Anonymous PSN Attackers Arrested in Spain

[ChildofGallifrey]

I'm a little hesitant to comment on this because I Facebook commented on one of the stories and, for my opinion, got the hell insulted out of me by several teenagers in bars (judging from their pictures) who didn't bother to support their argument, simply saying that I was "slowing down our evolution" because I had the radical notion that someone committing a crime should suffer some sort of punishment, and telling me to "go live in my fairy world where nobody is ever bad", despite the fact that I was speaking in opposition to people doing illegal things (pretty sure that's recognizing that people can be bad). This ruffled my feathers a bit, because I cannot tolerate the "I'm right because I say so" mindset (anyone here who recognizes me knows that I don't pick fights, and I'm always courteous to everyone regardless of their opinions, so when I don't get the same courtesy in return, I don't care about what you have to say anymore). Since then, I've been a bit hesitant to weigh in on the hacking stories, but here I go:

Anon, your reputation already took a hefty hit for your supposed association with the PSN outage. I still don't think it was an organized group attack, so I never wished you as an organization any ill will. But ponder this: Sending a thinly veiled threat, apparently aimed at a police force, for arresting people suspected of illegal activity...that's not really making you look like the good guys. Hell, I'll come out an just say it: threatening the police for doing their jobs outright makes you the bad guys.

 

[LiftYourSkinnyFists]

Only three years?

Well, hackers can't jailbreak their way out of this one

OT: I do hope this the start of something. We really need to catch these people

Just wait you'll see.

 

[LCP]

I'm a bit short on popcorn

*goes back to the kitchen*

Alright back... Well this is something entertaining to watch to be honest. It's really watching a bunch of hypocrites (on both sides) have a go at it.

Anon is bad... So is sony for pulling some BS with the ps3. I can't say I hate one more than the other, but mainly because I wasn't affected

 

[LuckyClover95]

Only three years?

Well, hackers can't jailbreak their way out of this one

OT: I do hope this the start of something. We really need to catch these people

Ahahahahaha, well done on the joke ;D

 

[Pholark]

Anonymous has been proven to do things pretty extreme. I'm not picking sides, but they ARE legion. Those three guys in Spain would have so much Anonymous support if they receive a more expected sentence of 10 to 15 years. The amount of money they were having corporations shell for more cyber-security was gargantuan in size, which doesn't weigh up to the 3 years they might have to spend in prison.

 

[Mantonio]

I like how everyone is acting like it's been objectively proven that they did in fact do it.

It really speaks lengths about the people on these forums.

 

[JET1971]

It'ss a sad day for humanithyu. God speed friends, fuck that corporate shit the fuck up. and to all the americans posting in this thread, please fuck off and leave this to which ever country theyre in, fuck your laws, noone outside your shitty fucking country cares, now go be bankruptgs somewhere lse fuckiong benders

LOL what? I understood half that. oh and insulting people based upon what country they are in does get people warnings, is rude and is racist.

As an american i am fine with how the government of spain does whatever it does in acordance with the laws of spain. as in I dont give a rats ass how they punish them, or how they deal with evidence.

If they get 2 years, well thats what they get and i think the time does fit the crime. As for evidence? i think the world needs to see it. what exact crimes were commited and to who? were they involved in the DDOS attack against Sony or were they involved in the hack or both? then they should be extradited to the USA and be tried here for that and pay out the 2 years Spain gave them and whatever added ontop of it for the Sony attacks. But the question is what evidence is there to support it? was it they were on the chat channel when the DDOS was planned but did not involve themselves? If thats the case then etradition would not be needed for a petty crime of not reporting it.

You need to realize that hacking a system across international borders that have extradition treaties can and usualy will be prosecuted in the country the hack affected if extradition is requested or the country of origin is given the job of trial and punishing them.

So like I said if the evidence states that they were involved in the PSN hack then yes American law will apply once the Spanish court system finishes with them. We have treaties for international crimes and that would fall into them.

 

[Frostbite3789]

For bringing PSN down for no reason, these idiots deserve to rot in jail. For bringing down the government websites of Libya, Tunisia, Iran, and Egypt during the Arab uprising, these guys deserve a fucking medal. What? Nothing is ever strictly black and white...

Yeah, because bringing down government websites is what did it. Yep, Anon are the real heroes! Come the hell on dude, I was reading an article just last week about how the "social network revolution" was a fabrication. The internet had little to nothing to do with what's going over there, it's just a way for us to feel connected, like we in some way did something.

It's ridiculous to think otherwise. "Oh no our government website was hacked! Oh gosh oh geeze, this is the biggest of our problems, those riots in the streets mean nothing!"

They don't deserve a medal for that.

The Cracked article? You realize that doesn't have any credibility whatsoever, and bringing it up in a discussion instantly invalidates your opinion, yes?
But on to the real part: I never claimed that bringing down the governments' websites had any influence on the outcome of the uprisings. However, they helped shut down information lines, which was more than anybody in the West did. I really have no idea why you replied to my post, given that you had nothing of substance to add sans a rather trite rant, but the sheer amount of projecting you're doing is absolutely hilarious!

Actually I mostly felt the need to let you know how utterly ridiculous it was for you to say they deserved medals for doing absolutely nothing.

"Hey, I know you robbed a bank just now, but here's a medal for planting a tree. That one time."

