Re: Anonymous and Tunisia

There exists a reasonable tendency to judge from the past what is possible in the present. This becomes less reasonable to the extent that the environment changes. It is a useful thing, then, to ask every once in a while if the environment has recently gone through any particular severe changes and thereby expanded our options. Over the last twenty years, for instance, the terminology has changed to such a degree that many of todays essential discussions would be entirely incomprehensible to anyone living two decades ago. Never in history has this been so true as it is now, at the onset of the communications age. As the environment has changed, some have already began to take the new options, and more will do so soon. It is time for the rest of the world to begin to understand why.

When a release by Wikileaks to the effect that the government was even more specifically corrupt and horrid than previously realized prompted Tunisians to step up active dissent and take to the streets in huge numbers for the first time, a loose network of participants within the international Anonymous protest movement attacked non-essential government websites (those not providing direct services to Tunisians) at the prompting of our Tunisian contacts; several such sites were replaced with a message of support to the Tunisian people, with the others merely being pushed offline by means of a DDOS attack involving thousands of computer users who request large amounts of data from a website at once in order to overwhelm it. Other assistance programs have begun to follow in the days since President Ben Ali fled the nation that reviled him, with Anonymous and other parties working with Tunisians both in-country and abroad to provide the nations people with the tools and informational resources they need to begin building up new, reasonable political institutions capable of ensuring a freer civic life. Our Guide to Protecting the Tunisian Revolution series - a collaboration between hundreds of veterans of traditional revolutionary movements as well as practitioners of the new activism - has been disseminated both online and in printed copies; aside from tips on safety during confrontation and the like, these also explain how to establish secure yet accessible networks and communications for Tunisians as well as instructions on establishing neighborhood syndicates capable of uniting in common cause. Already, such organizations are now being established across Tunisia, just as they will be established elsewhere as this movement proceeds.

Anonymous is merely a means by which people across the globe can assist in the hard work being performed by the Tunisian people, who have long taken issue with their government but first began protesting in earnest last month when a fruit vendor set himself on fire in response to police cruelty. The Anonymous movement itself grew out of message boards frequented mostly by young people with an interest in internet culture in general and Japanese media in particular; in 2005, participants began attacking other internet venues as a sort of sport, and in the process honed their skills in a way that also proved useful in informational warfare. In 2007 some users proposed that the Church of Scientology be exposed for its unethical and sometimes violent conduct, sparking a coordinated global protest movement that differed from anything else seen and which still continues today; the Australian government was later attacked for introducing new internet censorship laws, and in the meantime those within Anonymous who see the subculture as a potential force for justice have launched other efforts while also building new strategies and recruiting individuals from across the globe, some of whom hold significant positions in media, industry, and the sciences.

In the meantime, there are obstacles to be overcome. Those within the Tunisian government who seek to deny liberty to their people are easy enough to deal with; the greatest threat to revolution comes not from any state but rather from those who decry such revolutions without understanding them. In this case, the idea that a loose network of people with shared values and varying skill sets can provide substantial help to a population abroad is seen as quixotic or even unseemly by many of those who have failed to understand the last ten years, as well as those whose first instinct is to attack a popular revolt rather than assist it. Elsewhere, a number of American pundits have decided to criticize the revolution as possibly destabilizing the region; many of these once demanded the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and greeted every Arab revolt as the work of President Bush but now see nothing for themselves in the cause of Arab liberty. Some have even portrayed the movement as the work of radical Islamists; most cannot find Tunisia on a map. Suffice to say that the results of our efforts are already on display and will become more evident as Tunisians use our tools and resources to achieve their greatest triumph. Those who wish to assist and are competent to do so can find us easily enough; the Tunisians had little trouble in doing so.

Although we have made great progress in convincing individuals from across the world to join this effort and others (such as the just-commenced operation for Algeria), more must be done before the movement takes the next step towards a worldwide network capable of perpetual engagement against those who are comfortable with tyranny. Whatever effort is required, such a goal is not only possible, but rather unambitious. There is a reason, after all, that those of us who have seen the movement up close have dedicated our lives to what is stands for and have even violated the modern Western taboo of believing in something. I have been working with and covering Anonymous for about six years now, for instance; looking back at my writings, I have found that my predictions, while always enthusiastic, have nonetheless turned out to have been conservative. Today I today predict that Anonymous and entities like it will become far more significant over the next few years, and this will no doubt turn out to be just as much of an understatement as anything else that has been written on the subject. The fact is that the technological infrastructure that allows these things has only been in place for a few years, but such phenomena as Wikileaks and Anonymous have already appeared, expanded, and even come into play on the geopolitical scene; others have come about since. This is the future, whether one approves or not, and the failure on the part of governments and media alike to understand and contend with the rapid change now afoot ought to remind everyone concerned why it is that this movement is necessary in the first place.

