back to article Thirteen alleged Anons named and charged by FBI in antipiracy web war

Thirteen further alleged members of web rabble-rousers Anonymous have been charged with masterminding online attacks against corporations and others who oppose internet piracy. Anonymous' "Operation: Payback is a bitch" campaign involved a series of denial-of-service assaults apparently against government and company websites …

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  1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
    Headmaster

    Can they also add 'crimes against capitalisation of letters' to the charge sheets please?

    fOr SOme reasOn, aLL THe mOSt annOyING people online seem to do this. Perhaps it's the damp in their Mums' basements, that causes the shift keys to go all sticky. Or possibly the eating, drinking and other things, that they do when operating their keyboards one-handedly...

  2. Paul Crawford Silver badge

    Damage? WTF?

    How do you "intentionally cause damage to protected computers"? By definition they are protected, and AFIF the LOIC is just a ddos flood tool, so you are really just "causing temporary nuisance to a web server".

    Or are anti-capitalist/monopolist protests now considered a terrorist charge so they have to claim the server is 'damaged' by repeated pointless requests in order to justify the prosecution?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Damage? WTF?

      In the law, definitions matter... greatly. From the section charged, one can find this definition:

      (8) the term "damage" means any impairment to the integrity or availability of data, a program, a system, or information;

      I would say a DOS attack, almost by definition, is an impairment to the availability of a system.

  3. Crazy Operations Guy
    FAIL

    "Oh no our site has been DDoS'ed by a small group on the internet, we should stop doing the thing that makes us millions of dollars"

    -Said no company ever.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I hope

    Those who only disturbed lawyers are let loose with a tap on the head.

  5. Matt Bryant Silver badge
    Happy

    More "non-leader" leaders.

    ".....the 13 suspects decided which websites to target and when before circulating instructions on the net....." What? Didn't the Anonyputzs claim they had no "leaders"? Gosh, how stupid they must feel if they actually believed that.

    1. Suricou Raven

      Re: More "non-leader" leaders.

      No formal leaders. There's a rough process:

      1. Anyone who wishes can call out a target.

      2. If people like the proposal, they join in. If not, they ignore.

      3. Those who join in will in turn repeat the call, triggering a positive feedback mechanism.

      1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
        Facepalm

        Re: Suricou Raven Re: More "non-leader" leaders.

        Next you'll be telling us life is like a box of chocolates....

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Holmes

      Re: More "non-leader" leaders.

      @Matt - "Didn't the Anonyputzs claim they had no "leaders"?"

      The "Leaders" are the ones who snitch out the underlings to the federal agents when they come knocking. Each one of this collection of 13 brain-dead nitwits could probably tell you all about it.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Thirteen down...

    ...seven billion to go.

    Hmm, I wonder who will win.

    1. Vociferous

      Re: Thirteen down...

      Billion? I think you overestimate the size of the 4Chan forum user community a bit.

    2. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: AC Re: Thirteen down...

      ".....seven billion to go....." LOL, you really swallowed that "99%" bumph, didn't you! More like the 0.00001%.

    3. Bill Neal

      Re: Thirteen down...

      Fine. Say 1000 took part in what (to them) sounded like a good idea at the time. 13 were foolish enough to leave sufficient evidence to be charged & most likely convicted. It still sounds like a weak attempt to parade some dissidents before the masses.

  7. Vociferous

    I'm torn.

    On one hand Anonymous are CP-swapping asshats with the collective intelligence of a furiously masturbating monkey, on the other hand anti-piracy organizations are vile thuggish scum who make a living by preying on people they perceive as too poor to fight them in court.

    Could we not settle this through trial by combat, arena style? The money raised from ticket sales could be used to aid poor starving artists like Metallica and KISS.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'm torn.

      @Vociferous - Comment of the Year. Well played.

      Where do I buy my tickets? And where do I drop off my cans Spam and green beans for Gene Simmons and Lars Ulrich?

  8. bag o' spanners
    Trollface

    Bang for your buck.

    I wonder how much the US gubmint spent investigating, tracing and prosecuting these dangerous terroristical criminals / basement dwelling loafers. I hope the Mighty Lords of Hollywood will pitch in with a sizeable donation once the mission is complete.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Time for a name change?

    I'm thinking "Conspicuous"? Or there's always the good old "Out Standing in their Field".

    Instead of Guy Fawkes masks, they might want to go with Spongebob Squarepants costumes from now on.

  10. ecofeco Silver badge
    Holmes

    These are not the droids

    ...you're looking for.

    Seriously, LOIC is not stealthed? That should be your clue right there you are not dealing with the best brightest.

    1. Bill Neal

      Re: These are not the droids

      Anon is conflicted with the ethics of using botnets to do their DDoSing. Can you blame them? If you wanted to picket a business, would you do it yourself or force others to do it against their will?

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