Anonops #9: Get Los(t) Zetas

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America's self-defeating 'war on drugs'

Distressingly, the Obama White House seems determined to paint itself into a corner of prohibitionist law enforcement

The murky doings of the hacker group Anonymous took a remarkable turn in recent days. A Mexican drug cartel allegedly kidnapped an Anonymous member, and then, after the loosely organised hackers said they would reveal names of cartel personnel, released him with threats to kill the hacker's family if the names were revealed.

twitter:

benbfranklin twitterde op dinsdag 08-11-2011 om 07:38:22 #RT so brothers, @ThomasRHart gave teh signal to start #OpDemocracy2.0 http://t.co/YVl9zlKb and who else can push it like Anon? reageer retweet

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THE CALL FOR DEMOCRACY 2.0

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the past, information, decisions and opinions could not be transmitted within seconds accross a country, much less the entire world. As a consequence, citizens elected regional representatives to serve as the voice of the people in parliament.

Such a representative system, reflecting the economies and the societal structures of a world long gone, is still in place today, but no longer serving the fundamental idea and ideal of democracy as a system for the people and by the people.

Instead, the elected representatives have become compromised by lobby interest, corrupted by corporations, have lost touch with those they are supposed to represent, serving only those who want people to serve them, be it as employees, voters or soldiers sent off to wars to kill or die for profit.

We have reached a time of change as too much power is concentrated in the hands of the few, becoming a "representation" in name only.

Such is the corruption that these representatives have now repeatedly turned against those they are supposed to represent, that they are fearing the tools, the technology that would allow a more direct participation of those that they are supposed to govern: the internet.

The internet allows us all to work together in a new form of democracy, a true 21st century version it that is still true to its ideas and ideals, giving everyone a chance to have their voices heard, to participate in the shaping of ideas and laws on regional, national or even global levels.

There is no excuse for denying this chance to us, the people.

There is no excuse for not allowing us, the citizens, to be educated, to formulate informed opinions, to vote on those issues that directly affect us, not only in our daily lives but also decide the future of our children and of the very world itself.

Decisions like these can no longer allowed to be made by those who don't listen to us, who only listen to those who promise them money or power or both, who offer them consulting contracts, places on corporate boards, who have sold the voices of the people to Big Oil, to Big Pharma, to anyone "Big" enough to pay them enough to make them believe that corporations are people, and people are consumers.

These few, they fear us, the citizens. Those few, they fear our thoughts, our thoughts and opinions, as the example of the proposed referendum in Greece on the Euro has shown, aborted under pressure of not only an unelected body like the EU but also bowing to the pressure of the so-called markets, behaving more irrationally than any informed citizenship would ever be able to do

There is no reason to fear us. We are your brothers, we are your sisters, we are your fathers and mothers, your daughters and sons. We are your neighbors. And we are all in this together. That is what is at the heart of democracy. Us.

And for the first time in the history of mankind, technology has given us the tools, the chance and opportunity to live up to those ideals that were formulated ages ago, by men and women smart enough and kind enough and trusting enough to see that we are the same, by men and women who believed that this is what it's all about.

The opportunity to not only have your voice heard, but listened to.

The opportunity to educate and in turn be educated.

From the first book printed, those in power have fought the flow of free information, out of of fear, scared of no longer being able to control those they governed. In every age, the people who have fought for this freedom have been called terrorists, have been called criminals, have been oppressed.

Do not fear us.

Do not fear information.

Do not fear the necessary change.

This is our time. This is your time. This is your future.

It is the time that democracy can finally live up to the promise given to mankind all those centuries ago. A free exchange of ideas. An educated citizenship.

To those who fear the redesign of democracy. Have the past months not proven that today's system is at the point of collapse? That parliaments like those of the United States and even Germany have abandoned even the illusion of representation by appointing secret committees, deciding on budgets, budget cuts, on your life, without even being held responsible to those who are supposed to hold this power by the virtues of our constitutions?

Has it not proven that the laws that were written, the laws that were repealed, that were neutered, blocked and scrapped not only served the interested of big corporations beholden to no ideal, but were in fact written by them and voted upon by Members of Parliament who not only didn't know what they were voting on, but also didn't seem to care about the obvious incompetence?

