This week: Iran’s giant Intranet, Bradley Manning needs to go home, Anonymous creates a new Megaupload?, Goodbye Lulzsec – hai thar Malsec, FBI seizes another mailer, Who’s to blame for oil spills?, Hole drummer’s documentary, Surviving Progress, Debt, and three boobies!

• Iran unplugs the Interbutzz – Link
• Bradley Manning’s got balls of steel – Link – Better Link
• Anonymous’s Megaupload? – Link
• Goodbye Lulzsec, hello Malsec? – Link
• FBI Seizes European Counter Network – Link
• Oil Spill – Link
• Doc about Hole drummer Patty Schemel – Link
• Matheny Media Minutes: Surviving Progress – LinkTrailer, Debt: The First 5000 Years – Link, Blade Runner Sequel – Link

Musical Interludes

It was short it was sweet, it was called ’50 days of Lulz’ and it’s day 50:

Friends around the globe,

We are Lulz Security, and this is our final release, as today marks something meaningful to us. 50 days ago, we set sail with our humble ship on an uneasy and brutal ocean: the Internet. The hate machine, the love machine, the machine powered by many machines. We are all part of it, helping it grow, and helping it grow on us.

For the past 50 days we’ve been disrupting and exposing corporations, governments, often the general population itself, and quite possibly everything in between, just because we could. All to selflessly entertain others – vanity, fame, recognition, all of these things are shadowed by our desire for that which we all love. The raw, uninterrupted, chaotic thrill of entertainment and anarchy. It’s what we all crave, even the seemingly lifeless politicians and emotionless, middle-aged self-titled failures. You are not failures. You have not blown away. You can get what you want and you are worth having it, believe in yourself.

While we are responsible for everything that The Lulz Boat is, we are not tied to this identity permanently. Behind this jolly visage of rainbows and top hats, we are people. People with a preference for music, a preference for food; we have varying taste in clothes and television, we are just like you. Even Hitler and Osama Bin Laden had these unique variations and style, and isn’t that interesting to know? The mediocre painter turned supervillain liked cats more than we did.

Again, behind the mask, behind the insanity and mayhem, we truly believe in the AntiSec movement. We believe in it so strongly that we brought it back, much to the dismay of those looking for more anarchic lulz. We hope, wish, even beg, that the movement manifests itself into a revolution that can continue on without us. The support we’ve gathered for it in such a short space of time is truly overwhelming, and not to mention humbling. Please don’t stop. Together, united, we can stomp down our common oppressors and imbue ourselves with the power and freedom we deserve.

So with those last thoughts, it’s time to say bon voyage. Our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind – we hope – inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love. If anything, we hope we had a microscopic impact on someone, somewhere. Anywhere.

Thank you for sailing with us. The breeze is fresh and the sun is setting, so now we head for the horizon.

Let it flow…

Until next-time, Gentlemen.

Ken Eakins

If you’re anything like me, you might be following this phenomenon religiously like some sort of cyberpunk wet dream come true with Rage Against the Machine on full blast, manically hitting refresh for the most recent information on the case while simultaneously debating the merits of every entity’s move or reaction like some mental chess match. Just in case you aren’t quite as inhumanely fixated, here’s a lengthy summary of what’s been going on:
______________________________________________________________________

To date, WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange was incarcerated for crimes relating to sexual assault in Sweden. The charges state that he was involved in two rapes in which initially consensual encounters with women turned nonconsensual when he refused to use a condom. Assange has denied the charges vehemently and believes it to be a sort of smear campaign moreso in relation to the cables scandal, though apparently there is no evidence of this thus far. If convicted, Assange would spend a maximum of four years in jail which, no doubt, could amount to considerably less than what his enemies envision for him.

Regarding the charges, Naomi Wolf offers a surprising response that appears to deviate from her original convictions.  She discusses what the allegations mean in The Huffington Post and a critique of her piece from feministing can be found here. Assange was released on bail earlier with certain conditions such as reporting to the police station daily and curfew among others, but more recently will be sticking around for a little longer to appeal the ruling. Here are live updates from The Guardian, NY Times’ The Lede, and The Nation. If you’re interested in what his attourney has to say, check out Mark Stephens’ Twitter.

When – or if – he does get out, Julian Assange will dwell in this mythical manor- a relative upgrade from the prison where he has resided, oppressively denied the company of an Internet accessible computer. Not shabby, but I’d say, not quite as novel, either, as hiding out in the lavish Bondesque cave that Ken wrote about.  Where does that leave Mr. Manning? The hacker responsible for snatching up the sacred documents? In a brig in Quantico.

