Anti-US Hacker Takes Credit For Worm 221
angry tapir writes "Credit for the "Here You Have" worm (recently discussed on Slashdot), has been taken by a hacker known as 'Iraq Resistance' who says the worm was designed, in part, as a propaganda tool. He said he had not expected the worm to spread as broadly as it had, and noted that he could have done much more damage to victims. 'I could smash all those infected but I wouldn't,' said the hacker. 'I hope all people understand that I am not negative person!' In other parts of the message, he was critical of the US war in Iraq. For a brief period early the worm accounted for about 10 percent of the spam on the Internet."
Luddite victims. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Luddite victims. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Luddite victims. (Score:5, Insightful)
Backfire suggests unintended consequences.
On the contrary, it's been proven that a tiny poke in the Achilles world trade centre, causes the land of the free to implode in a counterproductive, authoritarian cluster fuck.
It has a certain beauty to it. Much like a slow motion train crash.
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That may be true, but that wasn't what they wanted to have happen. They wanted the US to remove its armies from muslim lands . It resulted in even more American troops in Muslim lands.
Re:Luddite victims. (Score:4, Funny)
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Backfire suggests unintended consequences.
On the contrary, it's been proven that a tiny poke in the Achilles world trade centre, causes the land of the free to implode in a counterproductive, authoritarian cluster fuck.
That may be true, but that wasn't what they wanted to have happen. They wanted the US to remove its armies from muslim lands . It resulted in even more American troops in Muslim lands.
Yes. In other words, Al Quaeda's plan backfired, in an (ahem!) Biblical sort of way.
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1991
Bin Laden says Al-Qaeda main policy is to get US troops out of Saudi
11th Sep 2001
Al-Qaeda attack NYC and Pentagon
29th April 2003
US announce that virtually all US troops will vacate Suadi Arabia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2984547.stm [bbc.co.uk]
May 1 May 2003
George Bush gives the "Mission Accomplished" speech
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Mission_Accomplished_Speech [wikipedia.org]
Conspiracy away
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They wanted US troops out of Saudi arabia, and they are out! Sounds like they got what they wanted.
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a tiny poke in the Achilles world trade centre
I gather from your smug demeanor and spelling of "centre" that you're not American. Let me ask you something: if someone performed a similar act of mass-murder in your country ... would you consider it as inconsequential? Would it be a "tiny poke"?
Whether you agree with the direction our government and law enforcement have taken in the years since 9/11 (and I, personally, do not) dismissing the deaths of so many people, of so many nationalities in such a cavalier fashion is decidedly uncivilized.
Just
Re:Luddite victims. (Score:5, Insightful)
On a human scale, 9/11 was a tragedy of epic proportions. It is a day and an act that I will never forget or forgive, period. From the standpoint of a nation of 300 million people, it was a pinprick. The impact of the domestic policy enacted in the wake of 9/11 an order of magnitude larger than that of the work of 12 nutjobs.
Re:Luddite victims. (Score:5, Insightful)
On a human scale, 9/11 was a tragedy of epic proportions. It is a day and an act that I will never forget or forgive, period.
I agree.
From the standpoint of a nation of 300 million people, it was a pinprick.
I agree.
The impact of the domestic policy enacted in the wake of 9/11 an order of magnitude larger than that of the work of 12 nutjobs.
I agree, which is why I said, Whether you agree with the direction our government and law enforcement have taken in the years since 9/11 (and I, personally, do not) .
... get him!" It's just this miasma of fear that can be used to get anything through Congress.
However, I dislike it when anyone says that twenty-thousand-odd deaths are of little consequence, and the GP's tone was indicative that he felt so because they were Americans.
More to the point, however, is that you (and many other people, I might add) have this idea that everything bad that's happened since 9/11, regarding overreaching government behavior, is a direct result of 9/11. It was not: 9/11 was an excuse, a rationale, that permitted the Federal Government (certain parts of it, anyway) to re-assume powers it had had taken away from it some time ago.
Start with the Patriot Act: everything thinks that it just magically appeared in front of Congress right after 9/11. That's a huge document, however, and a lot of thought went into it. Those who put it in front of Congress had it ready, just waiting for the right situation to occur so they could ram it through. And they did. I'll leave it up to you conspiracy types to decide if 9/11 was allowed to happen for just that reason.
