"The only way to deal with an unfree world, is to become absolutely free, that your very existence is an act of rebellion." - Albert Camus
"When the power of Love will overcome the love of Power, the world will know Peace" - Jimi Hendrix
I do not claim to understand the inner workings of the hactivist hive Anonymous, but over the past few months, I my gratitude toward and respect for Anons has grown as the spirit of the Occupy Wall Street Movement has spread across the globe. This is not to say that I once did not respect or love this group. I am writing to both express this gratitude and to respond to some opinions voiced by members of mainstream media regarding the relationship between the DDoS attacks of 01/19/2012, the Occupy Movement and Anonymous.
Josh Harkinson from Mother Jones wrote an interesting piece today "How and Why Anonymous Took Down the FBI's Website" that attempts to explain #OpMegaUpload, the distributed denial of service attack that temporarily took down the homepages of the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, Universal Music, the US Copyright Service, the US Department of Justice, and last, but not least, the FBI.
In addition to sharing conversations from AnonOps chat rooms, Harkinson quotes Biella Coleman of McGill University who is "... a leading academic expert on Anonymous."
However, Harkinson's article is mis-titled as it fails to explain the "why" as he admits
"... I had a hard time getting a clear picture of why they felt MegaUpload.com was worth defending." Harkinson hedges his bets, ending his article with a punchline and quoting one Anon who allegedly posted in a chat "Mom FUCK MOM, WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO RUIN MY LIFE."
Instead of providing an in-depth analysis of the role Anonymous has played supporting the Occupy Wall Street Movement, Harkinson shies away from elaborating upon his statement:
"At a time when Anonymous is increasingly defined by its role in the physical encampments of the Occupy Wall Street movement, #OpMegaUpload is a reminder that the anon army of geeks still cares just as much about what it can and can't do in front of a computer screen."
What Harkinson fails to acknowledge is that what someone can and cannot do in front of a computer screen is important because of its impact on what someone else can and cannot do in real life.
One needs only to observe a citizen journalist from the Occupy Movement to note the importance of those who use Twitter and other social networking tools to support the protesters and livestreamers and to protect them from police brutality, violence and the forces of nature. When an activist is in need, it matters greatly that someone is watching.
Recently, a group of peaceful protesters now known as "The Amarillo 13" benefited from the efforts of those watching the citizen footage they broadcasted live on Ustream.
I watched this from my apartment in a city with an Occupy group that is no longer allowed to camp. When I am not actively working with the Occupy community or working at my job (yes, I have a job - actually 2), I watch the livestreams of citizen journalists. I was following the activities of various Occupy groups (learning about them via Twitter) late on Saturday, January 14 when a group of 13 protesters using the Twitter handle @Road2Congress were detained aboard Greyhound and then kicked off the bus. These folks were kicked off a bus by Driver Don Ainsworth in Amarillo Texas for being part of Occupy Wall Street movement.
I have only been using Twitter seriously for a year, and it was not until recently that I even began livestreaming, so Twitter is still a learning experience for me. Since the Occupy movement began, I have come to view social networking services like Twitter and Facebook as activist/hactivist tools. On January 14 and 15, Twitter especially allowed caring individuals to offer comfort and resources to these thirteen protesters who were stranded. However, if it were not for what Harkinson refers to as Anonymous' main twitter account @YourAnonNews, I would not have been aware of the crisis my comrades faced in Amarillo.
I can only follow 2000 Twitter accounts at a time and had somewhere around 650 followers that weekend. As I write this, @YourAnonNews has 308,094 followers. That means that if I tweet something to @YourAnonNews, it will appear in the streams of 308,094 people. I was not following @Road2Congress, had never even heard of them, but I learned about their situation from @YourAnonNews.
View the story "Tweets to the Amarillo 13 - for Anonymous with Love" on Storify is a timeline of some of the Twitter activity relating to the Amarillo 13 tweeting from @Road2Congress and the resources tweeted by @YourAnonNews. This conversation demonstrates the importance of having freedom to communicate while sitting in front of a computer screen.
The following tweets are from January 15 when the Amarillo 13 sent out an S.O.S. via Ustream and Twitter.
@Road2Congress tweeted
@ZAPatty we are having trouble in Amarillo right now! Bus driver threatening to kick us off! #road2congress #j17
— OSD | Road2Congress (@Road2Congress) January 15, 2012
We are getting kicked out! @GreyhoundBus is a police state! @Re_Occupy @occupywallstreet @OccupySD @jasonashville
— OSD | Road2Congress (@Road2Congress) January 15, 2012
The Twitter account @YourAnonNews has many many more followers than @Road2Congress did.
✰ATTENTION✰ If you are 1 of the #OccupySD protesters stranded by @GreyhoundBus please get in touch w/ @Occupy_DC -- they have legal support— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) January 15, 2012
People begin to listen.
#OccupyMedia BREAKING NEWS: Road2Congress group(Occupy Greyhound) was removed by police in Amarillo, TX because... dlvr.it/15Djw9 #OWS
— Indy Media Co-op (@indymediacoop) January 15, 2012
Your Anon News is also very good at keeping track of the livestream channels.
Follow the stranded #OccupySD protesters LIVE on their ustream - ustream.tv/channel/osdmbas... << kicked off bus bc driver was anti-#OWS
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) January 15, 2012
The hashtag #amarillo13 was eventually used to refer to the 13 protesters kicked off Greyhound.
