Wieber wrote:
Those individuals who picket scientology wearing Guy Fawkes masks and refer to themselves as Anonymous are most likely not involved in the kind of hacker activity reported in the news. Why doesn't the news media who report on arrests of hackers show the photographs of the hackers instead of photographs of people in Guy Fawkes masks picketing scientology?
The association of that hacker activity with those wearing Guy Fawkes masks is most likely not a journalistic blunder, nor an accident. Most likely agents from scientology's office of special affairs (OSA) are behind that association.
Although Hubbard hated people involved in the news media and those in scientology share that hate, the office of special affairs has people who are in continuous contact with people in the news media in order to influence media news stories and media spin on news stories.
Most likely one of the items on scientology's program to handle Anonymous and the pickets of scientology orgs is to get Anonymous and the Guy Fawkes masks associated with criminal activity. Any criminal activity will do but computer hacker activity is especially valuable to them.
To most people computer hacking activity is a mystery and in most cases the individuals who do it and who are arrested and charged do not have their photographs used in news articles related to it. So the office of special affairs can easily fill that void with images of people wearing Guy Fawkes masks.
By the way most computer hackers most likely do not wear Guy Fawkes masks when they do computer hacking. Most likely most computer hackers do not own a Guy Fawkes mask.
Agreed! Although if you go over to whyweprotest.net and start reading some of the posts you get the impression that some of these people might be hackers. BUT based on the turn out at most of the protests, most of the people who post on wwp don't actually come to the protests. So you're right, Wieber, although there are probably some people who hack and go out with the masks, most of them probably don't. I would even argue - without any evidence whatsoever - that maybe, just maybe, if you're the kind of personality who gets his or her kicks from extensive messing with computers maybe you're not exactly a protest-in-public type.
That's not to disparage computer people, or protesters. Just a specious theory by someone who wishes she was better with computers!
(And indeed, I would find it difficult to believe anyone would wear their masks around the house -- it's kind of hard to see when wearing them, not to mention breathe!)
gumby said:Quote:
Epic? How?
re: "epic hackers" -- I meant really good with computers and the main way they have their fun is by hacking -- and that maybe they don't even just do Sony but are into things like spreading computer viruses.
So at the protests, some people think we're the ones doing the hacking. (though if we were doing that and protesting at the same time, THAT would be impressive!) Like, we're usually at home hacking but this is one of the rare times we get out for fresh air -- to bother other people.
And Wieber, you're right again, unfortunately, about Scientology trying their hardest to associate Anonymous and hackers. The following "article" from ReligiousFreedomWatch (you know, the site that demonizes Tory, Andreas, Steve Hassan, Margaret Singer, Anderson Cooper (!), Marty Rathbun and many, many others) heads off this essay with a photo of protesters in masks and then this whole opinion piece cites hacker stories over and over...
Also accompanying the story is an unintentionally funny photo of a Scientology "sanctuary" (included because the piece says something about the cult innards being defaced) which mostly highlights how pin-droppingly empty the place is...
(They also prominently feature a story about the hackers in Spain. Is the cult really super-vexed by the overwhelming crowds of Anons protesting at the orgs in Spain?!)
Quote:
“Anonymous” Hate Group Member Sentenced in Crime Against New York Scientology Church
A member of the hate group Anonymous, Mahoud Samed Almahadin, aka Matt Connor, was sentenced today in New York City Criminal Court.
New York (Vocus/PRWEB ) April 15, 2010 — A member of the hate group Anonymous, Mahoud Samed Almahadin, aka Matt Connor, was sentenced today in New York City Criminal Court in connection with a January 8, 2009, attack on the Church of Scientology of New York. (People vs. Almahadin, Mahoud; Criminal Docket 2009NY00410).
Almahadin smeared himself with a mixture of Vaseline, nail clippings and pubic hairs donated by other members of the Anonymous hate group, ran into the New York Church just off Times Square and desecrated the Church, including causing damage to Scriptural materials. Almahadin’s sentence forbids him from going near the Church of Scientology for five years. He was also sentenced to pay the damages caused by his acts and to perform substantial community service as further restitution for the crime.
Church of Scientology attorney Kendrick Moxon said of the result, “The action against Almahadin is a victory for everyone’s right to peaceably practice their religion. It is a warning to others who desecrate houses of worship and commit hate crimes. It is also the latest blow against Anonymous.” “Anonymous” is a loosely connected hate group targeting Scientologists, Jews and other minority racial and ethnic groups and organizations
Another member of Anonymous, Jacob Speregen, also charged in the same incident, will stand trial later this year.
The conviction follows the November 18, 2009, sentencing of a New Jersey man to one year and one day in federal prison on a felony conviction for his part in a cyber attack against Church of Scientology websites in January 2008. (Case No. CR 09-87-01) That attack was also carried out by Anonymous members.
Dmitriy Guzner, 19, of Verona, New Jersey, who in May 2009 pled guilty to one count of computer hacking, was sentenced for his role in the distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack against Scientology websites. A DDOS attack occurs when a large amount of malicious Internet traffic is directed at websites, overloading their capacity and making them unavailable to legitimate users.
Church websites were made unavailable to valid users for over 24 hours, with the attacks continuing for 12 days, requiring the Church to hire a computer security company to protect against the attacks and to reroute traffic. Due to the severity of the crime, Judge Joseph Greenaway in U.S. District Court in Newark sentenced Guzner to the 366-day prison term, plus two years probation following his prison term, and ordered Guzner to pay $37,500 restitution to the Church.
On October 31, another Anonymous follower, Brian Thomas Mettenbrink, 20, was indicted by a Grand Jury in the US District Court in Los Angeles, for his role in the same attack on Scientology websites, for conspiracy and “transmission of a code, information, program, or command to a protected computer.” (Case No. CR 09-01149) (The indictment states that he obtained a computer program from an Anonymous website and executed a DDOS attack from his dormitory at Iowa State University against the Church computers in Los Angeles. He is awaiting sentencing.
According to court documents, Anonymous is an underground hate group that, in addition to the cyber attack, targeted Churches of Scientology and members with death threats, bomb threats and fake anthrax mail. In addition to Scientology Churches and the Prime Minister of Australia, Anonymous has also targeted The Epilepsy Foundation, hip-hop music websites and others.
Scientology is a worldwide religious movement with more than 8,500 Churches, Missions and affiliated groups in 165 countries. The Church and its members dedicate their time and resources to numerous humanitarian programs that Scientology has become known for around the world, including combating drug abuse, immorality, illiteracy, and human rights violations.
Okay, so did they do a DNA test to see if these were really Anon pubic hairs? What self-respecting Scilon critic would waste a single pubic hair on Scientology? Most likely they were cut off a cheap wig made of curly black synthetic hair.
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). Historically unprecedented and it may take history a while to catch up to this one, if that is even possible. The media rarely ever gets anything right. I don't think they care who anonymous is or is not. They are tools, literally. 
