Cyberattack in Germany Shuts Down Official Sites

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/world/europe/german-government-websites-shut-down-and-ukraine-group-claims-responsibility.html?ref=technology

by dnetesn • 12 years ago

32 17 12 years ago

nytimes.com

jevgeni3• 12 years ago

Oh, great, it's those jokers from the Russian Reich again.

<sarcasm> Because nothing says "valid political concerns", like a cyber attack on a foreign government. </sarcasm>

drzaiusapelord2• 12 years ago

I don't see how pissing off your trading partners is helping the Putin regime and its apologists. This is what got them in this mess to begin with. I suspect we're dealing with a regime that refuses to learn the lessons of history and thus more sanctions and isolation are justified.

higherpurpose2• 12 years ago

One of the worst things about dictatorships is that the leaders start making very irrational decisions, just because you "embarrass" them or so they "don't look weak" or whatever. They take it personal.

In a (real) democracy that's usually much harder to do, since there are many more decision makers who have to act on something, and even if there are a few emotional ones, the rest can keep cool heads and restrict them and make decisions for the long term future of the country.

spacecowboy_lon• 12 years ago

And Germans have learnt the hard way that an autocratic non democatic govenment by a cluadillo nevver ends well.

jevgeni3• 12 years ago

I agree, it is mind boggling.

From personal experience: I've talked to people I know from Russia, who are supportive of the current regime. What either ends the conversation or gets misdirected in nanoseconds is the question "What's in it for you?" when discussing the gov't decisions. For example, even without the sanctions, the Crimea annexation would cost the Russian taxpayer an insane amount, but as far as I could tell people supporting the decision tend to forget that fact.

iamcharlie• 12 years ago

I see this on the front page of HN, and nothing about the terrorist attacks in France (which happened more than 24 f* hours ago), and I am sad.

Granted, these events have nothing to do with tech, but I'm amazed that nobody here is willing to show their support for freedom of speech and democracy.

I am sad that absolutely no one upvoted this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8856502

higherpurpose2• 12 years ago

There's nothing at your link. Also, this was #1 for quite a while yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8851832

mtmail• 12 years ago

Current news, anything CNN reports 24/7, generally get flagged by users (like me) because it's off-topic.

hncritique2• 12 years ago

I'm honestly slightly annoyed by that pseudo-intellectual, opaque use of the super-downvote "flagging". HN regularily votes boring CSS hacks and fleeting technology topics to the top and hastily flags submissions about feminism, politics and AI, instead of trying to turn them into interesting discussions. There is also a strange aversion against any kind of humor, which does not really suit what hackers stand for either. The reason for this is, of course, to prevent trolling, flame wars and memes, but it seems HN is often overly strict in that regard.

aw3c2• 12 years ago

There is no need to post about that event here. You can rest assured that almost every user will be exposed to it in other sources and has a chance to publish condolences there.

"Nobody here is willing to show their support for freedom of speech and democracy" is a fallacy. If you know HN, you can see a lot of discussion of these topics, especially when they clash with technology or if technological aspects are touched.

Yes, what happened is horrible. But this does not mean that every site everywhere has to participate in the aftermath. There are many events every day that "should" have public awareness, but I feel we should also have the right and opportunity to stay in focused, filtered sub-communities. HN is about "hacker stuff" foremost, not politics, religion or current affairs.

Simp• 12 years ago

I saw a post about it, shortly after it happened, and upvoted it, but it was deleted.

Cyberattack in Germany Shuts Down Official Sites

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