See, now this is getting silly. A group calling itself “Anonymous” (the site seems to be down at the moment) has started to coordinate denial of service attacks against Wikileaks‘ enemies as part of “Operation Payback.” You know, companies like Amazon (kicked Wikileaks off its S3 servers), PayPal (froze its account for engaging in “illegal activities”), and EveryDNS (shut off its DNS services to Wikileaks). Nothing like good ol’ fashioned vigilante justice, right?
Um, no. This is not a good idea, nor is it a good way to ingratiate yourself to public opinion. If you want to protest or boycott or whatever these services, fine, great, more power to you. But to act like a petulant little child, knocking over neighborhood mailboxes because you’re angry? Not a very good idea.
It gets better. There are rumors that Twitter has been suppressing (“censoring,” in the language of the movement) tweets from appearing on the trending lists that contain the hashtags “#wikileaks” or “cablegate” or related phrases. As such, Anonymous has also set its sights on Twitter.
As if Twitter doesn’t have enough problems staying online as it is!
But yeah, I really cannot abide this type of wanton destruction. Keep your protests civil, folks. It’s the only way anyone’s going to give your cause the time of day.
Well met, traveler. From Parts Unknown, Nicholas Deleon does not approve of denial of service attacks, primarily because they’re silly. Not even against Twitter.