In the United States, only 8% trust Congress anymore to represent them. In Germany, it is 9%. Similar numbers are to be found in every country that is supposedly a democracy. We have been sold out, have been silenced, have been pushed aside.

We didn't stop believing in the system.

The system stopped believing in us.

We believe there are more competent people out there. We believe that they have not been given a voice, have been silenced by a system where money talks and ideas are silenced.

These people are not only out there.

These people are you and me.

And it us who can change this world. Bit by bit.

Discussion by disccusion. Debate by debate. Decision by decision.

We know you are disillusioned. We know you are afraid. We know you are angry.

But most of all, we know this... We know you care.

We think we not only can, we need to change the way democracy works, not only for a better today, but a better tomorrow. A man, a politician, once said to us to "hope" and "change", and we hoped that he would be the change.

But he wasn't. We are this hope. We are this change.

The "Occupy" Movements around the world, they are the first voice. It is loud. It is unshaped. But it is a beginning. It voices your anger. It voices your disillusion. And it has been critized for not offering a plan, a Powerpoint presentation, a memo... by the very people who have had years and decades to come up with solutions and failed time and again.

We cannot wait on those who stand against us anymore.

We cannot wait for them to represent us anymore.

We believe in democracy. They do not.

We believe in the intelligence of our citizens. They do not.

We believe in the ideals of our constitutions. They do not.

And to change this world, to fight for a better tommorrow, we must take back our democracies from them. Technology has given us not only the tools, but also the ideas on how to tap unused potentials. Ideas that can start as a single thought and transported to millions of people at the touch of a button through technologies like BitTorrent, thoughts that can spread through 140 characters or less on Twitter, plans that can be worked on in open and fair exchanges on Public Pads.

The ideas are out there. The ideals are out there.

Because you are out there. And waiting to be listened to.

We are calling on all of you.

The dreamers. The realists. The experts. The people.

Because that is how democracy starts

With just a single sentence. A single thought.

"We, the people..."

It was important enough to begin every call for democracy since the American Revolution.

We are all in this together.

Let's start the debate.

Let us create a democracy that is transparent, that is again for the people and this time by the people, representing the best of us and no longer represented by the worst of us.

Let us build a democracy that deserves this name. That evolves. That is ours to shape and guided by the principles that our leaders have forgotten but that we still carry in our hearts.

Let us build Democracy 2.0.

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Anonymous Declare 'War Against Corruption in the Mexico Government'

Online activist movement Anonymous has declared war against corruption in the Mexico government, calling on all the global hacker community to attack government agencies in the country.

The operation, dubbed #OpCorrupción, comes after #OpCartel, in which Anonymous planned to target the ruthless drug cartel Los Zetas but hds to call it off after the kidnapping of one of his member. Eventually, the hacker has been released but Anonymous declared a truce with the Zetas.

With #OpCorrupción, Anonymous is committed to release 25,000 emails out of a cache of 18,000 stolen during a hack on the Mexican government.

Like us on Facebook

"We appeal to all the world's Anons, the entire global hacker community, to set aside our differences, and to ruthlessly attack all government agencies in Mexico: their web presence, their email, their servers," reads a statement on Anonymous Iberoamerica website, the official blog for the Spanish-speaking faction of the hacker collective. "To bring to light all the hidden information that demonstrates that Mexico is corrupt. We officially declare war against corruption in Mexico."

However, this operation is likely to spark more criticism among sceptics of the "hacktivists". Operation Cartel, aimed at taking down the violent Mexican drug cartel, already raised serious concerns among Anoymous members in South America. Many argued in internet chat rooms that the risk of torture and death was too great to carry on. Several activists told the Mexican newspaper Milenio that the operation was cancelled out of safety concerns.

Last week, Adrien Chen on Gawker accused Anonymous spokesman Barrett Brown of exploiting press attention on Operation Cartel to promote a book about his experience working with Anonymous, for which he received a six-figure offer from Amazon's publishing branch. "The whole Operation Cartel business was probably bullshit-a lot of sound and fury signifying people's lurid obsession with the boogeymen of Anonymous and the drug cartels," Chen wrote.