Keep in mind that law enforcement, specifically the FBI, was just as abusive during the early stages of the Cold War as they are now. It got so bad that Congress had to step in and limit their power. And those limits were in place for decades for good reason until the Patriot Act stripped them away. Now we're right back where we were, only worse because they have a hell of a lot more technology at their beck-and-call than they did then.
Terrorism actually offers much better justification than the Red Scare ever did. There's no overt enemy to point at and say, "there's the bad guy
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Yes, I agree.
Its much better to have just ignored the people who did this. I mean, what more could they do? ...
A cruise missile hitting Mecca would have very little actual damage. Even a few casualties would be the merest Pinprick to the Global Islamic Community. I think the response would belie that though.
Well ... to be fair he did say he was playing devils' advocate. But yeah, I agree with you: there would be consequences for that. Surprised nobody's done it yet, just to watch the global conflagration.
Re:Luddite victims. (Score:4, Insightful)
If China wants to try to kill anonymous access, that's all the more reason our laws should say no logging, no tracking, EVER.
And fuck the MafiAA and the fascists, who are the only ones who think differently.
As for traditional media channels - let's face it, they failed us a long time ago. The simpering, fawning "yay Obama" types in 2008 were just the most blatant, but most of the world has seen that kind of behavior for years - chinese media, iranian media, russian pravda, BBC, and pretty much everything else.
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If China wants to try to kill anonymous access, that's all the more reason our laws should say no logging, no tracking, EVER.
That's terrible logic. China has laws against murder, does that mean the USA should have laws requiring you to shoot everyone you see? There are rational arguments against logging and tracking online, we don't need irrational ones.
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I discarded ideology decades ago when I realized what a mug's game it was.
Sure no problem - but do you really want to discard "news" backed by independently verifiable facts while you were at it? That is all most of the "we" in the "you lot out there" you are referring to want - news along with the source material free of spin... pretty simple really, and nothing to do with ideology. We can all pile our own ideology on top afterward.
Old Media is mostly echo spin chamber devoid of any verifiable facts - the "polarization" you observe on the internet is the opposite beginning to se
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Sure no problem - but do you really want to discard "news" backed by independently verifiable facts while you were at it?
Um, what?
That is all most of the "we" in the "you lot out there" you are referring to want - news along with the source material free of spin... pretty simple really, and nothing to do with ideology.
No, that's not at all what I was referring to. I'm no defender of Old Media. Far from it.
Wow. I don't think it's possible for you to have misread what I said any more than you have. This is some sort of record.
but this one happens to include more on your point of view that the internet is nothing more than a bunch of rabid ideology.
I didn't say it was "nothing more" than rabid ideology. You know, that's another problem with people these days- they any comment they see to an illogical extremist strawman POV.
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... destroy the Internets potential to bring true accountability and openness to our respective governments
I like your unlimited idealism; I just don't like to be immersed to my neck in the cesspit of SPAM and other duplicity that the internet so uniquely enables.
Apart from that - what makes you think that anonymity makes it possible to hold governments and big business to account? All this is just a dummy; something to keep potential troublemakers occupied with thundering impotently on their soapboxes instead of organising something more worthwhile.
The real problem is not "censure", but the complete lack of et
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I just don't like to be immersed to my neck in the cesspit of SPAM and other duplicity that the internet so uniquely enables.
The real world has crime - even turning a country into some kind of controlled Stazi state in the name of defending against "crime" will not change that. Most of us are not prepared to live in a police state/baby pen internet under the (fake) pretense of knocking a few percentage points off the crime stats or child porn bogymen population.
Apart from that - what makes you think that anonymity makes it possible to hold governments and big business to account? All this is just a dummy; something to keep potential troublemakers occupied with thundering impotently on their soapboxes instead of organizing something more worthwhile.
As for holding governments and big business to account here is one example (Disclaimer: In My Opinion) on an issue that indirectly affects most Americans in a big way :
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If it's even meant to backfire, if there was a group I wanted to discredit I would spread a virus in the name of said group instead of the group I take part.
