Never say "Anon. never did anything good" ... ;)

[Rasa1111]

Vigilante Hackers Wage War on Underground Kiddie Porn


Just below the surface of the internet sits a network of hidden websites home to some of the worst stuff imaginable. Now hackers are going after pedophiles hiding in the so-called dark net.

Since the beginning of October, a group of hackers associated with the hacktivist collective Anonymous have waged war on an underground forum called Lolita City, where hundreds of users openly trade child porn. They're using hacking tools with nicknames like "Chris Hansen"—after the NBC "To Catch a Predator" host—to bring down the forum and identify users. They call their crusade OpDarkNet.


Lolita City lives on the "dark net," a sort of shadow internet hidden from most internet users. The dark net has sprung up around a service called TOR (https://www.torproject.org/), which lets anyone host websites and browse the web anonymously with an easy-to-use suite of software. TOR is primarily aimed at protecting activists from oppressive governments, and ensuring privacy for normal internet users.


But it's also become a favorite tool of cybercriminals, hackers, pedophiles and drug dealers. In August, Dutch authorities took down (http://www.rnw.nl/english/video/cybercrime-team-uncovers-global-child-porn-network) four child porn forums on TOR run by 27-year-old Robert Mikelsons. The underground drug market Silk Road we profiled (http://gawker.com/5805928/the-underground-website-where-you-can-buy-any-drug-imaginable) this summer also uses TOR; the illict activity on the dark net recently attracted the attention of New York senator Chuck Schumer, who demanded (http://gawker.com/5808701/senators-already-trying-to-shutter-online-drug-market) the DEA shut down Silk Road.

more here> http://gawker.com/5851459/vigilante-hackers-wage-war-on-underground-kiddie-porn
and here>http://www.theblaze.com/stories/anonymous-hacking-group-takes-down-40-child-porn-sites-darknet-exposes-over-1500-users/

Yay Anon.! :KS:popcorn:

[Thewhistlingwind]

In my opinion, this is undeniably a good act.

Wiping this stuff from the face of the net is always a good thing.

One of the things they supposedly did was bring down a directory of sites dedicated to the stuff.

Hope they bring down more.

[Rasa1111]

In my opinion, this is undeniably a good act.

Wiping this stuff from the face of the net is always a good thing.

Most definitely, my friend. :)

[ki4jgt]

N I C E. Although I disagree with a lot of actions they take, and to an extent I disagree to this (small amount due to there were actual laws broken that could present some repercussions in court) Great job Anonymous.

[Rasa1111]

well if those in power refuse to do anything about it... (clearly) , besides the couple times they have gone after these pedo. scumbags..

If someone else is going to do it, and they have to break a "law" or two in the process..
I say go on ahead.
The benefits of outing these nasty people far outweighs the repercussions imho. :)

and it would be like our system to punish those outing the scumbags, rather than the actual scumbags.
That wouldnt surprise me.

"well, you've outted a lot of bad people for us"....
..." BUT, you broke a couple little laws in the process.. So we'll focus all our attention on YOU, the evil hackers, rather than going after those you just outted"

Seems like our current 'reality'...

[ki4jgt]

well if those in power refuse to do anything about it... (clearly) , besides the couple times they have gone after these pedo. scumbags..

If someone else is going to do it, and they have to break a "law" or two in the process..
I say go on ahead.
The benefits of outing these nasty people far outweighs the repercussions imho. :)

and it would be like our system to punish those outing the scumbags, rather than the actual scumbags.
That wouldnt surprise me.

"well, you've outted a lot of bad people for us"....
..." BUT, you broke a couple little laws in the process.. So we'll focus all our attention on YOU, the evil hackers, rather than going after those you just outted"

Seems like our current 'reality'...

Well, we do have the laws there for a reason. They are to protect all who are involved (even the scumbags). Not justifying their actions, but if you drop rights for one person, you must drop them for others. No matter how we see ourselves, the law allows us to maintain a definable junction of right and wrong. The law is a tool used by society to make sure that one person doesn't the brunt end of something without due process. Though I will always support the law (it's absolute definability is the only fair way to run a society) I take my hat off and congratulate anonymous in this great victory for human kind. There should be a legal loophole somewhere that law enforcement can use (there usually is) but exceptions should never be made in the law itself, no matter what group it is. Absolute laws are what keeps freedoms available to people today. That's why we have a jury,
I do hope this guy gets what's coming to him though, and like I said, there are ALWAYS loopholes. Anonymous could always claim insanity :-) LOL. They shouldn't have to (from a heartfelt standpoint), but the legal system is there for a reason. It's a rulebook we all must play by to make society fair for everyone (even for the bad guys).

[Rasa1111]

Well said my friend. ;)
I cannot disagree.

