Saw this yesterday:
http://mashable.com/2010/09/18/4chan-mpaa-ddos-attack/
Do you think there is a better way for the members of 4chan to have protested against the MPAA instead of simply attacking and subsequently taking down the site for numerous hours? What about the creator of the Low Orbit Ion Cannon, an application used to perform DoS attacks, was it for 'the better good' that it was released as an open source application?
This reminds me of the article BBC News just recently did on 4chan:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10520487
There are definitely better ways, but this is 4chan we're talking about. They're notorious for underhanded attacks.
One of the more serious consequences of 4chan's "pranks" resulted in a massive barrage of death threats, prank calls, and websites dedicating to the death of Mary Bale. (Mary Bale was caught on CCTV footage petting and then putting a cat in a wheelie (garbage) bin. The video was subsequently put on the internet and within no time at all, 4chan users got her identity, workplace, employer's phone number, address, and posted it all over the web. Mary Bale feared for her life.)
This just goes to show how harmless internet pranks don't always stay in cyberspace and can lead to some frightening consequences in real life.
Well, whether is 4chan or 2chan (the Japanese 'forum' 4chan is modelled after), they are infamous for the absolute maximum abuse of anonymous state of the Net. So, I am not defending their actions in any shape or form.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, how is anyone supposed to protest against Copyright, ethically? The right of the producers of the movie is protected by countless laws; most people will agree that generally and universally, copyright should be protected. Certainly, we cannot send email to MPAA and ask them to distribute the movie via BitTorrent. With pro-copyright groups trying to sue anyone that violates the copyright and trying to make examples of them, I doubt people will gladly sign a petition or stand outside with picket cards.