#Amarillo13 tag refers to 13 people kicked off Greyhound for answering "Yes" to driver's question "Are you with Occupy?"
— Nigel Parry (@flyingmonkeyair) January 15, 2012
People across the country began networking.
On the Occupy Amarillo Discussion page on FB people are talking about ya'll. Love and solidarity from NOLA (live at ustre.am/FozH)
— #99% Magpie (@Magpieluvsyou) January 15, 2012
Greyhound took out Occupy protestors' luggage and forced them out solely because they were Occupiers. #J17 (live at ustre.am/FozH)
— Occupy Congress (@Re_Occupy) January 15, 2012
A PayPal account was set up to help the Amarillo folks buy new bus tickets.
Occupiers had raised money to fund their $500 Greyhound tickets- and were kicked off for their pol views #ows
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) January 15, 2012
Imagine what it would feel like if you or your child or mother or brother was stranded at a Greyhound bus station and you wanted to call the bus station!
Corporate Greyhound # in TX is 214-849-6831 | Greyhound station # is 806-374-5371 | General Customer Service # is 1-800-231-2222 | #OccupySD
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) January 15, 2012
Finally, Greyhound responded!
Hi All, we are aware of the Occupy Congress situation. We have notified executive management. We appreciate your patience.
— Greyhound Bus (@GreyhoundBus) January 15, 2012
@YourAnonNews played a significant part in spreading the word so these 13 innocent people could get help.
UPDATE @Road2Congress back on a new Bus resuming toward #OccupyCongress #J17 " We Are Unstoppable A Better World is Possible"@Re_Occupy
— Occupy Congress (@OpCongress_2012) January 15, 2012
The following article "What really happened when the San Diego Occupuiers got kicked off the Greyhound bus in Amarillo, Texas" from The Ocean Beach, California Rag will be helpful for those unfamiliar with the Amarillo 13 and Twitter.
When I livesteamed my own Occupy movement's MLK parade and was followed by police in unmarked cars and offered a ride, I secretly hoped that somewhere, Anons were watching.
I can't help but note the attitude of dismissal in Arik Hesseldahl's ethics statement "Anonymous Fails, Once Again, to Make Its Point" appearing on All Things Digital this evening. Hesseldahl writes:
"Yet now that the attacks have subsided, it’s time to see them for what they are — nothing more than a blunt instrument that accomplishes nothing constructive"
"Constructive" is an obviously relative term. What is or is not constructive behavior could be debated the same way what is or is not art is debated in regard to graffiti. As I write this, 107 Brazilian government and media websites as well as Justin Bieber's music website have been declared "TANGO DOWN" (WIN).
I can neither refute or confirm mainstream media's claims that Anonymous misled people into following a link which triggered a tool which launched a DDoS attack. Hesseldahl explains that these innocent users were
"...tricked into following the link [and were] given no context or information, and so may or may not have any idea that they’re participating in the execution of a crime."
Personally, I do not click on links that are provided without context or information, and I have not come across any. I have not participated in a DDoS attack knowingly or unknowingly because I don't click on random links. To call Thursday's DDoS attack a failure is a premature assumption based on one's understanding of the word "FAIL." If one goal of Anons is to inform the public of their existence and the existence of every citizen who cannot speak up for herself, they have certainly accomplished that (see video Anonymous on Protect IP Bill).
The irony is in the final paragraph of Hesseldahl's judgement of Thursday's DDoS attacks:
"At most, they inconvenience the people who visit and operate the targeted sites for a few hours, until the attention spans of the attackers shift elsewhere."
I not only imagine but expect that the attention spans of Anons will shift elsewhere. They have taught me to expect them when I used to expect no one, as in "A Message of Hope from Anonymous UK" and in their vigilant online presence when journalists, freedom fighters, the strong, the weak, the young, and the elderly wish to be heard.
Regarding SOPA and PIPA, Anonymous has done more than protest SOPA via DDoS attacks. The Tumblr site Your Anon News provides an Anti-SOPA Took Kit which includes links to the actual bill text of SOPA and PIPA and a Take Action Checklist which links to Fight for The Future's petition to Stop American Censorship petition. These primary documents - the actual bills are crucial when discussing or protesting The Senate's Protect IP Act (S. 968) or the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). I have noticed that in social networks, more and more people are referencing the actual text of the bills instead of the interpretation offered in an OpEd column, and regardless of whether or not the people I interact with got them from Your Anon News, it pleases me that these primary sources are circulating.
I am a person who uses Twitter and has a camera.
I am a citizen journalist. I am a citizen of Earth. I am employed yet I cannot afford my student loan payments and devote almost every free moment I have to supporting my own city's Occupy movement as well as the national movement. I am afraid of my own local police department. I may someday encounter violence or police brutality as I stand up for the basic rights of human beings. I hope someone will be watching.
As I write this, I see more articles titled "Did Anonymous Undo The Goodwill Built Up By The Internet This Week?" which I am sure aimed at the general public who equates "hacker" with "identity theft."
For evidence of goodwill on the Internet, one need only follow the livestream of a citizen journalist while a peaceful protester's hands are zip-tied behind him by police who will not display badge numbers or when an Anon sends a shout-out that an activist needs water or shoes or an ambulance.
With Love and Solidarity,
~ Magpie