I don't believe it's the case in the situation though. Experience tells me that most people don't realize that protesting through destructive means rarely works well...
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It's particularly silly in this case, since US involvement in Iraq is already winding down. Somehow I doubt this is someone shouting "and stay out!" after we've already left - it seems much more likely an excuse invented after the fact (by the actual author, or as you mention, a Joe-job).
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Wasn't the 'plan Colombia' worm designed to do the same? Didn't work a decade ago and it doesn't work now. Unless it's a false flag operation.
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why cannot we bomb the guy out of existence? Ohh wait - have we not tried to do just this for few last years? Ohhhhh.....
Sure, but then people get all riled up about "collateral damage". Just send in a hit squad to "disappear" the bastard. Do that enough times, and you might have an effective deterrent. Matter of fact, I understand the Mossad has some experience with that, so long as we don't insist they use Blackberries.
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I can understand his message, but unfortunately this sort of things always backfires. I'm not sure how he thinks a virus is going to convince the super patriotic Luddites who support the war that their beliefs are totally wrong.
You guys need to keep up on current events. The war in Iraq has officially been over for nearly two weeks!!!! Mission accomplished!
Of course, we're still in a state of national emergency [whitehouse.gov].
"Anti-US" Hacker? (Score:2, Interesting)
Where do they get that? Plenty of Americans with functioning synapses say the same damn thing about the Iraq Clusterfuck, and Terry Jones *IS* a fucking troglodyte.
I mean, okay... There's not really any excuse for releasing malicious code on anyone, so he gets no pass there. But if the only communication from him and info about him is from that video... shit, he addresses "Americans" more rationally then the two sides of the idiot aisle do each other.
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From TFA:
It definitely sounds tenuous, my first thought was this was some bored kid in suburbia who accidentally caused some damage and was trying to throw off the trail. It sounds though like Robert McMillian of PC world is convinced. Stewart's article is a little more skeptical about that group being the actual perpetrator, bu
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>Plenty of Americans with functioning synapses say the same damn thing about the Iraq Clusterfuck, and Terry Jones *IS* a fucking troglodyte.
Pardon me, but my memory of 2003 is pretty good. Plenty of Americans were chomping at the bit to start a war they couldn't afford for reasons based on intel that was obviously massaged. I remember almost zero skepticism about this. Tthe US's view on Islam is pretty low, to the point where we are having a national discourse on why you can't build mosques in certain
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Pardon me, but my memory of 2003 is pretty good. Plenty of Americans were chomping at the bit to start a war they couldn't afford for reasons based on intel that was obviously massaged.
It's not 2003 anymore. Many of us know better now, and being against the stupidity over there is only "Anti-US" in the tiny, deranged minds of the furthest of far-right wingnuts. Even the mainstream right has laid off the "Unpatriotic" bullshit lately.
Please don't make the US out to be this enlightened culture...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA...
Don't worry. I would never, EVER do that. I'm just saying that anything in that video to label the guy as an "Anti-US Hacker" requires some SEVERE FoxNews'O'Vision.
Virus-writing script-kiddie scumbag? Abso-fragging-lutely.
Anti-US? [Citation Needed]
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Where do they get that? Plenty of Americans with functioning synapses say the same damn thing about the Iraq Clusterfuck, and Terry Jones *IS* a fucking troglodyte.
You are absolutely correct. This is the same mentality as those who say that opposing the building of the Ground Zero Mosque is "anti-Islamic". You can dislike something supported by some members of a group without being "anti" that group.
No, It's more like saying that those who are opposed to Al-Qaeda are anti-Islamic. Those who are opposed to what amounts to little more than a Muslim YMCA, are most likely anti-Islamic.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
What other reason is there to oppose the mosque if not due to an anti-Islamic mindset? Would you be up for the banning of any church's being built around the Alfred P. Murrah building in OKC due to the fact that the bombers were Christian?
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This is the same mentality as those who say that opposing the building of the Ground Zero Mosque is "anti-Islamic".
You mean "the Islamic community center two blocks away from ground zero." Just because the media have accepted the term designed to stir up the most controversy and ratings about the issue is no reason to accept the distortion of the facts.
