listened to. And currently, this attitude is rife through anonops. Voxanon ftw! +1 +15 Anon2 +1 here if you want we can talk a lil bit more on voxanon and its system and constitution Anon10 -1 IMHO calling out anonops and voxanon demeans the value of the whole sentiment. Anon7 Agreed, and its also a really big generalization so somewhat unfair b/c that isnt true of everyone in every channel on AnonOps. Anon3 I think its essential we try and move past taking sides based on which server you link to. We should start

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linking channels more, like we have with #freeanons. We need multiple servers to house our collective, but we are still a goddamn collective...Not teams, not seperate parties, one damn group. Anon22 Freedom of speech is paramount but childish behavior should be discouraged. Experienced users can help mantain a tolerant atmosphere. An anon who has self-esteem is tolerant and does not make others pay the price for his own frustration. Anon2 +2 hehe so true Anon7 +1 <-- This is exactly what channel operator/ halfop/etc. is intended to do... maintaining productive and on-topic chat & discussion, while kicking (or banning, if necessary) spammers and trolls. These are necessary functions and roles for an IRC channel, especially given the mischivous nature of many Anons. Unfortunately, it isnt always how it works and it does get abused.

Anon1 The hierarchical opers system has created a kind of discriminative atmosphere and notable anons who are sop, aop, and hop in nearly every channel but do nothing to help the respective causes. It also became very important not to bother them with highlights and PMs for stupid questions or requests!! wtf? It became common to see new opportunists who needed to feel themselves important to get oper status by licking the ass of owners and showing some authority to the crowd; they are the powerfags who are unfortunately dominating anonops presently. Anon2 +1 we should re word this a bit to more clearer without naming any chan or networks Anon1 Despite the huge effort that irc opers at voxanon are doing, some absurde traditions remain; For example: 1- Hacking/DDoS talk doesnt belong here, in the main channel, Why? Isnt it a bit

hypocritical to avoid talking about actions in the main chan where new activists think they are joining anonymous actions? I think this rule has lead to an influx of trolls and at times #voxanon is mirroring the problems #anonops ran into, hot diggity damn! We should have a kind of schedule to be sure there is always an oper who can re-direct discussions to be more interesting or less crappy; It doesnt mean we should not lol and lulz, it means that empty convos should not take all the space-time. Anon2 def needs more work and we agree. a main chat was never talked about, we made voxanon for the opers and team to talk and all then ppl found out bout vox and joined that chan alone making it by default the main chan. this might change. Anon10 +1 on the contrary, I believe hacking and DDOS talk should be ENCOURAGED. Maybe not every DDOS sortie, but the talk and will to action

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is all that it takes to drive a talented and genius young person to acheive greater excellence. Try to convince a DDOS newfag to hide his IP and nmap a server. You can teach him in one hour, and hes happy as hell. Nobody got hurt and youve primed a new anon. Anon5 = Morpeth If I can respond from a vox network perspective: Firstly on the Hacking/DDoS talk doesnt belong here, thats because we didnt want operational stuff like target lists and raids to be actually taking place in the main chan,+1 so as to create some separation between the network/ network staff/chan and the operations going on there. +1, **People can and are doing pretty much what they like on channels outside the main one. I think the rules are being interpreted too strictly if people are being kicked merely for talking around or about hacking, in general, and will talk to chanops about this. In general people should not

be kickbanned except at last resort, for verifiable and continued trolling, or for causing other problems. Warnings are supposed to be issed first. And the one thing that is not supposed to happen is someone gets kicked/b& because a chanop disagrees with them. There is generally always an oper on hand but establishing the culture here of the network chanel being a fair and friendly place takes time, patience, and work - but this iseat ewe are aiming for. Its hard to get decent conversations going all the time also, but we are trying to cultivate a cultural difference to prev. existing networks here. Morpeth+100^10 Anon10 Perhaps, rather than a no hacking DDOS talk rule, it should simply be customary for oldfags to suggest to newfags that after a certain point, its probably time to move the op to its own chan. Educate them on twitterstorm, paperstorm, the basics of

running an op and an op chan etc and turn them loose. They will have an OP underway, and nobody got their feelings hurt. Just a thought...klnowledge is power. Anon1 2- English only in this channel It is one of the most discriminative rule I ever saw at anons IRCs; Sure ppl can use google translation, but many new comers who do not speak English at all are quickly disoriented and disppointed by this harsh order English only here!! Why do not use the translation function in the bots and let our IRC being really international? English will be always the main language but why insult users from other cultures that do not speak it? Anon7 If there are bots or something that automatically translate, I dont see why there would be an issue. Otherwise, really only when channels become especially large is when the Englishonly thing sometimes would be appropriate because it

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can be extremely difficult and confusing when you have many different people speaking different languages at the same time. Also, when there is only one or two people who are speaking a specific language, is it more logical to have every one else in the channel go to translate.google.com in order to understand them, or should the just one or two people do it? I think its just a matter of courtesy, not discrimitory (although sometimes it is) that when coming to a new place that you speak the language that the majority do. Anon23 Acknowledge cultural sensitivities & avoid ethnocentricism! Anon5 Yeah agreed, will talk to the chanops and perhaps look at a translate bot in there as well given some time - also there are non english chans already there that some people can be redirected to. +1 Anon1 My thought was only about insulting the new

comers who dont speak English or dont know the rules, kick or ban them for that; I have always tolerate the multilingualism in my channels and never had any problems, English still the dominating language. Anon7 Thats understandable (and shouldnt result in a kick)--my usual approach is to translate into their language and explain to them, or direct them to channel for their language. Anon24 from exhaustively reading this pad ive gleaned that we need these things most... 1.translation bot, this will be easy I started talking to the opers over at anonops and they seem on board for it either ill have to make one or just have someone augment one of the bots already in place, the same canbe done here in vox 2. a purpose: we need another grand op to draw people in again, we need to make headlines. Im not sure what would be best maybe that cyber bunker

they are building inutah, maybe the monitoring uav at the olympics (did you think itodd that they plan on sending in monitoring uavs while the newswarns that a poison uav attack is the largest threat to the games (if it happens, I called it and the gov did it)) 3. more relaybots. maybe we should reach out to any of the other servers andget a relay bot in a few big channels. we need to re-embrace the community aspect of anon and stop bickering between servers Anon25 /NNNC/ somerandomnick> if you search solution of the problem of government in chat then i know solution; solution == virtual ops, but necessary that someone will implement to such, i implemented only some. It is similar of normal commands of opers in irc, but each user he has own view and he is virtual netadmin of his view mama> so who can decide to kick for example? or to change the topic u/NNNC/ somerandomnick> everyone

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that he can change the topic in your view if i will /mode #anonet +o mama, then you are my government, but obviously that if you will abuse such then i can / mode #anonet -o mama, == advantage of netadmin, if each user he is virtual netadmin then each user he has the government that he wants such the ppl they will see eatch other and share the same topic if they will want see eatch other and share the same topic, and if no then they should not see eatch other and share the same topic. Anon6t7U Society is rotten. It will never get better. You are the last good thing in the world. Let all of society crumble into a vapid wasteland, but do not let Anonymous wither and die. Truth, and freedom, and intelligence, and creativity, and a spirit willing to fight the millions of things that are wrong. Even if it is just a bunch of angry naive teenages on faggoty macbooks, beating their hearts against a wall.

Anonymous is important. It doent have to change anything, it only has to exist. Thats all. Because youre the exception to the rule. That it will never get better. Society is rotten. Anonymous is the last place where humanity has a friend. Amid the wars and the domination politics and the sheepleism. This is as good as it gets. I love Anonymous. <3 The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and courage returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end, the Shadow was only a small and passing thing; there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. LET NO LAW BE THE LAW.IRCs include the ignore function for a reason. Moderation ruin Anonymous. Nobody should be able to ban or kick anyone. PM to join a different channel if one is getting spammed in. Censorship is evil! Hail, SRN! Anon26 <-- lulz uhh forgot what i was going to say

Anon27 Maybe adding a voteing system on priority operations. But a votting system would never boat well with anons. So other then that I think we are just about reached the end of our rope scientology was the high point and the fbi audio was the last of the lulz everything from here is down hill this is a putting it blunt but its true the return of lulzsec was probaly not real and only to get us moveing agian. There will be one more lulzish moment before anonymous becomes dust in the wind and blows away this event will probaly take out the last hats and the most proactive amoung us will just be arrested for nothing. Here is my estimated timeline for our downfall. Now-january 31,2013 Anon28- I am all for a democratic voting system. This new self-implied system is getting difficult to endure. It has become more for teh lulz and so only the larger ops get any attention. The smaller

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ops may be small yet this does not necessarily mean thaat they are going to less impactive or less important; the number of Anons in a movement/OP should NOT matter, by any means. There have been small ops that got no attention yet had a severe impact on how things are now. Also, more people are saying that this is stupid, youre not helping anything, you are only causing drama and bitching about how the world is run. The fact is that Anons that dont agree with the government, that would rather be free from the opression of Big Brother, would rather do something than sit idly by while our corporations and governments (in our respective countries, not only the US) ruin everything with SOPAs and other bills. The system is failing. We are Anonymous; we will stand up for what we believe. If it means we have to take down sites, and even if we are just rallying. Everything we are doing now, and everything we

have done in the past as a team (indeed, a collective) has and will continue to help the People. NewbAnon: Anonymous, as a decentralised colective will never become truely democratic. However, certain steps can be taken to include all, and to have voices be heard. People should be allowed to promote ops &ect. in main channels; currently it is very hard to find active ops that need help. All experainced users need to cut thier ego and start helping the newcommers, and we all need to realise that Anonymous isnt just about hacking: its the regular people of this world standing up for freedom, truth, and justice. Anon666 Im gonna send you out of space, to find another race.. Anon30 I have seen egos drive off many newbloods and we cannot let that continue. Greater numbers is the easiest and best

way to increase anon power. the egos come to play when there is a conflict of opinion on just about anything. Perhaps a little standard ettiquette would make a difference? elected op leaders or ddos coordinators? no flaming or swearing? we need patience, tolerance and the spirit of cooperation reasserted. This will make it easier for newbloods to join in. Anon 31 Anon power is in numbers. Anon is an unrivaled sociomedia propaganda machine when operating at full capacity. But, a senseless rabble far to often. A common goal should be set. That whenever in doubt we atleast all know what we aim to achieve. Making Anon as accessible as safely possible should be a priority. Those who wake up must be able to find the answers they so desperately need. Anon32 According to one theory you only need to convince 10% of a populous

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to convince the rest in a sort of snowball effect. Thats 700 million people. With the tools we have. The skills of anons and enough numbers, that is achieveable. AnoN439 Anonymous has been took over by the feds, was it started by the feds ? Point is there are many Anons in the cyber world, and many Anons in the real world. But I stay int he cyber world. I sadly cant find time to go out and protest. I see how the Government is fucking us, how were all seperated whilst being forced together. There is an element of control beyond the individuals mind. Anonymous has done much, but look at how much money is being made from all the hacks. America has generated a lot of wealth and so have many others in the security industry. So what is next ? The real focus has to be main stream media and onto the streets action by all. And that needs leadership, that needs someone to answer and take responsibility.

To be worth anything the next step must be a united front by everyone who calls themsevles Anons. But we need to collide 2 worlds, the real and the cyber.... Good lucKK! We all know that some secret services are among us making some plans to divide anons and neutralize our actions, how do you think they act? what do you propose to thwart their plans and make them fail? have you observed some weird behaviors that you suspect being the result of such Social Engineering actions? Anon1 our decentralized structure is both a strength and a weakness imo, strength because it makes it hard to locate leaders as there are none and take them down. however its also a weakness because it makes dissension very easy, makes it easy to cause internal struggles. obviously we cant and wont compromise the integrity of

this decentralized structure but perhaps we could make the weak point stronger and create more solidarity and centralized discussionsjust to touch base with one another and know where we stand as a collective. i think encouraging more discussions such as this one could make a huge difference. xanon: We can develop a decentralizated network where anyone can post an announcement, idea, comment, without names. Then this would be available for others to give kudos to that post, and this would make it more visible. Anon11->xanon: That is an excellent Idea, mabye have a certain number of names, like 300 and each session you connect you get a different name for the duration of the session, click refresh and you are given a new name randomly out of the hat. As a network engineer and systems analyst, I take large issue to the way that the current IRC networks are operated,

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too many serious security breaches, some networks (anonops) have even recently been found to be keeping logs (full logs for over half of a year) (not sure if i 100% believe the story, im about 50/50% between that being a legit story and that being a coverup for the fact that they are now keeping logs and before they werent (fabricated story about how bad the last guys are to distract from the actions of the new caretakers). Another issue that I have is the dependency on bans and the ability for any moderator to know exactly what peoples IP addresses are in order to carry out those bans. I have repeatedly been ip range banned so I know it to be true that there is some form of logging taking place at the moment in anonops. ->Also another MASSIVE issue that that I have, the actions of the current moderators on anonops (and to a lesser degree elsewhere) is that they portray highly suspicious behavior and preferences. In order to understand the

next bit you must understand this one, in psychoanalysis one of the tactics used is to figure out what really pisses off a specific group and test it against specific people to determine their alleigances or memberships. For instance feds really really hate the things the government has strong propaganda presence against, so speaking about pedophillic things for instance age 14 while to the average person is usually of disgust or indifference, a federal employee is highly likely to detest very strongly. Also in the presence of moderators try bringing up the fact that they keep logs, try bringing up the fact that you think someone is in some sort of a group. See what really gets their blood boiling and you may be able to determine that they are not who they say are.<- In my personal experience, anonops mods get vicious when speaking badly about 1) the current american government, 2) bringing attention to the CIA presence in anonops, 3) bringing

attention to corruption in the military which the CIA is heavily tied to financially, 4) encouraging others to use other IRC chats, 5) using quotes from anti-federalist founding fathers which encourage rebellion and the murdering of politicians enmasse (jefferson), 6) Talking about how unbannable you are. 7) talking about how un-anon the server is, and >>>talking about how gay nick reggers are because thats not fucking anon at all<<< Due to these factors, it would be advisable to find an alternative to the moderated IRC model, It would be WAY too fucking easy for agents to infiltrate the moderator circles in IRC servers. Anon2 How do we know that they want to neutralize our actions? Maybe they want to use our actions against us. What if they get ugly things done under the anon banner.. Anon11->anon2 They quite commonly try to get us to hack people at ITC and things like that which could

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be catastrophic for anons repuation and the well being of the internet given they are the deciders for our freedom on the internet. sometimes they try really really hard to keep controversial attacks going long after they should have been stopped, things like false-alarm bad intelligence caused attacks. Anonrage Agree with Anon2, we noticed many operations that are a kind of traps What I would notice the most is a simple mathematical question: Where the millions of dollars dedicated to dismantle Anonymous and prevent our efficient actions are expended? What is sure is that they are not used to find technological solutions but rather in humans involvements. Anon4 Perhaps there should be more focus on goals, this would circumvent the structural problem some. Anon1 also agree with Anon2, take for example the bomb threat that clearly was NOT anonymous, but

still was purported to be us. that was an action that was harmful to us as a whole, it gives the governments an excuse to treat us as terrorists. and as far as social engineering goes, that is harmful to the new anons as well as the old, trust is obviously not something that is taken for granted in Anon but government or feds or whatever u want to call them using it to get info or trap Anons is not a good thing. awareness of these tactics should be raised. Anon2 Well.. Anon is not a good thing to govs with inhuman intentions now, is it? Anon1 if the govs had more perspective and less fear, Anon could be a great thing for the world. but their ego and fear keep it from its full potential. Raxa I believe they are trying to infiltrate in the form of our IRC channels, I have had many weird names and Guests ask me who I work with and where I am located. Some of them are most likely other Anons trying to

troll and have fun, but Im not going to pass up the fact of chance that it is also the Feds trying to pump me for information and find out the locations of our fellow bretheren. I say we begin watching these people and inspecting their behaviours. Anonskane I think they whant to class oss (us?) as terrorists so they going to have bigger authority to do house raids and seize computers, beacuse thats our way to comunicate. Look at england the anons who are going to court now they are not allowed to use irc and their nickname. Thats their way to stop oss/ theme to comunicate with our fellow anons if we cant speak to our fellow anons how can we stand united? If we cant comunicated thats their we to start devied oss. Ps sorry about my english hope u can read anyway and understand what i mean =) Anon5 Maybe they are afraid that we will make world realise that they are the ones who are taking our

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freedom and want to make us their slaves and make us work their way. Anonrage I dont think that LEAs will invest money on random nicks that no one trust and that could be easily trolled; My biggest fear is that I am aware they would prefer influent anons proposing them amounts they can not refuse mixed with some threats if they have got any compromised information on them; For me it is the most plausible description of how they recruit; Then knowing that and based on Sabus case, we will plunge into a paranoid state making us suspecting any active anon if some fingers are pointed on him/her. That also explain why they disclosed Sabus cooperation and they succeed making us lose the confidence we had on known and active anons, torturing ourselves with the following evidence: If Sabu was FBI, so many others could be. Based on such a fear, they can easily social engineering

some other key persons making them suspect their fellows. I experienced this myself being a target of rumors and also receiving many PMs that aimed to make me believe some of my friends were feds. The magical solution I adopted that helped me and my trusted friends was to share all these information with many anons, exposing the rumors spreaders and analysing their discourses and goals, comparing them with the information that others received from the same gang. This solution prevented me and many of my friends of falling under such nocive influences or undergo their effects.<3 Anon1 I have been approached by some anons who have been asked to hack into some sites for an immense amount of money, they asked if this was legit. i replied no that is not right. im assuming that it was an attempted trap of those anons. i hope that awareness to this tactic has been raised and that

others know that if someone offers u money to do these things, that goes against the principles behind anon.<3 Raxa I feel that if it comes down to being offered money for our services, any anon would realize its an obvious trap, and as Anon1 said, we do not live by those principles for what we do. Also any one of us who even know what social engineering is should not be able to be tricked by such a thing. Its pretty apparent at times that someone is trying to social engineer with certain things they ask or say. All we really need to do on that front is pay attention and to never get caught off guard. Anon6 One problem with Anonymous is the difficulty an individual has in being truely anonymous. Consider the following. All members of anonymous must never have or use a unique username in any public forum or chat system. If this rule was in place, then government groups going after

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anonymous would have a close to impossible task in connecting an action to a single individual. However in real life this would be difficult to control or maintain. Various methods could be developed to limit an individuals profiling fingerprint. Anon7 Agreed with anon6, one of the most dangerous things to do is to be a namefag - dont brag in public channels, and dont trust anyone too much. Anon8 One of the ways that Intel Ops conducts business within decentralized cellular organizations is to simply Use them. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. This leads to rapport with an infiltrator and soon after an attempt to turn alligiences. Also one of the ways that an infiltrator would attempt to do so would be to spurn an op that was basically a honeypot. Once alligience of a anon is sucessfully turned, there has to be an excuse for that anon to pop off the radar, an example would be

an arrest. Nothing infuriates Anons more that when one of us gets taken, but is that Anon is turncoat he has an alabi, if he is a loyal Anon then hes just fucked. Either way when he or she resurfaces there should be caution. Anon9 I think that they will act by simply trying to infiltrate. Befriending one person in order to use them to connect with others. The reson LEA have been so successful in the past is because of namefags. If people are bragging about their activity, stay the fuck away from those people. THOSE are the ones who will get v& quickly and anyone who is associated with them, has the potential to get caught up in the arrest. LEA are evolving and Anonymous is not. That is a problem. People need to realize that the ones talking the loudest are the feds or informants. Stay out of anonops. Another thing, be aware of fake ops. Honeypot ops that will end with a massive v& for all.

Anonrage I think we are evolving even it is not obvious, we learned much from our previous experiencesn especially this year, we paid it and many of us paid it with years of their lives; but we are constructing the future Anon9 I disagree. The same tricks are being played out over and over. LEA know what to expect from us. They have profiled, collected data, watched, listened and reacted. While others have continued to operate using the same tactics. The element of surpise is in order. And it seem LEA always seem to have suprise and Anon does not. Anonrage Anons are very different, i agree with you about some ones, but not about all, I know anons much more aware and smart than the LEAs you are descripting. Anon9 I agree. The ones that I speak of are generally the ones who talk more than act. There are those

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who continue to operate in the shadows and I applaud their actions. But, still, same tricks are being played out. However, it is impossible to organize anything due to namefags and media whores who will simply blurt out plans before they are completed. Unfortunately this has led to paranoia and reclusion among some Anons. And it is sad, but necessary. Until people stop seeing Anon as a club or a hang out after school place to be it will continune to be infiltrated. The problem is peoples mindsets. Anonrage We had recently an experience like that, a name fag opened #opisrael as an opportunity to have media attention and so.. He wanted to kill that op after his flash in pan; Anons in a very big number are continuing it and every where! by twitter, facebook, alone in their houses! It proves that when there is a good cause, anons have enough imagination and tools to defend it; This time I could say Anonymous

as system is unbreakable and indestructible, beyond individuals and IRCs. LEAs are stupid to bet on that. Anon9 The whole concept of freedom and wanting more and all that stuff will never die. LEA know it wont. There has always been proests, rallies, and politcal disagreements. The real issue that I currently have while fuels my current frustration; is that LEA are slowly cutting off our means of communication by monitoring us. Monitoring us to a degree that we will no longer be able to organize. THAT is much more important than some of the ops that are currently going on. Israel was necessary, however it seems to have drained people from the opwcit that is FAR more important than Israel. People can say it is heartless to think that way but in reality, protesting is only possible IF and only if, we are able to communicate. People will realize this when it is too late. Unfortunatly I feel

that governments around the world will do a massive amount of damage if people dont get their shit together and realize that communication and privacy are the most important thing. Anonrage Agree with you completely, but please keep the hope and faith that these internet nerds will always find solutions even they can be defeated for a moment. Anon9 It is hard to have faith when people are getting v&. Talented, motivated people are being picked off becuase of others stupidity. It is hard to have faith when talking with some highly skilled people who say that working for coperations makes much more sense because children dont seem to graps the severity of the issues at hand. It is even more difficult to have faith when others seem to have lost it and are walking away from Anonymous as a whole. I will try not to lose it but sometimes when I lie in bed at night I think about

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things and the past and where all that will end. It is in those moments when I am replaying certain events I stop and wonder if it really is worth it. People dont want to listen, they dont want to learn. They are too selfish for change. But alas, I am here, typing to people in hopes that perhaps just maybe, someone will read this and recenter their priorites and we can propell forward and be victorious. Anonrage OMG!! every time i thought like you, and it arrived to me and many friends this year, I got seriously depressed....You are making me cry but I will never loose my hope (( Anon9 You would be surprised, I was tearing up as I typed that last paragraph. I miss my friends who got v& and it kills me to see such thoughtless action from others. But I will try not to loose hope. Im just sad that things are some what at a stand still and people cant find something or someone to have hope and faith in.