Many experts are unconvinced on Anonymous real commitment to release hacked emails. "The spat between Brown and Chen aside, we're still not convinced there will ever be a release," wrote Adam Clarke of The Atlantic Wire. "Anonymous tends to brag a lot about planned operations, then fall silent when they miss their deadline, as they recently did for their November 5 attack on Facebook."

OpCartel was one of the most controversial operation the online "hacktivist" group has ever carried on. Arrests have been made in connection with Anonymous denial-of-service attacks against PayPal late last year and alleged theft of data from Sony Pictures Entertainment earlier this year. And the group has targeted numerous law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and elsewhere and even alleged child porn rings.

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Digital Activism From Anonymous to Occupy Wall Street: a Conversation With Gabriella Coleman

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Is this necessarily a post-mortem on Anonymous, though?

Well, I think its a recognition that currently things are not as active as they used to be, in part because the IRC server was down for two weeks [in the three weeks preceding September 16th]. I was told that [the server takedown] was an outside team effort. That people were working together to bring down Anonymous. They didnt say who. It wasnt a lone individualit was really formidable. And it was a real blow because IRC is a force of centralization, a focal point, a lively meeting place for Anonymous.

But one can argue that it is also imperative for Anonymous regeneration to have periods of dispersion, a fallow period, and that it makes sense for them to wax and wane. And that only if they wax and wane will they exist in a non-hierarchical form, because the tendency of political organizing over time is to create structure. They dont even like structure. In order to obey that, a waxing and waning could be part of that. OpBart was a perfect example of thatthere was a kind of waning prior to OpBart, and then a nice waxing.

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Perfect Storm of Internet Censorship

In recent weeks the governments of Britain, Israel, the US, Japan, India and China have reported alleged cyber attacks by foreign militaries, hackers, and malicious software like Duqu, a virus similar to the Stuxnet cyber weapon constructed by Israel and the US for use against Iran’s nuclear program. Although the nature and origin of the attacks or even whether they took place at all cannot be independently confirmed, the supposed threats are being used to propose punishing new legislation aimed at stifling internet freedoms and are igniting new rivalries in what many see as the battlefield of the 21st century: cyberspace.

Perfect Storm of Internet Censorship

twitter:

Pirata13 twitterde op donderdag 10-11-2011 om 03:40:42 #Anonymous hacking lessons at #School4LulzExpect More Internet Mayhem with Dawn of School4lulzDownload Here:http://t.co/zTs3OG7B☢☢☢ reageer retweet

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Fidel Castro's niece in Twitter row with Cuban dissident Yoani Sánchez

Mariela Castro – daughter of president Raúl – calls dissidents 'despicable parasites' hours after joining Twitter

Within hours of signing up to Twitter, the daughter of the Cuban president, Raúl Castro, has got into the online equivalent of a shouting match with a prominent dissident blogger, Yoani Sánchez.

Mariela Castro called Sánchez and her supporters "despicable parasites" in a brief exchange that may have been the first direct confrontation, verbal or otherwise, between dissidents and a member of the Castro family after years of mutual animosity.

Sánchez, who regularly criticises the lack of freedoms in communist Cuba in her Generation Y blog, touched off the dispute by sending tweets that welcomed Mariela Castro to the "plurality of Twitter" where "no one can shut me up, deny me permission to travel or block entrance".

"When will we Cubans be able to come out of other closets?" she asked, alluding to Mariela Castro's championing of gay rights as head of Cuba's national centre for sex education.

"Tolerance is total or is it not?" Sánchez tweeted.

Castro, 49, replied coolly: "Your focus of tolerance reproduces the old mechanisms of power. To improve your 'services' you need to study."

But later, after apparently receiving a number of tweets from other dissidents, Castro lashed out.

"Despicable parasites: did you receive the order from your employers to respond to me in unison and with the same predetermined script? Be creative," she wrote, reflecting the contempt Cuban leaders have for dissidents.

This is fuelled by the belief that the protesters work for their longtime enemy, the United States.

Cuba's leaders can barely hide their rancour toward Sánchez in particular, but do not mention her or other dissidents by name.

Despite having an international following, Sánchez is little known in Cuba, where internet access is limited.

Mariela Castro, who is at the vanguard in Cuba in supporting gay rights, also appears to be the first in the Castro family to publicly and directly engage in tweeting.

