Anonymous Helps Turn In Hacker Who Targeted Charity 234
netbuzz writes "A hacker who defaced and disabled the website of a New Zealand film company known for helping poor children could find himself in legal hot water in his home country of Spain after his attack spurred a Facebook/Twitter posse that included members of Anonymous, who the hacker may have been trying to impress. 'Apparently, one of the (Anonymous) rules is you don't hack charity sites, you don't hack sites of people trying to help kids,' says the owner of the damaged site. 'This guy was trying to impress them, to try and get into their group and boasting about what he'd done — but they turned on him, they chased him.'"
I want to hate Anonymous (Score:5, Interesting)
I want to hate them. I believe in following the law. I believe in following the rules of society and government. I believe that doing bad things in the name of good is still bad. Still, it is hard for me to hold Anonymous as evil when they are doing good like this, fighting the evil (of child porn) and injustice (Sony.)
If you are an Anonymous member reading this, then know this, I am against you. I hold wrong what you do and how you do it, but what you are accomplishing... you have torn my ethical code. So here's to you, I raise a glass, may you be punished for your wrongdoing, may you suffer the consequences of your misdeeds, but despite that, may you accomplish the good things you aim for. If you have the balls to be willing to take the just desserts of what you have done and still have the guts to do what you feel is right, then kudos to you.
Re:I want to hate Anonymous (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Seizures (Score:5, Interesting)
In that way, they are very similar to a corporation. They are an aggregate of lulz.
Anonymous are people, my friend.
Re:I want to hate Anonymous (Score:5, Interesting)
“Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.” - Martin Luther King
Re:I want to hate Anonymous (Score:5, Interesting)
Change the law, how does one really do that?
In a democracy, your power is determined by your ability to convince other people. Obviously, if you can convince enough people to vote for you, then you win, but more importantly, if you can convince people of the correctness of your ideas, then the people in office will have no choice but to vote for you.
I look at Milton Friedman as an ideal example. The guy never ran for office, never had any political power, but the power of his ideas spread throughout the world, until politicians began implementing many of his ideas. He moved the Overton window without ever holding any managerial authority.
Williams Jennings Bryan is another example. He ran a poor campaign and lost the presidency, only to watch his opponent implement many of the changes he wanted to see. The changes got made because they were popular. His opponent didn't want to implement them, but he did because to not do that would mean losing the next election.
There are plenty of examples like this. Of course, if you're the average person, your influence is limited to posting on Facebook, and everyone else but your friends rolls their eyes. Your influence in that case is limited to a single vote, assuming you even vote. Churchill said, “The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.” Don't be that person.