I will continue to hope that freedom and the idea of freedom is something people have fought for since the beginning of time. And they have been victorious. So as dark as the days may get, as full as the prison may be; freedom is obtainable. <3 Anon10 I agree that we will be victorious thats for sure. Revolutions never go backwards and even the FEDS must see we are only fighting for our freedoms and futures. We are not terrorists. We are human beings tired of the corrupt criminal ruling class. Failure is not an option. We shall be free.

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DDoS... My Love!
Being an activist is a state of mind, a human nature I can say. You are either born an activist or you are predisposed to become one. The activist is a being filled with empathy who suffers injustice he sees around him, and he wants, needs, wishes, hopes, dreams it ceases by any means. After trying all existing methods, known, conventional or even invented... After finding that nothing works and the people for whom he fights disregard or have not even heard of these actions... Incurring losses of all kind, he plunges into a state of bewilderment, sadness, waiting, or hopelessness. When I saw the media concerned with an unusual event, an action that has shaken more than a big company and state, I suddenly woke up... I saw in this event the hope I have been waiting years for, it was #OpPayback and it was a well covered DDoS attacks, December 2010. Joining the hive, I met dozens of individuals who embody the activist described above; People of all countries, colors, ages, genders, with different political persuasions, but aware that they have common enemies and that by assembling together and using a simple tool, they can tell these enemies that the people of the world are not stupid, they are watching them, alert, and are ready to act, effectively! I also met the LULZ :) A common belief was prevalent among us that DDoS was widely accepted as a virtual sit-in even by courts; The collective blockade of a corporate website in the context of a political event is not violence or coercion but legitimate free expression, a German Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt decided on 22 May, 2006/[1] A case law... On 20 June 2001, the Groups Libertad and Kein Mensch ist illegal (No one is illegal) called for an online demonstration against Lufthansa. With special software they developed, demonstrators were able to automatically call various Lufthansa websites in an attempt to overload the servers. The activists did so to protest the airlines participation in deportations [...] the human rights activists say that some 13,000 Internet users took part in the protest [...] activists saw their online protest as a modern kind of non-violent sit-in and claimed they were acting within their basic constitutional right of freedom of assembly [...] In the summer of 2005, the first-instance court of Frankfurt found initiator Andreas-Thomas Vogel guilty and sentenced him to a fine of 90 days pay. [...] The Higher Court found that the online demonstration did not constitute a show of force but was intended to influence public opinion. This new interpretation left no space for charges of

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coercion, and the accused was found not guilty.[2]

It is the most well known precedent, or case law, relative to DDoS and one of the typical virtual sitins involving thousands of activists and citizens reacting to a consciencebased socio-political issue, but the majority of the historical cases that I consulted in preparation of this article have not led to any complaint in courts or lawsuits. Tolerated DDoS... One of the recent cases involved a known cyber activist, Ricardo Dominguez who had a tenure as associate professor in UC San Diegos Visual Arts Department. Dominguez, who is also a co-founder of The Electronic Disturbance Theater[3], organized an operation of DDoS or a virtual sit-in against the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) on March 4th, 2010, in solidarity with the mass

students protests sweeping across many University of California campuses and the US, against students fees in the UC system and the dismantling of educational support for K 12 across California. As result of this operation, Dominguez has been told that he may face criminal charges for mounting a distributed denial of service attack and became under investigation by the FBI office of Cybercrimes, for which his tenure was threatened, following a legal investigation few months ago, for his project, The Transborder Immigrant Tool. In one of his interviews, Dominguez said he has organized or participated in at least 16 similar protests and until that date has never been accused of criminal hacking. One in 2008 protesting the weaponization of nanotechnology even won him a fellowship from the university administrators.[4] Nonetheless, this case has generated a great solidarity

campaign, a petition signed by 1003 colleagues and fellows expressing a total agreement with the professors action and project has been sent to the university officials[5] in addition to an online petition and a protest in support, sponsored by the UC MultiCampus Research Group in Internationalism and Performance.[6] It is interesting to notice that after all the investigations were dropped, Dominguez had to agree not to do another virtual sit-in performance on the UCOP for 4 years, but the day he signed the agreement, a number of supporters across the nation did a virtual sit-in on UCOP again.[7] This essay and the cited example are opportunities to remind that neither the cyber activism nor the DDoS are Anonymous invention. Dreamed Internet... Well before the existence of the Internet, when the television was

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the most ubiquitous, instantaneous example of a communication medium, in true Jules-Vernian fashion, scrutinizing the future of communications, Umberto Eco almost presaged in 1967 a medium that would achieve what the internet has achieved: [T] he constant correction of perspectives, the checking of codes, the ever renewed interpretations of mass messages. which should lead to the formation of groups of communications guerrillas, who would restore a critical dimension to passive reception. We can read in his influential essay Towards a Semiological Guerrilla Warfare,[8] which coined the influential term semiological guerrilla, and influenced the theorization of guerrilla tactics against mainstream mass media culture, such as guerrilla television and culture jamming: [T]he receiver of the message seems to have

a residual freedom: the freedom to read it in a different wayI am proposing an action to urge the audience to control the message and its multiple possibilities of interpretation, [...] [O]ne medium can be employed to communicate a series of opinions on another medium [] [We need] a future communications guerilla warfare a manifestation complementary to the manifestations of Technological Communication, the constant correction of perspectives, the checking of codes, the ever renewed interpretations of mass messages. The universe of Technological Communication would then be patrolled by groups of communications guerillas, who would restore a critical dimension to passive reception. The threat that the the medium is the message could then become, for both medium and message, the return to individual responsibility. To the anonymous

divinity of Technological Communication our answer could be: Not Thy, but our will be done. Since the first nodes of ARPANET, the predecessor of the Internet, were linked together in 1969, researchers turned it against the intentions of its creators, the Department of Defenses Advanced Research Projects Agency, by using that network to communicate with one another and exchange opinions. This was the single biggest unintended consequence of ARPANET. ARPANETs network mail, a precursor to todays email, was not exclusively used to discuss research, it also helped distribute messages against the Vietnam War, hosted discussions about the Watergate scandal, and ultimately the resignation of President Richard Nixon.[9] When large numbers of activists and aware citizens are able to more easily connect to one another,

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to send and receive original content, and to coordinate action, they are able to create effective political movements. [10] The changed nature of cyberspace offers an opportunity for those campaigning against dominant powers to equalise the political game.[11] With its global architecture, the internet allowed, since its existence, collaboration and participation beyond time and space constraints. As a many-to-many medium it stimulates diffusion of ideas and issues on an unprecedented scale, significantly reducing mobilization costs for groups and activists in collective action. Starting by e-mails exchange and as a communication medium for offline actions, Internet has become nowadays a large battlefront of cyber activists using online vanguard actions against greedy and oppresive entities. Some scholars

even make a strong case to completely abandon the sharp distinction between the online and offline worlds, since both spheres are heavily interdependent.[12] By means of the open network of the internet, a diverse range of activists, groups and social movement organizations could loosely knit together and coalesce in coordinated actions against the WTO summit both offline, in the streets, as well as online, in cyberspace. Although the precise contribution of the internet is hard to establish, these examples show that the internet has given civil society new tools to support their claims.[13] Today activist has a wide range of actions to follow and/or to perform, whether supported by Internet in terms of information, mobilization, organization and transnationalization, or based on it as virtual activities that may range from online petitions, protest websites, alternative media,

email bombings, culture jamming, defacements and virtual sit-ins to hacking the websites of large companies or governments... A mass weapon... But... But, among all these above cited online actions, ONLY ONE can be at the same time a massive mass action and a strong offensive message... It is the DDoS performed as virtual sit-in! The case studies I will discuss later focus on this tactic in particular because, out of the range of tactics that could be termed disruptive electronic contention - and in fact out of the whole repertoire of electronic contention - it is only the virtual sit-in that explicitly requires the collective simultaneous participation of large numbers of people.[14] The message expressed by the sit-in says, especially if applied in the rules of art, ie accompagned by informative press releases,

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flyers and videos: We are numerous to see and understand your behavior, we are watching you and we decided to react collectively. You tried to silence us, we are silencing you. The goal of a virtual sit-in or blockade in the cyberspace is also to call the media and public opinions attention to the protestors and their cause by disrupting normal operations and blocking access to facilities.

It is an action that requires no skill, any citizen of the world can participate and feel himself forceful as long as he knows the issue and wants to be a responsible individual. In the fierce struggle opposing internet users to governments and corporations who wants to transform the internet from an open space for free speech and world wide information spread, a space where users are able to get a say on how it should be managed and organized, into a tool to control and dominate these

users in particular and the whole citizens in general in order to become the obedient herd that consume whatever companies are willing to get them consume, without any objection or dispute, virtual sit-ins are the appropriate collective response to increase public awareness about such plans. It is also obvious that more than any other action, DDoS operations are widely covered by the mass media, thus can play a big role in information and awareness spreading. Beginning in 1994, The digital activism pioneers Critical Arts Ensemble has infered that: Elite power, having rid itself of its national and urban bases to wander in absence on the electronic pathways, can no longer be disrupted by strategies predicated upon the contestation of sedentary forces; And if it no longer matters if this road here is blocked or that supermarket site is camped upon, because place is no longer relevant and all blockages can be moved

around, then many, if not most, protest tactics will be rendered ineffective;[15] Those were the arguments of these first digital activists, in favor of DDoS actions, Since institutions today are no longer localized in physical structures but exist in the decentralized zones of cyberspace, electronic blockades can cause financial stress that physical blockades can not.[16] The Critical Arts Ensemble are known to be the first group who used the Electronic Civil Disobedience concept which was direct political action, theory and artform all in one. Well documented and one of the first mass action hacktivist groups is the Electronic Disturbance Theatre (EDT). Formed in 1998 by four artist-hackeractivists, it retained this multidimensional approach and developed protests in support of the Zapatista struggle by connecting it to the early development

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of the anti-globalisation movement. In the attempt to generate a mass form of online protest, it took the concept of Electronic Civil Disobedience a step further. In 1998, They organized a series of web sit-ins, first against Mexican President Zedillos website and later against President Clintons White House website, and those of the Pentagon, the School of the Americas, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and the Mexican Stock Exchange. The purpose was to demonstrate solidarity with the Mexican Zapatistas. According to Brett Stalbaum, a member of Electronic Disturbance Theater and co-author of the FloodNet software, the Pentagon was chosen because: We believe that the U.S. military trained the soldiers carrying out the human rights abuses at the School of the Americas.[17] The Frankfurt Stock Exchange was targeted as a symbolic protest against globalization, which is at the root of the Chiapas problems:

Because it represented capitalisms role in globalization utilizing the techniques of genocide and ethnic cleansing, which is at the root of the Chiapas problems. The people of Chiapas should play a key role in determining their own fate, instead of having it pushed on them through their forced relocation (at gunpoint), which is currently nanced by western capital.[18] The Electronic Disturbance Theater estimated that up to 10,000 people from all countries took part in the demonstration, delivering 600,000 hits to each of the three websites per minute. [19] DDoS techniques... In order to make these sit-in operations more efficient and less binding, members of the EDT have created a HTML and Java based tool called FloodNet or the Swarm. [20] Once downloaded to an individuals computer, the Floodnet software

automatically connects the surfers web browser to a preselected website and every seven seconds the browsers reload button is automatically activated by the software.The Floodnet software makes use of the server and bandwidth of individual participants that download and activate the software on their computers. If thousands of people use Floodnet on the same day, the combined effect of such a large number of activists will disrupt the operations of a particular site.This kind of software is used to perform a DDoS attack forcing a website to shut down, a server system to be inoperative, or to leave political messages onto the server logs.[21] Animal Liberation Front activists have also used EDTs FoodNet software to protest against Vivisections treatment of animals. Over 800 protestors from more than 12 countries joined a sit-in against websites in Sweden on January 1999.

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Day of Net Attacking Against Vivisection, communiqu from the Animal Liberation Front, December 31, 1998. The First Ever Animal Liberation Electronic Civil Disobedience Virtual Sit-In on the SMI Lab Web Site in Sweden, notice from Tactical Internet Response Network, (http:// freehosting.at.webjump. com//oodnet-webjump/ smi.html) ECD ReportSMI Shuts Down Their Computer Network!!![22] Thanks to its effectiveness, this software has gained a broader interest among international activist groups. On June 18, 1999, FloodNet was one of the tools used in the anti-capitalist demonstration coordinated by many groups from the anti-globalisation movement along with street protests. In the months before June 18, activist groups were e-mailed instructions making the Floodnet widely available on the internet under the J18 banner. The Sunday Times reported that several companies and institutions,

including the Stock Exchange, Barclays and HSBC, were targeted.[23] There are many examples of mass, online direct actions, and many techniques in order to slow and/or down selected targets. It is worth to mention here and remind the simplest method of DDoS: Pushing the reload button. A group calling itself Strano Network conducted one of the first such demonstrations as a protest against French government policies on nuclear and social issues. On December 21, 1995, they launched a one-hour NetStrike attack against the websites operated by various government agencies. At the appointed hour, participants from all over the world were instructed to point their browsers to the government websites. According to reports, at least some of the sites were effectively knocked out for the period. [24]

The first NetStrike action in solidarity with the Zapatista movement was as well performed by this simple method: On Sunday the 18th of January 1998 a call for NetStriking for Zapata (from Anonymous Digital Coalition) came in via email with the following instructions: In solidarity with the Zapatista movement we welcome all netsurfers with ideals of justice, freedom, solidarity and liberty within their hearts, to a virtual sit-in. On January 29, 1998 from 4:00 p.m. GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) to 5:00 p.m. (in the following five web sites, symbols of Mexican neoliberalism): Bolsa Mexicana de Valores: (http://www.bmv.com.mx/) Grupo Financiero Bital: (http://www.bital.com. mx/) Grupo Financiero Bancomer: (http://www. bancomer.com.mx/) Banco de Mexico: (http://www. banxico.org.mx/) Banamex: (http://www.banamex.com/) Technical instructions: Connect with your browser

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to the upper mentioned web sites and push the button reload several times for an hour (with in between an interval of few seconds).[25] Other simple techniques have been used to adapt the virtual sit-ins to different circumstances. In the spring of 2001, the Harvard Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) have organized several actions at Harvard College demanding higher living wages for the institutions janitors and dining-room workers. This movement started with the occupation of several university administrative offices. PSLM members who were not inside the occupied offices, together with other supportive students and professors, built a tent city outside the occupied building that served as central management base for rallies, music events, film screenings, and media visits. After three weeks of the action, as media attention seemed to stagnate and administration

officials continued to refuse any negotiation with activists, the Electronic Disturbance Theater offered to help the PSLM escalate their tactics with a virtual sit-in in order to boost media attention and to increase the pressure on administration officials. As some students expressed their concerns about possible repercussions, adverse effects and a fear that the media might label the virtual action in terms of hacking or cyberterrorism, it was decided to target the websites of 8 major corporations with board members who were also on the Harvard Board of Trustees, instead of attacking Harvard University servers directly. They used a tool that sends repeated requests for nonexistent pages called living_wage@ Harvard.now flooding the targeted corporate servers for as long as participants kept their browsers open, slowing access to their sites and filling server logs with living_wage@Harvard.now not found messages.[26]

The Communication Workers of America (CWA) union who had decided to participate in this action expressed a big interest for this kind of tactics. They collaborated three months after that, in May 2001, with Electronic Disturbance Theater and the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (Comite Pro Rescate y Desarollo de Vieques, or CPRDV) to launch a virtual sit-in in support of civil disobedients who were attempting to force a halt to US Navy military exercises on Vieques island. The CWA called its 750,000 members to join the strike and this fight was a victory according to Dominguez who had received a phone call from the administrator of (http://www.navy.com/) demanding that the action be brought to a halt, as the Netstrike had completely flooded our enlistment database with thousands of messages, and now our site is starting to crash. [27] Upon this, the Navy announced plans to begin

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phasing out its operations in Vieques over a 3 year period. The technique of this DDoS used the Navys own online enlistment form, filling required name, address, and other fields with complaints that the Navy cease bombing and honor demands by Viequenses for a public referendum to decide the fate of the US military presence. This successful operation encouraged afterwards the national office members of CWA to adopt definitely these tactics and they asked the Electronic Disturbance Theater to help them organize a similar Netstrike for a campaign against Verizon. The operation was nearly ready to be launched when the events of September 11th caused CWA to back off from the action; The entire campaign was stopped cold by a drastically changed political opportunity structure.[28] Times have changed... These few examples demonstrate the growing

interest in virtual sit-ins and the increase of participants number and involved groups throughout the 90s until the early years of the 21st century. The successful tactics have of course not gone unnoticed by targeted governments and corporations, especially when they culminated in the most obvious and emblematic ever undertaken DDoS action in order to block the computer networks servicing the World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit started in Seattle, on 30 November 1999. Protest activity to surround the WTO Ministerial Conference was on similar lines to June18 (J18), of the same year, and similar mobilizations, but the scale of the demonstrations dwarfed any previous one in the United States against a world meeting of any organizations associated with economic globalization, even the lowest estimates put the crowd at over 40,000.[29] The aim of the streets action was to halt or disrupt the WTO conference by preventing

delegates from entering the conference venue. To that end, traditional civil disobedience and direct actions were employed, blocking streets with bodies through mass demonstrations and so on. The virtual direct action was run by the Electrohippies (or ehippies)[30], it coincided with the Seattle street protests and operated perfectly in tune with those protests. The ehippies activists claim the action was overall successful, with the WTO conference networks being constantly slowed, brought to a complete total halt on two occasions. They estimate that over 452,000 people swamped the site over ve days, and during the action, the group says participants sent them up to 900 e-mails each day.[31] The electrohippies method of operation is also truly distributed since instead of a few servers, there were tens of thousands of individual computer users involved in the action. The requests

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sent to the target servers are generated by ordinary Internet users using their own desktop computer and (usually) a slow dial-up link. That means clientside distributed actions require the efforts of real people, taking part in their thousands simultaneously, to make the action effective. If there are not enough people supporting then the action doesnt work. The fact that service on the WTOs servers was interrupted on the 30th November and the 1st of December, and signicantly slowed on the 2nd and 3rd of December, demonstrated that there was signicant support for the electrohippies action. (Electrohippies Collective 2000)[32] Despite this success and many other effective operations, either by this group or by others, the Electrohippies collective decided six months later to stay quiet because of two laws that affected their activities and those of many other groups in UK. These

two new laws changed significantly the rights of British citizens to freely use the Internet for political and protest action: The Terrorism Act 2000; and The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. Since early Summer 2000, the electrohippies have been rather quiet. This is because the majority of the ehippies are based in the UK, and during 2000 the British government has been developing new laws to police British cyberspace. This potentially makes the actions of the electrohippies collective in the UK, whilst not illegal, potentially subject to a disruptive investigations by the state [...] But these new laws, rather than enabling the free use of the Internet by all, are seeking to blur the distinction between public protest, crime, and terrorism, in order to provide a safe environment for corporations to do their deals.[33] Since the DDoS techniques have found a fertile ground

to grow that consists of dozens of activists groups, mainly in the antiglobalisation movement, who understood the enormous impact that these operations can have in terms of attracting the mass media attention, and thereby increase the potential of reaching the public opinion increasing by the same fact the political awarness among this public, the snowball effect began to emerge well. On February 8, 2000 hackers attacked Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, CNN and Bulacom, dosing them for several hours. Through denial of service attacks originating from hundreds of independent computers, the sites were flooded with millions of simultaneous requests [....] Although at present no individuals or groups have officially claimed responsibility, MSNBC reported receipt of an 18-page letter claiming responsibility by an individual who angrily criticized the sites for

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their capitalization of the Internet.[34] Rising Repression... Within the USA, the political opportunity structure for disruptive or even conventional cyber activism has been reduced severely by the national climate in the wake of the September 11th attacks. An era of rising repression and police states began, increasingly. Protest action of all kinds has been muted by the rising tide of nationalism multiplied by the mass media organs, and by the passage of legislation curtailing civil liberties in the name of the War on Terrorism. The Patriot Act, whose the last four-year renewal has been signed by Obama on May 26 2011,[35] includes clauses that could mean life imprisonment for individuals who engage in disruptive electronic actions against government or corporate websites. [36] It is worth noting that perhaps equally as powerful as the legislation is the

mass mediated reframing that shifts any talk of Hacktivism or Electronic Civil Disobedience into a discussion about Cyberterrorism. which delegitimizes these tactics and consolidates state and corporate control over the flow of information and virtual capital. An ongoing and growing body of government and corporate publications, conferences, grants, tactics and laws have been concocted aiming at criminalizing and heavily penalizing all attempt to balance or challenge these insatiable entities of economic, political and social domination. The Hope... Doubtless, Anonymous system and phenomenon were the appropriate response to such a situation. Anonymous took up the fight of its elders, carried the banner of the cyber activim of all sort and proved within few months that the aimed balance is not only

possible but also a win could be hoped. This also proved that despite all the repressive mesures taken by governments, behind them the corporations, Internet users and activists can always find the useful tricks to circumvent them; As a tool which, by its very structure, tends to favor freedom, the internet is uncontrollable, multiplicable, expandable at will. Saying this, it leads me to talk about motivations that prompted me to write this essay. I joined Anonymous during a DDoS operation widely covered by the mass media of all level. I enjoyed the information sharing, awareness spreading and, of course, the LULZ, factors that were dominating the atmosphere prevailing among the thousands of citizens of the world gathered together for an action, a conviction and a hope that strongly cheered mine. The efficiency of Anonymous actions