Her father, who is 80, and her uncle, the former leader Fidel Castro, 85, have Twitter accounts but these are used only to post stories and columns from Cuba's state-run media.

After her exchange with Sánchez, she posted a link to an interview about her recent trip to the Netherlands, where she toured Amsterdam's red light district.

She raised eyebrows by saying there that she knew of Cubans who would prostitute themselves with labourers just so they could take a bath.

In a tweet, Mariela Castro said there had been "manipulations, like always" of her comments.

Anonymous #Operation ''Fawkes Virus'' Released on Facebook.

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We are all over the globe. We are Anonymous. We do not forget. We do not forgive. Don't expect us, we are already here!

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Valve's online game service Steam hit by hackers

The Steam video game service, used by 35 million people, has been compromised by hackers.

Its owner and operator, Valve, uncovered an intrusion into a user database while investigating a security breach of its discussion forums.

The attackers used login details from the forum hack to access a database that held ID and credit card data.

Valve said that, so far, it had no evidence that credit cards were being misused or Steam accounts abused.

Losing trust

The defacement took place on 6 November and the Steam forums were taken offline when Valve learned of the attack.

At first the firm said the discussion groups were offline for maintenance.

However, a message posted to the front page of the forums by Valve boss Gabe Newell on 10 November has revealed that the sites were shut down because of the defacement.

Valve's investigation of that incident revealed that the "the intrusion goes beyond the Steam forums".

The initial investigation showed that the attackers gained access to a Steam database that held "user names, hashed and salted passwords, game purchases, email addresses, billing addresses and encrypted credit card information".

Valve has not said whether this was the full database of Steam's 35 million active accounts or a subset of that total.

Mr Newell said Valve had no evidence that the encrypted credit card information or personal information on gamers had been taken. However, he added, "we are still investigating".

He said it had only discovered that a few forum accounts had been compromised and used to carry out the defacement.

But Mr Newell added that all forum users will be required to change their passwords when the discussion site re-opens, which the firm is trying to achieve as quickly as possible.

He advised users to change passwords on other accounts if they are the same as the one used for the Steam forums.

"I am truly sorry this happened, and I apologize for the inconvenience," concluded Mr Newell.

Code changes

Steam is a gaming service that lets people buy, download, play and chat about a huge variety of games, only some of which are made by Valve itself.

About 1,500 titles are currently available on Steam including Skyrim, LA Noire and Modern Warfare 3 as well as many independent and free games.

Security expert Paul Ducklin, writing on the blog of security firm Sophos, handed down advice about what to do following the breach.

He said users should change passwords, monitor credit card statements, consider removing card numbers from Valve's servers and sign up for the Steam Guard security service.

He also urged users to insist businesses take steps to make it much harder for hackers to penetrate their systems and use stolen data.

"Community pressure has persuaded many businesses to improve their password-handling code," he said.

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Anonymous site(Anonyops.com) hacked by Pakistani Hacker Tha Disastar

Few days back, Anonymous hackers declared an operation against the The Muslim Brotherhood . They told that they are going to launch DDOS attack against them on Nov 11.

Today, A Pakistani Hacker named as "Tha Disastar" hacked into the official site of AnonyOPS.The DDoS specilist has also faced massive denial of service attack on the anonyops.com and the site is still off-line.

In the message hacker said that "Anonymous should stay in limits,and must not go out of there limits to others peoples religion"

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How the US Justice Department legally hacked my Twitter account

Few realise that foreign governments gain the right to our personal data when we sign up to social media. This must end

Before my Twitter case, in which the US Department of Justice has demanded that the social media site hands over personal information about my account which it deems necessary to its investigation of WikiLeaks, I didn't think much about what rights I would be signing off when accepting user agreement in my computer. The text is usually lengthy, in a legal language that most people don't understand. Very few people read the user agreements, and very few understand their legal implications if someone in the real world would try to use one against them.

Many of us who use the internet – be it to write emails, work or browse its growing landscape: mining for information, connecting with others or using it to organise ourselves in various groups of the like-minded – are not aware of that our behavior online is being monitored. Profiling has become a default with companies such as Google and Facebook. These companies have huge databases recording our every move within their environment, in order to groom advertising to our interests. For them, we are only consumers to push goods at, in order to sell ads through an increasingly sophisticated business model. For them, we are not regarded as citizens with civic rights.

