This week heralded a number of related events, the interpretation of which is not nearly as important as the implications. While the federal government moves to legislate it’s fight against piracy and risk damaging online liberty, its websites are hacked in retaliation for doing just that. It is not whether the government is justified in this or future cases, but that it proves itself incapable of protecting itself while claiming to be able to protect America’s intellectual property.
But first, let’s recount the details of the fight, blow by bow.
The Events
Congress proposed laws ([[SOPA]] in the Senate and [[PROTECT IP Act|PIPA]] in the house) to push responsibility of policing copyright infringed materials onto website owners, including those of sites driven by user content, such as YouTube, Facebook, etc., and proposes the ability to block websites using methods not unlike China or Iran.
GoDaddy comes out in support of it, and loses thousands of customers in protest before backing off and deciding to change sides.
Wikipedia and other sites stage a day or protest by blacking out their sites for a day, sending people to links that enable users to easily contact their state representatives in DC. The lines and emails are flooded to the breaking point and many supporting legislators back off or taking a stand against them. {[[Wikipedia:SOPA initiative/Learn more|details]]; more details} It doesn’t matter that there are proposed amendments to (supposedly) address the flaws in being technically executable without causing endless grief and security dangers to users and legitimate companies — the people have spoken, and they are saying “Don’t touch my Internet”.
Even President Obama speaks out against the dangers of the bills, having received vast feedback on the White House website. In retaliation, Hollywood interests vow to withhold their monetary support of Obama’s re-election campaign.
Anonymous Strikes Back
That’s a lot of action centering around a random Wednesday. Thursday is worse.
The file sharing and storing network whose most popular site is MegaUpload.Com is blocked, it’s principals arrested in New Zealand, and in both method and tenor appear to be handled as if SOPA or PIPA had already been passed. {Personal Note: I’ve used MegaUpload.Com myself to transfer large files to others and can attest it is not by itself nefarious in any way. Now I worry that anywhere I may store files on any cloud may be a t risk.}
In retaliation, the hacktivists within the [[Anonymous (group)|Anonymous Movement]], known for taking action against anyone percieved to threaten freedoms on the Internet, take down a slew of websites run by the Department of Justice, including FBI.gov, for many hours. Also targeted are websites of the music and movie industry organizations behind the legislation. The corporatist agenda is not lost on them.
In their message claiming responsibility, Anonymous targets one man in particular — [[Chris Dodd]]. This lobbyist and former Senator (holding such office for 30 years) is the current head of the [[Motion Picture Association of America]]. The corporatist veil isn’t thin on this one, it’s non-existent.
The Implications
The fact that a relatively unorganized group of hacker citizens with no special resources can effectively challenge the federal government is both terrifying and comforting, and for the same reason. It is terrifying that our government is so vulnerable to nearly anyone with the will and a clue; it is comforting that the government CAN be challenged on this front if it needs to be, a concern not lost in a near-Orwellian world where grandmothers at airports are strip-searched without cause, and there’s a new law at every turn to, in theory, protect us from ourselves.
But what is more apparent is that our national legislators have the false hubris to suppose they are competent in this arena. How can they even propose an informed regulatory course of action (and the powers to execute therein) when the existing agencies devoted to this can do nothing but sit back and watch their servers crash from a simple [[DDoS]] attack?
This, of course, will teach us nothing. Everything the government has put its mind to — from education to health care — it has made worse. When the most regulated industries have catastrophic trouble, such as mortgages and securities, their answer is more regulation, as if squirting enough water on a grease fire will make it go out. If we are crushing ourselves with debt, the answer is raise the ceiling. You hopefully get the point.
When I wrote my respective congressmen, I did not ask them to take a position for or against any provisions within the bills. I asked them not to accept any bill on the subject AT ALL. Only the players themselves are capable to come up with sane and effective remedies to piracy without compromising the most common sense virtue of the Internet, free speech and access to information. If anyone wants to debate this, consider that both the media industries and technology sector have tread these paths from the dark ages to modern amazement without the guidance (interference) of government.
So if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. If it IS broken, don’t let the government fix it.
The Next Battle
The people have spoken — now what is Congress’s response? Postpone the legislation. Are they hoping people will just forget about it when it’s pushed through at a later date? That used to work in the old days … you know that time before the Internet?
Or will the cyber-attacks of Anonymous be used to justify a stronger fist on the part of the feds? Time will tell, and this may be a defining time or watershed moment that will have far more implications than the ability to download a bootleg hit song.