On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 3:20 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:

We have resumed hacking Tunisian sites. http://www.pm.gov.tn/

On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 4:09 AM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:

To your other e-mail:

On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 4:08 AM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:

Naz-

I have added several additional sentences and expanded others in order to better address the subjects you mentioned; let me know if I should add anything else as well. Here it is:

There exists a reasonable tendency to judge from the past what is possible in the present. This becomes less reasonable to the extent that the environment changes. It is a useful thing, then, to ask every once in a while if the environment has recently gone through any particular severe changes and thereby expanded our options. Over the last twenty years, for instance, the terminology has changed to such a degree that many of todays essential discussions would be entirely incomprehensible to anyone living two decades ago. Never in history has this been so true as it is now, at the onset of the communications age. As the environment has changed, some have already began to take the new options, and more will do so soon. It is time for the rest of the world to begin to understand why.

When a release by Wikileaks to the effect that the government was even more specifically corrupt and horrid than previously realized prompted Tunisians to step up active dissent and take to the streets in huge numbers for the first time, a loose network of participants within the international Anonymous protest movement attacked non-essential government websites (those not providing direct services to Tunisians) at the prompting of our Tunisian contacts; one such site was replaced with a message of support to the Tunisian people, with the others merely being pushed offline by means of a DDOS attack involving thousands of computer users who request large amounts of data from a website at once in order to overwhelm it. Other assistance programs have begun to follow in the days since President Ben Ali fled the nation that reviled him, with Anonymous and other parties working with Tunisians both in-country and abroad to provide the nations people with the tools and informational resources they need to begin building up new, reasoned political institutions capable of ensuring a freer civic life. Our Guide to Protecting the Tunisian Revolution series - a collaboration between hundreds of veterans of traditional revolutionary movements as well as practitioners of the new activism - has been disseminated both online and in printed copies; aside from tips on safety during confrontation and the like, these also explain how to establish secure yet accessible networks and communications for Tunisians as well as instructions on establishing neighborhood syndicates capable of uniting to promote a better civic life for the nation as a whole. Already, such organizations are now being established across Tunisia, just as they will be established elsewhere as this movement proceeds.

Anonymous is merely a means by which people across the globe can assist in the hard work being performed by the Tunisian people, who have long taken issue with their government but first began protesting in earnest last month when a fruit vendor set himself on fire in response to police cruelty. The Anonymous movement grew out of message boards frequented mostly towards young people with an interest in internet culture in general and Japanese media in particular; in 2005, participants began attacking other internet venues as a sort of sport, and in the process honed their skills in a way that also proved useful in informational warfare. In 2007 some users proposed that the Church of Scientology be exposed for its unethical and sometimes violent conduct, sparking a coordinated global protest movement that differed from anything else seen and which still continues today; the Australian government was later attacked for introducing new internet censorship laws, and in the meantime those within Anonymous who see the subculture as a potential force for justice have launched other efforts while also building new strategies and recruiting individuals from across the globe, some of whom hold significant positions in media, industry, and the sciences.

In the meantime, there are obstacles to be overcome. Those within the Tunisian government who seek to deny liberty to their people are easy enough to deal with; the greatest threat to revolution comes not from any state but rather from those who decry it without understanding it. In this case, the idea that a loose network of people with shared values and varying skill sets can provide substantial help to a population abroad is seen as quixotic or even unseemly by many of those who have failed to understand the last ten years, as well as those whose first instinct is to attack a popular revolt rather than assist it. Elsewhere, a number of American pundits have decided to criticize the revolution as possibly destabilizing the region; many of these once demanded the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and greeted every Arab revolt as the work of President Bush but now see nothing for themselves in the cause of Arab liberty. Some have even portrayed the movement as the work of radical Islamists; most cannot find Tunisia on a map. I will happily debate any and all of them, and have done so already with amusing results. Suffice to say that the results of our efforts are already on display and will become more evident as Tunisians use our tools and resources to achieve their greatest triumph. Those who wish to assist and are competent to do so can find us easily enough; the Tunisians had little trouble in doing so.