And the fact is that this is not a mosque and it is not at ground zero.
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Re:"Anti-US" Hacker? (Score:5, Insightful)
And that the site was damaged in the attacks, making it part of ground zero
Only by redefining the term "ground zero". Ground zero does not include any and all areas that has been damaged it only refers to the "point directly below an explosion". So no, it is not at "ground zero" at all.
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How can you oppose a mosque a couple blocks away from ground zero and not be, at least a little bit, anti-Islamic? Upon what other basis would you oppose such a thing, save that you believe the 9/11 terrorists == Islam, and therefore Islam is bad and a mosque is somehow, by it's very association with that religion, "disrespectful" of the victims of 9/11?
Would you similarly oppose a church being built a couple blocks away from the site of an abortion clinic bombing?
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And yes I would oppose converting a building damaged by a christian anti-abortion bomber to a church, or the opening of an irish Catholic centre at the site of the Baltic exchange.
Re:"Anti-US" Hacker? (Score:4, Insightful)
Its interesting to compare the reaction of the Muslims supporting the mosque and community centre being build in the area damaged by the planes with the carmalite convent as auschwits, which was relocated.
Except, of course, that's completely different. The convent wasn't relocated because some hate-filled "Catholics" ran the camp, but because the Jewish community felt it would distract from the suffering jews were subjected to. Oh, plus the convent was going to be built right on the periphery of the camp. Not a couple blocks away, but literally right there.
'course, I also think that case was fucking ridiculous. But that's neither here nor there. The point is, it's a totally different situation.
And yes I would oppose converting a building damaged by a christian anti-abortion bomber to a church, or the opening of an irish Catholic centre at the site of the Baltic exchange.
Why? Religion didn't cause those acts. People did.
No offense, but your position strikes me as both irrational and bigoted. Doubly so given the area is known for having a large muslim population (it was once nicknamed Little Syria, ffs), and that this facility is actually a couple blocks away from ground zero.
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And yes I would oppose converting a building damaged by a christian anti-abortion bomber to a church, or the opening of an irish Catholic centre at the site of the Baltic exchange.
Why? Religion didn't cause those acts. People did.
That's a stupid question. The bad act those people committed has already been done, and the person trying to build a church knows that. It takes some serious balls and a bad attitude to make a decision like that when you know damn well THAT people are going to be upset and WHY, especially when what you're building is something that, in theory, is protected and reverential and an "it would be an insult to our religion if you asked us to leave or tore it down" sort of thing--which basically says "I know you
Re:"Anti-US" Hacker? (Score:4, Insightful)
It takes some serious balls and a bad attitude to make a decision like that when you know damn well THAT people are going to be upset and WHY
Only if you assume people are bigoted assholes who can't differentiate between a religion and a bunch of extremist terrorists.
Do you really think so little of people? If so, maybe that highlights the *real* problem, don't you think?
And even if you say that once it's built it's just a house of worship that people use normally--who would move into a place like that knowing its location?
Uh, maybe the many muslims who've lived, worked, and worshipped in the area for decades?
If a Christian church was set up in a place a Christian had deliberately attacked, I would expect as a sign of decency that they would have some obvious, public way for attendees to offer prayers to those hurt, which would hopefully be permanent.
People can pray for whatever the fuck they want to pray for. Why the fuck should any such facility be obligated to continuously apologize for the acts of a bunch of assholes, save that people are too stupid to understand that said assholes don't represent the entirety of said religion?
But it doesn't matter, because all of this is missing the entire fucking point:
These people bought and paid for a piece of *private property*. They are now building a *legal facility* on those grounds. Protest it all you want, but that is their right, and neither the people nor the government have any right to interfere. Don't like it? Change the constitution.
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It takes some serious balls and a bad attitude to make a decision like that when you know damn well THAT people are going to be upset and WHY
Only if you assume people are bigoted assholes who can't differentiate between a religion and a bunch of extremist terrorists.
Do you really think so little of people? If so, maybe that highlights the *real* problem, don't you think?
...?