Excellent piece, Ken and right on target with what’s happening in the world today with electronic technology empowering every world citizen to cut out the middle man so to speak.
No wonder the old guard is throwing so much money at the politicians. They are not at all used to having to put up with a level playing field.
Usually they get their way but in this case the pushback was so prodigiously voluminous and to the point (millions declaring they would not vote for any incumbent supporting these bills) that the pols had to blink.
Score one for we the people.
I would though, take issue with your characterization of anonymous as “a relatively unorganized group of hacker citizens with no special resources.”
You don’t consistently take down big government and corporate websites and lift or alter supposedly secure files if you don’t have ‘mad skilz’ as the kids of today would say.
I see these Anonymous/Wikileaks/Lulzsec people as akin to top tier major league ball players who’ve deliberately chosen to shun playing by the rules of the established league and create one of their own that occasionally overlaps if circumstances call for them to intervene.
They see their job as keepers of a fair and level playing field. They may not be publicly famous like a Michael Jordan, if he were a programmer, but they can definitely go one on one with him and hold their own.
The truth is we don’t know what level of organization this underground community has but by their track record I would say that it’s more than a little bit but part of the key to their effectiveness is the fact that they are a stealth operation.
As for the suspected coming fist, while it may be true that governments have more resources, they don’t necessarily have more clever programming talent.
It sure is interesting out there though as the territory shifts and the lines are blurred as to who are the true black hats and white hats.
And as Herman Cain said from the podium today in South Carolina in support of Stephen Colbert’s exploratory run on tomorrow’s Republican primary, “What I learned from my presidential bid is that Wahsington will never change from the inside. You, the people will have to change it from the outside.”
I totally agree with him and we just may need these hacker types to get the job done.
This phenomena is the closest thing to a trojan horse that we the people have going for us.
The times, they are a changin’.
Here’s an interesting article that puts it in persective:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387716,00.asp
David — I’m personally familiar with Anonymous and have to say that things like “[[LulzSec]]” are completely misunderstood as per the article link you posted. It was not a group, but an ad hoc campaign by a handful of people that individually may or may not be same ones who have done any other attack under the blanket phenomenon/culture Anonymous. Whoever wrote it does not really get the scope or history of Anonymous, or the nature of how it works. Most people don’t, since it virtually breaks all formal rules of sociological groups as they are traditionally understood.
When I said unorganized, I meant there is absolutely no membership, leadership, or hierarchy. You and I can be Anonymous (by their generally understood definition) any time we want, either provisionally or as “members” (the meaning of such being more a matter of ongoing attendance through persona). In fact, I have been involved via [[Project Chanology]], though I have never been a Channer of hacktivist. The fact is most of the people engaging in these activities do so somewhat randomly and rarely even know each other. Yes, SOME may be “elite” with “mad skills”, but one article about the recent attack stated their use of the LOIC (“Low Orbit Ion Cannon”) software, which is readily available to anyone.
I saw a demonstration of this software by a professor at SUNY Fredonia a couple months ago, and frankly, it requires little training or effort to use. So I chose my words carefully when I said unorganized and without resources. These people have laptops, not data-centers, and free downloaded software, not teams of programmers. They used Twitter to coordinate, not secret codes and channels. They just have a little more experience at using a proxy, and perhaps more balls, that’s all.
I’m obviously out of my league in discussing the technical aspects of hactivism with you, Ken but it just may be that the lack of organization you speak of is what gives them the ability to stay out of the grasp of the authorities.
It’s much harder to hit a moving target and the stock in trade guerilla tactics of hit and run have proved successful time and again in traditional ground wars. It may translate effectively to cyber war strategies as well. Now you see ’em, now you don’t.
The truth is we do not know what may be at the core of the movement in terms of organization in the traditional sense of the word and it’s not like these people are going to stick their heads up.
But whether the movement is completely organic and random at one end of the scale or carefully coordinated but near invisible at the other, one thing is for sure- they are having a powerful effect.
The tide has turned and the Davids of the world are finally winning some high stakes contests with the Goliaths and putting them on notice that their reign may not be as invincible as they think.
Whether that PC Magazine article had innacurate infomation about Lulzsec or not, the commentary on the effects of evolving technology is having on societal dynamics was astute.
I agree, and very well said, but I’m not out of your league. I only know a bit here and there from my travels and acquaintences — enough to have a decent understanding of what’s going on more than most people, but not do any of it myself. (That’s probably for the best, LOL.)