However, just as The US Justice Deapartment has tirelessly been searching for criminal charges to make against Assange – including consideration of the 1917 Espionage Act – it’s no secret that Manning landed himself in hot water, and obvious charges that relate to his illicit behavior will be enacted.

Naturally, WikiLeaks is not receiving the greatest amount of cooperation from American institutions or conservative figureheads. Sarah Palin expressed serious distaste for WikiLeaks, and was subsequently under cyber-attack. It is yet to be seen if Senator Joeseph Lieberman will endure a similar fate after proposing legislation directly targeting Wikileaks, that would make publishing the names of military and intelligence informants illegal. Representative Peter King from New York takes a more extremist approach in suggesting that the State Department consider branding WikiLeaks as a terrorist organization. (source.)

Most notably, to name a few: Amazon, Paypal.com, and Mastercard have all discontinued services to the whistleblower institution.  However, their actions have prompted special support from others – and not just from Ron Paul, The Progressive Librarians Guild, The ACLU and Michael Moore - but also from the rogue internet group, Anonymous. (Their Twitter, or one of them.)

Dubbed “Operation: Payback” for the avenging of Assange, the so-called internet gathering group has published in their press release that their motivations behind attacking major institutions’ websites (PayPal, Mastercard, Visa) were more symbolically used to sully their “public face[s]” rather than obtain any illicit information. Instead they have sought attention by slowing the networks down rather than disarming them. You can view their manifesto here. A series of DDos attacks inconvenienced,  but did not truly harm the corporate sites.  Since then, Anonymous has backed down according to the press release due to fear of negative associations with putting a blockage in cheery holiday shopping. Indeed, that will dampen their reputation… but it’s not so sure Assange would really revel in their cowardice as he appears to hold bravery in high esteem, per his revealed OKCupid profile. At any rate, here’s how they did it, and where they gather.

Still, businesses are now called to prepare themselves for a hacktivist backlash,- the fear seemingly sending a warning message to major corporations with ties to Wikileaks to remain compliant with them. And yet, guess who’s NOT cutting ties with WikiLeaks- (perhaps due to extraordinary traffic, I’d posit!?) – Twitter. From computerweekly.com‘s website:

Twitter is thought to be next in line, following accusations that it has blocked Wikileaks from trending on its microblogging site. The company denied it had done so in a blog post yesterday. “This week, people are wondering about Wikileaks, with some asking if Twitter has blocked #wikileaks, #cablegate or other related topics from appearing in the list of top trends,” said the firm. “The answer: absolutely not. In fact, some of these terms, including #wikileaks and #cablegate, have previously trended either worldwide or in specific locations.”

It would appear that WikiLeaks has been cautious about the releasing- a negligible percentage has actually been made public out of the total- some of Assange’s colleagues have become estranged. The New York Times reports: “In recent months, some of Mr. Assange’s closest associates in WikiLeaks abandoned him, calling him autocratic and capricious and accusing him of reneging on WikiLeaks’s original pledge of impartiality to launch a concerted attack on the United States.”

With lessened support from those working closely to him, he has still garnered massive following from cyber groups and fans online and off. While some people are branding him a high-tech terrorist, others idolize Assange as a messiah for free speech and transparency. Currently, what remains to be answered is: are the rape allegations a ploy to get Assange into custody to prosecute him for espionage and publishing documents illegally or legitimate complaints of rape by these Swedish women?

Disregarding the sensationalized celebrity status that he has gained is an even more pressing issue.  His fate is now rather inconsequential concerning the documents themselves because of the purported torrent, so we face the question of the documents themselves.  At the moment, it is unsure what the content of the new cables will be. I would propose that juicier, more scathing and significant information will be distributed with time.

Will the cyberwars continue? How will US foreign policy be changed? What about security measures? The implications could be potentially be tremendous.  Unfortunately, though the corruptions on display might outweigh purported costs of embarrassment for the US, the point that critics swear by is that WikiLeaks’ exposed cables will essentially make a blaring target out of the US for terrorist groups.

Here’s an opinion on why WikiLeaks is actually counterprodcutive to its goals of long-lasting transparency, argues one, and why WikiLeaks is a “good thing.” Hit refresh. And if you’d rather see the cables themselves, check out some summaries here and what looks like an authentic mirror site of the cablegate.