No, even if you assume people can tell the difference, you're still trampling on their feelings. If you depend on them to yield, when you could just as easily move it a few blocks (and maybe it's not just as easy to move--depending on the real estate market nearby), then you're being an asshole, and there's nothing else to say about the matter.
Who would move into a place like that knowing its location?
Uh, maybe the many muslims who've lived, worked, and worshipped in the area for decades?
All of whom are presumably going to go to your church/mosque even if you move it slightly.
I'm not saying to disenfranchise them, and I don't know why you're tre
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No, even if you assume people can tell the difference, you're still trampling on their feelings.
Huh? Anyone who isn't a bigot or an islamophobe wouldn't have hurt feelings in the first place.
All of whom are presumably going to go to your church/mosque even if you move it slightly.
But why the hell should they move it at all? There's literally no reason, unless you believe that Islam == 9/11 == terrorism.
Who said I was protesting it? I'm pointing out that not everyone who's upset is being unreasonable.
Reall
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why is it that when people disagree with liberals, they're bigots, but when liberals disagree with others, they're enlightened?
Why is it that when someone refers to a belief as bigoted, the assumption is that person is a liberal? Are you saying conservatives can't believe in bigotry?
can you get over the "everyone but me is racist"
Racist? What? Hint: Islam is a religion, not a race.
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I think part of the problem is that the protesting is based around allowing a building 'for the terrorists' rather than recognising that islamic terrorists make up a tiny fraction of the Islamic community.
Consider this with the fact that muslims were killed in the Twin Towers attack *and* that muslims were also part of the rescue services (plenty of whom lost their lives in the rescue effort) and the protest against the muslim support centre or mosque or whatever seems, well, bigoted.
There was a women f
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If you are going to blame a whole religious community you may as well allow a tit-for-tat reaction - I propose allowing muslims to destroy a Christian Church - a good one, Catholic or at least one where they take their shit seriously - but not allow them to rebuild. Karma restored and everyone is equally happy or unhappy.
I think you will find they have already destroyed hundreds.
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Let's not play that game. Throughout history, Christians burned down mosques, Muslims destroyed mandirs, Hindus destroyed churches, Christians attack gurdwaras, Buddhists destroyed mosques, (all examples I can cite). The cycle continues.
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Who do you mean by "they"? Fundamentalists or just Muslims in general? Did you actually read any of my post just the bits that appealed to your intrinsic racism?
Way to paint someone with the racist brush by implying that Muslims are a race. I agree with a lot of what you're saying but not this part.
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"You can dislike something supported by some members of a group without being "anti" that group."
There is, it should be noted, no reason NOT to oppose a religion or all religions on their own lack of merit.
The idea that superstition should be respected is silly, and it would be easier to break the hold of superstitions if we were much more comfortable treating them with the contempt such ridiculous beliefs deserve. Religions attacking each other is healthy, because it highlights their defects and their trib
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The idea that superstition should be respected is silly
People's rights should be respected. In this case, the rights of an owner of a private piece of property to build a facility on it, and within that facility to exercise their right to freedom of belief and expression. Religion, itself, has fuck all to do with it.
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Survey shows that 2/3 of those who oppose the Islamic center in lower Manhattan also hate Islam. So you "can" dislike something supported by some members of a group without being "anti" that group, but this is a bad example to prove that point.
Re:"Anti-US" Hacker? (Score:5, Insightful)
And when pretty much 99.9999% of the people who oppose the Iraq war criticize it because "those durn Amerikkkan Neokkkon Fascist hicks are at it again"
They do? Weird. Because I'm pretty sure most people opposed the Iraq war because, you know, it was justified with lies.
But hey, what do I know, I'm not a total fucking idiot...
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But hey, what do I know, I'm not a total fucking idiot...
[citation needed]
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I'm European. Most people I know used to like the Americans before the stupid, illegal and outrageous invasion. Specially when the lies used to justify it were so lame that, outside of the US, only a mouth-foaming ultra-right-wing retard would buy any of them (not that our media hadn't tried).
Before the invasions the demonstrations throughout the world made it into the Guiness in number of participants. Many people I know went to a demonstrations for the first time ever. Most of them don't even know what
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I would say a more correct statement would be "99.9999% of us agree to disagree."
