A group of anonymous “hacktivists” has reportedly launched “Operation Payback”—an online attack whose goal is to shut down the websites of banks and companies that have cut off business ties with Wikileaks. According to Huffington Post, the MasterCard website has been DOWN since approximately five o’clock this morning.
BBC has said that a group of hackers who are supporters of Julian Assange are taking credit for shutting down the MasterCard site. PostFinance, a Swiss bank, has confirmed that its website was attacked after it closed Assange’s bank account earlier this week.
Edited to Add:
From Huffington Post: WikiLeaks Cablegate LIVE Updates
From guardian.co.uk: PayPal admits US pressure over WikiLeaks account freeze
Sources:
– Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Buddha,
In my opinion the border between the group of people we cooperate with and those we compete with is the border between ‘us’ and ‘them’ and this will always be the case – we just need to move away from the ‘me vs. the world’ mindset towards the ‘citizen of the world’ mindset. I think that progress on this continuum is what spurs the evolution of our society (rather than the evolution of our species).
I overlooked making clear my use of “the drinking gourd” reference. It is, I understand, a song of the underground railway. The paternal grandparents of one of my near and dear relatives (who happens to be a “distinguished professor” at a college) were born as slaves in the South. Being a close relative to people born into slavery much affects someone who is autistic with seemingly uncommon sensitivities.
For anyone not familiar with the song in question (I have it on a two-record album, “The Weavers Greatest Hits,” Vanguard VSD-15/16, copyright 1971), the lyrics may be found by doing a Google search for “Follow the Drinking Gourd” and “What the Lyrics Mean”; not only does the song describe one of the underground railway routes, for those not averse to religious symbolism, another level of meaning, with respect to “the drinking gourd” is centered on the notion of “the water of eternal life.”
Knowing and understanding, as I do, that my knowledge and understanding are not more than infinitesimal and my ignorance is beyond infinite, I make no effort to diminish my ignorance.
However, methinks that I may be able to change the amount of knowledge and understanding I have through an effort of diligent learning.
That effort has taken me to obtaining and studying books, rare books and not so rare books. Among the relatively rare books I have garnered are a replica edition of the first three-volume edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, and a bunch of other books not everyone has had the chance to read. Among them, J. L. Comstock’s 1836 textbook of natural philosophy.
“Survival of the Fittest” is, to me as a biologist/bioengineer, a trivial tautology, given that it is a definition that what survives an environmental change was fit to survive the change. Alas, terrible misunderstanding led some folks to believe that survival of the fittest is a biological process (which notion I find utterly false), and that led, first (as I read the history of science) in the United States of America, and imported by “Nazi” Germany. Tautologies involve no mechanism or process that I have ever been able to find.
I have long noted that some folks deem my work, because of its oft-stark contrast with some human traditions, as plausibly “looney.” To such folks, I have a gentle reply:
“THE LOON
A lonely lake, a lonely shore,
A lone pine leaning on the moon;
All night the water-beating wings
Of a solitary loon.
With mournful wail from dusk to dawn
He gibbered at the taunting stars–
A hermit-soul gone raving mad,
And beating at his bars.”
-from “Many Many Moons: A Book of Wilderness Poems” by Lew Sarett, with an introduction by Carl Sandburg, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1920, page 33. (in the public domain)
May it be wiser than otherwise, in a society of raving madness, to be knowingly raving mad and thereby actually attuned to one’s environment?
Otteray Scribe,
Your discussion of encryption, while informative, was not quite on point – the governments/bankers/whoever don’t want to break the encryption on Mr. Assange’s ‘insurance’ – don’t get me wrong, I’m sure they’d love to get their hands on it – but first and foremost I’m sure they want to prevent anyone else from ever seeing it. To do this, they don’t need to break the encryption (which, as you point out, is virtually impossible – by the way, I thought your description of why a one-time pad is unbreakable was great) they just need to defeat the ‘dead man’s switch’ that Mr. Assange has set up to reveal the information if he doesn’t actively prevent it. I’m guessing that this is also nigh impossible hurdle to clear, but it could (theoretically) be done without breaking the encryption.
I think we’re seeing a new application of the phrase ‘knowledge is power’ emerge and that we will find that Mr. Assange is one of the most powerful people in the world…
p.s. I believe that the universe is much older than 14 billion years, but 3e51 years is still a long time…
The Nerd Rebellion!
IPA Institute for Public Acccuracy
News Release
Ex-Intelligence Officers, Others See Plusses in WikiLeaks Disclosures
December 7, 2010
“The following statement was released today, signed by Daniel Ellsberg, Frank Grevil, Katharine Gun, David MacMichael, Ray McGovern, Craig Murray, Coleen Rowley and Larry Wilkerson; all are associated with Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence.”
http://www.accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=2404
James in LA, Otteray Scribe, and Elaine M-
Thanks for the info. I feel better now. As I said Monday in reply to Eric Holder’s silly attempt to frighten the American people by saying “National security of the United States has been put at risk…”
“The security of rats and cockroaches, who like to operate in the dark, is always ‘put at risk’ when someone turns on the lights.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-moore/i-am-julian-assange_b_793583.html
James MooreAuthor, Communications Consultant Posted: December 7, 2010 11:37 PM
I Am Julian Assange
I believe that governments are out of control and citizens have a decreasing belief that they can influence decisions. WikiLeaks and the Internet are empowering individuals and groups with information. Julian Assange and Bradley Manning are the first two faces and voices in a crowd that will soon be too big to control. Their arrests and charges and even prosecution will only spawn a broader resistance against war and deception and corruption. The Internet is now the reporter. This is the way the world is. I do not want to hear that there will always be wars and spying and death. I want information to prevent them and to build peace.