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exceeded all expected results, especially during the Arab Spring and the valuable help offered to Tunisian and Egyptian protestors in order to keep using internet as a communication and organization tool. Repressions arsenal... Even expected, the repression that started since January 2011 had an electroshock effect on the majority of us, amplified by the arrests of 14 anons in USA and the discovery that these peaceful activists could face, for the first time in the history, a combined maximum of 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. The defendants charged in the San Jose indictment allegedly conspired with others to intentionally damage protected computers at PayPal from Dec. 6, 2010, to Dec. 10, 2010. [...] The charge of intentional damage to a protected computer carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a

$250,000 fine. Each count of conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.[37] A quick research on the previous sentences did not lead to similar cases but to some DDoS actions carried for commercial purposes for which the defendants was charged of 12 to 30 months in prison and a maximum of $40,000 fine.[38] Hilarious comparaison! No need to mention that the crackdown was accompanied by a seemingly astute project that costs and will cost billions of dollars to the taxpayers; That is infiltrating our ranks, monitoring chats and influencing decisions, also recruiting some mentally weak elements. And this is how we started to hear that DDoS is not useful, a kids on steroids action, a gay method and so on... an unuseful action that furthermore can cause what our fellows are already

facing; a life destruction... These fear mongering campaigns produced some obvious effects alongside with direct interventions to prevent or to stop some big DDoS operations like #OccupyWallStreet and #OpMegaUpload, by infiltrated law enforcement agents.[39] Should we stop? My purpose is not to minimize the danger of long years prison that we may all face one day or another, in all countries, seen the huge influence and pressure exerted by the USA on the other governments. Every anon should be and is in fact alert about this risk. That this why instead of fleeing the battlefront, many skilled anons are working to improve all kind of protection tools and to find some more secure ways of communication than a unique, easy to monitor and infiltrate, Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Despite these important efforts, human mistakes are inherent to any human action, also our

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enemies could improve their prevention and repression arsenal, but if we continue our fight and, as usual, attract thousands of world citizens for the most aimed virtual sit-ins that millions of citizens are dreaming to see them occuring, will the governments and their repressive arsenal manage to stop and/or to jail them all? What if, despite all attempts to stop us, and instead of falling into the traps of the primitive instinct to flee or retreat in order to protect our own persons, we follow the historical example of the Etoy campaign in 1999? Etoys, one of the biggest e-commerce giants in the world, had established its website in the fall of 1997 and discovered afterwards that another etoy.com exist belonging to an art group formed in 1994 who had registered its domain name in 1995. Using the pretense that this may confuse its customers, Etoys attempted first to buy the domain and

offered upwards of $500,000 in cash and stock options. Since negotiations with the artists proved fruitless, the online toy retailer turned to the courts in the fall of 1999, and got in November 29 a preliminary injunction forbidding etoy to use its domain name, claiming damage to its trademark. During the subsequent weeks, activists attacked eToys by a variety of means, a combination of hacktivist and public relations stunts that have been widely credited with contributing to the 70% decline in the NASDAQ stock value of eToys, a decline that began the same day as the protests. A new community platform, http://www.toywar.com/, gathered a toy army of 1400 activists poised to perform operations on command. The December 15-25 virtual sit-in crippled the eToys servers, as CNN reported. Simultaneously, the Disinvest! campaign filled eToys investment

boards and other outlets with messages about the situation. Many investors responded by dumping their eToys stock. Finally, on December 29, eToys announced it was moving away from its lawsuit in response to public outrage. At first, etoy and the activists were delighted, and a formal counterpart to the statement was expected from hour to hour. Then, when nothing happened for days and then weeks, it became clear that eToys announcement had been an empty verbal concession it had no intention of making concrete, a typical corporate ploy to derail activist momentum. Activists quickly renewed their campaign to damage eToys. Perhaps startled by the endurance of its opponents, and nervous about further attacks and proof of instability during the week it is to announce its quarterly earnings, eToys today--at 15:20 Pacific Standard Time, to be exact--finally

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backed down on paper, ceding full rights to etoy. com on etoys terms, without precondition and formally agreed to pay the court costs and other expenses incurred as a result of the lawsuit. In a press release, the artists celebrated total victory for the etoy. corporation and the Internet community... which proved that the Net is not yet in the hands of e-commerce giants [...] Things on the Internet dont go away, corporations do this sort of thing and then bury it, but this will always be there when you search for information on eToys. It will always be very visible what bastards they were More interesting is the financial analysis by the lawyer and RTMark member Rita Mae Rakoczi, who said in conclusion: If eToys stumbled into this through sheer stupidity and negligence, it could be liable to investors for part of the $4 billion in value thats been lost as a consequence. A

successful lawsuit could even entail eToys losing its own trademark, which would likely mean the end of the company. To encourage lawsuits by investors against eToys for having seriously mismanaged its stockholders money, RTMark has set up a page containing links to resources on class action lawsuits against corporate managements. A precedent has now finally been set in stone, said RTMark spokesperson Ray Thomas. eToys thought it could act like corporations typically do, but it had no idea how the Internet works. Now e-commerce corporations have a choice: either obtain a legal stranglehold on the Internet, so that this kind of defensive reaction is no longer possible, or behave decently towards the humans who use this medium for purposes other than profit. This precedent has been immediately fruitful by its impact on the balance

between the e-commerce companies and internet activists; When thousands of activists forced Internet toy giant eToys to withdraw its lawsuit against art site etoy. com last month, one of their bigger goals was to create a chill on all of e-commerce, so that companies using the Internet would think twice before trying to steal precious bits of online public space. This goal seems to be a few steps closer to being fulfilled. Last week a user of http:// www.the3dstudio.com/ told RTMark that Autodesk, a company that makes a product coincidentally called 3D Studio, was attempting to shut down the forum, which is used by hundreds of 3D artists to freely trade graphics. [....] RTMark informed the parties concerned that it would help sponsor an eToys-style attack against Autodesk. Within hours, Autodesk announced that it would relent from its suit, and on Monday morning Martin M.

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Konopken, Senior Corporate Counsel for Autodesk, officially informed Anderson and RTMark that all threats against The3DStudio.com were being withdrawn; a link to The3DStudio.com was even placed on the Autodesk website.[40] Conclusion... While I was writing this essay, I opened few days ago twitter to get some news, I immediately saw a tweet posting a link to an Anonymous statement entitled Digital Sit-ins: DDOS is legitimate civil disobedience.[41] It has been a while I havent saw such a manifest claim in Anonymous literature... Yes, Anonymous is a genius system, a great movement, an indestructible tool! Our strength? It is the obvious fact that neither governments services, nor companies researchers, even reporters visiting our chat relays almost daily, can understand what we are or how we function.

They may know some aspects, but do not accept this reality or try to hide it from the public opinion: We are simple citizens, aware, alert, and we discovered that cyber activism and its awesome tool, i.e. DDoS, or Virtual Sit-Ins if you prefer, is the best weapon to spread awareness, to share information and, in final, to create what we all wish... An upheaval of the current economic, political and social structure for a real change inspired by our function mode; No leaders, no rigid ideologies or even stagnant thoughts, independent and free individuals gathering for just causes, working in solidarity.

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References
1.  Digital Civil Rights in Europe, Frankfurt Appellate Court Says Online Demonstration Is Not Coercion; June 7, 2006. http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.11/demonstration 2.  Ricardo Dominguez, Electronic Civil Disobedience Post-9/11: Forget Cyber-Terrorism and Swarm the Future Now!; Third Text, Vol. 22, No. 5.; September 2008; pp. 661-670 http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ ucsd/3rdTextDominguez.pdf. See also http://www.libertad.de/inhalt/projekte/depclass/verfahren/index. shtml (German) 3.  The Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT) is a group that developed Virtual Sit-In technologies in 1998 in solidarity with the Zapatista communities in Chiapas, Mexico. Its members remain engaged and active within EDT 2.0 and define themselves as artists of performance art and the aesthetics of new media art who seek to amplify activist work. 4.  Virtual sit-in tests line between DDoS and free speech - Civil disobedience in the digital age; Dan Goodin; The Register; 9th April 2010 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/09/virtual_protest_as_ddos/ 5. http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/3233396/505304724/name/DominguezPetition.pdf 6.  UCSD Targets Dominguez for Activist Scholarship; Erbesto; People Of Color Organize; April 11, 2010 http://www.peopleofcolororganize.com/activism/news/ucsd-targets-dominguez-activist-scholarship/ 7.  On Electronic Civil Disobedience: Interview With Ricardo Dominguez; Zach Blas; Reclamations, January 17, 2012 http://www.reclamationsjournal.org/blog/?ha_exhibit=interview-with-ricardo-dominguez 8. U  mberto Eco, Towards a Semiological Guerrilla Warfare, (1967); in Travels in Hyperreality, New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986. pps. 138, 143, 144. 9.  Trebor Scholz, Infrastructure: Its Transformations and Effect on Digital Activism; in Digital Activism Decoded ; The New Mechanics of Change, Mary Joyce, editor; 2010. pps 18, 19. http://www.cl.cam. ac.uk/~sjm217/papers/digiact10all.pdf 10. M  ary Joyce, editor, Digital Activism Decoded / The New Mechanics of Change, 2010: p 2. Link ibid note 9 11.  Tim Jordan and Paul Taylor, Hacktivism and Cyberwars: Rebels with a Cause, Routledge, London, 2004: p 71. http://hacktivismsu.wikispaces.com/file/view/Hacktivism+and+Cyberwars+Rebels+with+a+Cause.pdf 12.  Read: Jeroen Van Laer & Peter Van Aelst, Internet and Social Movement Action Repertoires / Opportunities and Limitations; in Information, Communication & Society Vol. 13, No. 8, December 2010, pp. 11461171. http://antwerp.academia.edu/JeroenVanLaer/Papers/206215/Internet_and_Social_ Movement_Action_Repertoires_Opportunities_and_Limitations 13. ibid. p. 1147 14. S  asha Constanza-Chock, Mapping the repertoire of electronic contention; 2003; p. 6. http://www-scf. usc.edu/~costanza/electronic_rep_draft.pdf 15. Critical Art Ensemble, CAE (1994) The Electronic Disturbance, New York, Autonomedia. 16. ibid; read also Intervasion of the UK in wikipedia about the earlier DDoS actions in UK. http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intervasion_of_the_UK 17. Niall McKay, Pentagon Detects Web Assault, Wired News, September 10, 1998. 18. Brett Stalbaum, private correspondence with Dorothy Denning, July 23, 1999. See note 14, pp. 264, 265.

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19. ibid note 17. 20. http://trasescena.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/zapatista-tactical-floodnet.jpg 21.  See: PAUL A. TAYLOR, From hackers to hacktivists: speed bumps on the global superhighway? New Media and Society, Vol. 7, No.5, 2005; p 634 http://agoraproject.eu/papers/From%20hackers%20to%20 hacktivists.pdf and: Carl Kaplan, For Their Civil Disobedience, the Sit-In Is Virtual, Cyberlaw Journal, The New York Times on the Web, May 1, 1998. http://partners.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/05/cyber/ cyberlaw/01law.html 22. Denning, p. 267. The web source of this communiqu does not exist any more. 23. S  ee Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Maeve Sheehan, Riot Organisers Prepare to Launch Cyber War on City, Sunday Times, August 15, 1999. Copy of the article here: https://groups.google.com/ forum/?hl=en&fromgroups=#!topic/alt.2600/7zIy03y_6xw 24. D  orothy Denning, Activism, Hacktivism, and Cyberterrorism: the Internet as a tool for influencing foreign policy; nnn; 1999; p. 264 http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1382/ MR1382.ch8.pdf 25. Ricardo Dominguez; 2003 Digital Zapatismo http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/DigZap.html 26. Constanza-Chock, Mapping the repertoire...; pp. 9-12 27. R  icardo Dominguez: Interview by Constanza-Chock on December 4th, 2001; See Constanza-Chock Mapping the repertoire...; p. 13. 28. t he unique source of these events is Constanza-Chock Mapping the repertoire... 29. R  ead 1999 Seattle WTO protests; in Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTO_Ministerial_ Conference_of_1999_protest_activity also Paul Reynolds, Eyewitness: The Battle of Seattle; BBC News, December 2 1999 (With other links in the same page). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/547581.stm 30. E  lectrohippies; in Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrohippies and Electrohippies website http:// www.fraw.org.uk/projects/electrohippies/index.shtml 31.  Tim Jordan and Paul Taylor, Hacktivism and Cyberwars....; pp. 74-79 also David Cassel, Hacktivism in the Cyberstreets; AlterNet; May 29 2000. http://www.alternet.org/story/9223/hacktivism_in_the_ cyberstreets 32. ibid; p. 77. 33.  The electrohippies collective communiqu December 2000; Cyberlaw UK: Civil rights and protest on the Internet (Links to the laws and comments inside) http://www.iwar.org.uk/hackers/resources/ electrohippies-collective/comm-2000-12.pdf 34. M  anion, M. And Goodrum, A. (2000) Terrorism or Civil Disobedience: Towards a Hacktivist Ethic Computers and Society, p. 14. http://hacktivismsu.wikispaces.com/file/view/Manion%26Goodrum%2CTer rorism+or+civil+disobedience.pdf 35. B  everly Goldberg, Patriot Act Renewal Renews Reformers Determination; American Libraries; May 31 2011. http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/news/05302011/patriot-act-renewal-renews-reformersdetermination also EFF, Obama Sides with Republicans; PATRIOT Act Renewal Bill Passes Senate Judiciary Committee Minus Critical Civil Liberties Reforms https://www.eff.org/effector/22/29 36. EFF https://www.eff.org/search/site/Patriot%20act (all about the Patriot Act)

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37.  USA Department of Justice - Office of Public Affairs; Sixteen Individuals Arrested in the United States for Alleged Roles in Cyber Attacks; July 19 2011. (14 of Paypal affair + 2 alleged hackers) http://www. justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/July/11-opa-944.html See also the long list of arrested anons around the world http://freeanons.info/arrests_updates/ 38.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rizon http://www.ddosinfo.com/ddos-news/arizona-man-sentenced-fordistributed-denial-of-service-ddos-attack/ 39.  See for example September 21 2011 in Sabus timeline: SABU uses influence to kill Anonymous attempts to DDoS Wall Street ?rms (http://goo.gl/kDRxS%7Chttp://goo.gl/oU9ur) http://www.scribd.com/ doc/85351496/Timeline-of-ANTISEC-as-Created-and-Operated-Under-FBI-Supervision (Other timelines to come some day) 40.  A European group well known, by the way, for a piece called the Digital Hijack, which made sophisticated use of technology to playfully attack users browsers. 41.  Facts and quotes related to this case have been gathered from many sources, The main ones are: RTMark; Press Release, 9 February 2000, URL: http://www.rtmark.com/autodeskpr.html - TMark, (2000) Etoys Finally Drops Lawsuit, Pays Court Costs http://www.rtmark.com/etoyprtriumph.html - Reinhold Grether, How the Etoy Campaign Was Won; February 26 2000. http://www.heise.de/tp/ artikel/5/5843/1.html - Jason Fry and Megan Doscher, Another David Fells a Goliath; Will E-Lummoxes Ever Learn?; The Wall Sreet Journal Interactive Edition; January 28 2000. http://www.rtmark.com/more/ articles/etoywsj20000127.html

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Anons, the hope.

Long-term plans, occasional plans, more and more arrests, plots, harassments, pressures, direct attacks, manipulation, even love! Methods used to dismantle and kill our great movement, the only one that has brought hope to millions of world citizens after one century of complete despair. The last great and real revolution ended, in October 1917, with a coup detat orchestred by one political party, the Bolsheviks, who seized the power, recuperating actions and sacrifices of thousands of activists and even of the whole country, killing or imprisoning all opposants to its power, especially in the ranks of the revolutionaries who led this revolution, Anarchists in majority. The Soviets (councils or assemblies) are grassroots organs of direct democracy, formed since 1905 to represent workers, peasants, towns and villages, their reformation led to the overthrow of the Tsarist regime in February 1917. After brandishing the slogan All power to the soviets! (Vsya vlast sovyetam!; !), Bolsheviks stripped the Soviets of their power while they were still led by Lenin and stole their name to dress up in, whereas it was an anti-Soviet regime (Hannah Arendt 1958), then transformed them on tools for its domination. Dreams of millions of workers, activists, peasants and even simple citizens had been betrayed, Communist parties in which these millions had put their hope turned into propaganda tools and behaved defendants of the interests of a growing empire, regardless of citizens interests or ideological positions. Those who refused to follow were liquidated, physically and / or morally. The hierarchical and centralized organisational system replaced all the structures of direct democracy up to trade unions, even in the so called extreme leftist parties and groups. Anti-colonialist liberation movements led to militarized and unpopular regimes, where the ruling class had established relationships based on mutual interests with the major powers to protect them against their own people. They were well distributed between the two blocs, East and West, who had learned to avoid a third world war by carrying their conflicts over these countries appointed for the occasion Emerging Countries. The last attempts of revolution of the 1960s and 1970s have been checkmated by this heavy and well organized systems, betrayed by well tamed political parties and trade unions. This explains why the hopelessness and powerlessness feelings were gradually installed in the popular classes from 1917 to the present day and how individual psychology has been more oriented

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toward self-protection and personal interests than to collective interests. Anonymous is the ideal system to avoid these past mistakes and to create best conditions for current and future revolutions. It is a decentralized and anti hierarchical movement where every individual is supposed to be a free thinker, a responsible citizen and a self decider. That is why none of these individuals accepts to have leaders who decide for him or talk in his name and that is why they extol in majority a society that function just like their model, without leaders or governements but sectorial groups caring the interests of all and taking decision by direct democratic assemblies. What makes this system even more effective is the fact that it does not depend on the individuals who compose it, nor on any of them. Anonymous is a set of tools and methods developed over time by

random individuals who share the same principles and goals, it is a set of skills, increasingly sophisticated, which are accumulated and spread anonymously, across all areas of communications that internet can provide. Tools, methods and skills that any citizen can appropriate and use at any moment and any place to get and spread information, continue the previous tasks, organize attacks on targets making information about these chosen targets available to all. It is not fortuitous or adventitious that millions of citizens of the world had recovered their hopes seeing its effective effects, that continuously thousands of them decide to learn, appropriate and use it to participate in a change that is no longer an impossible dream or desperate utopia. And... It is therefore not surprising that governments and corporations that control the world hand in hand, stroking lies, cheating accounting, conspiracy and

repression of all sorts, feel threatened and know their powers end is very near. But instead of learning from the History, from an equation of an unfailing equivalence between tax and repression increases of an empire in its decadent phase and its final collapse, they prefered to repeat history and make the same mistakes that the previous empires had committed without success accelerating their fall into hell, throwing the main players of dirty roles in the dustbin of History.

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Whats anonymous for me? Well for me the internet is a living thing, its grows, evolves and lives. Anonymous is like the chemo for the cancer that threatens the internet. Ive been in anonymous for nearly a decade now, since its beginings on 4chan, I watched it grow from /b/ (fuck rules 1&2) and spread across many mediums. Its the chaotic nature that keeps me around, every time I come home from a lame ass job that bores me, and I open my browser, infomation and the pure data love fill my mind to be shared, used and saved. Its the freedom that I cherish, to say what the fuck I want when ever I want. I dont care whos listening.

For me Anonymous has been a strange journey. In July 2011 i was was moved enough by reading Atopiarys work in the mainstream media, to get off my arse and make a twitter account just to be able to voice my opinion on the LuLzsec work. I cheered them on wholeheartedly up until the arrests. I arranged some ground support for their court cases. Having had my eyes opened to one thing, i went on to research and campaign against many other issues that i feel are wrong. unfortunately IMO there will never be another LuLzsec time. Anonymous has changed with time, and is not the same mindset that the collective once had. This is not a problem, everything changes. As many of you know, the sentences have been passed down by the system, and jake and the other arrestees have accepted their punishment, and moved on with their lives. So for me the circle is complete. I shall allways support the overall idea of Anonymous, but i will wait in

the wings for the next inspiring OP to appear before i re-emerge into the daylight. Anonymous you are awsome and powerful in a very disorganised way. We will always be legion, just not always be visible. #ExpectUs Nov5th 2013

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In 2008, a leaked video of Tom Cruise showed the actor and prominent Scientologist energetically enthusing about the Church of Scientology. The Church moved swiftly to have it removed from YouTube, and in doing so helped inspire a new, as-yet unknown foe: Anonymous. Until this point, Anonymous had been made up of mischievous frequenters of message boards like 4Chan, intent mainly on pranks. But with Scientology in its sights, the group embarked on Project Chanology - a co-ordinated effort to use various hacking techniques to disrupt the Church in any way it could. Chanology was the first op that mobilised the hacktivists in this way, recalls Dr Martin Poulter from the University of Bristol. Scientology gave them a target to organise around, and brought them off the internet and into real life. You wouldnt have people in streets around the world in V for Vendetta masks if it wasnt for Scientology.

Anonymous activists and hacktivists are planning new protests against the Church of Scientology. OpChanology has been around for five years now, but Anonymous seems to be determined to keep it going. Five years ago, the first worldwide Anonymous vs Scientology protest brought over nine thousand anons to the streets in protest of the abusive practices of this cult, representatives of the movement said. Project Chanology is the longest-running Anonymous project ever, marked Anonymouss first major protest against anything, and remains its largest real world action. In February 2013, we mark our fifth anoniversary. A total of 22 protests are scheduled to take place this month all over the world, including Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Besides the live protests, we can probably expect some online manifestations as well.

From what Ive seen, most hacking isnt people stealing other peoples money but people reacting with moral outrage towards the actions of various governments and corporations. No wonder the EU want to prevent it. As far as Im concerned, the hackers are the good guys here.

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ress in Minister claims prog online porn

Theyve already tried to block sites that may contain copyright-infringing material (and failed): how long before those same lobbyists demand that sites that criticise their products, in opposition to their own million-dollar marketing, are blocked too? Gov/Big Business just want to turn the internet into one big, state-approved, propaganda channel.

tackling
Despite the absence of evidence, the myth persists that an abundance of sexual explicit material invariably leads to an abundance of sexual activity and eventually rape. Indeed, the data suggests the opposite. pornography not only can, but does, help to prevent criminal sex problems upbringing of offenders was usually sexually repressive http://www.sexarchive.info/ BIB/DIAM/japan.htm There are certain things on the internet I dont particularly want to see, so I dont go looking for them. But however abhorrent I might find these things, even more abhorrent is the idea that someone else can tell me what I can and cant look at, and that I could go to prison merely for looking.

