Anonymous continues the work of LulzSec, proving they actually didn’t disband

M. Ruppert, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Regardless of what you think about the illegal immigration laws in Arizona, you must take notice of the fact that the group known as Lulz Security or LulzSec has targeted the state more heavily than any previous target.  You might also notice that even though LulzSec allegedly disbanded several days ago, their attacks on government cyber-infrastructure has continued unabated.

Sure, now they are operating under the banner of Anonymous (the same group that they emerged out of), but their activities have not changed a bit. They have continued their “Operation Anti-Sec” unabated, despite the clear warnings that these attacks will be used to justify a draconian crackdown on the Internet freedoms we have all grown to enjoy.

You wouldn’t be out of line to wonder what, if anything, this group of so-called “hacktivists” is trying to accomplish by giving the government perfect reasons to destroy our rights. The RIAA is already using the Anonymous/LulzSec attacks as a justification for the China-style PROTECT IP act. Literally no positive progress has been seen as a result of these breaches of government security, other than a few “lulz” for immature hackers who get their kicks from ruining the reputations of well-meaning cybersecurity professionals while giving corrupt Washington bureaucrats a laundry list of reasons to clamp-down on the Internet.

One thing that most people do not realize who are not involved in the IT industry, which includes myself, is that these breaches do not only serve as viable reasons to exert governmental control over the Internet. As you will learn if you watch the unreleased documentary Hackers Wanted (which, unfortunately, was removed from YouTube and is only now available via Torrent which I do not advocate in any way) these attacks also serve to humiliate and destroy the careers of those who are charged with securing these networks.

Knowing all of the negative consequences of these attacks, one would have to be an extremely childish individual to carry these breaches out just “for the lulz.” Sure, maybe they are just imbecilic, immature, inutile teenagers who missed the excitement of egging houses with their friends on Halloween and thus have resorted to Internet vandalism.

However, as I have pointed out time and time again, these attacks serve the exact same purposes regardless of the intentions of the groups carrying them out. Even if they are just teenage cyberspace vandals, the fruits of their labors are identical to what a government-controlled or sponsored red team/red cell would work towards.

Since the mainstream media loves to deride this notion and point towards an alleged IRC log as irrefutable evidence, I have no problem accepting this conjecture and moving on, for argument’s sake.

As I have repeated so many times since LulzSec’s activity started making headlines in the mainstream corporate-controlled media, it really does not matter if they are actually involved with any government agencies. Thus, we can toss this to the side and continue to analyze recent events.

The mainstream media never fails to amaze me with their incredible ignorance, even with my expectations as low as they are. For instance, in a recent MSNBC article, Anonymous was described as, “a loose collective of hackers.” That is nothing short of completely false.

Anonymous, as it is now, evolved out of the popular website 4Chan and the many other “Chan” sites which sprung up out of this popularity. Their activities were not relegated solely to hacking, and anyone with any memory whatsoever can verify this. The writer of the MSNBC piece, and their hilariously incompetent editorial staff must have missed the large-scale protests staged by Anonymous against the Church of Scientolgy. Of course these live protests have nothing to do with hacking, but I guess that distinction and the few minutes of research that would be required to elaborate on this fact are beyond the capabilities of MSNBC.

Not to heap all of the blame on this one mainstream publication, the Christian Science Monitor characterized them the exact same way.

Just as is the case in Libya, the corporate mainstream media acts as if this issue is cut-and-dried, when in reality it is far from it. Anonymous is not just a collective of hackers, and all of Libya does not want Qaddafi out of power. Just like Libya, the gigantic and hardly cohesive group known as Anonymous is not as easily characterized as the mainstream media would like you to believe.

The group, just like all groups throughout history, have had inner-conflicts, splits, and sects which work towards different ends. To call LulzSec and their Anonymous hacker allies representatives of the entirety of Anonymous is nothing short of ignorant. This is just like the conflation of militant Islamic extremism with Islam as a whole. This is also the exact same tactic used to lump every single person who questions the government and holds anti-government sentiments with criminals who just happen to dub themselves “sovereign citizens.”

The most recent attack on government cyber-infrastructure at the hands of LulzSec/Anonymous has garnered nothing more than allegedly racist e-mails and more support for China-style Internet control.

So what is the point? I can’t be sure, I’d like to hear your thoughts in the comments!