16 Arrested as F.B.I. Hits the Hacking Group Anonymous

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/technology/16-arrested-as-fbi-hits-the-hacking-group-anonymous.html

by liuwei6 • 15 years ago

80 85 15 years ago

nytimes.com

jontas• 15 years ago

I wonder if this Reddit thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/iu93n/fbi_raided_...

Is the unnamed suspect (I would guess due to being a minor).

dotBen• 15 years ago

I think it's really strange how the father of the minor went onto Reddit to discuss what happened. And somewhat naive if this is a significant FBI investigation.

laluser• 15 years ago

I would assume that the person is a troll. I don't see them having any significant proof for such a significant claim.

Ronkdar2• 15 years ago

I find it hard to believe they would enter a house with 20 armed agents to arrest someone who did not commit an act of violence.

sneak• 15 years ago

America is a terribly strange and terrifying place to those that didn't grow up there.

Pointsly• 15 years ago

I'm interested to see if the Government throws them away in some max security prison in Colorado or asks them to work along their sides.

sudonim• 15 years ago

Hmmm... it seems like the FBI decided to go after some low hanging fruit. People using Low Orbit Ion Cannon are probably not the brains of the operations. And arresting a bunch of people who have no influence probably gives validation to the message of anonymous and lulzsec.

llimllib• 15 years ago

Maybe the idea is to scare people off from participating in LOIC bombings in the future?

redthrowaway3• 15 years ago

The temporary DDoS attacks really aren't their main concern, however. The infiltration of companies and dumping of their data is a much more serious risk. Given that this all took place in 2010, we'll see if they arrest anyone from LulzSec in a year or so. My guess is no. I have no doubt that the NSA could probably track them down if they wanted to, but that's way outside their scope of interest, and the FBI just doesn't have the capability.

lhnz2• 15 years ago

It might do that, but it won't make very much difference. Who brings down sites: a couple of people with LOIC or hundreds of people with LOIC and a handful with actual substantial botnets under their control.

xyzzyz• 15 years ago

It will also scare the shit out of the kids who thought that they're "anonymous" and safe from prosecution.

It's not the severity of the punishment that deters from committing crimes, but rather the inevitability.

BCM43• 15 years ago

Isn't this the same strategy that the RIAA and MPAA used? And as far as I can tell it did not work very well.

jfricker4• 15 years ago

Criminals is criminals.

burgerbrain2• 15 years ago

Don't be absurd.

ebaysucks• 15 years ago

Slave mentality is slave mentality.

lhnz2• 15 years ago

Don't confuse the intensional with the extensional.

eric-hu• 15 years ago

Agreed on all counts.

IMO, these arrests will deter some, as intended. I think it'll also motivate coders/hackers to write more sophisticated tools--maybe something like bittorrent + TOR + LOIC, maybe with an installer fired off from an email attachment that'd only work if the user opened up certain ports.

hallowtech• 15 years ago

Seven proxies couldn't hold them back.

trotsky• 15 years ago

The suspects, in 10 separate states, are accused of conspiring to “intentionally damage protected computers.”

This seems to relate to refer to Title 18, Part I, Chapter 47, § 1030, Part a) 5) A):

knowingly causes the transmission of a program, information, code, or command, and as a result of such conduct, intentionally causes damage without authorization, to a protected computer;

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1030.html

There was quite a bit of debate during the December DOS's about what you could even charge folks with. This seems to be their answer. You can indict for almost anything, though, as grand juries are notoriously easy especially in technical cases.

I find it hard to believe a judge would actually buy slowing a computer down equals damage. If that was the case people who maliciously search too often. Smells like plea bargain bait at best to me, what US Attorney would want to try that?

molecule• 15 years ago

> ...a judge would actually buy slowing a computer down equals damage...

cough flash ads cough

redthrowaway3• 15 years ago

Vista

Vivtek• 15 years ago

Ask Aaron Schwartz.

watty2• 15 years ago

Intent is the obvious differentiator. Intentionally abusing a system with the intent of taking it down and causing damage should be illegal.

jfricker4• 15 years ago

Anonymous civil disobedience just gives the powers-that-be the excuse to arrest anyone they choose.

Nrsolis5• 15 years ago

Civil disobedience usually requires that you perform your action openly and notoriously. Running a program in your home and using an alias hardly qualifies.

Seriously, you're defending DDoS attacks?

jfricker4• 15 years ago

Defending? No. Stating an observation that tyrannical institutions can use Anonymous as a pretense to arrest anyone with a computer. At least in the USA there is a shred of evidentiary requirement, but much of the world is not so lucky.

I suppose it's arguable that Anonymous is acting out of a sense of "Civil Disobedience". Perhaps it's more along the lines of "vandalism". Philosophically speaking, that is.

lukeschlather• 15 years ago

You might say that being open and notorious is required for effective civil disobedience, but this is clearly still civil disobedience. (And consequently criminal.)