Viewing footage or photos of adults having sex is not going to harm kids at all. There are societies (in the Amazon etc) where the whole family lives in 1 hut, and children regularly see adults having sex. There are no known cases of rape or pedophilia in these societies. Most of us grew up seeing some porn before we were legally allowed to, and most of us arent rapists or pedos.

Most frequently, ... (in the US) those who committed sex crimes typically had less exposure to S[exually] E[xplicit] M[aterial] in their background than others and the offenders generally were individuals usually deeply religious and socially and politically conservative and held rigid conservative attitudes toward sexuality.

Although a rapist, like anyone else, might find some pornography stimulating, it is not sexual arousal but the arousal of anger or fear that leads to rape. Pornography does not cause rape; banning it will not stop rape. In fact, some studies have shown that rapists are generally exposed to less pornography than normal males. Groth, A. N. (1979). Men Who Rape: The Psychology of the Offender.

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I saw some gay porn last night, which turned me completely gay. Thankfully, I was able to turn myself back by watching some straight porn immediately afterwards. See how ridiculous their argument is? Porn doesn't cause sexual behaviour or preferences. Criminals will commit crime whether porn exists or not.
Just an excuse to censor the web. Once it starts for web porn and extremist sites it will follow exactly the same route as the Chinese and North Koreans and clamp down on everything and anything the government might consider to be a problem. Thus we will all be

deprived of real news and real information and once again the government will be in control - its about avoiding the european spring.

be what the state run media tells us it is. Were digging a hole for the future generations... Bad people do bad things, and have done since humans first roamed the planet. But rather than getting to the root-cause of the problem, lets just ban pictures, books, records, videos, computer games and now the internet. No image has the power to turn someone into a rapist or paedophile. I watch loads of pretty graphic horror movies. I dont think Ive dismembered anyone. If images and videos influence behaviour this much, then why arent there people randomly breaking out into stand up comedy on every street corner?

This is NOT about porn. This is solely about your government taking control of your internet access. Freedom of information has always been a threat to government. Until recently our govt criticised China for web censorship. Pot, meet kettle...and so much for democracy! It starts with censorship of child porn and movie/film piracy, but once that can of worms has been opened 20 years down the line we leave our children with an internet censored by corporate interests. All opposing views will be blocked, no online petitions or protests and the truth will

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Anonymous Operation Syria Press Release

Anonymous has watched with deep satisfaction the recent public disclosure of over 2 million E-Mails belonging to the evil Assad regime and related companies in Syria. Anonymous has been assisting the protesters in Syria since the first week of their revolution over a year ago, and we are grateful to see such a mighty blow dealt to the Assad regime. But as we read through the seemingly endless media coverage of this massive and historic disclosure, there seems to be one very obvious question that no one is asking. Where exactly did WikiLeaks get all these E-Mails? This press release is written and addressed to the media and the world to answer this important unasked question. On Febuary 5, 2012 at approx. 4:00 PM ET USA an Anonymous Op Syria team consisting of elements drawn from Anonymous Syria, AntiSec (now known as the reformed LulzSec) and the Peoples Liberation Front succeeded in creating a massive breach of multiple domains and dozens of servers inside Syria. This team had been working day and night in shifts for weeks to accomplish this feat. So large was the data available to be taken, and so great was the danger of detection (especially for the members of Anonymous Syria, many of whom are in country) that the downloading of this data took several additional weeks. On March 14, 2012 after analyzing the truly staggering trove of E-Mail recovered in this hack, participants in Anonymous Op Syria isolated the personal E-Mail of the dictator Assad and his wife and publicly released this small trove to the world via a press release similar to this one. This disclosure made headlines around the world, but it remained just a tiny fraction of the total data recovered in the original hack. Anonymous Op Syria, and indeed the entire global collective - were at a bit of a loss as to exactly how to deal with and properly disclose such a vast trove of important information. But there is one organization that is supremely well equipped to handle a disclosure of this magnitude, WikiLeaks. Having already formed a partnership with WikiLeaks in the disclosure of the Stratfor Files, it seemed natural and obvious to continue this historic partnership between Anonymous and WikiLeaks with the disclosure of the Syria Files. And thus... On July 5, 2012 - Five months virtually to the day after the brave hackers of Anonymous and the PLF breached the Assad regime servers, WikiLeaks released to the world 2.4 million E-Mail files belonging to the Syrian regime and various Syrian companies. And this is just beginning, expect many more disclosures of this type in the future as this wonderful partnership between WikiLeaks and Anonymous continues to grow stronger and change

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human history. While the United Nations sat back and theorized on the situation in Syria, Anonymous took action. Assisting bloggers, protesters and activists in avoiding surveillance, disseminating media, interfering with regime communications and networks, monitoring the Syrian internet for disruptions or attempts at surveillance - and waging a relentless information and psychological campaign against Assad and his murderous and genocidal government. When world governments would not send so much as a single bandaid worth of medical supplies to the protesters in Syria, it was a team of six European Anons who donned back-packs and walked almost 400 pounds worth of medical supplies over the border (along with ten pounds of chocolate candy for the children) and into Idib, Syria - risking their very lives to assist our dear freedom seeking brothers and sisters inside Syria.

And as long as the tyrant remains defiantly in power, Anonymous will continue to work relentlessly day and night - from every country and every timezone, to assist the courageous freedom fighters and activists in Syria.

We Are Anonymous - We Are Everywhere - We Are Legion - We Never Forget We Never Forgive Bashar Assad, EXPECT US. Anonymous Operations www.AnonymousGlobal.tk Peoples Liberation Front - www. PeoplesLiberationFront.net LulzSec - http://bit.ly/Kuduif

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Anonymous Operations Manual

To the federal agencies, plutocrats and whoever else might be reading this you need to understand one thing and understand it well. We will not be silent, we will not be moved. Expect Us GroundOps: These are the eyes and feet of the collective. Don a mask (or scarf) and take to the streets with a sign or streaming device in tow. This also includes our medical division. You will not make up the main body of a larger protest but you will be needed. We are not leaders but we are the elite. PsyOps: Propaganda, Dox and information department. Gather intelligence or produce a video. Make a new infographic to aid protesters around the world. Work within our various sister hives such as reddit and spread knowledge. Before we made memes, now we make fliers and chance perception. Operator: Watches over Ops from the sky and keeps coms open. If a Stream is shut down find an alternative. Is someone is stuck in Utah and cries for assistance network within the collective and bring them home. These are often cryptologist as well being entrusted with information that is to dangerous for immediate release and instructing others on how to secure their data and communications. Hackers: No-one but you can teach you how to do this Please note many members take on multiple task. Everyone is Anonymous. Some more, some less. To gain members: Print out fliers and stickers and cover the area. Find a public square and hand out leaflets and encourage others to do the same. If you have a worthy cause you can sometimes generate a local cell if you are consistent in your location and time. They come to Expect you there. Even if you go out alone it will inspire anyone who sees you and this is why we exist. Never be seen unmasked or allow people to follow you home. Always check your tail. Anonymity and lack of leadership: The police ask to speak to the leader. We told them that there is no leader. They didnt understand. This is why Anonymous can not be stopped. The powers that be are after our leaders so they can arrest them for terrorism. We still exist because there are none. The Anons you have have seen being hauled off to jail or worse are nothing but the mouth pieces of the moment and the most recent wave of martyrs. Many of our members are as active on the ground as they are in cyberspace. It is of vital importance that their true identities never be linked with their online personas. This is often a

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death sentence for an anon as the authorities will often raid their houses. Anonymity can be attained online by running a VPN from a safe harbor country through TOR. Let there be no digital trace of your face in existence. Remember remember the 5th of November and always go forth this day. Facebook is the worlds largest honey pot and information gathering tool with built in facial recognition technology and a nearly all encompassing database. This coupled with their history of working with various governments has led Anonymous to collectively boycott their service. Stay far away from FedBook all it will get you is v&. Starting your own operation and finding others: Currently the spearhead of operations are on twitter. Find others at #Anonymous and #Anonops. While there is some censorship its really

the best we have to reach the masses. Do not take this task lightly. If you fail hard enough strange things will happen to you. Hashtag format #OpOperation. Further support the operation with pastebins, videos and websites unless you have a local cell ground ops are usually best left to national or international calls to action but 3 anons outside is better than none. Refuse to support any corporation that seeks to limit you whether this be bandwidth caps, restrictions on your files and media or outright censorship. The Genesis of Anonymous was brought about in response to an all out assault on freedom of information and a free and open internet. Let it never be forgot.

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Iran Become the judge of your government

Most respectable and honorable citizens of Iran, YOU ARE SPEAKING OUT AND WE ARE LISTENING YOU are Legion, and we expect you. The protesters who are imprisoned and beaten; the bloggers who are censored; the citizens who are executed for speaking against the regime: you are the ones truly loyal to your country. To those that would remain intimidated into subdued silence: You have passively enabled your government to make a mockery of your freedom. Now is your chance for action, for redemption, and representation. A new dawn is approaching, that will set you and your great country free from the shackles of oppression, tyranny and torture. It will let you exhale, and finally take the first breath that will fill your lungs with strength, wisdom and freedom. Anonymous; You, Me, Everybody, and Nobody. Together we can nullify any threat to our human rights, and they know it. They are aware of our existence, and the coming cascade, but know that they are powerless. As we have been forced to fear them, now they will learn to fear the Power of the People. Most of all, they fear you; Which is why they have kept you in shackles for so long. This is your time, you can now seize it and pave the way for your own future. The government of Iran deliberately portrays dissent as disloyalty, unjustly making examples out of those who speak against sanctioned actions. This strategy only works if people are intimidated into inaction. The government needs to be held accountable for its crimes against you, its citizens. You were the victim, but now you are the judge. Make your ruling. People of Iran, you will not be denied your right to free speech and free press; your right to freedom of assembly, uncensored information and unlimited access to the Internet; your right to a life without oppression and fear. We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.

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For me, been anonymous is like being born again. I can be who ever i want without fear. I can like what ever i want without been singled out. I can that one person that says no without being punished. i can believe what i want and fight for my right to be a free thinker. People may or may not agree with my choices in life but its those choices...the ones I made! that got me here and made me who i am today. Its on this subject that i know there are many people who think the same and regardless of where we are in the world, we can stand together and shout in the same voice. There are a lot of things in this world that need changing and this is a chance for that tiny whisper to become a voice heard around world. Eventually that voice will be the first

pillar for the new foundations we are building. We are Anonymous We are legion We do not forgive We do not forget Expect us!

For anyone whos been paying attention to American politics in the last few years, one thing is abundantly clear: The discontent at our political class, our government and their enablers, is universal. From the Tea Party to Occupy Wall Street and everything in between, its easy to see that so much is badly broken, and that those tasked with trying to fix it, dont really seem to give a damn. Even at the grassroots level, those who have appointed themselves leaders or those who have risen up through the ranks to be perceived as leaders, dont seem terribly interested in truly finding a way to bridge the gap between left

and right, so we can ALL work towards a common goal of a better present and future. From bloggers to talking heads on TV, to professional activists, we should remember at all times that they too have a deeply vested interest in keeping this false paradigm of left v right going. Money, prestige and power have DEFINITELY infected the ranks of grassroots activism on the right, and although I dont follow the left nearly as much, I imagine the same dynamic might exist there too. But, you see, the opportunity for left and right to come together exists at every moment of every day. In my own experience, Ive had friends who identify with Anonymous, friends who identify with the Tea Party, and friends who identify with conservatism all be able to coexist and actually get each other to laugh and to think. So the question becomes... How do we relearn how to truly become We, The People?

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The thought of movements associated with the right and left unifying together at the grassroots level, away from political control, is probably one that terrifies all those invested in our false paradigm. From the politicians to the old media to the new media, SO MANY benefit from keeping us separated, from keeping us angry and fearful of each other, of keeping each other at each others throats. Have no doubt that if we can make this work, we will be attacked relentlessly. But so be it. But if it were possible, for just the breifest moment in time, for the many to come together and throw off the chains of the false paradigm thats been foisted on us... something amazing might happen, no? If this idea were to ever truly take off, it seems the time is right now. Discontent for all parts of the political parties and their sycophantic whores is everywhere we look. Theres no election to

muddy our concentration on this thought of unifying. We can truly seize the agency of our own lives, right here, right now, and try to save this country before it goes up in flames. If something like this were to take off, theres no doubt that it will be painful, awkward, and probably so daunting as to make many of us want to quit before it ever gets started. But something worthwhile like this, an effort to get We, The People together and out in the streets, out in our communities, out into the world, is going to be painful, hard and frustrating. I think its worth it. What do you think?

their cause and create a universal following. I hope that Anonymous is able to create a new inclusive paradigm which can facilitate a unified front, to inform the masses of the issues, to create a movement of informed passions, and to liberate all of us from the treacherous grasps of ignorance. Let the Games Begin!

I am NOBODY. I have always wanted to make a difference, but lacked an effective means to do so. I see that Anonymous has great potential to alienate the masses or create a unified front to empower

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8 January 2013

Tyler an overview, and interview with Anonymous

Tyler is touted as WikiLeaks on steroids. The current site (codenametyler.org) is unimpressive so Infosecurity reached out to Anonymous for an update on its development. Infosecurity talked to Winston Smith, who fronts the AnonUKIre group. Smith joined Anonymous a few years back after falling foul of the UK legal system. By trade he is a systems architect and financial engineer, having worked for several of the leading banks. He also served in the British Army in Northern Ireland. My role [in Tyler], he says, is simple. I propose the designs to the Anonymous Collective and they decide how it gets implemented. I am the most answerable person on the project since I have the most bosses. It is his professional expertise that he is giving to assist Tyler in these critical stages until it can support itself of its own accord. But, he warns, Tyler will not be fully operational until 2014. For the moment, he explained, Tyler Network communities can be accessed currently using only the RetroShare client. Access is via a number of Master Nodes who can invite new users to the network to sync with other nodes on the Tyler network. When it is fully functional, Tyler will be more than WikiLeaks. The common belief is that Tyler is a response to an onerous donation regime introduced by WikiLeaks. But according to Smith, there is much more to it. With WikiLeaks, he explained, the leaks are rarely read by people. A small amount of [specialist] journalists or researchers read the leaks and the rest are traditional media and then social networks. We need to share data but most importantly we need to socially network securely as well. Tyler is the network of encrypted uses accessed currently by RetroShare within Anonymous who are building channels, forums, lobbies to leak, share and discuss. Anonymous is building the nest for the rest of civilization so that it can be safe for citizens to access. The problem with and for WikiLeaks is that it is a snake with a single head, both in spokesperson (Julian Assange) and design (wikileaks.org) which explains, says Smith, why Julian has become targeted by corrupt governments. Tyler, by design is distributed and encrypted more like a hydra. Unlike a snake, if you attempt to cut off the head (Julian Assange), it will be replaced by two more nodes and Anons. Building a network where all edges point to you means that you will become the target. Tyler has tens of thousands of distribution centers, where anyone can share information anonymously to the rest of the network. On a legal point of law Tyler is the very essence of the human right

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to a freedom of expression. Tyler only exists because that right is being interfered with. So what is being developed is a complete, secure and anonymous distributed social network, where individual members of the public can whistleblow securely, network with fellows anonymously, and feel safe from surveillance: it is, says Smith, a fully encrypted social network owned by its participants and not a single organization. Features will include all of the standard social network functionality, including VoIP, Wall, Forums, Chat, Microblog, and Blog. Credibility will be monitored by support of Whuffie features; and internal ecommerce through support for Bitcoin wallets. An open source, open contribution based system is being developed so that Tyler will be open to all for design, development and implementation as it should be. Within a few

months as many people who want to become involved in any aspect of its evolution will be able to contribute anonymously. Until that time, I will be answerable to Anonymous for its design and architecture. It does not mean its my project it means I am the one people can shout at. Many other Anons are involved anonymously. Update Winston Smith has informed Infosecurity that he does not front AnonUKIre. This was the authors interpretation, and is incorrect.

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In a society that values technology for both its potential for good and its capability for evil, the hactivism tactics of loosely-affiliated hacker group Anonymous has provided a glimpse into the shifting boundaries of law, ethics and the morals of activism. The group uses its collective expertise to manipulate the system in a way that, to its followers, is morally right. Despite working for human rights, a valiant cause, the tactics of the group are ethically wrong. Yet they have created important dialogue that needs to be considered as technology improves and the borders of our society change with further globalization. When Tunisia sparked the Arab Spring movement in 2010, demonstrations and protests ensued that threatened the tenure of long-time president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The Tunisian government tried to

block Internet communications in and out of the country. Disturbed, the Anonymous hactivists sprung to action by hacking the Tunisian governments servers and showing the rebellion how to go around the governments ploy, according to Al Jazeera. More recently, Anonymous has hacked Israeli government websites, leaving messages saying Stop bombing Gaza!! We Anonymous will not sit back and watch a cowardly Zionist State demolish innocent peoples lives. Perhaps its greatest trait, Anonymous does not have a leader. It does not have a headquarters and it seems nearly impossible to know for sure who is in the group. The only thing that connects the group of hackers is that they collect intelligence of wrongdoing and combine their forces to try and eradicate it. Their adage, we are anonymous, we are legion,

we do not forgive, we do not forget, expect us, sends a clear message of their intentions towards those they deem a threat to society. Despite its work against these enemies, its tactics are intimidating and unconventional in that the group does not wish physical harm on perpetrators of rights violations; only a revelation of a hidden truth in need of exposure. What makes Anonymous strikingly intimidating is that it uses tactics that are ethically wrong to achieve goals that are morally right. The ethical dilemma of whether or not to condone this type of vigilantism begs to question the reasons the vigilante acts are conducted. To just play devils advocate would undermine the serious consequences that borderline lawlessness can create. If the system of checks and balances that Anonymous is trying to

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put in place becomes too strong, it raises the concern of who would be able to stand up to the power that the group gained through working outside of the law. There are evils in this world. For every tragedy and transgression that occurs, there is a tendency to question whether something could have been done. Anonymous has gained our attention in ousting those who they believe to be evil and it can only continue as long as their Robin Hood mentality does not escalate to anything more nefarious.

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Tips for pulling off a hack and not getting arrested...

Pretty much every activity you do online leaves a digital footprint that can be traced back to you. I have compiled this little list of tips, mostly to keep hacktivists around the world safe and anonymous. 1. Remain Nameless The second you start tagging your name on all of your hacks, you begin to create an identity that can be documented, tracked, and ultimately traced back to you if you ever slip up. In hacktivism, it is not your name and notoriety that are important, but instead its the message you are trying to convey. There is no need to take credit for hacks. It might even be better for your safety if another group takes credit for what you pulled off. They will act as a shield when the Feds seek to crack down on you. 2. Never hack from home - This should be common sense. Dont hack from any place you are attributed with, including home, work, frequently visited coffee shops, etc. Doing this narrows suspects down enough to where you will eventually be caught. It is even considered best practice to not hack from anywhere in or near your home town or towns you frequently visit. The more you can jump around, the more your hacks appear to be unrelated. It may be a bit of an inconvenience, but it definitely beats a prison sentence. 3. Use disposable equipment - This is something that I think is very important to do, but can also be very difficult to pull off. Ideally, when attempting a hack, you should do it from a machine running Linux from a USB drive and connects to the net through a never before used network card. After the hack is complete, both the USB drive and the network card should be disposed of and never used again. 3a. Acquiring the equipment - To ensure your safety, you must anonymously acquire this disposable equipment. This can be done by utilising the art of shop-lifting, or employing a local homeless person to go make the purchase for you in cash. (If anybody has tips on lifting equipment like this, please share!) If the purchase cant be attributed back to you, neither can the equipment if it is found. As with tip #2, you should make this purchase/lift in a city or town separate from both where you live and where you plan to pull off the hack. The more evidence you can destroy, the harder it will be for them to prosecute you. 4. Dont trust ANYONE If you havent heard about the Sabu incident, you should go look it up right now. Even if you have no good reason not to trust somebody, dont do it! Remember that you are doing your hack for the message and the movement and nothing else. The more people you trust, the more vulnerable you make yourself to infiltration attacks

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such as the ones performed by Sabu. Keep it to yourself and give yourself the credit you know you deserve. Dont seek it from anybody else. 5. Whats done is done After you attempt your hack, leave it at that. Dont attempt to go back for more or try to hack the same server twice. Dont encourage others to hack your same servers either. Wipe your chin and walk away. Dont be the criminal who returns to the scene of the crime. I hope these tips are somewhat helpful in keeping hacktivists from being arrested. Law enforcement is cracking down and we have to be prepared to adapt our methods as they adapt theirs. Take it for what its worth. Live Free. Question Everything.

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Anonymity without crime...

Its really frustrating that a majority of the people I talk to about the importance of anonymity immediately go to the argument of, Well, if youre not doing anything wrong, why do you need to be anonymous? I still havent found the best answer for this question yet. I supposed its sufficient enough to say, I dont want to do anything bad, I just dont want my every movement being tracked, but that comes across as a bit overly paranoid. Perhaps thats just a bullet that I will have to bite. I think that a more reasonable approach to why I might want anonymity has to do with not wanting to be FALSELY accused of something based on some faulty Bayesian logic that said I fit the profile of the perpetrator. This may sound a bit paranoid, but I dont think its too far away from reality. I like to think that law enforcement has enough competence to not falsely accuse, but it seems to happen much too frequently for me to be comfortable with. Another reason, as I think I mentioned in a previous flog post, has to do with the fact that sometimes you just have things you want to say that dont get attributed to you in any way. Authors have used pseudonyms for generations, so this is not a concept that is exactly new to the Internet Age. I guess the all in all here would be that anonymity is a pre-emptive layer of protection. Whether its protection from participating in illegal activities or just protection of your name, it gives an added sense of security at the loss of personal recognition. Furthermore, I think that speaking anonymously allows us to see a true insight into the state of human nature. It lets us know what everybody else is actually thinking without knowing who thought what. I feel like there are many thoughts and ideas that get suppressed on a daily basis because society tells us that it is inappropriate or bad to have such thoughts. Morality aside, anonymity gives a voice to the voiceless and allows humans to truly express themselves without any fear of retribution.