This has me smiling.. lol
http://pastebin.com/YHDnL3de
:D

[Dangertux]

It's great... Save for the fact that all they did was give a head start for anyone who wanted to run. The information they provided was neither conclusive nor damning.

Safe bet that any hopes of convicting any of the individuals involved were dashed against the rocks of that thing I like to call reality. Why? Simple, this stuff will now completely be inadmissable in any half aware court. When pondering if you can you should really decide first if you should.

Sorry, but this is dumb.

[F.G.]

in general i've always found the idea of unaccountable nameless pressure groups quite sinister/worrying (eg brownshirts, or kkk).

however this is not only some really really really great work, its also evidence that a relatively small, non-government, unregulated groups can do this kind of thing and relying on larger structures to be effective may often not work. (go anarchism, viva Zapata!).

[rasmus91]

I think it's great if they identify the users. and shut down this kind of thing...

This is what hackers should use their "superpowers" for ;)

[Redblade20XX]

This is actually pretty good for anon. Even though there is no "known" legal action being taken, at least they are give a scare to those pedos making them think twice about their actions! =D>

- Red

[F.G.]

This is actually pretty good for anon. Even though there is no "known" legal action being taken, at least they are give a scare to those pedos making them think twice about their actions! =D>

- Red

I agree. assuming that most of the people (peados) involved were inactive consumers, stopping the consumer driven market (and therefore the harm come to the kids) is actually far more important that catching the consumers (not that this wouldn't be preferable too).

i know that this is not TOR's fault, but i feel like i should stop using it, and use other means in internet restricted countries. I really don't like the idea of that stuff bouncing off my computer (or alternatively using TOR in a completely selfish way).

[urukrama]

The BBC writes (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15428203):


Christian Sjoberg, boss of image analysis firm NetClean which helps police forces categorise images of abuse, said while removing images was laudable, hackers should think carefully about what they have done.

"It could be dangerous," he said, "because if its a big host the police will definitely know about it."

"If you think of these images as evidence of a crime that's published on the internet then the picture gets a bit more complicated," he said.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at security firm Sophos, said the attacks were misguided.

"Take-downs of illegal websites and sharing networks should be done by the authorities, not net vigilantes," he said.

The attacks could have put an existing investigation at risk, stopped the police from gathering evidence they need to prosecute, or made it difficult to argue that evidence has not been corrupted, said Mr Cluley.

"The Anonymous hackers may feel they have done the right thing, but they may actually have inadvertently put more children at risk through their actions," he said.

[Ji Ruo]

My main concern with this is that they could be interfering with investigations that have a chance of actually prosecuting the people running these services. Restocking a file server is not hard for these people, it will all be backed up in multiple places somewhere else.

Anonymous are going after a popular target, maybe the most popular one. But I think at heart they will just go after anyone they can and it is all for the thrill and excitement. Noble causes are justifications espoused during and after the act. Whatever you may think of businesses and other organisations that they have gone after before, they were all operating legally and were operating as part of a (more often than not) just society. I have never seen an organisation - business, government or otherwise - that was not flawed, but there are few I have seen that are as flawed as anonymous. Beware the rule of the revolutionary.

[Docaltmed]

It's great... Save for the fact that all they did was give a head start for anyone who wanted to run. The information they provided was neither conclusive nor damning.

Safe bet that any hopes of convicting any of the individuals involved were dashed against the rocks of that thing I like to call reality. Why? Simple, this stuff will now completely be inadmissable in any half aware court. When pondering if you can you should really decide first if you should.

Sorry, but this is dumb.

Not so. The government did not obtain any information illegally; this was done by private citizens.

If, for example, I uncover a stash of cp while robbing someone's house, and then go to the police and say, "look what I've found," the police are free to obtain the proper warrants and seize evidence legally. This is not a fruit of the poison tree situation because I (or Anon) are not agents of the government.

[forrestcupp]

It's great... Save for the fact that all they did was give a head start for anyone who wanted to run.


My main concern with this is that they could be interfering with investigations that have a chance of actually prosecuting the people running these services.

Those were my thoughts, too. A web site is not the bad guy. The people involved with taking the pictures are the bad guys. If they take down a web site, will that make it harder to catch the guys behind the web site? They'll still be out there abducting kids and taking pictures.

On the other hand, taking down a web site removes motivation for other people, possibly stopping the spread of these types of actions. I just don't know which side weighs heavier.

[ki4jgt]

I agree. assuming that most of the people (peados) involved were inactive consumers, stopping the consumer driven market (and therefore the harm come to the kids) is actually far more important that catching the consumers (not that this wouldn't be preferable too).

i know that this is not TOR's fault, but i feel like i should stop using it, and use other means in internet restricted countries. I really don't like the idea of that stuff bouncing off my computer (or alternatively using TOR in a completely selfish way).