This notion needs to change. No one really knew where we were heading a few years ago: neither we the users, nor the companies harvesting our personal information for profit. Very few of us imagined that governments that claim to be democratic would invade our online privacy with no regard to the fundamental rights we are supposed to have in the real world. We might look to China and other stereotypical totalitarian states and expect them to violate the free flow of information and our digital privacy, but not – surely? – our very own democratically elected governments.

What I have learned about my lack of rights in the last few months is of concern for everyone who uses the internet and calls for actions to raise people's awareness about their legal rights and ways to improve legal guidelines about digital media, be it locally or globally. The problem – and the dilemma we are facing – is that there are no proper standards, no basic laws in place that deal with the fundamental question: are we to be treated as consumers or citizens online? There is no international charter that says we should have the same civic rights as we have in the offline world.

Our legal systems are slow compared to the speed of online development. With the social media explosion, many people have put into databases very sensitive information about themselves and others without knowing that they have no rights to defend themselves against attempts by governments to obtain that personal data – whether their own local authorities or, as in my case, a foreign government acting internationally. According to the ruling of the US federal judge in my Twitter case, we have fortified those rights of government agencies when we agreed to the terms and conditions set by the company hosting our data. Even if that information is not held on servers in the US, the company would only need to have an office in the US for authorities to be able to demand its release to them.

So, we have to rely on, for example, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Twitter to look out for our interests. But it might not always be in their interests to look out for us.

The reason we make international treaties and declarations about human rights is because, somewhere along the line, we agreed that certain rights are sacred and universal. We need to make the same principles applicable to our human rights online, as they are offline. These two worlds have fused together, and there is no way to define them as separate anymore.

If is too easy for governments to access the information stored online, it is too easy for that access to be abused. If someone wanted to go through all my regular mail, they would have to obtain a search warrant in advance. No such thing happened in the Twitter case. I am, according to the US Justice Department, not under a criminal investigation, yet its officials demanded Twitter surrender my personal messages and IP numbers without my knowledge. It has never been so easy for Big Brother to pry on all our most sacred information without us ever even knowing.

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ISPs: Blocking The Pirate Bay Violates Freedom of Expression

Two of the largest Internet providers in the Netherlands clashed in court with the local anti-piracy outfit BREIN today. The ISPs argued that blocking The Pirate Bay would be useless, even dangerous, as it could take down the entire network. In addition they feel that this type of censorship violates basic human rights such as freedom of expression. BREIN disputed these concerns and said that the ISPs want to keep The Pirate Bay online because they profit from the site.

the pirate bayAfter the Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN lost its preliminary case against the ISPs Ziggo and Xs4all, the group started a full trial to demand a blockade of The Pirate Bay.

Today the case was heard before Court of The Hague

BREIN wants the largest ISP in The Netherlands to implement a DNS and IP address block of The Pirate Bay, with any future domain names and IP addresses of the site blocked within 24 hours of notification by BREIN.

The anti-piracy group argues that the ISPs can easily block the site with simple technical measures, and that as a result millions of people would be prevented from sharing files via the notorious torrent site.

The ISPs on the other hand claim that these measures are not as simple as BREIN claims, and that their implementation could have disastrous results.

Rebooting network services after adding DNS and IP-filters “could shut down the entire network,” the defense noted.

In addition the defense argued that such measures would be useless because the public can easily circumvent them by using alternative DNS servers and proxy sites. BREIN didn’t refute this, but noted that the blocks are “dummy proof” and that the majority of people wouldn’t jump through hoops to access The Pirate Bay.

Aside from the technical objections the ISPs also said that this type of censorship would violate basic human rights such as freedom of expression. Xs4all lawyer Milica Antic said it would turn the providers into the “Internet police” and that copyright holders should turn to the people who host the site itself.

BREIN countered these arguments and said that freedom of expression is “not that relevant,” and pointed out the copyright holders also have the right to protect their property. The fact that The Pirate Bay also hosts links pointing to legal content doesn’t take away these rights, BREIN’s lawyer said.