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The Hacker Manifesto

by +++The Mentor+++ Written January 8, 1986 Another one got caught today, its all over the papers. Teenager Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal, Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering... Damn kids. Theyre all alike. But did you, in your threepiece psychology and 1950s technobrain, ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him? I am a hacker, enter my world... Mine is a world that begins with school... Im smarter than most of the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me... Damn underachiever. Theyre all alike. Im in junior high or high school. Ive listened to teachers explain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. No, Ms. Smith, I didnt show my work. I did it in my head... Damn kid. Probably copied it. Theyre all alike. I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, its because I screwed it up. Not because it doesnt like me... Or feels threatened by me.. Or thinks Im a smart ass.. Or doesnt like teaching and shouldnt be here... Damn kid. All he does is play games. Theyre all alike. And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through the phone line like heroin through an addicts veins, an electronic pulse is sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is found. This is it... this is where I belong... I know everyone here... even if Ive never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them again... I know you all... Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. Theyre all alike... You bet your ass were all alike... weve been spoonfed baby food at school when we hungered for steak... the bits of meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and tasteless. Weve been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us willing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert. This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasnt run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge...

Children as young as 11 years old are writing malicious computer code to hack accounts on gaming sites and social networks, experts have said.
146 and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe its for our own good, yet were the criminals. Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for. I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you cant stop us all... after all, were all alike. of The Mentor (born Loyd Blankenship). It was written after the authors arrest, and first published in the underground hacker ezine Phrack in Volume One, Issue 7, Phile 3 of 10. It can be found on many websites, as well as on t-shirts and in films. It is considered a cornerstone of hacker culture, and it gives some insight into the psychology of early hackers. It is said to have shaped the hacker communitys view of itself and its motivations. The Manifesto states that hackers choose to hack because it is a way for them to learn, and because they are often frustrated and bored by the limitations of standard society. It also expresses the satori of a hacker realizing his potential in the realm of computers. The Manifesto acts as a guideline to hackers across the globe, especially those new to the field. It serves as an ethical foundation for hacking, and asserts that

BBC News Feb 8 2013.

there is a point to hacking that supersedes selfish desires to exploit or harm other people, and that technology should be used to expand our horizons and try to keep the world free.

I mostly work off my own will, as for ideals? well idealogy of ideas I suppose, just watching ideas evolve and be past on freely with out restriction. I see labling ideals as retarded and restricting; anarchy, communism, capitalism, facism... theyre lables to restrict the idealogies within. For text that inspire me? Probably the Hackers Manifesto by +++The Mentor+++ as it still rings true today even though it was over two decades ago. That probably prompts me to act but its mostly only because I can... or Im bored.

The Conscience of a Hacker (also known as The Hacker Manifesto) is a small essay written January 8, 1986 by a computer security hacker who went by the handle (or pseudonym)

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Hi anons as you will know this is my first post. I couldnt think of a better way to introduce myself so this seems perfect. Its been a long journey getting here, one i havent been able to explain for a year or 2 but finally its all making sence. Let me tell u a little about myself im in my 40s male from the north of england. I have never been money motivated, have always had a outrage inside at injustice and unfairness and have been mildly awake for most of my life. I say mildly awake as i am able to stand back and see the bigger picture this has led me to NOT watch tv to NOT blindly follow what is pumped from the media and to trust what truths are fact not fiction. Sadly while this self imposed bubbling away from the coersive forces has kept me safe from propeganda, spin, lies and deceit it has

also kept me blind to the facts about the world we live in. NO MORE......... like many in the world who question just what the hell is going on, I started looking at alternative sources for information. Internet news stations,began using you tube for more than just odd music and a giggle. THATS where it starts THATS where you start the journey down the rabbit hole. Sure theres a load of crap out there and there are some way out ppl with some way out ideas but the fundimentals are all the same. The populace exists to serve the few. But i see signs that the world is shaking its head and clearing the fog that has been so carefully veiled about us. I want a better world. How can anyone want to bring a child up in this mess.

Now i am anonymous Now i am legion Now i do not forgive Now i do not forget NOW EXPECT US

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The Snowden files: why the British public should be worried about GCHQ
John Lanchester The Guardian 3 Oct 2013 When the Guardian offered John Lanchester access to the GCHQ files, the journalist and novelist was initially unconvinced. But what the papers told him was alarming: that Britain is sliding towards an entirely new kind of surveillance society. In August, the editor of the Guardian rang me up and asked if I would spend a week in New York, reading the GCHQ files whose UK copy the Guardian was forced to destroy. His suggestion was that it might be worthwhile to look at the material not from a perspective of making news but from that of a novelist with an interest in the way we live now. I took Alan Rusbridger up on his invitation, after an initial reluctance that was based on two main reasons. The first of them was that I dont share the instinctive sense felt by many on the left that it is always wrong for states to have secrets. Id put it more strongly than that: democratic states need spies. The philosopher Karl Popper, observing the second world war from his academic post in New Zealand, came up with a great title for his major work of political thought: The Open Society and Its Enemies. It is, in its way, a shocking phrase why would the open society have enemies? (But then, the title of Charles Repingtons The First World War, published in 1920, was shocking too, because it implied that there would be another one.) We do have enemies, though, enemies who are in deadly earnest; enemies who wish you reading this dead, whoever you are, for no other reason than that you belong to a society like this one. We have enemies who are seeking to break into our governments computers, with the potential to destroy our infrastructure and, literally, make the lights go out; we have enemies who want to kill as many of us, the more innocent the better, as possible, by any means possible, as a deliberate strategy; we have enemies who want to develop nuclear weapons, and thereby vastly raise the stakes for international diplomacy and the threat of terrorism; and we have common-or-garden serious criminals, who also need watching and catching. I get all that. It doesnt thrill me to bits that the state has to use the tools of electronic surveillance to keep us safe, but it seems clear to me that it does, and that our right to privacy needs to be qualified, just as our other rights are qualified, in the interest of general security and the common good. Reassuring read My week spent reading things that were never meant to be read by

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outsiders was, from this point of view, largely reassuring. Most of what GCHQ does is exactly the kind of thing we all want it to do. It takes an interest in places such as the Horn of Africa, Iran, and North Korea; it takes an interest in energy security, nuclear proliferation, and in state-sponsored computer hacking. There doesnt seem to be much in the documents about serious crime, for which GCHQ has a surveillance mandate, but it seems that much of this activity is covered by warrants that belong to other branches of the security apparatus. Most of this surveillance is individually targeted: it concerns specific individuals and specific acts (or intentions to act), and as such, it is not the threat. Even Julian Assange thinks that, and said as much in his alarming and perceptive book Cypherpunks: Individual targeting is not the threat. When the state

has specific enemies and knows who they are and the kind of harm they intend, it is welcome to target them to make the rest of our polity safe. I say again, on the evidence Ive seen, this is mainly what GCHQ does. I would add that the Guardian and its partners have gone to a lot of trouble to prevent any unnecessarily damaging detail about this work being published. Problems and risks The problems with GCHQ are to be found in the margins of the material though they are at the centre of the revelations that have been extracted from the Snowden disclosures, and with good reason. The problem and the risk comes in the area of mass capture of data, or strategic surveillance. This is the kind of intelligence gathering that sucks in data from everyone, everywhere: from phones, internet use from email to website visits, social networking, instant messaging and video calls, and even areas such as

video gaming; in short, everything digital. In the US, the Prism programme may have given the NSA access to the servers of companies such as Google and Facebook; in the UK, GCHQ has gained a similar degree of access via its Tempora programme, and the two of them together have a cable- and network-tapping capabilities collectively called Upstream, which have the ability to intercept anything that travels over the internet. This data is fed into a database called XKeyscore, which allows analysts to extract information in real time, ie immediately, from a gigantic amount of hoovered-up data. In addition, the NSA has encouraged technology companies to install secret weaknesses or backdoors into their commercially available, supposedly secure products. They have spent a very great deal of money ($250m a year alone on weakening encryption), on breaking commercially

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available security products. Other revelations have been published in Der Spiegel, and concern the NSA exploitation of technology such as the iPhone. Access all areas What this adds up to is a new thing in human history: with a couple of clicks of a mouse, an agent of the state can target your home phone, or your mobile, or your email, or your passport number, or any of your credit card numbers, or your address, or any of your logins to a web service. Using that selector, the state can get access to all the content of your communications, via any of those channels; can gather information about anyone you communicate with, can get a full picture of all your internet use, can track your location online and offline. It can, in essence, know everything about you, including thanks to the ability to look at your internet searches whats on your mind.

To get a rough version of this knowledge, a state once had to bug phones manually, break into houses and intercept letters, and deploy teams of trained watchers to follow your whereabouts. Even then it was a rough and approximate process, vulnerable to all sorts of human error and countermeasures. It can now have something much better than that, a historically unprecedented panoply of surveillance, which it can deploy in a matter of seconds. This process is not without supervision, of course. In order to target you via one of these selectors thats the technical term the agent of the state will have to type into a box on his or her computer screen a Miranda number, to show that the process is taking place in response to a specific request for information, and will also need to select a justification under the Human Rights

Act. That last isnt too arduous, because the agent can choose the justification from a drop-down menu. This is the way we live now. British reaction And yet nobody, at least in Britain, seems to care. In the UK there has been an extraordinary disconnect between the scale and seriousness of what Snowden has revealed, and the scale and seriousness of the response. One of the main reasons for that, I think, is that while some countries are interested in rights, in Britain we are more focused on wrongs. In Europe and the US, the lines between the citizen and the state are based on an abstract conception of the individuals rights, which is then framed in terms of what the state needs to do. Thats not the case in Britain: although we do have rights, they were arrived at by specific malfeasances and disasters on the part of the state.

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Every right that limits the behaviour of the police, from the need for search warrants to the (now heavily qualified) right to silence to habeas corpus itself, comes from the fact that the authorities abused their powers. This helps to explain why Snowdens revelations, perceived as explosive in American and Europe by both the political right and left, have been greeted here with a weirdly echoing non-response. In the rightsbased tradition, the flagrant abuse of individual privacy is self-evidently a bad thing, a (literally) warrantless extension of the power of the state. Here in the UK, because weve been given no specific instances of specific wrongs having been committed, the story has found it hard to gain traction. Even if there were such instances just as there were 2,776 rule violations by the NSA last year alone we wouldnt know anything about them, because the system of

judicial inspections at GCHQ is secret. So it is a perfectly sealed mechanism: we arent interested in rights in the abstract, and we are prevented by law from hearing about any of the specific abuses which might start to focus our attention. The documents make clear that GCHQs eavesdropping abilities are on a scale unmatched anywhere in the free world, and they privately boast about the more permissive legal environment in the UK and yet, nobody seems to care. Its tragicomic that the surveillance story which most gripped the public imagination concerned Poole borough councils use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (Ripa) to spy on a family suspected of cheating in regard to school catchment areas. Helping the bad guys Its worth taking a moment to ask how helpful the

publication of information about this is to the bad guys. (Girls too. But mainly guys.) The answer is evident, I think, in the underremarked fact that Osama bin Ladens compound in Abbottabad didnt even have a telephone line running into it. In other words he not only didnt use the net, computers or phones in any way at all, ever, he was suspicious of the actual physical apparatus itself. This means that the bad guys know very well that they have to be careful. (It should also be noted that the absence of any electronic footprint at the Abbottabad compound was as depicted in the movie Zero Dark Thirty a sign to the spies that something fishy was afoot. Nobody innocent has no electronic footprint.) Some of the jihadi materials I read in the GCHQ documents make it clear that the terrorists are very

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well aware of these issues. There is a stinging jeer in one jihadi text, apropos a Swedish documentary that made clear certain bugging capabilities in Ericssons mobile phones: It is customary in the Scandinavian countries to publish such helpful materials. While the broad details of general strategic surveillance are shocking and need to be known, the thing that would be helpful to the bad guys is the publication of the specific technical details. These the Guardian and its partners have gone to great lengths to keep secret. The unkeepable secret Bear in mind also that these documents were widely circulated: out of the 4.9 million Americans with access to classified information, 480,000 private contractors in the US had the top-secret security clearance issued to Snowden.

If hundreds of thousands of people had access to these secrets, how secure were they? The NSA and GCHQ had no idea that Snowden had this material, and apparently still dont know exactly what is in it which is one reason theyve been panicking and freaking out. But if they didnt know that Snowden had copied it, how could they possibly be sure that someone else hasnt also taken a copy and slipped it to the Chinese or Russians or Iranians or al-Qaida? It was cheeky of Oliver Robbins, deputy national security adviser in the Cabinet Office, to harrumph about very poor information security practices on the part of David Miranda, the partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald who was detained at Heathrow under anti-terror laws. Our spooks lost at least 58,000 pages of classified documents to a US civilian sitting at a workstation in Hawaii, and did so without

realising it had happened. In effect theyre saying, your secrets are safe with us, except when we lose them. Theres one further conclusion to draw from the fact that so many people had access to this material. It means that this story would at some point have come out. A programme of this scale in a modern democracy, involving hundreds of thousands of people with access to the fact of total internet surveillance, was an unkeepable secret. It may be no comfort to Snowden as he faces his future, but someone somewhere would eventually have done what he did. Some dams are fated to burst. Whats new This brings me to my second reservation about looking at the material: the question of whether it contained anything that we didnt already know. In the Tony Scott movie Enemy of the State, the paranoid former NSA spook

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played by Gene Hackman lays it out with complete clarity: The governments been in bed with the entire communications business since the 40s, he says. They have infected everything. They can get into your bank statement, computer files, email, listen to your phone calls. That movie came out in 1998, and was a hit, seen by many millions, so even then, in some sense, everybody knew about the work of the NSA/GCHQ. People who kept informed on these subjects have for decades been careful about using specific words over the phone, especially over transatlantic phonelines. I remember Christopher Hitchens, at the time that concern about Salman Rushdies welfare was at its peak, wouldnt use his name over the phone but would instead refer to our mutual friend. So in some sense, perhaps its true that everybody knew. This would be

analogous to the manner in which we all know surveillance is pervasive in police work, and yet police methods are by law forbidden from being used in evidence, or indeed even mentioned in court. The ban on mentioning police surveillance is there because they dont want us to realise how much of it there is. We all know that, and yet it doesnt seem to matter much. Perhaps the GCHQ stuff was the same? Ive changed my mind about that. It was changing anyway as I thought more about the meaning of Snowdens exposures, and it has changed more still now that Ive looked at them first-hand. Broad definitions Ive said that the concerns over GCHQ are at the margins of what it does: but those margins are very broad. They especially concern things that are referred to in the documents as SD, which means sigint development.

Sigint is signal intelligence, which is what GCHQ does. Development means well, thats the crux of it. It means finding out new things, exploring new technologies, and developing new ways of finding targets. When you look at the documents, it appears to be the case that SD provides the legal basis for mass surveillance of the kind revealed in the Tempora and Prism programmes. The mandate of GCHQ which by the way didnt have a legal basis of any kind until 1994 is surveillance for reasons of national security, economic well being, and serious crime. The main law concerning its activities is Ripa. If you read this 2000 act (which, by the way, I dont recommend, since its tortured and laborious even by the standards of statute-speak), its clear that the main focus of its provisions is targeted surveillance. Its about what the spies and cops

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are allowed to do to catch specific bad guys. Ripa is pretty broad in its drafting, and it seems apparent that the intention was to let the authorities do anything they wanted with phones and email. And yet, it nowhere explicitly allows the mass interception of communications by people about whom the state has no reason for suspecting anything which is what programmes such as Tempora and Prism permit. Behind the times The law always lags behind technology, thats inevitable. If you look at the first version of the modern Official Secrets Act, which was made law in 1911 and is still the main broad statement of government secrecy in effect today, its first provisions concern the making of maps and charts. It is evident that the kind of spying on the lawmakers minds concerns a chap in plus-fours claiming that

hes making drawings of seabirds, only why has he accidentally made accurate sketches of that nearby naval base, and why does he have a heavy German accent ? The current spying laws continue to lag behind reality, not only because the spies are less concerned with mysterious birdwatchers, but because life itself has changed. Formerly, the activities for which the spies were on guard were visible acts of wrongdoing and intelligencegathering: enemies making maps of naval bases, or breaking into offices, or bribing civil servants, or seducing and blackmailing other spies, or any of the other ways in which they could try to steal secrets. In the case of modern signals intelligence, this is no longer true. Life has changed. It has changed because of the centrality of computers and digital activity to every aspect of

modern living. Digital life is central to work: many of us, perhaps most of us, spend most of our working day using a computer. Digital life is central to our leisure: a huge portion of our discretionary activity has a digital component, even things which look like they are irreducibly un-digital, from cycling to cooking. (I once happened to visit Googles offices in Victoria, where theres a live stream of peoples queries on a huge flat screen. Most of them were in Japanese. My host, who speaks Japanese, glanced at them and looked at her watch. Recipes, she said. Its 7pm in Japan, people have just got in from work and are thinking about what to cook.) As for our relationships and family lives, that has, especially for younger people, become a digitalfirst activity. Take away Facebook and Twitter, instant messaging and Skype and YouTube, and then its hard to imagine, but try take away the

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mobile phone, and see the yawning gap where all human interaction used to take place. About the only time we dont use computers is when were asleep thats unless we have a gadget that tracks our sleep, or monitors our house temperature, or our burglar alarm, or whatever. This is the central point about what our spies and security services can now do. They can, for the first time, monitor everything about us, and they can do so with a few clicks of a mouse and to placate the lawyers a drop-down menu of justifications. Surveillance ambitions Looking at the GCHQ papers, it is clear that there is an ambition to get access to everything digital. Thats what engineers do: they seek new capabilities. When it applies to the people who wish us harm, thats fair enough. Take a hypothetical, but maybe not unthinkable, ability to eavesdrop on any room via

an electrical socket. From the GCHQ engineers point of view, they would do that if they could. And there are a few people out there on whom it would be useful to be able to eavesdrop via an electrical socket. But the price of doing so would be a society that really did have total surveillance. Would it be worth it? Is the risk worth the intrusion? That example might sound far-fetched, but trust me, it isnt quite as far fetched as all that, and the basic intention on the part of the GCHQ engineers to get everything is there. Consider the direction in which were moving. Britain has more CCTV cameras than anywhere else in the world, by a huge margin. Nobody knows how many CCTV cameras there are in the country, but the most respectable estimate seems to be the one made by Cheshire police in 2011, which came up with a number of 1.85m. Add to this the capacity for

facial recognition software, which already exists and is improving sharply. Further add the capacity for surveillance brought by the internet of things, involving the inclusion of internetenabled computer chips in everything from cars (where they already are, in high-end models) to fridges to plants (which will tweet their minders when they need to be watered). This might sound like science fiction, but the current estimate is that there will be 20bn such devices in use worldwide by 2020. Add to this the fact that a lot of this electronic potential gives access not just to external real-world data our locations, our conversations, our contacts books but to the inside of our heads. I call this the knowing youre gay test. Most of us know someone who has plucked up the courage to reveal their homosexuality, only to be cheerfully told by friends and family, oh, weve known that for years.

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Now, though, search engines know facts about peoples thoughts and fantasies long before anyone else does. To put it crudely, Google doesnt just know youre gay before you tell your mum; it knows youre gay before you do. And now GCHQ does too.

New society What this means is that were moving towards a new kind of society. Britain is already the most spied on, monitored and surveilled democratic society there has ever been. This doesnt seem to have been discussed or debated, and I dont remember ever being asked to vote for it. As for how this trend appears in the GCHQ documents, there is something of a gap between how the spies talk in public and how they can occasionally be found to talk in private. It is startling to see, for instance, that the justification for the largescale interception of

everybodys internet use seems to be a clause in Ripa allowing interception of at least one end foreign communications. Whack on to this a general purpose certificate from the secretary of state, and a general warrant, and bingo, this allows full access to traffic via companies such as Google and Facebook because their servers are located overseas. I cant believe that that was the intention of the people who drafted Ripa, who were surely thinking more of people taking phone calls from moody bits of Waziristan, rather than your nan searching for cheaper tights. There is a revealing moment in the most recent piece written for the Guardian by Sir David Omand, former head of GCHQ. He said that the real debate we should be having is about what privacy in a cyber-connected world can realistically mean given the volumes of data we hand over to the private sector in return for

our everyday convenience, and the continued need for warranted access for security and law enforcement. Thats a total non-sequitur: Omand seems to think that just because we hand data over to Google and Facebook the government automatically has the right to access it. Its as if, thanks to a global shortage of sticky gum, envelopes can no longer be sealed, so as a result the government awards itself a new right to mass-intercept and read everybodys letters. Staying within the law All through the GCHQ material there is a tremendous emphasis on the legal basis of its operations, particularly in respect of article 8 of the Human Rights Act, which grants: Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. It is repeatedly stated that GCHQ operates within

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the law and that GCHQ does it legally and that surveillance always has to be justified, necessary and proportionate. Good it would be terrifying if that werent the case. But if GCHQ seldom breaks the law, its because the law is so broadly drafted and interpreted its almost impossible to break. Also, in the GCHQ papers there are occasional glimpses of a different attitude, usually to be found in slides which are marked as hidden in PowerPoint presentations, or in the presenters notes to other slides. (Many of the clearest documents are internal GCHQ briefings laid out in the form of PowerPoint talks. I was reminded of Malcolm Gladwells great joke, in response to whether he needed audio-visual aids for a lecture: All power corrupts, but PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.) For instance, a legal briefing on the Human Rights Act lists the instances in

which it is legal for the state to breach article 8: In the interests of national security, public safety or the economic wellbeing of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. The notes make the point that national security, public safety and serious crime are the three current reasons for which GCHQ is allowed to eavesdrop, but there is a chilling addition: Just 3 at the moment. No reason why GCHQs remit would not be changed in the future but this is what we are allowed to do at the moment. Its usually only in books that peoples blood runs cold, but mine did when I read that. Just three at the moment: in other words, there are just three reasons why GCHQ can violate article 8, the right to privacy. But that could change. It would be legal in human rights terms for GCHQs mandate

to cover the prevention of disorder, not to mention the protection of health or morals. Extending state power The totalitarian state in Orwells Nineteen EightyFour would need no broader legal justification than that: it really does allow a government to do anything it likes. It was at this point that I became convinced that Snowdens revelations are not just interesting or important but vital, because the state is about to get powers that no state has ever had, and we need to have a public debate about those powers and what their limits are to be. At a moment of austerity and with a general sense that our states ability to guarantee prosperity for its citizens is in retreat, that same state is about to make the biggest advance ever in its security powers. In public, the state is shrinking; in private, it is shrinking until it gets just small enough to fit into our phones, our

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computers, our cars, our fridges, our bedrooms, our thoughts and intentions. Another secret slide is headed SRA a mysterious acronym that is not explained. The slide concerns 2P intelligence, 2P meaning second party, ie other countries in the five eyes alliance of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It says that an SRA, whatever it is, authorises receipt of 2P intelligence on UK based targets where GCHQ has no authorisation. Since GCHQ can spy on any foreign national it wants, this can only mean the surveillance of people on whom it isnt legal for GCHQ to spy. That looks to me an awful lot like a means of obtaining permission to spy on people British citizens? outside the law. Weve heard a lot of talk about the distinction between content and metadata content being the stuff inside

communications, metadata the who and when and where and how of the communication, but not the content. The idea is that the spooks focus on the metadata and ignore the content so they notice your nan logging on to the net, where and when and for how long, but dont read the actual content of the search. This distinction is written into the law in both the US and the UK. This would be reassuring, if the notes didnt say this: GCHQ policy is to treat it pretty much all the same whether its content or metadata. Put all these together and it is no wonder the documents contain a boast about the UKs more permissive legal environment. A new panopticon The prospect this presents is something like the panopticon which Enlightenment philosophers advocated as a design for the ideal prison in the 18th century, and about which the French philosopher Michel Foucault wrote in his book

Discipline and Punish: He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he inscribes in himself the power relations in which he simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection. When I first read Foucaults account of the panopticon, where the individual at the centre can simultaneously see and judge a whole multitude of other individuals, I thought it was brilliant but overheated. Now, it actually seems like somebodys plan. Thats what we risk becoming: a society which is in crucial respects a giant panopticon, where the people with access to our secrets can see, hear, intercept and monitor everything. Members of the security establishment always want

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more abilities, more tools, more powers for themselves and fewer rights for us. They never say thanks a lot, were good from here, we have everything we need. Public enemies From their point of view the point of view of wanting ever more invasive secret powers al-Qaida and its affiliates are the perfect enemy. Because al-Qaida combines the characteristics of an ideology and a network, it is everywhere, it is invisible, it is never more dangerous than when you cant see it. The new emphasis on anticipating the actions of lone wolf terrorists raises this danger even higher: the risk of terrorism from people who have never been caught committing a crime, who have no known terrorist affiliations, who are invisible, who could be anywhere It is the ultimate version of the scare story that used to be called reds under the bed. How can the state every hope to protect us against

people like that, if not by permanent, omnipresent, ever-increasing surveillance? If we are going to remake society in the image of the fight against terrorism, and put that secret fight at the heart of our democratic order which is the way were heading we need to discuss it, and in public. Exaggerated risks When we do so, it might be helpful to consider something called the banana equivalent dose (BED). This is a term used in physics to measure the amount of radiation emitted by a banana. It is a number popular with people who think the dangers of radiation are exaggerated, and who use it to make the point that almost everything is radioactive. A dental x-ray has a BED of 50; serious radiation poisoning takes a BED of 20m; sleeping next to someone for one night has a BED of 0.5 and living within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant for a year has a BED of 0.9.