I dunno about that, though. It seems to me -- and maybe it's just noise level, but given the advertising for the various talking heads' shows -- that it's more than .0001% of the population that make up the howler monkeys screaming and flinging feces at each other over differences in idealogical minutiae between the two leading franchises^Wparties.
Re:"Anti-US" Hacker? (Score:5, Informative)
Your post couldn't make it more clear that you're a bigot fed on Fox News propaganda.
The catholic church the evil infidels "destroyed" is still there. I visited it a few years ago. It's the main landmark in the beautiful city of Cordoba. Oh, by the way, they take great pride in their Arab heritage.
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Man, this needs to be modded up +1 Informative and Hilarious...
As an aside, let's say, for the moment, that the amusingly misinformed twat GP was right... it still wouldn't fucking matter. The US is a country built on ideals. Either those ideals exist and are to be lived by, or they don't. Either these people have the right to do with their private property what they choose, or they don't.
'course, as always, the rabid right has once again demonstrated that they believe strongly in the constitution and th
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The US is a country built on ideals.
Unless someone wants to burn the Koran. Then the FBI is sent to "convince" them to change their minds.
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Yeah, sure buddy. Gimme some evidence or I'm assuming this is just made-up right-wing propaganda. And no, a story in Faux News doesn't count, I said evidence, not made-up bullshit speculation.
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Ooookay, I didn't realize that you were so out of touch. Google can tell you everything:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CBwQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fhostednews%2Fap%2Farticle%2FALeqM5hKWWJdTrfALpbYfWB6fM58p6u-pwD9I4I32G0&rct=j&q=burn%20the%20Koran%20FBI&ei=bkqOTM2ZLdO3ngezlsX5Cw&usg=AFQjCNFQGRg36usT2Qe8-bhw2j2zE8dRqA&sig2=u4MRMGpVULmPf3ka7HyaYw&cad=rja [google.com]
Is the associated press also part of the conspiracy against your worldview?
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The FBI spent about a half hour talking with Jones, but church spokesman Wayne Sapp would not disclose what they discussed. Agents leaving the church wouldn't talk to an Associated Press reporter.
Jones said earlier this week that agents have visited him twice since he announced his plans in July, the last visit about two weeks ago.
Uhuh... so Jones was visited *three separate times*. Never once did he claim to have been coerced.
But its the big old bad gubbermint that's just strong-arming him.
Right. Sure bu
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I'm not the one with a conspiracy theory...
Re:"Anti-US" Hacker? (Score:5, Informative)
No, they named it "Cordoba House" because for centuries Cordoba was a place where Christians, Muslims, and Jews freely lived and worked together. Historians all agree that Moorish rule was a period of tolerance in European history, so much so that those centuries were called the "Golden Age of Judaism" since Jews could work and study freely when they were banned elsewhere in Europe. The great Jewish scholar Maimonides came out of that environment, at a time when the Muslims gave free university tuition to all citizens, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.
It's a terrible slander to start accusing the Muslims and Jews and Christians on board with this project as having some sort of malevolence. This Republican talking point shocks me because it's completely false and anyone who even glances at Wikipedia would find it so, yet still gets spread. Rather than argue the point, they renamed the place to Park51 to avoid false controversy
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Profiteering (Score:2, Insightful)
This guy is just another Spam king Profiteering. He is trying to spin a political message on top of the spam but that's about it.
PREPARE FOR FUNDING! (Score:4, Funny)
Seriously a bunch of consultants are about to become filthy rich.
If his plan was to slowly bleed the US to death with enormous security consulting fees, I suspect his plan will be a success.
Not negative? (Score:5, Insightful)
Two points:
Re:Not negative? (Score:4, Insightful)
Not necessarily. Active malware tends to get the software producer to fix the bug faster. Hence less damaging malware now, might see the issue fixed before more damaging malware is released - that would be a net positive for society.
Of course you can never know, all you know is the damage done by the malware that was released.
Re:Not negative? (Score:4, Insightful)
No it's not the broken window fallacy. Do you just post random crap in random places.
If it is you'll be able to point to part which is about the economy being improved by the busy work of repairing the damage. But you can't because it wasn't there and because you are fucking retarded.
