THIS JUST IN: THE INTERNET IS OVER

Apparently one of the 4chan MODS who had come to the IRL meet up in Akiba last weekend was arrested at the airport when he landed at LAX!

Obviously, this has everybody involved in the whole operation spooked beyond belief.
So understandably, all plans have been put on hold indefinitely, or until further notice.
...
bummer, because they had some REALLY cool stuff planned.

Oh well, some good lulz were had, while it lasted.

The internet in real life

So if you've been following the story of what's been happening with me and Anonymous, you will have seen that things seem to be building toward some sort of climax.

Well, last Thursday, it was decided that in order to have a better idea of where we wanted to take this thing, an "IRL meet up" (in real life meet up) was going to be required.
This was going to be no easy feat, as the majority of the members involved were spread out across the globe.

Even more challenging, getting around the cross cultural boundaries involved.
You see, it's not just us old-guard of 4chan involved. There are other participants from other realms of the internet, the world over, even Japan.

And so this past Sunday, the culmination of months of planning came to pass, and the first ever 4chan/2chan IRL meet up was set in organized.

Present at this gathering are some of the inner circle of both 4chan (the largest English based image board on the interent) and 2chan (4chan's progenitor, the largest image board on the internet).
The guy with the poofy hair in the middle of the crowd is Chris Poole, better known as Moot. He is the 4chan equivalent of Mark Zuckerberg (he was actually ranked #1 on Time's Top 100 people list of 2009... and no, I'm not kidding).
The other people in the crowd are various other MODS and participants from the involved websites (anyone wearing a black T-shirt would be members of the 4chan inner circle, including the friend who introduced to the whole world).

Basically, if the FBI had wanted to snag a great deal of people on the internet most wanted list, they should have been in Akihabara last weekend.

What's exactly IS Anonymous?

Found a great visual aid to help those who still aren't clear exactly what Anonymous is REALLY like (which, judging by reactions, would be most people). 

Might be worth a view to any who would be interested.

Regarding the source:

Extra Credits is a weekly web show that usually covers video game industry politics (we're talking serious topics, like racsim/sexism in video games, video games as a valid form of art, censorship, etc.). As the Sony Playstation network hack was very much video game related, they used it as a spring board to launch into the topic of Anonymous... and quite honestly, gave one of the most accurate and concise descriptions of the group that I've ever seen.

Do give it a watch, won't you--

And now back to Anonymous...

Oh, make no mistake, internet shenanigans are still afoot.
Things are progressing at frightening speed, in fact.
So much so that Senator John McCain has decided to make Anonymous his number one target (perhaps due in large to certain actions that occured last month? hehehe).
Check out the link below, gives a pretty good laymans version of events.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111670-U-S-Senator-We-Need-to-Look-Into-Anonymous-Pronto
Here's a sample-
"I greatly enjoy Senator McCain's suggestion that it's even remotely possible to stop Anonymous from doing whatever they want to whoever they want. It is the information age and you are up against an infinite number of bored geeks with nothing better to do. Against this onslaught you have a number of security techs who will only work 8 hours a day 5 days a week, and only as many of them as you are willing to pay. You are trying to hold back the ocean with sandbags."
...
This man speaks truth. You would do well to heed his words, oh ye who would seek to undo our works.
For our cause is just and our numbers are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.

Speaking of assignments...

Finished my second project (soundscape) on Friday, but ran out of time before I could post it.


How to lose a tail

After seeing how fun everyone else's sound project were going, I thought it'd be interesting to try to do one as well.
I had an idea I wanted to go for (kind of a alleyway chase scene out of a spy movie or something), but trying to find the desired sound effects were harder than I had anticipated.

A synpopsis for anyone who wasn't sure what was happening in the scene:

And sometimes I do assignments as well!

Taking a break from all the Anonymous reporting to bring you a special bulletin.

I made a video!

It was just for fun.

At work we're putting on a play of Peter Pan with the little kids, so the song "We're following the leader" has been stuck in my head all day for the past week while we practice it.
After seeing JamesBondGoldeneye's last project, for some reason, I had the lyrics in my head change to "We're following DEAR Leader"... and so, my project idea was born!
Using FinalCutPro, I just mashed a bunch of amusing images of Kim Jong Il and North Korean propaganda imagery together to match the beats of the song I ripped from the internet,
un viola!

ファイト-アン~! (fight on)

haHA!

Take that, greedy corporate pigs!
(we fixed it so anyone trying to go to Activision's www.modernwarfare3.com will now be redirected to Electronic Arts' www.battlefield.com/battlefield3, their biggest competitor).
It's nothing major compared to what we've got planned, but anything that takes money out of Bobby Kotick's hands is gonna be worth it in the long run.

Excellent work, guys!

Can't wait for tomorrow's one!