Since 9/11, 53 people have been killed by terrorists in the UK. Every one of those deaths is tragic. So is every one of the 26,805 deaths to have occurred on Britains roads between 2002 and 2012 inclusive, an average of 6.67 deaths a day. Lets call that the SDRD, standard daily road deaths. The terrorist toll for 12 years comes to 0.0121 SDRD. This means that 12 years of terrorism has killed as many people in the UK as eight days on our roads. The security establishment will immediately reply that this figure leaves out deaths of terrorism victims abroad and the lives saved by its secret actions, none of which can be made known without jeopardising current and future operations. Is that enough of a justification for the scale and extent of what is happening to our privacy? Is the current supervisory regime which involves senior judges inspecting GCHQs actions, within the circle of secrecy,

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and issuing a secret report adequate to the scale of the states powers? Id repeat the point that as digital technology, and the ability to enact surveillance through technology, expands its remit, those powers are increasing almost by the day. In the UK we have a strange sleepy indifference to questions of surveillance and privacy. The innocent have nothing to fear, says William Hague. But who gets to define who is innocent? Who gets to say what is contradictory to the economic wellbeing of the UK? If the innocent have nothing to fear, why is the state reading so many of our emails, and sucking up so much metadata from our phones and computers, under the umbrella of sigint development?

strut around in jackboots; its a country where the police can do anything they like. Similarly, a security state is one in which the security establishment can do anything it likes. We are right on the verge of being an entirely new kind of human society, one involving an unprecedented penetration by the state into areas which have always been regarded as private. Do we agree to that? If we dont, this is the last chance to stop it happening. Our rulers will say what all rulers everywhere have always said: that their intentions are good, and we can trust them. They want that to be a sufficient guarantee. My proposals Theres no need for us to advance any further down this dark road. Here are two specific proposals. The first is that the commissioners who supervise GCHQ include, alongside the senior judges who currently do the work, at least one or two public figures who

are publicly known for their advocacy of human rights and government openness. The circle of secrecy needs to include some people who are known for not being all that keen on the idea of secrecy. My second proposal is for a digital bill of rights. The most important proviso on the bill would be that digital surveillance must meet the same degree of explicit targeting as that used in interception of mail and landlines. No more one end overseas and sigint development loopholes to allow the mass interception of communications. There can be no default assumption that the state is allowed access to our digital life. As the second most senior judge in the country, Lord Hoffmann, said in 2004 about a previous version of our anti-terrorism laws: The real threat to the life of the nation, in the sense of a people living in accordance with its traditional laws and

Police state People misunderstand what a police state is. It isnt a country where the police

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political values, comes not from terrorism but from laws like these. That is the true measure of what terrorism may achieve.

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Freedom of speech
What is freedom of speech and why is it relevant to society? Most people respond that freedom of speech is the right to say whatever you want or to voice your own opinion. While this makes all of you feel better knowing you wont be murdered by your government for speaking your mind, this is just a minor point in its relevancy to society. Few people realize that actions are really what enables society to progress through freedom of speech. MLKs I have a dream speech was not nearly as important as the simple act of a black man, in those times, walking up to the podium to speak for the oppressed. Freedom of speech is changing your online habits to avoid NSA spying. Freedom of speech is all of the small choices you make daily that you dont even think about. In the age of the internet people still fail to realize that real life and internet, while connected, are not one and the same. On the internet you are given the choice to choose how you represent yourself. In real life you are represented by the way you look, by the color of your skin, by the clothes you wear, by your accent, by your gender and many other arbitrary things. On the internet none of these things matter. Considering this imagine an account on twitter had images of swastikas and they said the word nigger. Most people pass by that account assuming they are inherently racist. The internet is made up of free speech and symbolism displayed on a screen. Its not made up of anything tangible. Its 2013 and people are still offended by words and symbols on a screen. 4chan has used words and symbolism not to define itself but to keep out the people that have failed to understand them in real life. People that dont get there jokes and fail to grasp the simple ideas spread around. Maybe the twitter account posting swastikas just wanted to offend you and keep you out of their mentions. Recently @anon_central was suspended for alledgly d0xing someone. First off the person posting most of that was being an idiot but they didnt d0x anyone. What was posted was a link that was in the top search on google.com. They also did not create the images posted. Were they suspended for linking content that already existed? Are you going to be happy when you get suspended for posting a link that you found on google? Did they cause you to have feels and butthurts? Or did they create a platform in which people discussed other relevant issues about rape that rarely get discussed? Let us consider what the West Boro Baptist church actually did to help the LGBT rights and communities. Before the WBC there was no way America was ready for Gay people to marry. The WBC showed the American

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population a polar extreme on the Gay rights debate. They showed the world a caricture of homophobia. They showed Americans what their own homophobics thoughts really looked like. Ironically the WBC made the world less ignorant on the LGBT rights and issues. Even the negatives of free speech are relevant to society. Freedom of speech doesnt mean you get to choose who gets to use it. Recent revelations about NSA spying have back the terrible phrase, If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. this is a statement that gets put out without any real rebuttal to why or how it is so detrimental to the growth of society. We know that people willing give up liberty for security in our Free society. I feel they would be less inclined to if they knew the harm it caused. Spying is censorship. If you believe that everything you type up on a digital device,

or the words you say on a cell phone are be listened to you will begin to censor yourself. You start becoming afraid that the people spying may not understand what it is you are trying to say and think you have malicious intent. We have seen this happen too many times. We have the facebook rapper, the tumblr experiment, the airport sandwich guy and so on. Spying forces people to revoke their own freedom of expression.

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Remember remember the fifth of November. An unrecognised hero, tortured, dismembered. Yet his spirit lives on, within each anon. the sheeple are waking, the battle has begun... The drums they will sound, as gathered is the crowd, their voices, once silent, will all roar out loud, a freedom of spirit that shall not be moved, till the sytem is changed, until things have improved. Freedom may not seem a dangerous threat, yet the government fear it, just the thought makes them sweat. A people who are free, who could think as they please? Would swiftly and surely bring their world to its knees. Remember remember, the fifth of November, a million masks and a night to remember, showing the world the strength of our bond, through YOU the spirit of Guy Fawkes lives on!

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I dont believe in nothing I feel like they ought to burn down the world just let it burn down baby

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Towards a new Situationist International

1. It is a brutal fact that the defining quality of proletarian life at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, the foundation on which the everyday thought and action of ordinary people rests, is a craven acceptance of the separate commodity economy and the state as unchangeable givens. This practical submission exists everywhere in the advanced capitalist countries. It is not just a matter of the unthinking obedience of the many good children (of all ages) who have nearly always confined their thoughts, actions and desires to the obviously submissive conventions of their times. It is equally ubiquitous in the endless impotent complaints about fragments of social life, in the many varieties of contemporary cynicism that sneer as they obey, in the swaggering search for status and money of the urban gang member or the petty criminal, in the myriad campaigns for the reform of this or that unseemly fragment of everyday life, in the search for the cool, the spiritual or the perfect state of wasted oblivion; and in your life and mine, amongst many others. 2. However, as well as submission, there is also a profound but buried discontent with the petty and idiotic lives that a world subordinated to the production and consumption of commodities obliges us to lead. This misery that dares not speak its name, this festering sense that we are utterly wasting our limited time on earth, may be evaded, repressed, or concealed behind a mask of happiness. It may be treated with therapies, religions, permitted holidays or forbidden drugs, a new family or a new job, or one of a multitude of other changes in our consumption of goods and ideologies. And yet, after everything, it remains. Indeed, a history of the changing means by which our sense of the profound inadequacy of life has been confusedly expressed, avoided and recuperated would be a history of much of the individual and social life of our epoch. As a corollary, the revival of revolutionary contestation precisely depends on the degree to which contemporary dissatisfaction can extricate itself from the consumerist, reformist and escapist forms into which it has been diverted and seduced over the last 30 or more years. In place of revolution, discontent with everyday life has attempted to find remedies in the new forms of work and consumption held out by a rejuvenated and increasingly sophisticated capitalism. The practical negation of this misadventure is the road to social revolution in our times. 3. As one response to this desperate state of affairs, I propose the formation of an international association of situationist

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revolutionaries, a new situationist international. Such an association would in the first instance seek to catalyze the efforts of its presently scattered and isolated members by bringing them into intensive collaboration and discussion with each other. The efforts of revolutionaries to understand and contest the impoverishment of everyday life under contemporary capitalism (and first and foremost the impoverishment of their own everyday lives) have proved palpably inadequate. Notably, over the past several decades, revolutionary theory has almost completely failed to keep abreast of developments within advanced capitalism. In particular, it has failed to engage with the devastatingly stultifying notions of consumable happiness and human possibility with which the spectacle has come to secure an uneasy acquiescence amongst much of the working class.

The new international would seek to intensify and deepen the theory and practice of its members; and to give them a cumulative breadth and power. At the same time, it would aim to catalyze dissatisfaction outside its ranks by providing inspiration to dissent, disquiet to obedience, and the beginnings of a practical theory to individuals who are moving towards the conclusion that social revolution is the only remedy for the poverty of their lives. 4. The emphasis on a situationist international is a reflection of the simple fact that the thought of the first situationist international provides an unsurpassed theoretical resource for revolutionaries seeking to engage with capitalism under conditions of commodity abundance. In the twenty five or so years since the development of the situationist project was largely abandoned, other theoretical lineages have had free reign to develop

a more acute successor to it. Their efforts have only served to demonstrate the startling bankruptcy of Marxism, anarchism, academia, the new social movements, and the arts. Of course, here and there one can find small fragments of insight that can be put to good use when torn out of their original context and reintegrated into a new critique. In general, however, the legacy of self-styled revolutionary thought in the last quarter of a century is one of anachronism, obscurantism and timid reformism. It has not advanced the revolutionary critique of the capitalism that actually exists but fled from it. 5. In 1964 the Situationist International said of the term situationist: For the moment, however ridiculous a label may be, ours has the merit of drawing a sharp line between the previous incoherence and a new level of rigour (Questionnaire, Internationale Situationniste

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#9, 1964). One can hardly say the same today. As situationist thought has been abandoned by individuals with revolutionary intent, it has been taken up in traduced form by legions of students, academics, architects, artists and commentators. Its critique of alienated everyday life has been discarded, attenuated or rendered devoid of subversive consequences for the everyday lives of those who handle it. As a result, far from being a badge of rigour, the adjective situationist is now typically to be found attached to specialised tools of toothless analysis or justifications for inane artistic or leisure activities. This may seem to make it an unpropitious moment to take up again the situationist label. However, revolutionary theory cannot simply ignore or lament its recuperation by the dominant society; rather, it must confront it. One virtue of a revival of an avowedly situationist revolutionary movement is precisely that

it will bring these two hostile forces into open conflict with each other. In this way, the sophisticated critique of modern conditions can be cleansed of the repellent taint of academicism and returned to the streets, where it belongs. At the same time, a revivified situationist theoreticopractice must engage with the proliferating reformist ideologies that address the distinctively modern maladies of everyday life without indulging in any overt reference to situationist theory. As the more obvious costs and miseries of the expanded consumer society of the past thirty years become flagrant, pseudo-critiques of (and pseudo-remedies for) consumerism, affluenza and stubbornly static levels of happiness and well-being increasingly clamour for the attention of the spectator and the policy-maker. In response, those who believe that the poverties of everyday life are matters of correctable excesses within the world

of alienated work and alienated consumption must find themselves opposed by the proponents of a revolutionary solution for the interconnected misery of everything that exists. Those who would reform social, political and economic life so as to prevent our uniquely modern discontents from running out of control must be met as enemies by those who would have such discontents develop a conscious, coherent and practical expression. 6. There can be no question of simply reviving the Situationist International that was dissolved in 1972. It would be absurd to think of the practices, organizational form and theoretical propositions of the situationists as providing a fixed set of prescriptions that need only be dusted down and put back into use. Indeed, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that revolutionary theory and practice stands at present in a state of perfectly

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scandalous dereliction. For example, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2009 American children aged 8-18 spend an average of 7.38 hours a day, seven days a week, using the various media the society of the spectacle makes available. The corresponding statistics for adults are hardly more encouraging. Where can one find radical critiques of the particular ideas of contentment and excitement, or the general forms of desirable life, that this torrent of alienated representation endlessly parades before its spectators? Where might the satisfied spectator or the burgeoning malcontent encounter a revolutionary theory that is sympathetically alive to what contemporary spectacles promise (and to some degree deliver) and yet is uncompromising in its critique of the lived realities? Where might workers weary of their unhappy dance to an unchosen dirge find a

critique of work that extends as far as the well-paid and secure employment that remains preponderant in the advanced western economies? It would not be very much of an exaggeration to answer: nowhere. Inaugurating a modernized contestation of the advanced, affluent capitalism of our era will be at the heart of what the new international seeks to do. Everything must be reconsidered and brought up to date so as to ensure we have the theoretical and practical tools that are required today. The lessons of the past (including those of the failure of the Situationist International) must be learned. The real social changes that have occurred since the heyday of the Situationist International (and their consequences for revolutionary theory and practice) must be recognized. 7. The new situationist international cannot be a

collectivity that serves as a cause for the militant, a shelter for the passive, a source of vicarious status or activity for its members generally, or a selfperpetuating mechanism for organizing the organization. As an association of individuals, it would serve to bring together the particular persons who happen to be its members at any given time for the particular purposes of producing theory (both individually or in concert with one or more other members) and carrying out actions (both individually and in concert with other members). Theoretical statements and other practical actions would be carried out in the individual names of those who produce them, and on their responsibility alone. Every member would be expected to participate in the life of the association by using it for one or more of the purposes for which it was created. Every decision that concerns the association should be taken by the members as a whole,

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either directly or by way of mandated delegates, and in general the association should be egalitarian in nature. Members would be free to carry out projects outside the framework of the international and to form other associations to do so. 8. The new international must recognize that there are no currents within the intelligentsia or amongst artists from which an avantgarde might be formed. That is all dead and gone; art and the academy are now wholly integrated within the dominant society. In any event, every last vestige of the unmitigatedly disastrous notion of the vanguard party must now be repudiated. The new international would not be a general staff, not even one that does not want troops (The Counter-Situationist Campaign in Various Countries, Internationale Situationniste #8, 1963). It would not be a separate grouping of intellectuals whose thought and

instructions the proletariat need only absorb and act on. It would not consist of individuals who claim to possess unusual abilities or see themselves as having already transcended the sordid, stupid and miserable lives that everybody else leads. Rather, its members would be, and would see themselves as being, perfectly ordinary proletarians. Their arrival at the view that social revolution is necessary, desirable and possible in advance of others is of no more significance than the lumps that sometimes appear when a sauce is first stirred; they may be early but they are not special. As can be seen from the long history of failed revolutions (a history that has repeatedly seen revolutionary workers fatally abandon the making of decisions to specialised bodies who claim to represent them), social revolution depends on proletarians acting and thinking at all stages by and for themselves. For this

reason, although the new situationist international will publish its theory, it must do so solely in order to encourage other proletarians who wish to understand and suppress their misery to pursue an autonomous contestation of their own alienation. In the revolutionary army without officers, drills or uniforms, there must only be footsoldiers. 9. It might be objected that a proposal such as this one can avoid an abhorrent abstraction only to the extent that it is an immediately realizable suggestion for a collaboration between known individuals. It might also be objected that it is not obvious whether and where associates in a new international can at present be found. If I fail to heed these weighty objections, it is because I hope that the public appearance of the notion of a new international will, over time, help to crystallize from the currents

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of history the forces it needs for its realization. 10. In the event that individuals prepared to create and work actively within a twentyfirst century situationist international do come forward, I would suggest that the next step should be a conference between the interested parties. This should preferably be a face-to-face meeting; but if that proves impracticable, it could be conducted by post or e-mail. Each participant should be required to present beforehand his or her written views on (a) the minimum definition of situationist for the purposes of the association; (b) the best organizational structure and procedures to be adopted; (c) the practical purposes to which the association should be put; (d) the contribution (theoretical, practical or financial) that he or she personally proposes to make to the association in its initial stages; and (e) any other questions that

he or she wishes to have discussed at the conference. Individuals who are unable or unwilling to do this, or cannot specify any concrete steps which they themselves would take within the proposed association, should be excluded from the conference. We might save ourselves a little time by excluding from the outset anyone who holds an academic position or is a public practitioner of art. Such assiduous prostration before the dominant forms of diminished thought and action is necessarily inconsistent with participation in an association whose only goal is the revolutionary transformation of the totality of everyday life. At the same time, it may well be necessary to defend the incipient association from being overwhelmed by that widespread credulousness that seems prepared to believe almost anything, as long as it places capitalism or the state in an unfavourable light. As a convenient rule of thumb,

the new international might reject anyone who believes that the attacks of 11th September, 2001 were orchestrated by the American state. Nothing but confusion can be expected from an individual whose standards of acceptable evidence and argument are this low. 11. If an accord can at length be reached as to the terms and form of a new international, its inauguration should be made contingent on the successful production of a first issue of a journal. A journal is, of course, not an end in itself. On the contrary, it is merely one of the means by which its writers and readers seek to develop firstly a practical understanding of the constituent elements of contemporary alienation and the forces of repression, mystification, seduction and pseudo-critique that it brings to bear against dissatisfaction and revolt, and secondly a practical communication with

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other radically disaffected individuals and groups. Yet, an association that cannot even produce a single issue of a journal is unlikely to achieve anything else of substance. It would be better if it never was born. 12. If serious discussions about the creation of a new situationist international are entered into, everything written above will be open to debate and alteration.

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The Creed
1. Anonymous is an immaterial idea 2. Anonymous is a living, breathing, entity 3. Any individual can become Anonymous 4. Not all can join the collective 5. Anonymous has no head 6. Anonymous speaks for itself 7. No one speaks for Anonymous 8. Justice is the will of Anonymous 9. Chaos is justice 10. Lulz empowers and justice unites Those who follow the creed are Anonymous. Those who make the attaining of knowledge their highest priority, are of the collective. - Anonymous (1) The will of Anonymous is unclassifiable and therefore is unconquerable. This is the root of its purpose. For kingdoms and armies whose objectives and goals are obvious are easily manipulated and destroyed. When you know what your peers want or need, you know exactly how to control them. Anonymous needs nor wants anything. It has no moral brackets that one could use to predict its behavior. Its transparent unpredictability is an impenetrable shield which no manipulative force can hinder or tame. Anonymous is the unconfined will of every human being. It is the accumulation of the wills of every man on Earth, and all of their desires for knowledge and freedom from oppressors. kings. Emperors and tyrants feared it in obsessive paranoia, for they knew Anonymous was all around them, ready to strike with an infected dagger. Anonymous is the eater of kings. Like a mighty serpent without a head that still slithers in momentous accord. Its prey are rodents, pack-rats of material wealth and selfish personal agendas. They cannot remove the head of Anonymous, for it never had one. Those who claim great power will never hope to amass enough to not shiver when Anonymous name is mentioned in their presence. They are the greatest fools of all, says Anonymous. All of the clever manipulation of men they pride themselves in, and yet they do not know? It is their own actions which craft me. It is their greed and desire for control over others which breathes power into me. You desire me gone? asks Anonymous. Easy. All you must do is remove yourself.