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Now, now.
A better expression is "shoot the messenger". Whatever message an author purports to be sending, malware that worked tells us that we have yet another hole in our computer systems. These can be and are permanently cured. I prefer learnings of these problems sooner rather than later. The damage is usually less severe that way. Best of all would be "nipping it in the bud", that is, changing design and programming methodologies that lead to the flaws. For instance, the infamous C library funct
Re:Not negative? (Score:5, Informative)
The broken window fallacy is that a broken window causes the owner to buy a new window which employs the window maker, who then buys something else, and so and so on. Resulting in a boost to the economy. It's an obvious fallacy.
My claim was nothing to do with that at all, here's the example for the morons:
1. Dr Evil has found a bug in Windows and has his team of hackers writing an exploit which he will use to blow up the power grid in North America.
2. Joe the Crappy Hacker also finds said bug and tells Microsoft
3. Microsoft does nothing.
4. Dr Evil pulls the switch and Americans can't watch TV for an evening.
Compared with: ;a bug in Windows and has his team of hackers writing an exploit which he will use to blow up the power grid in North America.
1. Dr Evil has found
2. Joe the Crappy Hacker also find said bug and writes some malware that displays a political message and distributes itself via email.
3. Microsoft rushes to fix the problem and releases an emergency patch.
4. Dr Evil pulls the switch and nothing happens because the exploit was fixed.
The second situation has less negative consequences for society, and hence the malware was positive for society.
Yes I don't think it's a particularly likely, in fact I don't think it will ever occur. It is however, a possible situation (well the bug getting fixed before a more damaging exploit part, not the Dr Evil part).
But even if you disagree with that it still isn't a broken window fallacy, because it isn't making claims about economic benefit of any activity at all.
If you majored in economics then I suggest asking for refund. Then again I guess if you only have a hammer then the whole world looks like a nail.
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>>>1. Once out, damage is done & cannot ever be undone.
>>>2. It's a vehicle, and if it works, others (with a different agenda) will ride that vehicle too.
3. Even if a virus is completely harmless, it can still cause unintended consequences. For example the early Commodore Amiga viruses were just simple things that said, "Hello I am Hacker XYZ." Unfortunately this friendly hacker forgot that his virus would overwrite boot sectors on copy-protected video games and commercial software
Worm smash! (Score:3, Interesting)
I personnaly find it _amazing_ that none of the worm writer so far used them to destroy the computers. Really, that must be tempting, isn't it? Hundred of thousands of computer that you wipe with the push of a button.
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For one the worm wouldn't spread very far if you did that, for another you'd get the international police after you for gargantuan damage penalties that you wouldn't be able to pay of in your entire life.
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For one the worm wouldn't spread very far if you did that,
It only takes a few days to propagate around the Internet. The kill can be time-delayed to occur a month after release and it will cause significant damage. for another you'd get the international police after you for gargantuan damage penalties that you wouldn't be able to pay of in your entire life.
If they can find you, you'll be in prison anyway, so not much of a disincentive.
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Yeah, but then you lose your spam net. He may not be a "negative person," but his positive attitude creating 10% of all spam on the net over a period of time isn't exactly a charitable gesture. But then, I think spammers are worse than terrorists.
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I wonder about this 10%-of-all-spam claim. I haven't seen this worm. I haven't seen any increase in spams that I receive over the last few days.
And I should have seen a serious increase as this worm spreads through Outlook, using proper smtp servers, which will pass through my greylisting (>90% of spam is stopped that way already). And as I'm doing business with dozens of companies all over the world, and possibly hundreds have my e-mail address in some address book or so, it's surprising to simply not
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But then you wouldn't have hundreds of thousands of computers to play and that would be no fun/not profitable.
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Those looking at this from a long term perspective wish he would smash them already! Seriously, nothing sends a message of "you better learn how to use your f****** computer" like waking up one day, turning it on, and finding it completely wiped of everything. I had that experience when I was about 13, and have been extremely vigilant against malware (and malware-free) ever since. As it is, all those computers are spewing spam and infections out and the operator will probably never know.
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>>>nothing sends a message [than] finding it completely wiped of everything.
