Do You Agree That This Is A Good Idea?

[sp1814]

I work in IT, so hackers are my natural enemy - but this just seems like a *** great idea:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/paris-attacks-anonymous-vows-to-avenge-charlie-hebdo-shootings-with-cyberattacks-on-islamist-websites-9968813.html

What are your thoughts?

Have removed a swearyish bit :-) auntie xxx

[ChillDoubt]

It'd certainly be more welcome than taking down XBox Live/PS.
Still don't know what sort of a kick they got out of that, one can only guess they're dealing with microscopic penis size.

[woofgang]

I guess it will keep them out of mischief.

[jim360]

I thought that the guys who took down Xbox live recently were a different hacker group? There's rather too many of them.

Well, if Anonymous want to do that so be it, but it's not exactly going to make that much difference. Just annoy Islamists for a while.

[ChillDoubt]

Yeah, they were a different group jim(Lizard Gang or similar?), I was just tarring all hackers with the same brush, unless of course they're going to do something really worthwhile for once.
This seems like it could be it.

[tamborine]

Seems good. How did the reported vid of the jewish terrorist get on the net after he had been killed ?

[venator]

Many hackers do it for fun, just to show how clever they are, and what poor systems people use.

If they can attack extremist websites of any sort, they would be doing something useful?

[factor-fiction]

The face on sp1814's link looks to be the same as the longstanding avatar of this ABer
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/members/ukanonymous/

[venator]

If the hackers could put unbiassed information on the extremist websites, enabling the brainwashed young people to see how they are being manipulated, would this not be a good thing?

[sp1814]

venator

The problem with that idea is that they would have to be able to write in Arabic.

There are some translation software packages out there, but I suspect translating into Arabic might be a bit tricky.

[sp1814]

Joeschmoe

Actually, hackers generally try to break into organisations and release information to show how 'clever' they are.

Hackers don't empty bank accounts because what they are after is information, not money.

If anyone is going to be emptying your bank account, it's more likely to be via telephone or email scams where you are tricked into giving away personal details together with your card's PIN.

[ludwig]

Yes. It's time they did something useful rather than just pissing about disrupting innocent people's lives. Good luck to them.

[jim360]

Google translate doesn't seem too bad on Arabic -- or at least, translating something from English to Arabic and back seems to give you as near as dammit to what you started with.

[jim360]

Although then again I just discovered that this was on not-so-random English after all, and if you feed through something original then you get gibberish back. Never mind.

[Gromit]

Not really. That's just Cyber vigilanteism.

The hackers are self oppointed, often criminal. They will be artibter of the legitimacy of these websites. They will be judge, jury and executioner. Personally, I would prefer someone with more integrity to police the internet. Someone who are accountable and bear scrutiny.

We should target fanatical websites, but GCHQ or the Security Services should do it, not a bunch of dodgy geeks.

[ludwig]

They're going to keep on doing that stuff anyway though gromit. If they've had some kind of revelation that means they'll focus on terrorist organisations in future, that can't be a bad thing.

[venator]

Radicalisation victims work in a vacuum of Koranic misquotes and propoganda. Are there no Muslims prepared to involve themselves in anti-radicalisation who can translate or provide the other side of the argument?

[jno]

what Joeshmoe and Gromit said. One week they're attacking Paypal and Sony adn they're our enemies. Next week, hey, they're on our side! They're attacking terrorists! Next week, who knows?

It's like one year we're on the same side as Saddam or Assad, then they're our enemies, then friends again...