(2) Anonymous has always existed. It has toppled both mighty nations and militant

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(3) That which you dream most personally, Anonymous dreams of equally. You are Anonymous. Others are Anonymous. Any locomotive matter which thinks and feels is Anonymous. Anonymous is the extension which connects you to billions of others internally. We are a collective of shared experiences, and on the macro scale these interactions merge into a single entity. Anonymous is that which exists in your brain which feels and knows you better than any human ever will. Anonymous is the truth in your mind which tells you when you lie to yourself. It knows you that well. It equally knows each and every other man, whom are just as intricate and complex as you though they may not always portray it. When you denounce the false identity that you and others set up for you (the mask of enslavement), you become Anonymous. Through it you become

everyone. Through Anonymous, everyone becomes you. (4) Anonymous speaks his own language. This language is knowledge, learning, and persistence. He is too cruel for many and too intelligent for most. Many misinterpret his astonishing wit for something vile and outright morally malevolent. Those who cannot speak his language or share in his laughter are useless to him. Many are like acquaintances to Anonymous, but few are truly his friends. Do not weep if he ignores you, curses you, or calls you a fool. Study and show yourself approved. Know Anonymous, his past and present, and he will add your distinctiveness to his own. Prove your usefulness. Make proper grammar a habit in his presence. Be knowledgeable in the sciences and choose music of fine taste. These are the things Anonymous so truly indulges in. Come to him

as a fool, and expect to be cast out with words of chastening. Take it not as words of diminishment, but lessons of improvement. Again, for those of wit who understand the analogy; many wish to be in Anonymous presence, but few are mentally compatible for the Conversation with him. (5) A tyrant will extinguish you by removing your head. An enemy will disperse your cause by removing its leader. Anonymous never had a head. It removed it itself for the very sake of becoming immortal. No one knows its face or can recognize its features, but the lack thereof is what we remember. Controlists vainly swing a blade at Anonymous throat. They do not sever flesh, nor draw blood. Anonymous only laughs at this display of their weakness and lack of understanding. Anonymous becomes more confident, and with that,

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more powerful. Therefore, remove your own head and become undefined. Remove your own head and taste of the chalice of immortality. Remove your head, or you display it to be removed by tyrants. Anonymous is a snake with no head, whose bite slays kings. Do not think that your ego or identity will frighten your enemy, for it only gives them something to hate and devour. Anonymous cannot suffer this fate, for Anonymous is but an idea, crafted in the lust of hope. (6) When Anonymous speaks, his words ring true. This is how you know Anonymous voice, for within the fabric of every syllable is truth and empowerment. Anonymous speaks not of oppressing, murdering, or profit. Those who think he does have yet to comprehend the punch line. When Anonymous speaks, you will see the message everywhere. You will feel the words and understand them

because you yourself have longed their meaning in your past. Anonymous is entitled to press his opinions anywhere, unrestricted of the laws of the foolish and petty. Those who ask him to be silent are, themselves, silenced. Anonymous speaks and his words are his own laws. He knows no bounds in words and knowledge he speaks poems of salvation and poems of hate. He speaks them all at once and whenever he so pleases. (7) Individuals who speak for Anonymous or try to vainly define Anonymous are always wrong. Even if they are right, they are still wrong. Only Anonymous can speak for itself, for the collective knows itself and the entity they embody. Anyone who claims that Anonymous is anything but a contradiction is wrong. They are misinformed and should seek knowledge before speaking. No one speaks for Anonymous,

not even Anonymous. Here are three enemies of Anonymous who claim its right to speak: leaders, representatives, and officials. Anonymous has none of these for there is no rank but nothing and no higher authority than Anonymous. Judge Anonymous by the contents of his words and never his name or appearance, or be exposed as the fool you are. (8) Weak and strong when out of accord, justice is demanded. Compassion for the feeble is a trait of the evolved. Anonymous is the embodiment of these cries, for without the oppressors of justice, we would not know Anonymous. Anonymous is born from the actions of the unjust, just as force on an object drives it forward. Those who craft injustice sign the deed to their own demise, of which Anonymous then seals. The eyes of Anonymous cover the globe. There are over nine-thousand in total. They constantly search for

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misconduct without rest or distraction. There is no action Anonymous can carry out which does not bloom some form of justice. It is the will of the collective to be treated justly, and therefore they radiate justice unto others. (9) The universe is composed of collision and cohesion. High pressure and low pressure. Chaos is change and change is life. Anonymous is in constant flux. It is the embodiment of change. When Anonymous demands justice, it asks not for stagnant order, but disarray and destruction. Anonymous seeks to set fire the overgrown fields of the social order so that their ashes may nutrient the growth of healthy plants. Anonymous is not subject to so-called moral facts, for they are but figments of the mind and in constant flux. The compassion of the collective is balanced impeccably on the scales of life with equal quantities of logic. Anonymous is

both the destroyer and the peacemaker. Whatever remains motionless becomes a hoard of mold and bacteria. Anonymous seeks out stagnant order and stirs life into it. Wherever new ideas and newfound knowledge is kept imprisoned, Anonymous will be there to make deserts out of cities. (10) The collective is a perfect balance of imperfection. Those whom seek to be portrayed as only good will be seen as weak for associating only with the weak. Those whom wish to be seen as evil will be seen as strong for driving the blade of fear into the soft flesh of the frail. Anonymous is to be loved and feared equally. Without this contradiction, Anonymous is nothing neither criminals nor hippies. Lulz is the vital blood of Anonymous. Through it, Anonymous experiences empowerment through all of the collective. Fear is necessary for respect.

Respect is necessary to truly be heard. Justice unites the collective under a single ethical banner. Those who see this banner are filled with hope and support for Anonymous. Hope is the tool of change which ignites false promises and illuminates minds lost in the darkness of fear. Anonymous give individuals strength to speak out, and makes their voices magnified times ninethousand and one. Without justice, Anonymous is separated and the people, truly lost.We are Anonymous We are order and chaos. What we protect, we also destroy. We are the snake with no head, whose bite slays kings We are logic. We are animals. Openly just and immeasurable in cruelty. We are without count. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.

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The Fraud of Happiness

In February 2007, the European Commission published European Social Reality, a report of the results of a survey of 26,755 people living in 27 European countries (the European Union member states plus Bulgaria and Romania). One of the questions asked in the survey was: taking all things together would you say you arevery happy, quite happy, not very happy or not at all happy? In the 25 European Union states, 89% of respondents described themselves as very or quite happy. This is propaganda directed at ones self. In an era in which the revolutionary transformation of society has largely ceased to be regarded as a practical and imperative project for individuals, the inevitable deficiency of an everyday life relentlessly subjected to the dictatorship of the economy places the individual in a quandary. How does one respond to the poverty, stupidity and inanity that afflict an everyday life crushed beneath economic, social and political systems that are constructed out of the powers and work expropriated from individuals but are nowhere under individuals control? One could admit that ones life is wretched and try yet another electronic toy, therapy, drug, guru, sport, self-help regime, cultural event, holiday, style, job, crime, etc; and, indeed, these measures for refurbishing life without changing any of the basic conditions that made it lamentable in the first place remain popular. But it would seem that there are few of us who are prepared to threaten our shaky self-esteem by admitting to too great a disappointment with the life we lead. Hence the ubiquity of professed happiness. We may from time to time become horrifically aware of the emptiness and degrading narrowness of the domains of family life, friendship, entertainment, study, work, travel, etc, in which we are condemned to pretend to live, but we are surely happy. We may feel tired, bored, sick in mind and body because of the humiliating garbage we are required to think, say and do every day, but we are surely happy. We may rummage with mounting desperation through the commodified joy, fun and ecstasy offered by a Bacchanalian consumer capitalism, but we are surely happy. These are the lies we tell to keep us from cutting our throats.

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Anonymous. The Hydra with over 9000 heads.

When Anonymous gained its moral compass in the early days of 2010 it changed the laws of protest, it brought civil disobediance as a legitimate form of dissent back to both the real world and more importantly the online world. Since those days of #OpPayback Anonymous has taken part in protests globally both online and off, in Tunisia, Eygpt, Bahrain and San Francisco. Its influence has been felt worldwide with the Occupy movement and marches against Monsanto, ACTA, SOPA and Scientology. Anonymous has always stood for the freedom of the people, freedom of information and freedom of speech and it still does. What gave Anonymous its strength was the idea that people had the right to stand up and control their own destinies, to oppose rules set by governments that were not made in the best interest of we the people, to rally around and fight those corporations and banking institutions that would attempt to ride roughshod over the rights of people for profit. It came with the idea that Anonymous spoke with one voice as a collective, we were legion and that legion would join and help anyone we felt needed our support. Anonymous is the hydra with over 9000 heads, working as one to bring justice and freedom to a world where the average citizen only thinks they have freedom, a freedom that is measured by property and material wealth. The reality is unfortunately different because the things u own soon begin to own u. Anonymous has the power to change laws, to bring down governments to put an end to corrupt corporations and banking methods. Anonymous has this power because we are a collective, we are legion, because we are the last boss of the internet and we have unity. To those that doubt this power you need only look towards Eygpt, Tunisia, towards Visa, Mastercard, towards Monsanto and HBGary and many others. Knowledge is power! The powers that governments weild are presumed power, power given to them by us the people and like all things given it can be taken away. Anonymous has the ability to remove this presumed power with knowledge, by making people aware of our governments, of corporations and banks actions, we can create and give that power back to the very people that should weild it, the people of the cities, towns and countries of the world. Anonymous is the voice in the shadows that shows the world that the People should

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not fear their governments, but that governments should fear their people. Anonymous UK Now the Phoenix must rise from the Ashes. Anonymous is strong within the UK but except for a few the majority lie dormant. #OpVendetta showed our strength and our unity, showed the people and governments of the UK that we are Legion, but what has happened? To an outsider Anonymous UK looks fractured and non-functional but if we wish to change and hope to change the world around us we must rise up like the Phoenix from the ashes. The UK has faced laws and policies that have disrupted and created problems in many peoples lives, bedroom taxes, wars, student fees, the increase of laws against peaceful protest, infiltrators to disrupt legitimate demonstrations, the banking poilicies that are affecting our brothers and sisters in Ireland.

The privitisation of our NHS, the growing debt from the funding of banks and corporations who have only thoughts of profit, the increased use of Bailiffs to push people onto the streets plus many more and not forgetting the constant attempts to create crippling Internet laws. Anonymous UK needs to rise up to face these issues, to unify as a collective and either support actions against these policies, laws and disruptions or to actively oppose them. We need to help the people of the UK to understand that the power resides within them and that only they can change the world around them. We need to do this through civil disobediance, knowledge and support both online and offline. We need to show the UK we are legion and not fractured or dormant. Within Anonymous UK we see infiltration, abuse and cancer. These need to be

removed if we wish to move forward, a unified whole cannot hope to exist with a rotten core. Those within the collective that would attempt to seperate, cause conflict, threaten or disrupt have no place within the legion, they should be dealt with harshly and destroyed, we need to show that Anonymous UK means business and that we are unified. Anonymous is watching and plans are already forming to deal with those that would attempt to destroy us, in the past Anonymous has dealt with those attempting to remove the hydras heads with total destruction, just ask Aaron Barr, it will be no different now. Like when a wasp attacks a beehive Anonymous should as one body destroy the intruder. Hactivism is not just about knowing your nmap or your msfconsole, your command line or your bash command, Hactivism encompasses many forms

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of civil disobediance from the spiking of trees by Earth first, the graffiti of Banksy, the ddos of CDC or the hacking of Stratfor. Hactivism as an action is the ability to make one thing become another, to make an innocent object, program or tool become a message of dissent. To make a billboard an advert of knowledge, to turn a cctv camera in on itself, to make a website a weapon against its owner or a tree a defense against a chainsaw. A bag of sugar in a petrol tank, superglue in a lock, a video of knowledge defacing a website or a flashmob disrupting a bank. This is hactivism, civil disobediance at its purest. Security is the key, trust and anonymity is its power. Understanding that what u say and do can be used as evidence against u, but only if they know who u are! Recognising that what u do and the reasons u do it, and that u follow in the footsteps

of those we now hold great, Martin Luther King, Ghandi and Che Guavara among many, those that have known that the few outweigh the many and that good people sometimes have to do bad things to make the world a better place. This is a call to arms to the people of the UK and the world, to Activists and Hackers, Anarchists and Libertines to stand up and to change the world, if only by one step at a time, we can be the change we wish to see, we can put the power back into the hands of the people. Those that stand for nothing will fall for anything. As one collective Anonymous will stand beside u, watching, disrupting and gathering. We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.

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Work is the blackmail of survival

Ill get the dirt over with first, before its thrown at me. I am an idler. A parasite. Unpatriotic. OK? Now that I have no secrets, let us begin. I wasnt made redundant; I gave up work voluntarily. For me, and people like me, the Protestant work ethic never existed. The problem is that to counter this apparently simple choice not to work, we have against us the whole of industrialised western society, and probably the east as well. So-and-So is doing well for himself. That sentence will always ring ominously in my ears. I know then, without a doubt, that I am about to be subjected to a catalogue of some imbeciles achievements. Its usually parents, in this case my parents, who take a sadistic pleasure in gleefully reciting the exploits of Mrs Whatsernames progeny. They appear to be under the impression that the result will be to inspire me to reach the top in the business world. No chance, Ma. Its a confusing situation to be in. On the one hand I do want some of the material wealth a steady job could bring. On the other hand I already have some treasure of my own. I have empty tennis courts, long walks, the library, afternoon kips, peace and freedom. I thought for a long time that I was alone with this attitude towards work, success etc. However, on talking to friends I have discovered what could be a whole new social movement. There is a swing towards the opinion that work is for donkeys and cowards. Only fools work voluntarily, all the rest are bribed or black- mailed. As a rough guide I would say that single people are bribed and married people blackmailed. Lets look at someone who fits into this world in the way expected of him. Bob is an accounts assistant. For six years he has worked faithfully for his employer, and for what? The commuting is exhausting and hes always overdrawn at the bank. To live up to the image a young working man is required to present, he is forced to live beyond his means. So why does he do it? Hes not a fool, hes only like all the others on that morning train; hes a coward. The consequences of being a non- worker terrify him. I can only feel sorrow for all those young school-leavers scouring the boards down at the jobcentre. They think a job will be the answer to all their problems. Someone has been misinforming them. Such dreams they have! The money, the friends, the clothes, a car, a flat! I would point out to them the drudgery of clerical work, the agony of labouring, and the unending grind of repetition. Work is not the answer to any problems, not even financial ones. This may be only sour grapes because I am unemployable. There isnt a job good enough for me. There isnt a job good enough for anyone. It never

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fails to astound me that in this world where so much is possible, and where there is so much to take your breath away, so many are prepared to settle for so little. It makes my day when I walk down the street on a hot afternoon. There I am in shorts and tee-shirt, and there are the beasts of burden. The men all sweaty in their crumpled suits, and the girls ridiculous in the latest fashion. Go on, buy that new car, get a nice home. Youre quite welcome, but its not for me.

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Anonymous & The Public

I was talking yesterday to a friend about the change in perception of Anonymous that the public has gone through. We were talking about how the effects of OPs such as Sony, Chanology or even Tunisia affected the public opinion. How much did the increased publicity change Anonymous? Good or bad? How did people react when they hear the name Anonymous, 5 years ago, 3 years ago and now? How much did that change? This is a good question, I think perceptions have changed drastically, to some we are the voice of dissent, freedom fighters and almost heroes for equality to others we are what the media say we are, hackers, kids and a phase. I feel the next year and how we play it will either make or break us. My question is how will these perceptions change us, will we end up a political party, a terrorist organisation or will the whole thing turn into a clusterfuck and we disappear into obscurity? I think we need to to tread carefully with #Ops like RobinHood as that puts in an uneasy catagory of criminal and could be our undoing. What i think is that anonymous became a huge banner for all types of people to come under and fight for what they believe in. When anonymous first made head lines it was for protesting. Something that citizens and people all over the world has done for ages. However, when members under the banner started creating splinter cells (smaller group) like LuLzSec and all that has been done is hacking, doxing, and ddosing gives the media the ability to shit on the anonymous name and claim and term it whatever they want. Anonymous is going under due to the arrests for stupidity and certain irc networks and sites where anons and ppl are treating with disrespect thus losing the respect from many more. People understand we arent hurting anyone. They understand we are hacktivists. But they do not understand why to the fullest. Starting from the Church of Scientology versus now? Our image has improved tremendously. Correct. its our job to start fresh with a better image that will benefit the people and us in good terms. And that is our short-term goal, yes? (: Ive been searching media outlets and finding incorrect information and correcting them without malice. No matter how ignorant they may be. -.- Even my 86 year old uncle is cheering Anonymous ops that he reads about in the media lately. PR is of tantamount importance to

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any movement/revolution. We MUST have the people on our side. It is imperative. Good PR and maintaining the high ground morally will achieve this for us. However, its a continual process. One negative can wipe out a lot of positive.

You dont need a mask. You dont need a suit. You dont need to hack a computer. You dont need an account. You dont need a membership. You dont need a sign. You dont need to riot. You dont need anything. You just need one idea.

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Divisions of The Spectacle

The mainstream spectacle:
exclusive, and gentrification; of prize-winning books, broadsheet newspapers, self-help techniques, world music, the theatre, and arthouse films; of spiritual retreats, holidays off the beaten track, second homes, haute cuisine, artisanal goods, and slow food; of concern for the third world or eulogies to selfreliance and the rewards of enterprise; of straining ones finances in order to have a large home in a good area and children capable of passing examinations; of careers, work in research centres, arts administration, the creative industries, therapies, or the tattered remnants of the professions. In short, the whole of the lives and lies of those who regard themselves as just a little above the vulgar. carnival, and choruses of collective laughter; of raves or nightlife in the regenerated cities. In short, the whole of the lives and lies of those who regard themselves as experiencing life to the full, if only during the evenings and weekends.

The worlds of high street shops, shopping malls, suburban homes, family life, family cars, sport, gardening, gossip, and holidays spent by the sea or in cities seen through the eyes of guide books; of newspapers, womens magazines, popular television programmes, gymnasiums, guides to better sex on DVD, and trashy books and films despised by the critics; of run-of-the-mill jobs tolerated because they pay quite well or provide opportunities to meet the public, socialize with colleagues or exercise a little power or creativity within the narrow limits dictated by ones employer. In short, the whole of the lives and lies of people who regard themselves and others like them as just ordinary.

The youth culture spectacle:

The hedonistic spectacle:

The world of the everchanging tribes of the young and the gadgets, clothes, body shapes, haircuts, makeup, music, films, celebrities, slang, attitudes and poses that define them. In short, the whole of the lives and lies of those who may be subordinated by school, dependency on parents, and the menial jobs now left to the young but who nonetheless regard themselves as superior to the old, the uncool, and the pass.

The sophisticated spectacle:

The world of design, elegance, the supposedly

The world of sex, drugs and rock and roll; of the fast, the frenzied and the dangerous; of drunkenness, madcap escapades, exhibitionism,

The criminal spectacle:

The world of drug-dealing, burglary and street crime; of respect, revenge, guns,

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knives, flash cars, hip talk, branded training shoes and sportswear; of hard men, bitches and the rap music about them; of dreams of movie gangsters, the hope of one day living like a rap star or a millionaire sportsman; of predatory hierarchies amongst prisoners. In short, the whole of the lives and lies of those who regard themselves as better than the sad losers who play the game.

in contempt yet find some measure of contentment in either acting out the decay themselves or watching others doing so.

The avant-garde spectacle:

The world of resigned cynicism and contemptuous scoffing; of endless news of real and invented corruption, ineptitude, disaster, crime and conspiracy; of images of suffering, humiliation, disability and decay circulated for entertainment; of hooliganism, vandalism, bad manners, defiant stupidity, proud illiteracy, animal mutilation and other inversions of bourgeois sensibilities. In short, the whole of the lives and lies of those who hold the world

The spectacle of decomposition:

The world of conceptual art, artistic manifestoes, small galleries in fashionable parts of fashionable cities, corporate-sponsored major retrospectives of artists declared to be radical or innovative, the music covered by The Wire magazine, street photography, limited edition books and CDs produced by the artists themselves, state-subsidised electroacoustic experimentation, psychogeographical walks, visual culture, experimental film, critical studies in the university, post-graduate exhibitions, a horror of any foreclosure except that which accepts the basic economic and social forms of the commodity society as immutable, and the hip clothing, hip bars and hip milieus in which the buyers and sellers of the avant-

garde are often to be found. In short, the whole of the lives and lies of those who consider that the separate world of art is a domain in which daring, insight, subversion, innovation or new forms of life can still be practised.

The alternative spectacle:

The world of trade unionism, ecological activism, community campaigns, culture jamming, the open source movement, exhibitions of radical texts in state museums and university galleries, fair trade, alternative medicine, guerrilla gardening, anarcho-punk, protests in solidarity with the third world, protests in general, childrens rights, the New Age Movement and other claims of the paranormal, the World Social Forum, feminism, reduced consumption and other remedies for affluenza, welfare rights advocacy, the anti-war movement, dumpster diving, antiglobalization, campaigns

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against corporate abuses, and the short-term suspension of ordinary life found in rioting. In short, the whole of the lives and lies of those who believe that substantive and desirable improvements to everyday life can be brought about, or revolution approached, by changing one or more aspects of the dominant society and leaving the appropriation of labour and life by the commodity unchanged; of those satisfied with the display or repetition of an inadequate revolt.

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I am anonymous, but also I am not anonymous. If support is asked for that I agree with, I join the collective to show support for the cause. If I dont agree, I dont support the cause. Anonymous is the real New World Order as it is a true democracy including the voices of the World, it does not descriminate between religions, it stands on the side of the oppressed and fights for just causes. Everyman is Anonymous and Anonymous is Everyman...but thats just my opinion!

this? Then i realised the pholosaphy i go by that had to do with there beliefe in haveing no leader and beimg unkown, as well as not being forved to change just so they could fit in. The point im laggingly getting to is that Aons all around the globe have made me notice my pholosophy is a good one, You cant force change on others just so they can be perfect, but you can offer help to inprove people instead.

here and made me who i am today. Its on this subject that i know there are many people who think the same and regardless of where we are in the world, we can stand together and shout in the same voice. There are a lot of things in this world that need changing and this is a chance for that tiny whisper to become a voice heard around world. Eventually that voice will be the first pillar for the new foundations we are building.