BREIN went even further and claimed that the ISPs don’t want to block The Pirate Bay because they “profit” from it. Millions of people in The Netherlands use BitTorrent, and blocking the Pirate Bay would drive people to other providers.

The case between the ISPs and BREIN brings up many of the censorship issues that are also being discussed in the United States at the moment. The pending SOPA legislation would make DNS and IP-blocks standard procedure, something BREIN can only dream of at this point.

The verdict in the case is expected to be announced early next year.

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Who Should Be TIME's Person of the Year 2011?

From tsunamis to budget battles to revolutions, 2011 has been a tumultuous, news-packed year. Who influenced the news most, for better or for ill? Tradition dictates that TIME's editors choose the Person of the Year, but we want to know: if you were in charge, who would it be?

SPOILER

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Krijgsmacht richt zich op cyberoorlog

De Nederlandse krijgsmacht maakt zich gereed voor het leveren van veldslagen op internet. Onder aanvoering van cyberkolonel Hans Folmer, gaat op 1 januari het nieuwe krijgsmachtonderdeel 'digitale taskforce' de strijd op de digitale snelweg aan.

'Behalve door de lucht en over de grond, moeten we tegenstanders ook via internet kunnen aanpakken', zegt generaal-majoor Sander Schnitger van Defensieplanning.

Gevoelig
Via een toetsenbord kunnen oorlogen ingrijpend worden beïnvloed, aldus de generaal. Als een tegenstander kans ziet om in het computersysteem van het leger te komen, kan bijvoorbeeld de aanvraag van munitie worden beïnvloed. Omdat veel wapensystemen door computers worden gestuurd, zijn deze gevoelig voor aanvallen, aldus de generaal in De Telegraaf

Schnitger voorziet dat het leger er over enkele jaren totaal anders uit ziet. De mitrailleur wordt verruild voor toetsenbord en joystick.

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OpCartel Update and Adrian Chen
OpCartel Update 11/12/2011

1. I've arrived in Brooklyn thanks to individuals associated with Occupy DC, who paid for a last-minute flight I would otherwise not have been able to afford at this time. I am situated in a neighborhood whose residents are old friends and who tend to be well-armed, and at any rate I plan to be staying with assorted friends and colleagues in various other parts of NYC during my stay.

2. All of those media outlets and journalists who wanted the information I obtained on Asheville, NC District Attorney Ron Moore and whom I've deemed capable of pursuing the story have now received the entirety of that info. One local journalist, before having seen any of it, asked me whether a certain individual was among those named therein as having illicit connections to Moore. I confirmed that this was indeed the case; the reporter explained that this particular person, who is close to the city's criminal justice system, also has a criminal history. Note that this info, which was provided to me by an Asheville resident whose connection to the situation is significant and verifiable, also cites two other men as being involved with Moore; both are career criminals with ties to the Houstones gang. The info and many of the details involved will continue to remain non-public for the time being so that I and the half-dozen reporters looking into it may do so without tipping off the other subjects; meanwhile, the info in its raw form would expose the identity of the informant and a family member. However, the bulk of the account will be released when viable, perhaps by the end of the month.

3. Some Mexican Anons and other individuals working out of #Iberoamerica continue to scour some 25,000 e-mails for specific incidents of corruption within the Mexican government and other of the country's major institutions. Their new effort, #OpCorrupcion, has the potential to be wildly successful if it receives the attention and support that it deserves. Note that I am not involved in this operation and cannot provide any particular details on it, as I've told several journalists already.

4. I am continuing work on the creation of a private team of individuals who will be charged with pursuing an ongoing campaign against Mexican cartels. So far, participants include journalists, academics who study cartels and related topics, and hackers, although other skill sets may also be needed. Those who wish to apply should send a brief description of their skills and relevant backgrounds to transistor@hushmail.com. Once this team is assembled, I will serve only in an advisory role as requested (if even that), as I hope to return to work on Project PM and our ongoing investigation into the intelligence contracting industry in the near future.