Claire Lumiere

He is correct. Pic 'Tanya N'

Anonymous, the masked protesters that have spent the last two years protesting the Church of Scientology, have responded to a creepy Today Show report on the aid-work being conducted by the Church in Haiti.

Anonymous, best known for their masked street-protests, have responded by issuing the following statement (sourced from Gawker):

Hello [audience]. We are Anonymous.

We wish it it were under more favorable circumstances that we have chosen to address the world. However, after the demonstrably inaccurate interpretation handling of the victims of the Haiti earthquake as per the work of the Scientology ‘Volunteer’ Ministers, Anonymous could not remain silent.

The Volunteer Ministers are volunteers only in name. Their self-proclaimed humanitarian efforts have been shown to be harmful and self-serving time and time again. In the wake of the September Eleventh attacks at the World Trade Center, they impeded the work of the New York City Fire Department, and falsely claimed to have been given a reward for their efforts. These efforts involved little more than handing out pamphlets for the works of L. Ron Hubbard, while intentionally hindering the work of mental health professionals aiding the victims.

This same pattern of self-promotion at the expense of victims of disasters does not end there. Following the tsunami at Sri Lanka, the Volunteer Ministers attempted to convert the vulnerable and suffering victims into their cult, promising them aid and salvation at the expense of their livelihood***. These actions were repeated following the terrorist attack at the Ramada Inn in India*** and the Subway bombings in London, England.

In short: Scientology does not see a disaster as a tragedy, but rather, as a business opportunity.

First-hand accounts [[LINK TO GAWKER ARTICLE]], condemnations from legitimate aid groups [[SCREENSHOTS OF ARTICLES]], and even leaked documents from Scientology’s corporate heirarchy itself [[SCREENSHOTS OF DOX]] all confirm the cowardly and parasitic nature of the self-proclaimed Volunteer Ministers.

The very same self-serving, opportunistic proselytizing has been taking place in Haiti. Scientology has taken every opportunity to release their own manufactured press releases, taking credit for the work of legitimate relief groups. They arrived completely unprepared [[SCREENSHOTS OF THE COWBOY BOOTS REPORT HERE]], and were told to leave by the United States military [[SCREENSHOT HERE]].

An untrained Scientologist was alleged to be assisting a surgeon, using tools that had not been sterilized. This is blatant medical malpractice. John Travolta has also left several trained medical professionals behind at an airport, instead making it his priority to bring untrained Scientologists into the country with the sole intent of disseminating L. Ron Hubbard materials to an already vulnerable and suffering population.

Know this, Scientology: We are watching you. With every move you make, every victim you exploit, and every piece of choreographed propaganda you release into the mainstream media, the public already knows the truth about your organization. You are not fooling anyone, and no amount of proselytizing will change this. You have already been convicted in the court of public opinion. It is now only a matter of time before you are convicted in a court of law.

We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.

Anonymous begun their campaign in Feburary 2008, after a spat with the Church over the now infamous ‘Tom Cruise Address’ internal promotion video being posted onine.

Ken Eakins

Ken Eakins

Even Cats got in on the action!

It’s ‘game, set and match’ for the sick bastards responsible for a recent spate of cat abuse, and once again, the main-stream media totally ignores the true heroes in this whole case…4Chan

Earlier this week, two young American boys, Kenny and Weston Glenn,  decided it would be a great laugh to abuse their cat ‘Dusty’ and then post videos of the abuse on YouTube.  The video showed really quite horrific footage of the boys smashing the cat against the wall of their bathroom, which the boys oddly reffered to as their ‘lab’. 

However the Dynamically-retarded duo were unaware that cats, much the like the Ancient Eygptians, are sacred to those that lurk the image-boards of the ‘Mos Eisley Canteena-esque’ 4Chan. it was 4Chan that inadvertantly started the whole ‘lolcats’ fad online, with their original (and funnier) ‘Caturday’. 

/b/ back in the 60's

So, as you can imagine, once the Dusty-abuse tapes reached the attention of the ‘Internet Hate Machine‘, all hell broke loose! From the amazing Encyclopedia Dramatica page on the incident: “ An IRC channel -#catraid- was established in short order and the raids signal lit up the sky as Anonymous called for their crack Internet Vigilante Group to mount up and ride. These 1337 h4x0rs quickly found a link to a bargain video website -haitiwow- and a link on haitiwow led to a Lawton, Oklahoma zip code. Using painstaking methods of e-Detection, it was not long before the suspect’s Facebook was located.”