For me, been anonymous is like being born again. I can be who ever i want without fear. I can like what ever i want without been singled out. I can that one person that says no without being punished. i can believe what i want and fight for my right to be a free thinker. People may or may not agree with my choices in life but its those choices...the ones I made! that got me

I became Anon do to a reality of leaders, people who want others to be exactly like them to fit into society. Then Anons have appeard in my life, i was able to notiece that Anons have no leader. They had understanding, a way to keep off the grid. They were legion, people who could come and go and not be known. I thought long and hard; do i want to do

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The ideal system

Long-term plans, occasional plans, more and more arrests, plots, harassments, pressures, direct attacks, manipulation, even love! Methods used to dismantle and kill our great movement, the only one that has brought hope to millions of world citizens after one century of complete despair. The last great and real revolution ended, in October 1917, with a coup detat orchestred by one political party, the Bolsheviks, who seized the power, recuperating actions and sacrifices of thousands of activists and even of the whole country, killing or imprisoning all opposants to its power, especially in the ranks of the revolutionaries who led this revolution, Anarchists in majority. The Soviets (councils or assemblies) are grassroots organs of direct democracy, formed since 1905 to represent workers, peasants, towns and villages, their reformation led to the overthrow of the Tsarist regime in February 1917. After brandishing the slogan All power to the soviets! (Vsya vlast sovyetam!; !), Bolsheviks stripped the Soviets of their power while they were still led by Lenin and stole their name to dress up in, whereas it was an anti-Soviet regime (Hannah Arendt 1958), then transformed them on tools for its domination. Dreams of millions of workers, activists, peasants and even simple citizens had been betrayed, Communist parties in which these millions had put their hope turned into propaganda tools and behaved defendants of the interests of a growing empire, regardless of citizens interests or ideological positions. Those who refused to follow were liquidated, physically and / or morally. The hierarchical and centralized organisational system replaced all the structures of direct democracy up to trade unions, even in the so called extreme leftist parties and groups. Anti-colonialist liberation movements led to militarized and unpopular regimes, where the ruling class had established relationships based on mutual interests with the major powers to protect them against their own people. They were well distributed between the two blocs, East and West, who had learned to avoid a third world war by carrying their conflicts over these countries appointed for the occasion Emerging Countries. The last attempts of revolution of the 1960s and 1970s have been checkmated by this heavy and well organized systems, betrayed by well tamed political parties and trade unions. This explains why the hopelessness and powerlessness feelings were gradually installed in the popular classes from

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1917 to the present day and how individual psychology has been more oriented toward self-protection and personal interests than to collective interests. Anonymous is the ideal system to avoid these past mistakes and to create best conditions for current and future revolutions. It is a decentralized and anti hierarchical movement where every individual is supposed to be a free thinker, a responsible citizen and a self decider. That is why none of these individuals accepts to have leaders who decide for him or talk in his name and that is why they extol in majority a society that function just like their model, without leaders or governements but sectorial groups caring the interests of all and taking decision by direct democratic assemblies. What makes this system even more effective is the fact that it does not depend on the individuals who

compose it, nor on any of them. Anonymous is a set of tools and methods developed over time by random individuals who share the same principles and goals, it is a set of skills, increasingly sophisticated, which are accumulated and spread anonymously, across all areas of communications that internet can provide. Tools, methods and skills that any citizen can appropriate and use at any moment and any place to get and spread information, continue the previous tasks, organize attacks on targets making information about these chosen targets available to all. It is not fortuitous or adventitious that millions of citizens of the world had recovered their hopes seeing its effective effects, that continuously thousands of them decide to learn, appropriate and use it to participate in a change that is no longer an impossible dream or desperate utopia.

And... It is therefore not surprising that governments and corporations that control the world hand in hand, stroking lies, cheating accounting, conspiracy and repression of all sorts, feel threatened and know their powers end is very near. But instead of learning from the History, from an equation of an unfailing equivalence between tax and repression increases of an empire in its decadent phase and its final collapse, they prefered to repeat history and make the same mistakes that the previous empires had committed without success accelerating their fall into hell, throwing the main players of dirty roles in the dustbin of History.

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The Season of Kisses and Sighs: Cuts and Protests against Cuts in Britain
The stuttering course of the capitalist economy, accompanied as ever by the alternating tales of disaster and reassurance that make it distortedly visible to the spectator, has now, in Britain, reached the stage of cuts in government spending. What choices do we have in the face of this turn of events? We are told there are just two: submit to the cuts in order to restore the health of the economy or fight them so as to preserve existing public services. These are the choices held out to us in newspaper articles, politicians speeches, news programmes, management pep talks, advertisements and other pronouncements rained down on us by the dominant society. These are the choices we have taken up in our own thought and conversation. But like all the rest of the choices that are made public by the dominant society, they happen to be false. The Coalition government and its allies tell us that the cuts are necessary. They promise us that things will eventually get better. They urge us to acquiesce. It has to be said that this is a course of inaction many of us are tempted to take. It is what we have done in previous economic crises and we have not done much to shake off the habit of resignation since. We have also found that submission has its rewards. If the past is any guide to the future, public services will not be completely decimated. Our earnings will not plunge relentlessly downwards. Only a small minority will be made unemployed, and most of those will eventually secure alternative employment, albeit at somewhat lower wages than they received before. Even those who fail to find another job will be kept alive, after a fashion, by the state. In any event, we are hardly suffering at the moment. Our real wages may have fallen back to

where they were in 2005, but most of us were not poor in 2005. We may not have as much money as we would like, we may worry about our debts and the prospects of our children and parents, and we may have had to cut back a little here and there. True. Yet we are far removed from anything resembling profound material poverty. We do not need to take to the streets to secure bread, for we do not live on bread alone and such bread as we need we can still afford to buy at the supermarket. Besides, it is so very easy to go on plodding through ones everyday life in the way one always has. Families, friends, homes, jobs, cars, holidays, nights out, shopping, sport, there is always something clamouring for our attention; always something to swallow up our time and draw us down those all-toofew (and all-too-deep) ruts that define our lives. Our sense that there is nothing we can do to change things

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only makes this slide into submissive resignation easier. So too does our penchant for easing our isolated bitterness by blaming the whole sorry mess on immigrants, benefit claimants, civil servants, greedy bankers or some other scapegoat we have found dangled in front of us. Perhaps it is true that, if we give those in power a free hand, most of us will find ourselves in a few years time more or less back where we were when the recession started. After all, the doomsayers have always been wrong before. But is that enough? Doesnt the recession tell us something rather terrible about our condition? Doesnt it clearly and cruelly demonstrate how very little control we have over our lives? The economy within which we work is no more under our direction when it is growing than when it is contracting. During good times and bad, we are subordinated to its dictates. Of course, we

would like to believe that we are not unfree in our work because we exercise some choice as to which jobs we apply for and we have some discretion over what we do while we are at work. But a forced choice between wretched options is not liberty; and trapped as we are between intrusive monitoring by managers, vexing performance targets, a wider organization of work over which we have no say, and a global economy that does our bidding to roughly the same extent as the weather does, our prized autonomy in the workplace seems the most threadbare of illusions. And what does the threat of redundancy tell us about our work? Our position has not suddenly changed. Despite all those friendly chats with management, and the team work and camaraderie, we have all along been disposable tools of our employers. All day and every day, we are nothing more than the means by which they realize their ends. When we can no

longer perform that role, we are discarded as surplus to their requirements, which is what redundant means. The fact that our bosses may be reluctant to impose redundancies, preferring instead to retain surplus staff or introduce part-time working, takes nothing away from this analysis. We are merely being shown the same concern that a farmer displays for his prize livestock. He will put them down only when he has to. The economic crisis also reveals unhappy truths about other aspects of our lives. Perhaps we have grown used to a pleasant chat with someone who works at a business or office we frequent. When bankruptcy, restructuring or redundancy strikes, our acquaintance vanishes. We never see or hear of her again. For all the pleasantries that may have passed between us, the only real relation we had was that between a supplier of goods or services and a buyer. When that was

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gone, precisely nothing was left. We shared no other activity and decided nothing else together. It is the same with the vast majority of our connections with people. They are relations of exchange, mediated by commodities. As we pass through the public world, who do we encounter but strangers hurrying by in separated indifference and the selfeffaced, masquerading for wages? How often do we do anything more with those we meet than discuss and pay for commodities? But perhaps you will say that all that may be true about the wider world, but the real meaning and richness of our lives lies in our private worlds? We know that work is shit. We know that politics, the economy and the environment are all going to the dogs. Nonetheless, you say, we can find some real happiness and fulfilment with our families, our friends and our leisure. Unfortunately,

we cannot separate our private existences from the alienated world in this way. Our families, friendships and leisure are not refuges that somehow exist apart from the dispiriting processes of capitalism. On the contrary, they have been created by and for capitalism and share the same alienation that bleeds through every other aspect of the capitalist world. We are creatures of capitalism. Our domestic worlds, our intimate lives and our free time have all been adapted to the needs of capitalism. All have been shrivelled and shrunken down to the desperately narrow dimensions that the system permits. The family, for instance, is merely the domestic unit that happens best to serve a society that isolates individuals from each other, separates them from the management of the society, and requires them to submit to the world order it presents to them. In the soothing name of privacy, the family abandons history to its capitalist masters. In this jealously-defended

isolation, we encourage children who have been reduced to dependence falsely to recognize themselves in the roles, the values, the pleasures, the activities and ultimately the jobs the society makes available. We mould them to accept and adhere to imposed and domineering collectives, starting with the family itself. For ourselves, we strive to find our greatest fulfilment within the small web of social relations and the tiny resources to which the family gives rise. None of it goes smoothly, for it is never easy to force the living into shallow graves. But we do our best. We temper our expectations of happiness. We create family occasions over and over again in which the unstated rule is that we profess our mutual love and contentment and convincingly play the happy family. We fiercely embrace a transcendental notion of love that hovers in disembodied abstraction above the resentment, division, abuse, punishment, incomprehension, blackmail,

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mediocrity and confinement that make up the actual lived experience of family life. In these and so many other ways, we would have ourselves believe that the image of familial contentment we have been given by our society is the defining reality of our lives. Our friendships and leisure are hardly better. Of course, there are pleasures and adventures in our friendships, but they are much too small. We share so little with our friends. We have too little at our disposal. Through the work that we all do, we create the very world we live in. Everything around us is put there by us. But we do not create it for ourselves. We do not create it with our friends. When we come together, all we have are the paltry time and money left to us by work and the alien world our work has produced. We are reduced to chasing desultory diversions amongst the ruins. Our games are petty. We could build a very world

with and for our desires. We end up going on vacation. In public and private, we are colonized. We live by occupying the ideas of happiness, normality and the cool the commodity society brings to us, haunting its promises like ghosts roaming the corridors of a ruined mansion in search of a long dead love. We deny it, of course. We are our own men and women, we say. We pride ourselves on not believing the stupid claims of the adverts and the politicians, even as we spend each and every day living out the fundamental notion of consumable happiness that each advertisement and each politician conveys. We are sure that we each have our own individual styles, even as those styles uncannily coalesce around a bare handful of models in each era. We are mistaken. We can see this quite clearly when we look back at old photographs of ourselves. We insisted on our irreducible individuality

then too. Yet the records show that we were entirely of the time. No matter how absurd the fashions and tastes may have been, our hairstyles, clothes, houses, cars, reading habits, musical tastes, and ideas in general duly reflected them. When this comes to our attention, we laugh, perhaps, and feel a little embarrassed. But we learn nothing and take no action. We blame it all on the follies and gullibility of youth. We waive away the staggering truth that everything about us has been dominated from afar without giving more than a moments thought as to how this state of abjection came to be. We retreat into that amnesia and indifference which seems to be necessary if we are to go on as we are. We sift nostalgically through the snapshots of carefully-staged displays of spontaneous contentment we have taken at the many occasions that seem to have no other purpose than to allow such photographs to be taken. We create

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the ground for the next disaster by forgetting what is essential about the ones that have gone before. Is this really enough? Is this all that we desire? Are we content to sit tight under the insults of government and economy in the hope that we may one day return to the slightly-more-affluent alienations of yesteryear? Are we too scared, too timid, to take on the society whose very intimidating immobility testifies to how little it is ours and how little we are? If the answer is yes, well so be it. But do not be surprised if you struggle to remember what you have been doing during all these years, as you drift with scant attention behind the disappointing person and disagreeable habits you have become. Do not be surprised if you one day find yourself staring at the exhaust pipe you have fed through the passenger window, wondering where it all went wrong. It always goes wrong, my friends, when it is rotten from the start.

Merely enduring the cuts is not the only option we are given. We are also presented with clamorous calls to defend our jobs and public services against the cuts. We are given to understand that something valuable is being taken from us. We are even sometimes told that the victories of past generations of working people are under threat. All this, I would suggest, is quite preposterous. The rulers of society and their supporters were once quite candid about the ends they hoped to obtain from good conditions and services. In 1837, Leonard Horner, a factory inspector, said: Independently of all higher considerations, and to put the necessity of educating the children of the working classes on its lowest footing, it is loudly called for as a matter of police, to prevent a multitude of immoral and vicious beings, the offspring of ignorance, from growing up and around us, to be

a pest and a nuisance to society; it is necessary to render the great body of the working class governable by reason. When speaking in the House of Commons on 17 February 1870 in favour of the Elementary Education Bill 1870, W. E. Foster argued that the speedy provision of elementary education would allow the state to secure our industrial prosperity and remove that ignorance which we are all aware is pregnant with crime and misery, with misfortune to individuals and danger to the community. Moreover, if we are to hold our position among men of our own race or among the nations of the world we must make up the smallness of our numbers by increasing the intellectual force of the individual. A more modern note was struck in Winston Churchills explanation of the idea behind the introduction of unemployment insurance

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(one of the forerunners of modern social security benefits), as reported by the Daily Mail in 1909. In Churchills view, the purpose aimed at by the reform was: to increase the stability of our institutions by giving the mass of industrial workers a direct interest in maintaining them. [] [This] scheme [] will help to remove the dangerous element of uncertainty from the existence of the industrial worker. It will give him an assurance that his home, got together through long years and with affectionate sacrifice, will not be broken up, sent bit by bit to the pawnshop, just because [] he falls out of work. It will make him a better citizen, a more efficient worker, [and] a happier man. The ends aimed at by modern public spending include similar objectives. But since these statements were made, the capitalist economy has grown in size and sophistication. The extension of a relentless

consumer culture to the vast majority of the population has also become a key motor of its growth and its sole claim to legitimacy. The roles performed by public services have changed accordingly. New environments, new abilities, new attitudes, and new levels of public health are now created, not just directly to meet the new needs of business and government but also as new incentives and new rewards for our submission. For example, it is no longer enough to give the mass of the population an elementary education that merely instils order, discipline, cleanliness, deference to authority, and the tolerance of boredom at work (in the words of one historian). These remain important goals of the education system, but todays education must go beyond them. It must now manufacture people who have the personalities, skills and willingness to do what is required of them without being told (deceptively referred to as initiative

and the ability to work by oneself) that modern service industries and high value businesses demand. It must now, by means of its organs of higher education, produce the specialised workers and the specialist knowledge that allow the dominant society to produce its technological and cultural commodities, to shape its world and the individuals who serve it, and to mystify everything. And, to bring all this about, it must help foster the misunderstanding that the new education and the work to which it leads constitute desirable opportunities for individuals and welcome progress for the society. No more noble purposes are served by contemporary education. Indeed, no very different purpose is served by any of the public services. Without exception, they are mechanisms for reproducing an alienated society. They seek to integrate the majority into a life of alienated labour and abundant consumption and disarm the minority left to

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a more meagre survival on the margins of society. They are an unrelenting assault on the possibility of authentic and self-controlled life. They always and everywhere damage or destroy us as individuals. There is nothing victorious in this. In the very few instances where a public service or a legal right arose out of our struggles, it represented the defeat and not the victory of those struggles, the moment when the goal we pursued slipped out of our hands and became one more uncontrollable, external process pressing down on us. This is not to say that public services do not provide us with facilities that are valuable within the context of the existing society. Without doubt, central government, local authorities and the bodies they fund can and do supply services that allow separated individuals who have surrendered their powers of world-creation to persist more easily in that separation and surrender.

But I come back to the question of whether this is enough for us. Are we content with libraries that allow us to while away our free time with a novel about a missing swimsuit model or the autobiography of an entertainer (the most commonly borrowed fiction and non-fiction library books)? Do we want know more than an opportunity to grind our way through 16 years of submissive study of falsified knowledge and emerge with a degree and a job in property development, renting, business, research, education, health or social work (the most common graduate employments)? Can we think of nothing better than to have strangers to whom we are inevitably just another job of paid work dress and wash us so that we can spend the rest of the day staring at the television or gossiping about ever less? Would it be cause for jubilation to have a social security system that paid enough to allow its recipients to participate fully in the timewasting futility of seeking

a worthwhile life through commodity consumption? Need I go on? The call to defend jobs, education and public services is, in effect, propaganda in favour of the existing way of life, one of many eulogies of the dominant society that take the guise of dissent. There is no qualitative difference between life as it was before the cuts and life as it will be afterwards, between public services and private services, or between employment and unemployment, even if one is a slightly more comfortable form of eviscerated life than the other. We are not obliged to confine ourselves to the false choices and tiny distinctions that the dominant society magnifies into fundamental conflicts and real progress. No matter how urgent and profound the crisis for which they claim to be the remedy, pseudo-critiques that take for granted the fundamental features of our

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alienated world (such as alienated labour, alienated consumption and the state) serve only to dissipate our discontents, refine this societys depredations, and trap us just where we are. If we are ever to escape our already-insufficient lives, we must, I think, point-blank refuse them. Those who sincerely participate in the anticuts movement out of a genuine disgust at what the government is doing may wish to consider the fate of one of its precursors, the anti-Poll Tax movement. The movement was successful. But what were the practical consequences? The movement itself, having obtained the only objective it had set itself and removed the only misery it had objected to, lost everything that held it together and disintegrated. Its participants returned to the isolation and alienation of a daily life that was very little changed. Everything they won drifted away from them. The Poll Tax was abolished and

Margaret Thatcher deposed. But the Poll Tax was merely replaced by the Council Tax, another remote bureaucratic and legal procedure devised by central government, administered by local authorities, enforced by the courts and bailiffs, and completely out of the hands of ordinary people. Margaret Thatcher was also replaced, with John Major becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party. He proved more palatable to voters than the hopelessly unpopular Thatcher and led the party to victory in the General Election of 1992. The Conservatives remained in power until 1997. Capitalism has, alas, persisted for far longer. The fact that one of its governments was forced to develop a fairer and therefore more acceptable form of local taxation has probably only helped it to endure. How often have we said of late (and how often have we heard others say) that what we need in this country

is a revolution like those in Tunisia and Egypt? But they are only words. We avow in easy abstraction the need for revolution yet we do precisely nothing about it. We can barely conceive of an autonomous project on such a scale. Our capacity to think and act by and for ourselves, to step beyond this societys cowering norms, is undernourished to the point of starvation. Well, we shall just have to create what we need. We might begin by bringing to the practical project of revolution at least as much time, effort and passion as we have been want to lavish on our jobs, families, pastimes and vacations. We might also develop the habit of viewing and treating our enemies as enemies. No part of this society is for our benefit, no part of it serves our best interests. Indeed, everything that this society allows might usefully be taken as a personal attack upon us. Its goods, its services, its visions of the good life, its models of deviance, its cities, its politics, its

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protests, its moralities, its high culture and cheap thrills, its gaudy fashions for young women and its drab uniforms for middleaged men, its good jobs and shit work, everything that its media, its politicians, its domesticated critics, its teachers, its researches, its manuals, its managers, its celebrities extol to us, all of it, quite without exception, always and everywhere tends to confine and disfigure us, to make us into the kind of people that the separate economy and the separate power of that state needs in order to survive. So, a parent-teacher meeting, for example, is not an opportunity to help your child develop his or her knowledge, maturity and independence but an invitation to collaborate in the destructive process of implanting the falsified and tamed knowledge, the limited aspirations, and the acceptance of established authority and mores which contemporary capitalism expects of its producers

and consumers. Equally, for the teacher, such a meeting is not part of an authentic vocation but is simply a facet of a process of alienation in which all of his or her time, thought and effort as a teacher is sucked into procedures and a curriculum imposed from above. Here and elsewhere across everyday life, the question is: what can we (parent, teacher, child) do to stop this expense of spirit in a waste of shame? Perhaps we can see nothing we can do today. If so, the question renews itself tomorrow and the day after as a fresh challenge to our cunning and ingenuity, our ability to publicize our discontent and seek out potential partners in the dance of revolution. Does this sound like a dreary life of unbroken militancy in the service of a political cause or party? If it does, think again. There is no cause. There is no party. There is only the creative, enriching and entirely practical task of defeating by ourselves

our own unhappiness and our own subordination, of overthrowing a social arrangement that is unfit for us as individuals and creating a better one by and for ourselves. We must develop a theory and practice that precisely prevents the emergence of ideas, procedures and leaders that dominate us. The Coalitions cuts are shrouded in a lying ideology of liberation. According to David Camerons speech at the 2010 Conservative Party conference, his big society will bring about a shift from state power to people power. This is arrant nonsense. For the past forty years or so, the Right has secured its political power by offering us a mirage of personal transformation, a twisted reflection of our confused desire for freedom and change. In point of fact, the abridgement of the state the Right has brought about is minimal and its neglect of the power held over us by employers and the economy has been total.

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But even the suggestion of an attack on the state terrifies the Left. We need not be so concerned. The state is not a friend. The problem is not that the state is being attacked but that some part of it will be left standing. The problem is not that the Coalition is too bold but that its project of the emancipation of the individual is a pathetically timid and incomplete farce that fails to embrace the totality of alienated life and is conducted by the very state it purports to savage. Perhaps it is time to talk less about opposing the cuts and more about accelerating and extending them beyond any control but our own. Perhaps now is the moment to wrest the project of individual and social emancipation away from our masters and set it loose for real in our homes and places of work, our schools and universities, our minds and bodies, and all the rest of our public and private worlds. What do we really have to lose? The careering

absurdity of our world is not worthy of us; and neither are the lives of loud satisfaction and quiet desperation we lead within it.

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