Note on Adrian Chen

On the whole, reporters have done a reasonably good job in covering a story that is fast-moving and often confusing. This is important for operations such as these, which are pursued largely within the realm of information and which thus depend on accurate and fair reportage to be successful; likewise, journalists who take the time to research the background and/or quote participants at length also help to ensure that those of us who are engaged in this work are not required to spend much time correcting false or misleading assertions. One ongoing incident, however, has damaged the viability of both OpCartel and OpCorrupcion, misinformed some unknown number of people, and unfairly hurt the credibility of myself and the Mexican Anons who are risking their very lives to assist the Mexican people as a whole. Adrian Chen of the online publication Gawker wrote an article several days ago entitled "It Pays to be the Face of Anonymous." (http://gawker.com/5856604/it-pays-to-be-the-face-of-anonymous)

a) Chen claims that the book on Anonymous that Gregg Housh and I are writing was "just sold" when it was in fact sold in September, as is public record, and incorrectly claims that reports of our meetings with publishers in NYC appeared "last month" when they actually appeared in the New York Observer just a few days before the sale of the book - again, in September, which Chen should know since he himself reported on it at the time. Setting aside the factual error regarding which months come when, referring to one event in late September as having occurred "last month" and another one that occurred a few days later as having "just" happened is either inexplicable or easily explained by Chen's intent to portray the book as being my motive for participation in OpCartel.

b) Chen seems to imply that I lied about the advance Housh and I received for the book by asserting that "Everything Brown says should be taken with a grain of salt." Chen promises to explain why later in the piece.

c) Chen refers to "Anonymous' bullshit anti-drug operation" before writing, "All week Brown has been spouting off to CNN, the Guardian and more about Operation Cartel, which was supposedly launched as payback for the Zetas kidnapping an Anonymous member. Even as proof that there had ever been a kidnapping continued to not exist, Brown upped the stakes, claiming that Anonymous had 25,000 stolen government emails they were going to use to expose at least 75 collaborators." I will note that I referred Chen to Bloomberg regarding evidence of the e-mails, as may be heard in the recording of that phone interview linked below. Rather than contact Bloomberg, Chen proceeded to write his article without even mentioning that I tried to provide him with evidence. Since then, Bloomberg reporter Michael Riley confirmed to The Atlantic - an actual news publication - that he'd received samples of the e-mails, which indeed involve corruption and payoffs, just as was claimed. But even when writing a follow-up piece about me yesterday (http://gawker.com/5858405(...)on-bloggers-heats-up), Chen refrained from mentioning any of this. When I noted Chen's failure to admit error on Twitter, he replied, "I'll believe it when I see them." Presumably, Chen is now resorting to the implication that a veteran Bloomberg reporter has either been duped or is publicly lying.

d) At the top of the article are three screenshots taken from a video I made months ago and which appear to have been selected to make me look crazy and/or stupid, something easily accomplished by taking single shots from a video of most any person talking. The follow-up article uses another, even more ridiculous screenshot from the same video. Such things are not done by accident; they are done to make a person look bad without resorting to facts.

As it is, I am having to contend with several projects even in addition to the attempts that have been made to provide my location to the Zeta cartel and other parties. I have no choice but to ignore the majority of negative things that are said about me. But in this case, Chen and his editor have concocted a storyline that has since been picked up by The Daily Mail and other outlets of similar quality-to-reach ratios, thereby doing some unknown degree of damage to an effort for which I and others have risked our lives. And they have done so not just with irresponsible inattention to those facts, such as the confirmation of the e-mails, that would prove their stated position false; they have gone so far as to actively and shamelessly disregard that particular fact even as it confirmed by a respected journalist for a respected publication. This tells me that I am up against yet another party for whom truth and fair play are secondary to mediocre, "biting" rhetoric and the victory that presumably comes from poorly-composed libel.

This is the audio conversation I had with Adrian Chen before the first article in question. Although I record most of the interviews I do with journalists - and have had occasion to speak to plenty of them over the last year in particular - this is the first time that I can recall having felt the need to post the recording.

AdrianAgain.wmv for #OpCartel via @BarrettBrownLOL

quote:

Op zondag 13 november 2011 19:24 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:
http://idealab.talkingpoi(...)operation-cartel.php

[..]

Tja dat krijg je als internetpubers denken dat een site hacken iets te maken heeft met de echte wereld

Goh dat had ik nou niet verwacht