Emo Super Heroes??
NikHatter // It's their only way out.
NikHatter // It's their only way out.
| Last updated February 10, 2010 12:13 PM
The Australian government found itself victim of a cyberattack on Wednesday morning as a protest against the government's plan to begin filtering certain types of pornography from being accessed online. The attack was carried out by the group Anonymous (yes,that Anonymous) as part of "Operation: Titstorm," an effort to push back on Australia for including a plethora of perfectly legal content as part of its Internet filtering initiative. Two government sites were taken down temporarily, and officials have (unsurprisingly) condemned the attacks.
The denial of service attacks began at 8am Australian Time Wednesday morning (5pm Eastern Time Tuesday night) and targeted the Australian government's main website as well as the Parliament site. The plan was DDoS government servers first, and then follow up with "a s***storm" of porn-related e-mails, faxes, and prank cell phone calls to government officials, with a special focus on three types of content that has fallen under the ban: small-breasted porn, cartoon porn, and female ejaculation. (Australia's Classification Board had previously determined female ejaculation to be a form of urination, while small-breasted women simply "appeared" to be underage.)
"The Australian government will learn that one does not mess with our porn," someone wrote on behalf of Anonymous in an e-mail sent to media outlets. "No one messes with our access to perfectly legal (or illegal) content for any reason."
Australia has been under heavy criticism for its plan to filter pornographic content since it began discussing the proposal in 2007. Despite the fact that its own government-funded studies have shown that ISP level filtering won't work, the government forged ahead, even throwing perfectly legal—if not a little gross—content into the mix. Most of the legal-but-objectionable content falls under the government's optional filter (there is also a required blacklist that is short and specific), but whether or not to implement the second blacklist is a decision made at the ISP level.
Australia's Department of Parliamentary Services confirmed with the Sydney Morning Herald that the parliament site was getting up to 7.5 million hits per second at its peak. The spokesperson said that the site was inaccessible for about an hour and then intermittent for several hours after that. A spokesperson for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy added that the attacks were "totally irresponsible" and could have denied services to the Australian public.
Somehow, we get the feeling that Anonymous doesn't care much about what the Communications Minister thinks is "responsible." Still, other groups that oppose Australia's filtering plan also condemned the attack:Stop Internet Censorship cofounder Nicholas Perkins said the action brought negative attention to the issue. "It would be much more helpful for these people to put their efforts behind legitimate action to stop this ineffective and inefficient attempt at censorship by the Australian government," Perkins said in a statement.
· A picture of a billboard featuring a picture of former President George W. Bush and the words "Miss Me Yet?" began circulating via e-mail on Monday, February 8, 2010. At first, many assumed that the billboard was a photoshopped image, however it was confirmed to be real and stands along I-35 near the town of Wyoming, in the state of Minnesota.
Bob Collins of Minnesota Public Radio confirmed seeing the billboard along I-35. The mayor of Wyoming, Sheldon Anderson, said he has received a lot inquiries over the Bush billboard but said he did not know who set up the billboard or who paid for it.5
"Miss Me Yet?" Themed Gifts, Mugs, Bumper Stickers and T-Shirts
As of February 8, 2010, the person or group who paid to set up the "Miss Me Yet" George Bush billboard remained anonymous. The "Miss Me Yet" meme has been popular on the Internet for quite some time. It is popular among some conservatives and Republicans and is often in the form of a website graphic that is shared on social networking sites. A commenter on TheRightPerspective.org blob states that a neighbor inTexas has a smaller version of the billboard as a yard sign. Zazzle.com, a website that allows users to create their own novelty items, features a variety of "Miss Me Yet" Bush items ranging from bumper stickers, coffee mugs, T-shirts and mouse pads.6 7
Alright, two things here:
1. Facebook is only mentioned because it is popular now, not because it really matters to this case
2. Bullying is not new
Watch the two news reports and then ask yourself these questions:
People are harassed all the time, what makes this so different?
Why did she do what these other people told her to (go hang yourself)?
Why is Facebook even mentioned here?
Will legislation fix the huge problem of bullying?
Will the legislation tell us how to act toward each other socially?
The video says that someone should be held responsible for this girl’s death. Who would that be?
Wouldn’t it be the person that killed this girl…aka herself?
When did we not become responsible for our own actions?
When did other people become responsible for our actions?
When did we not become responsible for our own reactions?
Is this story news worthy?
What is the agenda behind this story?
What website is getting more hits and groups and page views now that this has happened?
AM I THE ONLY PERSON THAT THINKS THIS GIRL MIGHT HAVE BEEN JUST PLAIN STUPID?....or is that socially unacceptable to say?
Hope it helps explain the current situation.
The people that are saying that the change needs to happen are “enlightened” but you can only be enlightened if there is a standard that you are “transcending.” It is not bad, but it is by definition not the standard. And unfortunately we need to hold to the standard or we write ourselves into a corner to cater to the smart.
This is current. This is a version usage breakdown
This is a current browser usage, and as you can see firefox would be more of a necessity than Safari (the Mac Browser)
This is a current browser breakdown of the “technorati” ‘s usage. This is an knowledgeable group but not a “business” or industry focused group (unless the industry is technology itself)