Personally, I find nonviolent resistance perfectly defensible for a just cause. Why do you suggest it's indefensible?

noglorp3• 15 years ago

How so? Cite your source please.

burgerbrain2• 15 years ago

I never bought that civil disobediences needs to be committed in the open. Rather, I think that is just one of many forms it can take.

Example of it not being committed in the open, to no negated effect (and arguably greater effect): People anonymously posting "illegal keys" and cryptosystems for export on the internet for others to obtain. The often anonymous nature of their actions emphasizes how the current laws are absurd for being unenforceable when people with the right knowledge choose for them to be unenforceable.

tlrobinson• 15 years ago

In the San Jose case, all 14 suspects are accused of using a free program called Low Orbit Ion Cannon

...

When you have a decentralized group,” Ms. Granick said, “the question is, Are there big fish, and are any of these people big fish?”

No.

They're basically going to ruin a few kids' lives in order to deter other kids from "hacking" with things like LOIC.

_delirium• 15 years ago

It's not clear from that description that they have people who are members of a group in any meaningful sense at all, versus just random people who downloaded/used the app.

antihero• 15 years ago

I forked it on GitHub. Should I worry?

ars4• 15 years ago

> They're basically going to ruin a few kids' lives in order to deter other kids from "hacking" with things like LOIC.

They'll get probation is it's their first offense. Judges do have brains you know, and don't toss people in jail (or fine them) just because the prosecution wants them to.

But I doubt it'll go to trial. The prosecution will get lots of media out it (which is all they really want). Then they'll offer a plea bargain deal with probation, and that'll be all.

ordinary• 15 years ago

But then it would be on their record, wouldn't it?

Caballera• 15 years ago

Have you seen the ages of the people arrested, I wouldn't say many of them are 'kids', one was i believe like 42, another 36 and another 32.. This from 'fox news':

"The department identified the suspects in the California indictment as Christopher Wayne Cooper, 23, aka “Anthrophobic;” Joshua John Covelli, 26, aka “Absolem” and “Toxic;” Keith Wilson Downey, 26; Mercedes Renee Haefer, 20, aka “No” and “MMMM;” Donald Husband, 29, aka “Ananon;” Vincent Charles Kershaw, 27, aka “Trivette,” “Triv” and “Reaper;” Ethan Miles, 33; James C. Murphy, 36; Drew Alan Phillips, 26, aka “Drew010;” Jeffrey Puglisi, 28, aka “Jeffer,” “Jefferp” and “Ji;” Daniel Sullivan, 22; Tracy Ann Valenzuela, 42; and Christopher Quang Vo, 22. One individual’s name has been withheld by the court.

watty2• 15 years ago

Their lives aren't going to be ruined, especially if they're a minor. However, they took part in shutting down a business temporarily and need to be punished.

bbsabelli• 15 years ago

Recruitment?

coderdude• 15 years ago

What do they need with child script kiddies who completely lack common sense?

shareme• 15 years ago

get them to hack China?

nsomaru• 15 years ago

And mounting an attack is..., with the right skills, relatively simple.

Do people think any more? Yeah, driving a formula one car is, with the right skills, relatively simple.

Anything is simple from the perspective of the person who has invested time to learn how to do it.

redthrowaway3• 15 years ago

Right, but LOIC actually is ridiculously simple. You either enter the url of the server that's doing the fire control, or just enter the url of your target and click "fire lazorz". It's built to be used by masses of /b/tards, so simplicity is a key design choice.

dagrz• 15 years ago

I think this article summaries the whole big fish, small fish, decentralized discussion: http://risky.biz/anonymous

cft• 15 years ago

PayPal has very good personal contacts at FBI due to FBI's interest in payment fraud. So attacking PayPal from the US will more likely lead to FBI action than attacking any other similarly sized consumer website.

marcamillion• 15 years ago

Hate to say it...but they brought this on themselves.

Devilboy2• 15 years ago

Apparently now a 16 year old was arrested in London. He is supposedly a prominent member of Lulzsec: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/07/19/leading-member-lul...

Apologies for the source, every other source just points to this one at the moment.

danssig2• 15 years ago

Then how do we know it's even true?

Devilboy2• 15 years ago

You wait until better sources are available. Like this one

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8649621/Teen-accu...

maeon3• 15 years ago

The fact that hackers are burned at the stake and made an example of, in America for crimes similar to 'reckless blocking of a store Entrance' is what will make our networks weak and feeble against the (100 to 1) army of professional hackers in India and China.

But I suppose if we get hacked by other nations we'll just get our hackers together and with their mad elite skills, will stop them. right? right guys? Oh yeah, PS, America has a massive shortage of security experts, if you are interested in hacking, call the FBI, they need you.

Ronkdar2• 15 years ago

Am I the only one bothered by the fact that the New York Times just said "lulz" (as in LulzSec) with a straight face?

16 Arrested as F.B.I. Hits the Hacking Group Anonymous

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