[edit] Oop, looks like the site has been taken down now! (guess somebody at Activision finally noticed)
SORRY BOBBY!
LOLOLOL

Fighting the good fight

Well, that's two government websites crashed and burned in one night. Excellent stuff!
Big props to all the Anons involved, that was some serious tandem tomfoolery last night!
I'm pretty sure there's no way they're going to find ALL of the shit we hid, even after they bring everything back up again (although, I can just imagine the face of any customers who accidentally stumble upon it).
XD

I'm not sure about some of the other future "targets", though. Up till now, it's all been fun and games, but a couple of those are going to be some pretty heavy shit...
Oh well, at least tonight's one will be nice and light hearted!

Project Mayhem rolls on!

Round One: FAI-TO!!

After a weekend of participating in some internet back-alley IRC'ing with a group of Anonymous, I have to admit, these guys are right about one thing: this shit is FUN.

Lulz were indeed had. A great many, in fact.
Sure, I might not have done any of the hacking myself, but coming along for the ride and watching everything unfold in real time was quite the experience.
Seeing the webpage change as each person added their own subtle touch of anarchy was just hilarious, as well.
There's just something about knowing you're somewhere you're not supposed to be, doing something you're not supposed to do, that makes everything a lot more exciting.
I checked the site we raided again this morning, and everything had been switched back, so I'm assuming whoever was in charge of the site finally wised up and changed everything back, but for that brief moment, it was satisfying to sit back and admire the work.

In fact, I dare say hackers are graffiti artists of the digital generation: while other people might not appreciate their work, simply considering it a nuisance, there are those who can see the beauty in what they do.

For the mean time, though, Project Mayhem rolls on....

Well well well...

So it would seem my rantings about Anonymous and 4chan have been garnering some unintended attention.

After my post regarding LulzSec last week, I was contacted by... how shall we say this... an old accomplice from back in my 4chan'ing days.
She was (and still is) a moderator at what is known as the "cesspool of the internet, the largest English language image board in the world (the 2nd largest of all image boards, 1st being the legendary 2channel).
She told me that my posts regarding my former internet hangout had not gone unnoticed by the roving eye of the body-Anon. I knew well what she meant (there are certain factions of Anonymous that make it their business to "police" the internet, and in particular, keep tabs on possible threats to their organization and interesting persons, and in my making mention of them, had raised a redflag).
Instead of warning me against any further actions, she instead asked if I would be interested in re-joining "the great work".

Even back in my more active days of 4chan'ing, I was merely a "lurker" (someone who just cruises the site, rarely contributing to any discussions). Once all the "invading" started happening, I was mildly amused at first... but got over it quickly.
I, like the majority of "oldfags", viewed the whole thing as being beneath us. We had more interesting things to do. Some had even more interesting things to do than others... namely, hacking.
While I was never directly involved in any of their activities, I knew many people who were, and knew of their exploits. They fancied themselves a real life Neo or Morpheus or Trinity, infiltrating places they weren't meant to, just for the hell of it.

Anyway, I told her I didn't have the skills required for anything they might be planning, but I might tag along for old times sake.

We shall see where this goes...

 

[edit]: Fear not, oh ye who know so little of the neither regions of the internet. There is no danger to those who do not impede the progress of the greater mob of Anonymous.

Of social networks: to + or -

This Google+ thing has got me quite intrigued.

I think this web comic sums it up nicely.

It certainly has all the nerds and geeks of the interwebs all a buzz.

To be honest, I'm not amoured with any social networking sites at the moment.
-Twitter I don't see the point of if I'm not interested in attracting "followers" (it's like a really REALLY bad/cut back/restricted version of the status update function you find at other social networking services... only, that's the only thing you can do).
-Facebook I hardly consider perfect (infact, there are quite a lot of things I don't like about it. *shrug* It's good enough until someone comes along with something better). I use only the thing because it's a necessary evil (if everyone else you know is using it, you go with the digital herd or you get left dehind to die). 

-MySpace (speaking of being left behind to die), I've never used because I've always considered it a joke (reserved for bands and emo kids).

-Plurk/LiveJournal/Tumblr/et all, I never even considered because, well, why even bother.

Basically, to me, the reason anyone would join a social network is because you want to keep up with your friends (so if everyone you know is using _____, you use _____ too).

So why then am I so interested in this new Google venture?
By my reasoning above, I shouldn't have much interest in it, as no one I know is currently using it.

I think it's a mix of reasons.

Absolute Customized privacy: Now here's a good one. No more having to create multiple profiles (one for your family, and one so they can't see what you REALLY get up to). The closest thing to offer something live that before was LiveJournal, with their "friends groups". This is going to appeal to a lot of people.

Circles: Like internet clubs, cliques, and communities all rolled into one. Facebook tried its hand at this, but the execution was too unwieldy. Here's hoping the guys at Google were able to take that function and streamline it.

The fact that it's Google: This one's probably just me, but I've never really had a problem with the company. Most of my accounts have been through them anyway, so I figure this would only be the natural progression. *shrug* "Why not, they've already got everything else of mine anyway..."

I don't know. Maybe all this hype will be the death of the thing when it can't measure up to everyone's expectations.

Only time will tell whether this will be the next Facebook... or Friendster.



[edit: for a direct Google+ head-to-head comparison with FaceBook, check out this article]-
http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/266334/6-things-google-can-do-that-facebook-can-t