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

Anon, dear Lulz, Anon

It has been somewhat amusing watching all the hubbub develop between LulSec, Anonymous, and the various groups they're going after/groups that are after them.

A hilarious attempt at journalism by The Sun, covering the arrest of the "mastermind" behind LulSec.
and
LulSec & Anonymous make the FBI most wanted list.

As a previous participant of the realm from which they were both hatched (myself being a retired "oldfag /b/tard" from 4chan), I guess I'm lucky enough to appreciate the humor behind the attacks (for the lulz, man).
But I can also appreciate the (hopeful) ultimate goal of these groups.

Originally, Anonymous was nothing more than the moniker of anyone who posted oncertain image boards. It was not a group, so much as a way of behavior (see: John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory).

Obviously, this "act like an asshole without having the deal with the consequences" internet lifestyle appealed to a great many people, and thus, the in-joke that it was actually a secret club was born. Eventually, the joke was propagated enough that it became reality when people began to claim affiliation to Anonymous.
It became the "cool thing" online in certain circles, a Tyler Durden's Internet Fight Club for the 1337.

In fact, Fight Club could be said to be the spiritual predecessor to the current state of Anonymous.
What started out as fun and games, suddenly decided to get serious.
Groups of "Anons" began to get together to plan "raids" or "invasions" of other websites. At first it was all "for the lulz", but soon, the participants realized, working together, they actually had some significant online muscle. Those more "noble" of the Anons proposed that they use their powers for "good" (or, fighting what they considered "evil"). 
Essentially, they decided to emulate the beginnings of Project Mayhem.

And that's when the first great schism occurred.
The "newfag" Anons wanted to go off and create this better world, and the "oldfags" wanted to continue business as usual and watch the world burn.
Those Anons that decided to dedicate themselves to the fight are the ones we've seen on the news, taking on Scientology and defending Wikileaks.
The Anons we DON'T see working in the shadows were the ones to REALLY be wary of.
... that is, until they decided to come OUT of the shadows.

Enter, LulSec.

Frankly, if they can move on from petty website info snatch'n'grabs and on to more worthwhile attacks, THEN I will be interested (anything that brings us closer to Project Mayhem's ultimate goal is A-OK BY ME!). 
But as for the moment, they seem to be content with their lulz making.
*shrug*

TL;DR
Anonymous is the first "internet superconscious".
They are simultaneously everyone and no one.
LulzSec is just an extension of that fact.
Even if you were to cut off an appendage, the body as a whole will still be able to continue without them.
Think of them as an internet hydra, with trolls for heads.
... good luck trying to take that down.

Meet YamaSavini...

This is Yari, aka. Yama Savin.
He hates grades.
He dreams of a day when grades don't matter everywhere in the world.
You see, in Europe, not only is school free, but there's no such thing as a GPA.
...
Can you imagine? A place where people aren't just regulated to being a number? Where students free to actually learn because they don't have to worry about whether they're failing a class?
Mind-shattering concept, I know.

Anyway, Yari/Yama has some interesting ideas about how to go about sharing him anarchistic anti-grading message.

Taking the info found on this site, he's thinking about making a series of GIFs to tell the world of the evils of grade over-emphasis. (one way he's thought of doing this is via simple iPhone screen caps, possibly made into gifs... see below-)

... frankly, I think if he made the image in the background contrast against the message, it would be a lot more interesting (eg. "GO AMERICA! USA!!!" and the background image is some fat person out font of Walmart)

Actually...

After seeing Sho Tanaka's post, I had a bit of a flash of inspiration.
(She's working on something called "Blackout Poetry", where you basically take a piece of text (newspaper clipping, book page, classified ad, etc.), mark out the majority of the text with a marker, leaving only a handfull of words left on the page. The remaining words, when read in sequence, make a poem.)

An idea along those lines came to me-
As an avid gamer, I frequent a lot of video game industry related websites, blogs and forums. One of the issues you often run into on these sites is spoilers (people talking in forums about parts of a narrative game which spoil the plot of said game's storyline). In order to prevent accidental "spoiling", contributors often blank out parts of their text using basic HTML code. To be able to view the hidden text, one only need highlight the the text in question. The highlighting then contrasts against the background color, and voila, the text is revealed.
As exemplified below-
(I am typing on the internet)

I was thinking about writing a two-in-one story, essentially having lines of the actual story, maybe with a secondary story running between each line of the "actual story".
I'm not quite set on the details yet, but I am intrigued by the possibilities...