 

[Olofelefant]

Only three years in jail? Should be longer.

Anywho, I wonder how they caught them. Wouldn't it be super fun if they had a way of tracking people down through Proxy servers?

Good luck with that. They're all behind 7 proxies.

 

[danhere]

... A police department has a Twitter feed?

My first thought too!

 

[Korolev]

They caught them because the FBI have computer experts too. There was a story a few days ago, in which it was revealed that the FBI have thoroughly infiltrated hacking communities - as many as 1/4 "hackers" are apparently government informants (it's pretty easy for the police to roll hackers when they meet face-to-face) or are agents themselves.

I'll bet the FBI actually know the identities of a lot of the hackers, but haven't arrested them yet and are hoping to get more names, info and evidence to build a case. If I was an Anonymous member, I would go dark for a while.

Anonymous could have been a good thing. I don't disagree with all that they did, but they started to get arrogant, vindictive and their very chaotic nature meant that criminals would (and did) join their group and use their name. Their biggest strength ended up being their biggest PR liability. They thought they were invincible. No one is. Not the government, and not Anonymous.

If Anonymous stuck to purely political activism (exposing real government and corporate corruption) then I'd be all for them. But they didn't. Say what you will, Sony is not Evil Inc. Had Anonymous hacked BAE systems to try to find corrupt dealings with Saudi Officials, I'd be out there on the street protesting for their release. But they didn't - they engaged in petulant, almost childish attacks on entertainment companies. Some big righteous freedom fighters they were.

And their actions carried risks. Maybe they were too young to realize that if you fight people, they will (and can!) fight back. They aren't the only ones with computers, and the NSA have some pretty nasty technical and information gathering capabilities. You wave a flag at a bull, expect it to charge.

 

[Genixma]

No one suspects the Spanish Inquisitors!!!

 

[Twilight_guy]

Isn't the point of the group that you cant single out individuals or, you know, have leaders? Attacking individuals is like punching a lumpy pillow. If you want to stop the group then you have to take down all their servers and stop their ability to do anything or communicate.

 

[CaptainKoala]

They know how much trouble they're in. They'll strike a deal with the prosecutors and sell out some other people for a reduced sentence.

 

[Hugga_Bear]

Isn't the point of the group that you cant single out individuals or, you know, have leaders? Attacking individuals is like punching a lumpy pillow. If you want to stop the group then you have to take down all their servers and stop their ability to do anything or communicate.

Yes but it doesn't quite work that way. Although anonymous is vast and extremely nebulous it's core hackers aren't quite as wide spread. There are a lot of them and they're very good but there aren't as many as you might think by looking at anonymous.

If you take out some of their actual hackers you are doing some damage, just targeting random members is pointless. Furthermore an attack against some of them may make them lay low for a while (though given their track record they'll probably opt for fighting back).


As has been said, I support anonymous in political activism and exposing frauds and liars but the turn they've taken is really kinda upsetting. Considering how much good they have done to see them hacking Sony for being mildly douchey is just...strange. I hope they go back to their 'roots'.

 

[Popido]

Sometimes I wonder if Escapist is the pit of darwinism.

 

[baconfist]

Wow you guys... has no one here realized that anonymous isn't even a group? Anyone that wants may claim they are anonymous, so how the hell can you say that the whole group is bad? It's like blaming a man for every crime ever committed by cristians because he owns a bible.

Stop being retarded and attaching blame to people who don't deserve it. Learn their names and set blame where it belongs. If I said was anonymous and went out handing homeless people money would you credit those men in Spain?

 

[BrownGaijin]

Three years for millions of dollars in damages, and possibly effecting the recovering economy of Japan? Well, I guess they can still sue them to the point where they'll never see another dime again.

 

[Simriel]

I wanna see pics with names. Take away all anonymity. Also that "We are legion threat". you'd think that they would learn that being an internet "Menace" Doesn't translate over to real life. they know your just some pathetic kids who probably can't do anything about using your computer the way other people tell you to little script kiddies.

Given that like 90% of the worlds defence, banking, consumer infrastructure and general workings are run by computers with online networking? Yeah... Hackers can do A LOT!

 

[EvilRoy]

Just an idiotic police capturing idiotic /b/tards, nothing new here.

I smell three little scapegoats, and a bunch of big, bad wolves who followed the butthurt corporate's orders.

Seriously now, why three? This kind of coordinate attack would involve more than three hackers, if you're going to round them up. Get them all. Otherwise leave them alone, the worst thing they can do is to arrest a handful without actually dealing with the main problem.

Jailing three of the possible hacker would not solve the problem, but fuel it..... Who am I to judge? People go to jail for more stupid reasons.

This too.

I really think this is more of a farmers solution to the old one of the oldest problems, and I'm really very interested to see how it works out.

You see, when crows are attacking your corn you don't kill all the crows. That's stupid, there are way too many and it's a hell of a lot of work since they can fly out of range.

What you do, is you find three crows that are stupider and slower than the rest. You catch these three crows. You take these crows and you gut them, and you hang them out around your property, right where they can be seen for miles. Then you see how many crows come back.

Sure, you might get swooped by some of the more aggressive crows that haven't been scared off, but you're a farmer and they are crows. They can cause some serious problems for you, but every single time they attack you they put themselves in danger of being crow number four.