I am saddened that Australia’s government is once more acting as a lapdog for American interests and is not demanding sovereign rights for one of its citizens. I am also distressed that the president of my country who ran for office promising a transparent government is trying to find a way to prosecute a foreign national, and is preventing Pfc Manning from speaking with his family. WikiLeaks has shown there is an America in civics textbooks and an America that functions differently in the real world. Adequate information might move us closer to the ideal. I no longer trust my president. I do not trust my congress. I place my trust in facts and I do not get them from most of the media. But I still want to know.
I am Julian Assange. And if you care about the truth, you are, too.
(end excerpt)
The entire posting is long, so I’ve only included the last 3 paragraphs.
James in LA,
I submit that “adapt” has a broader meaning than you suggest.
Adapt literally means “to make fit by modification”.
If you need an example, look no further than the activist hackers. They are not compromising. They are adapting.
Elaine,
No. There’s one that I’m seeing on my end that may have posted at 12:59 — it’s the same as the one to which you’re referring, but has all kinds of extraneous info tacked on at the end of the comment. It doesn’t say “waiting for moderation”…, so from my end it looks like it posted. If you’re not seeing one that posted at 12:59 time, then WordPress must have caught it. Thanks for your help… 🙂
anon nurse,
Do you want me to remove the comment you made at 1:04 pm?
James in LA,
As a Republican, I could strongly consider casting my vote for Mr. Webb; however, I could not support Ms. Pelosi or Ms. Clinton under any circumstances whatsoever.
Elaine M.,
Sorry about that comment — what a mess. Any chance you could edit it out? The last one replaces it.
Something went wrong when posting with my previous comment — I’m seeing some strange things on this end… (Sorry if others are too.)
Recent Wikileaks tweets:
WikiLeaks cables: US ‘lobbied Russia on behalf of Visa and MasterCard’ *http://is.gd/iooG9*
19 minutes ago via web .RT @DanielEllsberg “EVERY attack now made on Assange and Wikileaks was made against me and release of Pentagon Papers” http://bit.ly/eZnep8
24 minutes ago via web .STATEMENT: “We will not be gagged” #cablegate #censorship Following the detention of Wikileaks founder and (cont) http://tl.gd/7canol
about 17 hours ago via TwitLonger Beta
Also, 12/08 cables have been posted. And this, at the very bottom of the Cablegate page:
“courage is contagious ”
Indeed it is…
BIL, I would submit professional sports ought to fulfill any latent need for competition, while inspiring team-building. We do a horrible job at permitting the behavior “outside the lines,” as it were.
Regrettably, “adapt” means “compromise,” and that dog does not appear to be in a hunting mood these days. Unless, after two years of aiding abetting, you are an accomplice to war crimes, and to save your skin you deal with the devil.
Then you probably get reelected.
Webb/Pelosi ’12
Elaine M., these attacks are like lines of attrition, and the safe zones move with them. The success of this attack will only ensure the next one is more so; it is the nature of well-written software. And these people know their software.
It’s worth reflecting that hackers, by and large, just want to be left ALONE to their own doings. It has taken a great wind indeed to rouse them (given their generally adipose relationship with the universe), and this beast is just waking up.
I wouldn’t mess with it, unless one enjoyed the Two Cans and a String Era.
Brian,
I look at competition this way. Competition is part of that dangerous genetic baggage we as a species have carried over from our days on the Savannah. It served a function then, but now it is a detriment to the species as a whole. Many times I have said that the path to the future depends upon us overcoming this drive and adopting a more cooperative method of behavior. But like almost all change, there is strife involved – necessary conflict whether it be from competition or some other source. What we see now is an endgame writ large upon society. It’s the battle between those who value cooperation over competition (egalitarians) and those who value only competition (egoists). The division is literally between those who would help all of humanity and those who would help only themselves no matter the cost to all of humanity.
You’re right. Competition is a rapidly outmoded behavior that must be stopped. However, that is only a human behavior – a psychological quirk. Competition as a mechanic of evolution is another matter. That form of competition endures wherever there is life. Survival of the fittest is often mistaken and misrepresented as a poor rationale for survival of the richest based upon incomplete understanding of Darwin. It’s usually the hopelessly venal who adopt this distortion. Survival of the fittest is in fact the survival of the most adaptable. In the long run, cooperation is the more adaptive behavior with the greatest survival advantage. Many can always overwhelm one. If we as a species with extremely dangerous technologies can last through this battle between those with a social conscience and those without, the cooperative will win. The question is at what cost in blood, but avoiding the conflict is impossible.
HenMan,
The MasterCard site WAS down earlier today. I still can’t get into the site.
Sarah Palin’s website is down? Heartbreak and sorrow! Now what am I going to do all afternoon?
HenMan, the DDoS attacks are not continuous. They are targeted with the sites being taken down for several hours at a time. The site I linked to above, Panda Labs, have a running log of when the sites are down or running slow. See their graphics.
The latest to come under DDoS attack is Sarah Palin’s website. (Sob!)
HenMan, consider it a shot across the bow. It’s not the trouble from without that is the real threat. It’s the trouble from within.
And my Great and Dear Old J. Brian Harris, Ph.D., P.E., you’ve described the Rapture in exquisite detail!