The brave channers, who then linked artifacts in the video to pictures on the Facebook profile,  then called in all this information to the local sherrifs department. The boys were shortly arrested and charged, and local, national and later international news agencies began to take notice:

At first I was angry that no credit was given to the trolls  and camwhores over at 4Chan for their e-detective work, but in a way it’s kind of cool that 4Chan and it’s many offshoots, remain underground and off the radar of the news-media. I mean, could you imagine a website so in the spotlight being able to pull of hacking Sarah Palin’s email account, tricking Oprah Winfrey into reciting one of their memes (“we do not forgive, we do not forget”) in the ’9000 Penises’ incident and helping to trap and convict pedophiles? I think not…

Ken Eakins

This week we mark the end of our holiday break by discussing some of our ‘favorite bits’ of 2008. Topics covered in this show include Anonymous, The end of Neo-Paganism as we know it?, Patriots and the Georgia Guidestones and of course Obama (or in this case OBAWWWWMA).

Joining me for this episodes banter is Sir Raymond Wiley and Lord Austin Gandy from ye olde Out There Radio and the all new Disinformation The Podcast.

Of course Lady Claire Lumiere delivers us the latest Weekly Weird News and the Nobleman that is Daddytank serves up another great MySpace Heroes in the shape of:

[podpress]

District Of Evolution - New Paper Crusader
Magnetic Stripper – set 5a
Zabutom – Leningrad Vodka Rush
A Boy And His Recorder – Ice Cream Chuck

The episode of Out There Radio that Raymond plugs with no shame throughout the show can be found at www.outthereradio.net

Join us weekly again from now, as we examine counterculture, the Occult, underground and all the usual good stuff…so you don’t have to.

Enjoy

Well, just as Operation Chanology seems to be gasping its last breath, a symptom of internal civil war (old vs. new, vs. moral), Anonymous have risen once again to show us all that the Internet Hate Machine is still active and processing ‘lulz’ for us all to laugh at! A week or so ago, Anonymous managed to use the ‘forgot password’ option on Yahoo! Mail to gain access to hockey-mum-republican Sarah Palin’s email account. The ensuing reposting of private information (Dox), caused an unusually high level of coverage from the likes of Fox News buffoon Bill O’Reilly and his minions.

Watching Bill attempt to justify his obvious rage-management issues is always a source of great amusement:

Challenging the Internets? BAD IDEA!

Sure enough, a few days later O’Reillys website was hacked and it’s ‘premium‘ members personal details were smeared all over the internets like a peadophile ‘named and shamed’ campaign! It was later revealed that O’Reillys web people contacted the afflicted few, informing them of the breach.

That’s all? … nope!

Oprah Winfrey, lover of Magick for middle-class housewifes … no, really, it is! …anyway, where was I? Oh yeah; Oprah Winfrey who’s recent adoration of the ‘The Secret’, had led people to belive that she may be going the way of fellow nut-ball Tom Cruise, was midway through one of her latest campaigns, defending a senate bill against peadophiles when she uttered this:

‘Over 9000′? Now where have I heard that before?

Anonymous strikes again, this time with very little effort, they managed to penetrate one of the most viewed celebrities in the US, making a total fool out of her.

So, I once again make this plea to online ‘experts’, technology pundits and most of all Oprah’s web people. Take a look around you once in a while, notice what the Internet is breeding, and you won’t make such ridiculous errors. It really does amaze me that people whose jobs rely on their constant monitoring of online happenings so rarely notice the seemingly obvious links between these events…or maybe that’s the point?

Anyway, until then Oprah, enjoy your ‘raep’

Ken Eakins

“Encyclopaedia Dramatica is being attacked, has lost ads and has no money. Please help us by making a donation to the site. You can donate using your credit card.”

You may remember last week we got in all sorts of weird conversations with people pretending to be my mother and Mark Bunker, well…i’m pleased to present this news just in from The Guardian!

 

A teenager who was facing legal action for calling the Church of Scientology a “cult” has today been told he will not be taken to court.

 

 

The Crown Prosecution Service ruled the word was neither “abusive or insulting” to the church and no further action would be taken against the boy.

The unnamed 16-year-old was handed a court summons by City of London police for refusing to put down a placard saying “Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult” during a peaceful protest outside the church’s headquarters near St Paul’s Cathedral earlier this month.

 

This is great news for EpicNoseGuy (the 15 year old school boy in question) and for fans of free speech, which was the point of Project Chanology in the first place. Epic Win Anonymous!