Distributed denial of service attacks, of the kind pro-Wikileaks hacktivists have been aiming at PayPal, Visa, and MasterCard, are not particularly complex to pull off.
The Anonymous online movement that has risen up to defend Wikileaks is so outraged about censorship that they hacked into ABC News's web site and spiked a story about Sarah Palin. Makes sense, no? Or not.
Correction: The page we thought was an Anonymous hack replacing Jake Tapper's story, from which this screengrab is taken, was actually a page created by ABC News to show the hack that had been perpetrated on Palin's web site. Our mistake. Here is the Tapper story, safe and sound.
Operation Payback is facing a little payback of its own. First Twitter closed the pro-Wikileaks hacker movement's account. And now we hear the Feds are shutting down some online discussion of Operation Payback attacks.
Why'd Scientology unveil their new Washington D.C. "Ideal Org" on Halloween, of all days? 'Guess the wide public perception of Scientology being spooky-sketchy hasn't taken. Whatever the incentive: it's pissing off commuters, being protested, and—naturally—has Anonymous spies inside.
Scientology's quest to perfect humanity never rests, not even on the weekend. Which is why this member of the cult's elite "Sea Org" spent his Saturday yelling at an infidel about his inevitable and pathetic death.
The meeting took place at last night's German premiere of Valkyrie, and we've got video of Cruise interacting with a particularly insistent Anonymous member who's far more interested in getting Cruise to autograph his mask than to chastise him on his evasive endorsement of earth-people pills. Cruise is remarkably obliging; however, we don't recommend attempting the same signature coup with samurai swords. That never ends well.
When you protest Scientology, you do it at your own risk. That's what members of the group Anonymous found out last Sunday when they picketed Gold Base, the Church's headquarters in Gilman Hot Springs, Calfornia. The small, peaceful assembly sported signs before one member received a beating from a group of the Church's hired goons. Gold Base is the center of the Church's production arm, and also features a nine-hole golf course. Oh yes, there's also a massive brainwashing operation there called Rehabilitation Project Force.As first reported on Mark Ebner's Hollywood, Interrupted, five members of Anonymous picketed the building with signs, a Church guard screws with their vehicle down the road to get them to trespass onto the Church's property, while setting up a flare to get them to come back to the car. After they dog-tie the member of the group that returns to the truck, the guards strike down another protester. Amazingly, two members of Anonymous were arrested afterwards by the Riverside Sheriff's Department, as they report in their account of the situation. This is typical stuff for the Church, who doesn't just counterattack on YouTube. But of course, as the guy holding the camera says, Anonymous thinks they win if they can bring home footage like this.
Who was the dark mastermind behind last January's Denial of Service attack that shut down Scientology.org for a little while? A teenager, obvs. 18-year-old Dmitriy Guzner, a self-proclaimed member of the 4Chan-related anti-Scientology group Anonymous has been busted by the Feds for his part in the shenanigans. The Verona, NJ, teen has plead guilty and could get slammed with ten years in prison. Ouch. Press release after the jump.
While loofah-licious Fox News blowhard Bill O'Reilly is busy tearing what little hair he has left out over "slimy, scummy" blogs, everyone has been focused on the content (or lack there of) in the screenshots purported to be from a Yahoo email account used by Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin. But what about the clues to the methods and motivation behind the swarm of Internet users from 4chan's /b/ forum left in the screenshots? In this image, someone claiming membership in the lovable griefer army known as Anonymous emails Palin's friend Ivy Frye to let her know that the email account has been hacked. And it came complete with every browser tab and application running on the desktop. Let me take you on a journey deep inside the mind of an unknown operative who's changing the rules of politics — if not for the better, then certainly for the funnier.
Did the internet just cause Sarah Palin to destroy evidence? The potential Veep is in a bit of trouble for conducting state business using her personal, unarchived email address (gov.sarah@yahoo.com) instead of her official account (which is, of course, subject to laws requiring the retention of government records). Emails from that Yahoo account are already being sought in connection with the Troopergate investigation. Now comes word that Anonymous, the fun-loving Internet trouble-makers based loosely around the message board 4Chan, gained access to another Palin email account: gov.palin@yahoo.com. It looks legit! The offending posts, screenshots, heretofore unseen family photos, and emails have all been deleted from Imageshack and 4Chan. But we have them. You want to read Sarah Palin's email? Ok, sad thing first: a good Samaritan reset the password and tried to alert Sarah. But he also posted the new password, causing multiple people to try to log in at once, freezing the account for 24 hours. And now, the account has been deleted! Which is, as we said, maybe destruction of evidence? So for now this is, we think, all we'll get to see from this email account (if anyone finds evidence of saved emails, let us know.) The full timeline of events, with corroborating evidence of the legitimacy of these screengrabs, is here. Here's why it all looks convincing:
The revelation that the Will Smith-funded New Village Learning Academy will offer a uniquely Hubbardian curriculum came as little surprise to us last May, back when the star couldn't go a week without some new Scientology-related scandal consuming his painstakingly OT-free public persona. Finally, after taking a summer off, the NVLA controversy crept back into view last night when Smith attended the premiere for Lakeview Terrace, which he co-produced; despite his bodyguard's best efforts at suppertime interference, Smith confronted the issue head-on with Fox gossip Roger Friedman:
The Brits are rather less enthusiastic about the whole "free speech" concept than the US is. A 15-year-old kid was holding a sign that said "Cult" at one of the Anonymous protests against Scientology in London. The precocious young scalawag had even memorized a 1984 UK court ruling in which a judge called the science fiction-based religion a "cult." But the police gave him a summons and confiscated his dangerous slogan-bearing poster, and now he has to go to court to defend himself.
Recent Scientology protests have brought us all joy and laughter, but it wasn't until today that we saw a photo of the church's security goons guarding the New York headquarters. They look, as an ANONYMOUS tipster pointed out, "like they are playing arms dealers in a shoestring-budget 1990s USA Network spy thriller." You'll be sorry when Dolph Lundgren shows up, Scientology! [Security guards by Vidiot]
Facing a flurry of criticism on YouTube from Anonymous, Scientology responded by releasing their own video that featured glossy Hollywood production value. Now Scientology.org has been turned into a web video destination to disseminate slick propaganda. But anti-Scientology activists began fact checking the "In Support of Human Rights" video that purports to feature public officials extolling Scientology's commitment to improving the world — and, not surprisingly, many of the unnamed officials don't exist or were quoted entirely out of context.
We love LA, cops.
