Designer Arrested Over Anonymous Press Release 288
An anonymous reader writes "A Greek designer named Alex Tapanaris, whose name appeared on the PDF press release circulated by online trouble-makers Anonymous has had his web site disappeared and, according to reports, the unfortunate chap has been arrested. THINQ managed to talk to Alex on the phone, and while he wouldn't confirm his arrest, he 'certainly sounded spooked,' the web site reports. 'No comment,' he said and hung up. The press release sought to explain Anonymous's aims and lack of any formal organization. It explained that the Anonymous name is applied to a shifting roster of individuals who come together on an ad hoc basis, depending on individual concerns and practical, day-to-day matter such as who happens to be online at the time. Clicking on the document's properties revealed Tapanaris as its named author."
Media Doesn't Get It (Score:5, Informative)
Here is a case-in-point (rather old) showing that mainstream US media just doesn't get it. Anonomous and Lulz [youtube.com]
U.S. Media,
Anonymous is not a secret hacker organization. It is the literal definition of the word. It is not a proper noun. It is just individuals acting without large-scale coordination, all pissed off for their own reasons, acting in semi-cohesion, and participating in groupthink. It is people either trolling for lulz [encycloped...matica.com], or lulzing for lulzing.
People downloading music are like anonymous. There is not a collective group organizing the individual downloaders. They just do it. The people "at the other end of the stick" view it as us against "them", and to have a proper OMGSCANDAL, you need a perpetrator, so they made one. And if they didn't cognitively make one for the purposes of degrading freedom on the internet, then it's more lulz for us and more idiot points for you.
Sincererely
The Lulz.
Re:ANONYMOUS (Score:3, Informative)
Mod parent LOL...
"You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.."
What, "parent"? Sure I do. It's when a man and a woman love each other very much they kiss and cuddle in a special way and the woman tweets "oh you're so wonderful" and then when the woman finds the man loved another woman in a special way a couple of days later, the woman untweets and then together the women go to the police and the man gets locked up. That's how parents are made.
Re:Oblig. XKCD (Score:5, Informative)