July 30, 2007

Fox News Special Report: O NOES HAX0RZ!!11!

I have mixed feelings about this. I think the cyberharassment that certain sites (I'm looking at you Somethingawful) seem to encourage *is* a problem, especially when children/teenagers are the targets and it bleeds over into real life, but this is one of the most ridiculously fear mongering "the internet will get you!" pieces of 'journalism' I've ever seen. Almost a self-parody. "Destroy! Die! Attack!" /van asplodes

posted by Nickdanger 17 years ago
  • Roffle Mao! Why is all this happening to me? "Truly epic LOLZ" to be found here.
  • Oh, and this is the "secret website" that they're talking about, esp: the "invasion" forum. Not somethingawful.
  • Well Nick, you're partly right. There's several websites that spawn this stuff. (ALL LINKS NSFW) 4chan.org 7chan.org And because of the temporary nature of these websites, a wiki exists at Encyclopedia Dramatica All sites spawned from 4chan, which was indirectly spawned from SomethingAwful. From Wikipedia: "4chan was founded as a project by "moot," a member of the Something Awful forums. His website soon attracted anime fans from around the world and has grown greatly since its creation" The crazy part? Some of our favorite internet memes started there with some anonymous member's random posting. The O RLY owl, "LOLcats" et al.
  • So, they breed memes? Like swamps breed flies.
  • FUCK YOU I'M A DRAGON
  • Re Nickdanger's link above: How do we feel about posting links like this? Is this just a way for us to know more about the news story, or are we amplifying the torment and legitimizing the web site by providing it with yet another link (and a better PageRank score)? Absolutely no offense intended toward Nick, just a philosophical question. Do we affect the result by observing it?
  • My intention is to show the extent of the harassment. Like I said in my FPP, I was originally just amused by the fear-mongering in the Fox story, but a little bit of digging made me realize that there *is* a real issue here. And, frankly, I think the more people that know about this kind of thing, the less it will be tolerated. Like most bullying, it thrives on people's ignorance of its occurrence.
  • For the most part, when things like this are being broadcast on a major news network... It means that there is a money to be made. Either through pure ratings from the story or for the corporation that owns the station broadcasting the story. Follow the money trail and you'll see why this is being fed to the populace.
  • I don't think tolerating it is an issue, how do you stop an anonymous army?
  • Also, after reading the ED article, it look like the kid brought it on himself, trying to sic them all on his classmate. Most people that get raided have that in common. I've never seen a raid that didn't stop when the target gave up, or just layed low for a while. If you try to get revenge on Anonymous, he'll answer back a thousand times.
  • Dunno. But, anonymous armies have specific individuals who register domain names, specific companies that host servers. Etc. Please note, this is a "how" thought, not a "should" thought.
  • Also, after reading the ED article, it look like the kid brought it on himself, trying to sic them all on his classmate. True, but: 1) He didn't convince them. And, I suppose, didn't actually break any laws. 2) They harassed him. And his family.
  • True 'nuff, I would not want to be on the wrong end of Anonymous.
  • Why is that link advertising the SMD .. Simian Mobile Disco?
  • 4chan is a lame copy of 2ch. *full disclosure* I spent many long and lonely hours on 2ch once upon a life.
  • Alexyss Tylor is on the front page of 7chan!