Facebook, Privacy, wikileaks, anonymous 2b

We present more information about the origins and operations of the hacker group called anonymous.

In our last article, we neglected to mention some more facts we have on anonymous.  This is not intended as an exhaustive or encyclopedic explanation of anonymous activities, just some highlights.

There are several cyber attacks that have been attributed to anonymous since 2006.  The first of these is called the Habbo raids of 2006 and 2007. As far as we can gather, all the attacks on websites were done for some social cause, some injustice sensed on the part of members of anonymous.

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A lot of the members of anonymous came from a website called 4chan.  The Habbo attack of 2006 was based on the rumor that "...Habbo’s social moderators were racists abusing their ban powers against Black-avatar users."  We will explain the attack,

In July 2005, a group of 4chan users decided to raid Habbo by checking into the game as Black characters in suits and forming blockades around the entrances of popular hangouts. The avatar design was made to symbolize a rich black man. It was known among some users that there were technical limitations with Habbo Hotel. One of the limitations was that avatars could not walk through each other to reach places. This issue was exploited as users from /b/ began to block avatars wanting to enter Habbo’s virtual pool. This caused much frustration to the newcomers in Habbo and was a source of amusement. After many blocking raids to Habbo’s pool area (and banning of 4channers by the mods) the raids became more organized.

Habbo Raid 2006

The raids continued and grew in size, taking over Habbo.   Posters were designed and spread throughout the internet to encourage more users to participate in these raids.  The know your meme states,

The raids continued until July 12th 2006 when the phenomenon peaked. People from Encyclopedia Dramatica, 4chan, YTMND and various sites planned a secret attack on Habbo Hotel (US site). A digital poster surfaced on the internet explaining the date/time of the raid. This kind of organization was a first for 4channers.

The online avatars and raids took on real life conventions,

The Habbo Hotel raids by 4chan’s /b/ began to become so popular that they gained a real life presence. In Finland people rallied together outside Sulake’s (the company that owns Habbo Hotel) headquarters in afro wigs and suits, forming a real life “swastiget”. As time went on people would go on to cosplay the Pool’s Closed avatars at conventions. As an inside joke, people would print the Pool’s Closed mascot on a paper and take pictures of it at their pools.

These posters placed outside pools were misinterpreted by those who were not aware of its origins.  We post this newsreport video to make our point.  If you cannot see the embedded video, here is the link: http://youtu.be/JQGQYx84iPM.

If you would like to see some of what they were doing to the habbo site in real time, you may peruse these videos. If you cannot see the embedded videos, here is the link: http://bit.ly/qFvRBG.

The next attack occured in 2006 when the website of Hal Turner, a white supremacist was attacked by people who identified themselves with anonymous.  They took over the website costing him thousands of dollars in bandwidth.  His lawsuit against the sites that housed these users online failed to go anywhere.  Here is a video explaining this from someone sympathetic to anonymous.  If you cannot see the embedded video, here is the link: http://youtu.be/guzAWD4Q98o.

Scientology Attacked
People claiming to be connected with anonymous attacked different Scientology websites in 2008 causing them to crash.  We present this video as the message sent to Scientology members. If you cannot see the embedded video, here is the link: http://youtu.be/JCbKv9yiLiQ.

Epilepsy Foundation Attack
This attack seems to stand out from others, since it seems one that had no social justification.  It was intended for harm only.  Because of this certain members of anonymous denied it came from them.  This highlighted the problem of anonymous.  It can be easily infiltrated by organizations trying to bring it down, including no doubt the government.  Also there could be different factions among members of anonymous.  In March of 2008, the Epilpesy Foundation of America's website was attacked with,  "JavaScript code and flashing computer animations were posted with the intention of triggering migraine headaches and seizures in photosensitive and pattern-sensitive epileptics."  Supposedly, according to the FBI, nothing was found to connect this group to Anonymous."

Syrian Government Webiste Attacked
On August 8, 2011 members of anonymous attacked the Syrian government website and posted a message to the Syrian army.

To the Syrian people: The world stands with you against the brutal regime of Bashar Al-Assad. Know that time and history are on your side – tyrants use violence because they have nothing else, and the more violent they are, the more fragile they become. We salute your determination to be non-violent in the face of the regime’s brutality, and admire your willingness to pursue justice, not mere revenge. All tyrants will fall, and thanks to your bravery Bashar Al-Assad is next. 

To the Syrian military: You are responsible for protecting the Syrian people, and anyone who orders you to kill women, children, and the elderly deserves to be tried for treason. No outside enemy could do as much damage to Syria as Bashar Al-Assad has done. Defend your country – rise up against the regime! – Anonymous

 We include this video to show you what the Syrian Government website looked like after it had been hacked.  If you cannot see the embedded video, here is the link: http://youtu.be/qiFGN2NlFGU.


 In response to these attacks, the Syrian government hacked a website associated with anonymous and posted this message:

In response to your hacking to the website of the Syrian Ministry of Defence, the Syrian people have decided to purify the internet of your pathetic website. Your website has been hacked, and here we leave you these photos showing the scale of terrorism committed by Muslim Brotherhood Organization, whose members have been killing Syrian citizens – civilian and military. You are defending this terrorits [sic] organization and this is our response. here is photos of the Syrian Army Martyrs”

Anonymous message to Syria
click to enlarge

There are scores of attacks on websites through 2008-2011, culminating in the latest threat against Facebook.  If you wish to read about individual attacks, you may simply look anonymous up in wikipedia.

Now that we have covered some essential information on Anonymous, we shall move unto to wikileaks claims about Facebook's cooperation with security agencies to invade the privacy of Americans and other individuals in the world.