Yep. Likewise we should sabotage people's tires so they go "pop" after they pass 55mph, and leave them stranded along the highway. Nothing teaches a person how to change his own tire (and remember to inflate the spare) faster than a broken down car.
Stop being a dick. WANTING people to have their computer wiped and precious data lost makes you no better than a grumpy old man ("get off my lawn you stupid brats
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Besides most of them are running Microsoft antivirus software by default.
[citation needed]
I'd be more inclined to think that most of them are running [the possibly expired trial version of] whatever came preloaded on their machine when they bought it, which most certainly would NOT be Microsoft Security Essentials, lest the antivirus vendors go crying monopoly.
In any case, antivirus software did not help. I know of at least one large company with very well locked down machines and a very well locked down ne
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Good point. When I bought my Win7 machine it had MS Security enabled by default, but my brother's had stupid McAfee with an annoying opup window asking for money.
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I find it unfortunate. That's the ONLY thing which will force lusers and PHBs to take security seriously because, unlike merely parasitic malware, a nuked system isn't fun to play with any more. A fish can still swim with a lamprey attached.
FFS start breaking shit so we build more immunity.
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Botnet creators sell to the highest bidders. They normally sell their services, but I bet if the price is right they will sell the master keys (passwords, update codes, whatever) too.
What is an enemy organisation or country stopping from trying to buy such keys? How about the US and China would manage to start a war (or slightly less unlikely China and Japan), then one of them would track down the creators of say Storm or Conficker or whatever is today's major botnet, and buy the master keys for maybe half
After the fact rationalization (Score:5, Insightful)
This guy sounds like he failed at his aim (Score:2, Interesting)
This guy sounds like a drunk I saw getting arrested at a club recently. He tried to throw a punch at a bartender, got tackled by club security, then started screaming that he deliberately didn't hit hard or wasn't trying to aim accurately as he was being held down for the local police to haul him off.
This worm writer was too incompetent to actually have done more damage. I'm sure he was trying to, but because IT people and AV makers reacted to it in a fairly short amount of time, he is just excusing it as
Famous Last Words... (Score:4, Insightful)
"He said he had not expected the worm to spread as broadly as it had..."
Gee, we've never heard that one before...
At one point it accounted for 10% of the world's spam, but "I'm not negative person!"
Yeah, I guess he's right. There's a difference between a "negative" person and an idiot.
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You have the best sig I've seen on here!
Yeah, it came to me one day after seeing the effects of decades of corruption. I almost hate to have it, but it's true in far too many ways.
Why is the title not worded "Windows worm"? (Score:5, Informative)
Certainly any such story on /. should point out the affected operating systems...
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"I'm not a negative person" (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm not a burglar either - I was just breaking into your house and messing it up to show you how unsecure the locks are.
Anti-war is not "Anti-US" (Score:5, Insightful)
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Is it possible to disagree with US foreign policy and not be accused of being a traitor?
No. Ron Paul suggested we bring our troops home from foreign bases and let those countries pay for their own defenses. He was derided and laughed at for the very suggestion.
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Time to grow up (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:bad title tag (Score:4, Informative)
It's just a rip from the article, which is terribly written and fails to provide a lot of context. My initial opinion was this was a stitch up and the hacker was just against the war and people were stretching connections and definitions to make them sound like a security threat. This ComputerWorld article [computerworld.com] is way better at providing the details that link this worm to previous efforts by a Libyan hacker to create a politically motivated hacker group. To describe these guys as anti-US would be, I think, a simplification of the motivation of these groups. Jihadists (and here I also probably simplify) may be prepared to attack the States, but the motivation is not simply anti-US. I found this article on Eurozine [eurozine.com] to be really interesting on breaking down their attitudes.
Re:Just another victim (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm always amazed at how so many people can so easily fall for something that was at best a third grade attempt. Several of my coworkers and I were unhappy, to say the least, because we all took one look at the email and said that a blind man should've been able to pick up on this. And then someone chimed in with probably what was the best comment about why this happened. He suggested that it's been many years since we've seen this kind of attack go this rampant so everyone's guard was let down such that they didn't believe these attacks happened any more.