[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Has Anonymous Crossed the Line with MegaUpload.com Retaliation? here

[DanWang611]

These are unsubstantiated allegations that shouldn't be reported on until confirmed. What the FBI did yesterday can easily be confirmed. They shut down an American based website without due process and arranged for the overseas arrest of its owners. Why don't you ask if the government has crossed the line?

[lukewarmdog]

tl'dr
the simple answer to "Has Anonymous Crossed the Line with MegaUpload.com Retaliation?" is.. no.

[Dazzles]

Oh DanWang611 - get real mate. Unsubstantiated allegations are reported every hour of every day in the media..Now you substantiate they shut down the American website without due process? First of all they had an international arrest warrant for the guy arrested - sounds like a dang well arranged due process to me?? or do they pull those out of theit butt-cheeks??

The simple answer to whether Anonymous crossed the line is a clear yes. This is not some misty conflict with freedom of expression and fredom of the internet... LOL... There were international arrest warrants, which are court ordered, there were multiple court orders to desist - which were ignored.

That is no way to win the battle, that is naive arrogance from some very rich guys who figured they were untouchable. Boing they were touchable.

Sad, I liked Megaupload - Anonymous has just guaranteed harsh legal treatment and an aggressive proscecution, all within the law, of these guys.

You do not beat the elephant by walking up and kicking him in the nuts - you end up getting trampled. The FBI and whoever else is involved will get a load of cash to by very good electronic forecnics gear to beef up their tracking capabilities. Watch this space.

[mroughton]

DanWang611, on 20 January 2012 - 07:44 AM, said:

These are unsubstantiated allegations that shouldn't be reported on until confirmed. What the FBI did yesterday can easily be confirmed. They shut down an American based website without due process and arranged for the overseas arrest of its owners. Why don't you ask if the government has crossed the line?

100% agree. This was just a simple task that didn't need to involve the FBI. But I do not think this is in retaliation of the protests earlier this week. To my knowledge the FBI can only act on currently passed legislation. Not something that is under the gun and almost ripped to pieces like the SOPA and PIPA bills. My guess there was something major the MegaUpload.com owner was involved in. I think this is just a cover-up.

[42n81]

Considering that Anonymous' alleged actions will ultimately bolster pro-SOPA/PIPA support, maybe the hackers just got hacked.

The various government agencies employ at least one or two people who are "reasonably" intimate with the workings of the internet, and have access to some pretty neat toys should they wish to mess anyone up.

The anti-SOPA/PIPA camp would be wise to put some distance, a lot of distance between themselves and Anonymous's alleged actions.

[ThatDaveCarter]

No.. They haven't!

[ndmushroom]

Dazzles, on 20 January 2012 - 08:15 AM, said:

Oh DanWang611 - get real mate. Unsubstantiated allegations are reported every hour of every day in the media..Now you substantiate they shut down the American website without due process? First of all they had an international arrest warrant for the guy arrested - sounds like a dang well arranged due process to me?? or do they pull those out of theit butt-cheeks??

A provisional arrest warrant is not the same as an international arrest warrant. And taking down a site is much bigger than arresting some guy. So yeah, I guess you could say they've pulled the whole stunt out of their butt-cheeks.

[Sam9lja]

Anyone breaking the law for any reason is wrong. If the end justifies the means then we are all doomed. The same people who support them may be their victim tomorrow because of some unseen line that may have been crossed.

[Sam9lja]

Anyone breaking the law for any reason is wrong. If the end justifies the means then we are all doomed. The same people who support them may be their victim tomorrow because of some unseen line that may have been crossed.

[Sam9lja]

sorry for the Dup.

[DanNier]

Dazzles, on 20 January 2012 - 08:15 AM, said:

Oh DanWang611 - get real mate. Unsubstantiated allegations are reported every hour of every day in the media..Now you substantiate they shut down the American website without due process? First of all they had an international arrest warrant for the guy arrested - sounds like a dang well arranged due process to me?? or do they pull those out of theit butt-cheeks??

The simple answer to whether Anonymous crossed the line is a clear yes. This is not some misty conflict with freedom of expression and fredom of the internet... LOL... There were international arrest warrants, which are court ordered, there were multiple court orders to desist - which were ignored.

That is no way to win the battle, that is naive arrogance from some very rich guys who figured they were untouchable. Boing they were touchable.