Although we have made great progress in convincing individuals from across the world to join this effort, more must be done before the movement takes the next step towards a worldwide network capable of perpetual engagement against those who are comfortable with tyranny. Whatever effort is required, such a goal is not only possible, but rather unambitious. There is a reason, after all, that those of us who have seen the movement up close have dedicated our lives to what is stands for and have even violated the modern Western taboo of believing in something. I have been working with and covering Anonymous for about six years now, for instance; looking back at my writings, I have found that my predictions, while always enthusiastic, have nonetheless turned out to have been conservative. Today I today predict that Anonymous and entities like it will become far more significant over the next few years, and this will no doubt turn out to be just as much of an understatement as anything else that has been written on the subject. The fact is that the technological infrastructure that allows these things has only been in place for a few years, but such phenomena as Wikileaks and Anonymous have already appeared, expanded, and even come into play on the geopolitical scene; others have come about since. This is the future, whether one approves or not, and the failure on the part of governments and media alike to understand and contend with the rapid change now afoot ought to remind everyone concerned why it is that this movement is necessary in the first place.

On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 12:33 AM, barri2009 <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:

Absolutely, I wasn't sure how long it could be. I will add that information in a new version I'll send to you when I get home. Thanks.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
From: Naz Khan <nyk284@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2011 10:34:53 +0300
To: Barrett Brown<barriticus@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Anonymous and Tunisia

Dear Barrett,

Could you add few more specifics, about how Anon. co-ordinated its efforts, and what triggered the movement to target Ben Ali, maybe something about its history from the attacks on the Church of Scientology, then maybe something about where it might evolve to...

cheers,

Naz
On Jan 20, 2011, at 1:03 AM, Barrett Brown wrote:

Nasir:

Here is the op-ed. Sorry for the delay, we've been busy as things expand. I can add additional info to this if you'd like or rewrite parts if necessary, let me know. I can also tell you, privately for now, that Algeria will likely be next.

There exists a reasonable tendency to judge from the past what is possible in the present. This becomes less reasonable to the extent that the environment changes. It is a useful thing, then, to ask every once in a while if the environment has recently gone through any particular severe changes and thereby expanded our options. Over the last twenty years, for instance, the terminology has changed to such a degree that many of todays essential discussions would be entirely incomprehensible to anyone living two decades ago. Never in history has this been so true as it is now, at the onset of the communications age. As the environment has changed, some have already began to take the new options, and more will do so soon. It is time for the rest of the world to begin to understand why.

When a release by Wikileaks to the effect that the government was even more specifically corrupt and horrid than previously realized prompted Tunisians to step up active dissent and take to the streets in huge numbers for the first time, a loose network of participants within the international Anonymous protest movement attacked non-essential government websites (those not providing direct services to Tunisians) at the prompting of our Tunisian contacts; one such site was replaced with a message of support to the Tunisian people, with the others merely being pushed offline by means of a DDOS attack involving thousands of computer users who request large amounts of data from a website at once in order to overwhelm it. Other assistance programs have begun to follow in the days since President Ben Ali fled the nation that reviled him, with Anonymous and other parties working with Tunisians both in-country and abroad to provide the nations people with the tools and informational resources they need to begin building up new, reasoned political institutions capable of ensuring a freer civic life. Our Guide to Protecting the Tunisian Revolution series - a collaboration between hundreds of veterans of traditional revolutionary movements as well as practitioners of the new activism - has been disseminated both online and in printed copies; aside from tips on safety during confrontation and the like, these also explain how to establish secure yet accessible networks and communications for Tunisians as well as instructions on establishing neighborhood syndicates capable of uniting to promote a better civic life for the nation as a whole. Already, such organizations are now being established across Tunisia, just as they will be established elsewhere as this movement proceeds.