Don't stop using TOR. It still offers positives to the society. I had a friend who was using the hidden service for rape victim support for a number of years (it allowed people to heal knowing that no one knew who they were). It's never pretty when people violate systems which have been setup for our good, but that doesn't mean we need to demand those systems be shut down when they're misused. Tor has a lot of potential and as the old adage goes, "Those who sacrifice freedom for security, shall have none and deserve neither."

[aeiah]

i think the criticisms of this action are correct. the proper thing to do would be to notify the authorities so they can monitor and track offenders. they may have taken down websites, but no one who used those websites will be prosecuted now.

[3rdalbum]

While the intentions were laudable, I think taking down a site doesn't help.

The Police probably had some people watching that site, gathering evidence and getting ready to make arrests. If you take down a site or let the pedophiles know that they're being observed, they scuttle off and take their filth further underground and try to be more careful next time.

I'd rather child porn be easy to share and easy for the authorities to catch the culprits, than be not so easy to share but nearly impossible for any prosecutions to take place. With every site destroyed, it gets difficult for authorities to find the people who should be prosecuted.

So yes, this was a very non-Anonymous thing to do (I mean this in a positive way), but I'd rather see the few proficient Anonymous people trying to hack the pedophiles to help the Police gain information that might help them unmask the criminals.

[Dangertux]

Not so. The government did not obtain any information illegally; this was done by private citizens.

If, for example, I uncover a stash of cp while robbing someone's house, and then go to the police and say, "look what I've found," the police are free to obtain the proper warrants and seize evidence legally. This is not a fruit of the poison tree situation because I (or Anon) are not agents of the government.

You may be correct, I'm not an expert in legal matters and don't hold myself out to be.

However, what I can tell you, is that it is EXTREMELY easy to destroy data. So even if the proper authorities obtained a warrant to seize the machines in question. What is to say there would be anything left to seize?

I don't think Anons actions did anything but give the individuals in question an advantage. Not to say that Anon couldn't have done things differently and taken that same advantage away. However, the spotlight seeking mentality of the average cracker group somewhat prevents them from doing this.


Again, I think this was just another lame attempt to stay in the spotlight by anon, don't get me wrong child pornographers can rot in hell. But still, there was probably a better way this could have been handled.

[Paqman]

On the face of it, this seems like a good thing, but various law enforcement agencies have come out saying that this will have completely ruined any ongoing investigations that could have actually led to arrests and putting these people away. If that's the case then it would have to go down as a well-meaning, but ultimately incredibly foolish act.

Anonymous is a mob, and acts about as stupidly as most mobs do. Given how short-sighted a lot of their attacks are I'm never surprised to hear just how young a lot of the ringleaders are when they get caught. The whole thing smacks of the idealism, need for rebellion and poor judgement of youth.

[Thewhistlingwind]

It's great... Save for the fact that all they did was give a head start for anyone who wanted to run. The information they provided was neither conclusive nor damning.

Safe bet that any hopes of convicting any of the individuals involved were dashed against the rocks of that thing I like to call reality. Why? Simple, this stuff will now completely be inadmissable in any half aware court. When pondering if you can you should really decide first if you should.

Sorry, but this is dumb.

I was praising the actual taking down of the servers. Publishing any data was dumb.

For two reasons:

1. INADMISSIBLE IN COURT comes to mind here.

2. They could have put ANYONES names in there. So I (And much more importantly, the relevant authorities.) essentially have to ignore that list because, the crackers could have contaminated it.

[drs305]

Under review.

I do appreciate the tone of the posts so far, by the way.



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[F.G.]

so, is this re-opened??

[Rasa1111]

I think I may hold a record for the amount of "threads closed for review". lol
Glad it's open again though.

You guys make good points.
But it also kind of sounds rather 'typical' for L.E. to say something like that.
" well they could have interfered with our own ivestigations(that we're probably not even doing), and they could have just made it worse and harmed more children"!
Riight. Of course.
I have family who are judges and cops, so im not against the law or law enforcement..
Please don't think that.
it's just the system that controls it all, that i know far too much about for my own good. lol

[Pithikos]

Anon? The ones divided by zero? ](*,)

As some suggested they are mostly youngsters after some thrill. I find many clips they made way too cheesy! I mean what's up with the 'scary' clips and Sam's(from Microsoft) voice?

As about the thing they did, it doesn't change my opinion about them. What would really make me happy would be to see them do something to Fox News. Catching pedophiles is not that hard and many police investigators are doing it already.

[drs305]

Points made. Thread Closed. Thank you for participating.