Sad, I liked Megaupload - Anonymous has just guaranteed harsh legal treatment and an aggressive proscecution, all within the law, of these guys.

You do not beat the elephant by walking up and kicking him in the nuts - you end up getting trampled. The FBI and whoever else is involved will get a load of cash to by very good electronic forecnics gear to beef up their tracking capabilities. Watch this space.

[DanNier]

DanNier, on 20 January 2012 - 09:04 AM, said:

Right on! Right on!

Dazzles, on 20 January 2012 - 08:15 AM, said:

Oh DanWang611 - get real mate. Unsubstantiated allegations are reported every hour of every day in the media..Now you substantiate they shut down the American website without due process? First of all they had an international arrest warrant for the guy arrested - sounds like a dang well arranged due process to me?? or do they pull those out of theit butt-cheeks??

The simple answer to whether Anonymous crossed the line is a clear yes. This is not some misty conflict with freedom of expression and fredom of the internet... LOL... There were international arrest warrants, which are court ordered, there were multiple court orders to desist - which were ignored.

That is no way to win the battle, that is naive arrogance from some very rich guys who figured they were untouchable. Boing they were touchable.

Sad, I liked Megaupload - Anonymous has just guaranteed harsh legal treatment and an aggressive proscecution, all within the law, of these guys.

You do not beat the elephant by walking up and kicking him in the nuts - you end up getting trampled. The FBI and whoever else is involved will get a load of cash to by very good electronic forecnics gear to beef up their tracking capabilities. Watch this space.

[crosswordbob]

Of course not. Anonymous crossed the line long before now. The line is a dot in their rear-windscreen by now. I'm sorry, Tony, but there's more than a touch of naïveté in this article - “Robin Hood-esque” appeal? A group of skilled hackers? Not even close. Perhaps a few of them have some degree of skill, but most are impressionable idiots pressing "go" on scripts written for them. And even then, a DDoS attack is at the very bottom when it comes to level of skill required.

And to what end? Anyone with a modicum of sense should immediately recognise that this action will do nothing but hinder their cause. Perhaps they crossed a line, in that this has been their most egregious action to date - but not because of their targets, and not because they duped bystanders into participating (if indeed this is true), but because of the collateral harm done to every legitimate Internet user around the planet, simply because these idiots don't know how to think before acting.

[GradyPhilpott]

Anonymous crossed the line on their first hack. They're nothing but a bunch of sociopaths and clueless sycophants and now possibly unwitting link clickers.

[xyberviri]

mroughton, on 20 January 2012 - 08:19 AM, said:

100% agree. This was just a simple task that didn't need to involve the FBI. But I do not think this is in retaliation of the protests earlier this week. To my knowledge the FBI can only act on currently passed legislation. Not something that is under the gun and almost ripped to pieces like the SOPA and PIPA bills. My guess there was something major the MegaUpload.com owner was involved in. I think this is just a cover-up.

the other article made it pretty clear they were acting under the Protect IP ACT http://www.pcworld.c...piracy_law.html

[JohnInghoff]

Anonymous has never had any credibility. Their retaliation for living in what their poor imaginations tell them is a police state is to behave as though they run the police state. -Never mind their obsession with outing private details of their targets' lives, but their absolute terrified secrecy regarding their own or their heroes.-

Anonymous is all about attacking freedom of speech and free association. God help you if you choose to say things or associate with people or groups they don't like.

It's not at all ironic that such a group wears the mask of Guy Fawkes: they despise any morality but their own, they despise any privacy but their own, they despise any power but their own.

Fawkes was the tool of a dying Catholic church whose attack on Parliament in England was an attack on Freedom of Speech and Religion in the only nation in Europe that outright rejected the authority of the Pope.

What's their credo? "We never forget, we never forgive"

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. - Ghandi.

[KyleMitchell]

Sam9lja, on 20 January 2012 - 08:54 AM, said:

Anyone breaking the law for any reason is wrong. If the end justifies the means then we are all doomed. The same people who support them may be their victim tomorrow because of some unseen line that may have been crossed.

Legally wrong? Yes. Morally wrong? That's a different story.

[GaryKrainz]

Someone has to have he voice of the people when the government wont listen the article is garbage

[crosswordbob]

GaryKrainz, on 20 January 2012 - 09:10 PM, said:

Someone has to have he voice of the people when the government wont listen the article is garbage

What makes you think these morons represent the voice of "the people"?