In the meantime, there are obstacles to be overcome. Those within the Tunisian government who seek to deny liberty to their people are easy enough to deal with; the greatest threat to revolution comes from those who decry it without understanding it. In this case, the idea that a loose network of people with shared values and varying skill sets can provide substantial help to a population abroad is seen as quixotic or even unseemly by many of those who have failed to understand the last ten years, as well as those whose first instinct is to attack a popular revolt rather than assist it. Elsewhere, a number of American pundits have decided to criticize the revolution as possibly destabilizing the region; many of these once demanded the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and greeted every Arab revolt as the work of President Bush but now see nothing for themselves in the cause of Arab liberty. Some have even portrayed the movement as the work of radical Islamists; most cannot find Tunisia on a map. I will happily debate any and all of them, and have done so already with amusing results. Suffice to say that the results of our efforts are already on display and will become more evident as Tunisians use our tools and resources to achieve their greatest triumph. Those who wish to assist and are competent to do so can find us easily enough; the Tunisians had little trouble in doing so.

Although we have made great progress in convincing individuals from across the world to join this effort, more must be done before the movement takes the next step towards a worldwide network capable of perpetual engagement against those who are comfortable with tyranny. Whatever effort is required, such a goal is not only possible, but rather unambitious. Those of us who have seen the movement up close have dedicated our lives to it for a reason. I have been working with and covering Anonymous for about six years now, for instance; looking back at my writings, I have found that my predictions, while always enthusiastic, have nonetheless turned out to have been conservative.

The fact is that the technological infrastructure that allows these things has only been in place for a few years, but such phenomena as Wikileaks and Anonymous have already appeared, expanded, and even come into play on the geopolitical scene; others have come about since. This is the future, whether one approves or not, and the failure on the part of governments and media alike to understand and contend with the rapid change now afoot ought to remind everyone concerned why it is that this movement is necessary in the first place.

On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 12:53 AM, Nasir Khan <nyk284@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Barrett,

Send it to both my AJ and Gmail accounts - a large portion of my AJ emails got to junk mail and i tend to see them 24 hours later!

cheers,

Naz

On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 10:39 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
Okay, I'll get this written up for you soon. Thanks, Naz.

On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 10:39 PM, Naz Khan <nyk284@gmail.com> wrote:

Barrett,

In short, yes it does interest me a lot! Go for it.

Naz

On Jan 18, 2011, at 2:57 AM, Barrett Brown wrote:

> Nasir-
>
> This is Barrett Brown; I've been speaking to your correspondent Yasmine on behalf of the faction of Anonymous she's been writing about due to its involvement in Wikileaks and the Tunisia revolt, and she mentioned that you might be interested in an op-ed. I don't know how much background you have already, but to sum up, Anonymous took down the websites for Mastercard and Paypal after they and other firms gave in to U.S. pressure to deny payments to Wikileaks and have also been running scattered information campaigns in an effort to promote the major stories that the U.S. media have ignored, such as Shell's infiltration of Nigeria. More recently, after Wikileaks released a specific account of corruption on the part of their government and Tunisians began protests, we took down all non-essential government websites (those not providing a service to citizens) by a DDOS attack and replaced one with a message of support to the Tunisian people. After Ben-Ali departed we shifted focus to a informational campaign intended to provide Tunisians with the latest communicational tools and otherwise assist them in building secure, network-based civic organizations capable of organizing educated members of the population and ensuring that they will be able to collectively act in such a way as to counter the corruption of their nation's leaders and establish a freer government. To this end, we've been distributing guides written by Anonymous and veterans of people's revolutions that I've brought in for the purpose, and we distribute these through our Tunisian contacts and various media. Incidentally, we do not consider this an ambitious goal in the context of the last ten years, which we believe to be only the beginning of a new dynamic whereby the new communication environment will foster successful people's movements across the globe. I myself have been covering Wikileaks and Anonymous for several years now and participating in the latter, and my predictions regarding their significance on the world scene have always turned out to be conservative.
>
> I'd like to write an op-ed explaining what has been going on over the past couple of weeks and why it represents an extraordinarily important dynamic that is nonetheless largely unacknowledged by the media and the public at large. As for me, I'm a former journalist and freelancer for Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Huffington Post, New York Press, Skeptical Inquirer, The Onion, and dozens of other outlets, the author of two books, and occasionally advise candidates in national races on media and communications issues. Let me know if this idea interests you.
>
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Barrett Brown
> 512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302