01132013

Orwellian methods of US cyber control: DDoS and the Greensboro sit-ins, Anonymous comment

When there is tyranny free people must fight back, when the tyrants try to take away that right, they must be removed. The United States of America is attempting to implement and exercise tyranny on the world-wide-web, this is evidenced by unproportionate fines and prison sentences for anything they deem they do not like. Cyber space should be free space not a prison planet. Anonymous commented on DDoS and the Greensboro sit-ins to the Voice of Russia.

The recent petition by supporters of Anonymous to the Obama Administration to decriminalize DDoS attacks has now received 3,649 signatures, as of time of writing.

One of my sources in Anonymous contacted me with some interesting facts that show the ridiculous over kill possessed by the US authorities. If you are not convinced that ten year felony sentences for a temporary slowdown of a location in cyber-space which then remains undamaged is over-kill perhaps these facts will change your mind.

According to my anonymous source: “The severity of the sentences the government seeks for those who have participated in denial of service protests are dangerously out of line with the harm caused.”

The source says that according to the US’ own data rapists serve on average 65 months in prison, yet the government seeks sentences of ten years, 120 months, for the nonviolent act of participating in a denial of service protest. Liking DDoS in the virtual world to denial of service in the real world is an astute argument but in reality the virtual kind is so much less tangible and in reality does not even exist in the real world that it should not even need to be compared, let alone prosecuted.

One might argue if the people do not have the right to protest and freely express themselves in cyber space, then the government which is supposed to be of the people has absolutely no business attempting to regulate it or control it.

Attempting to control the masses and information with such Orwellian methods and such an iron-hand is nothing if not complete and total tyranny on the part of the US Government and the out of control police state.

The source goes on to say: “Denial of service actions have been instrumental in the pursuit and protection of civil rights in America. Recall that the touchstone moment of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement was the Greensboro sit-in where isolated and vulnerable blacks occupied the "whites-only" lunch counter at Woolworth's.The protest spanned days, rather than the hours typical of a DDoS protest, and the Woolworth's lunch business was blocked entirely, while sales dropped by more than a third. Yet for all of this disruption, protesters were largely unmolested by the police. In fact, the police even protected a protester by arresting an angry assailant! Ultimately, Woolworth's changed their policy of segregation to end the protest, allowing blacks and whites to enjoy equal treatment.”

Comparing the Civil Rights Movement to cyber sit-ins may be a little bit of a stretch but the question here is the methodology to bring about peaceful change. Again to contrast, the Greensboro sit-ins required dozens if not hundreds of people putting their lives on the line and risking real world blowback. So logically the penalty should be more severe than doing something in cyber space. Again DDoS attacks do not damage and just slow things down for a while. So why is the US so heavy-handed on cyber activists?

Our source says: “Yet in recent times, the story does not end so happily. When Paypal, Visa, and Mastercard blocked and confiscated donations intended for Wikileaks, protesters flooded the companies' sites to demand that Wikileaks receive the same service that all other customers enjoy. So much internet traffic was generated by protesters that, effectively, all of the seats at the lunch counters of these financial companies were occupied, temporarily closing their websites. Within hours rather than weeks, the protesters dispersed peacefully and normal operations resumed for Paypal, Visa, and Mastercard.”

The US government is desperate to control the internet and terrify anyone who attempts to exercise any sort of freedom on it, just like they attempt to stifle the freedom of speech in the real world, for several reasons. The main reason being their own criminal conduct and the fact that the internet has done more to show the evil and illegality of government and corrupt officials than anything else in the history of mankind, another secondary but nonetheless important reason is the financial motivations of the corporations which not control the Fascist States of America.

The source said: “Today's powerful federal police, however, no longer exercise the restraint shown by the local police of 1960s. In the following two months, the FBI served more than 40 warrants and released the famous press statement calling for 10-year felony sentences for all involved.”

In reality DDoS attacks are a temporary headache and when addressing legitimate complaints they should not be prosecuted at all. Prosecuting personal or damaging material, launching personal cyber attacks or cracking into systems and defacing or stealing information is another topic entirely. For the out of control police state however prosecuting DDoS attacks in such a heavy handed way is just another way to make the for-profit-prison-system more profitable, terrorize anyone with a dissenting view into silence and protect the government’s corporate controllers.

Source finished with the following statement: “Anonymous stands by the example of the brave men and women of Greensboro. History shows that the bravery of protesters results in a more just society for all, and the public interest is not served by 10-year sentences for peaceful resistance.”