On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 5:57 PM, Alfredo Molinas
<alfredo.molinas@yale.edu> wrote:
Hi Barrett,
As you will have probably seen already, Oxblood gave me your email address. I am a senior at Yale writing my thesis on Anonymous, and I was wondering if I could get your thoughts on a few things. Please excuse the informal barrage of questions.
- I was wondering what you personally see your role to be within Anonymous. You have followers, you have haters, and you have a role that some people have bestowed upon you. What do you perceive it to be yourself and what do you think the challen
My role in Anonymous is unusual insomuch as that I was involved in the culture from 2006 on in various capacities and at some point began writing about it in my capacity as a journalist while also still participating to some degree. As my name and career carries with it certain accumulated assets that come in handy, I join the Anonops server under my own name when OpTunisia began, realizing that the effort needed to go well beyond DDOS. I was approached by various reporters after having written about the operation on Daily Kos, as well as after I launched our legal effort by bringing in some pro bono lawyers I was able to procure through my contacts in the activism world. I also spent a lot of time bothering journalists to get them to cover the demonstrations. I was also involved in the HBGary operation in a couple of capacities, most notably by recording a conversation with Aaron Barr which I thereafter ran in an op-ed I did for The Guardian. As such, many reporters began to consider me a spokesperson, strategist, operative, and theorist. Of course, the majority of those who identify with Anonymous don't know the extent of my involvement and thus see me as simply attempting take credit and seize some sort of formal leadership position within the movement. This can cause problems when I try to recruit for operations such as Metal Gear, but there are enough people who know what I do and how I actually portray myself such that I'm able to prompt sufficient human resources towards some end or another.
- Similarly, Anonymous seems to be in flux and changing towards something that is more "socially acceptable." Is this a good thing in the first place? Perhaps we need someone who is constantly challenging the status quo... Regardless, what changes are you seeing, what changes (if any) are you hoping for, and what role (if any) do you see yourself playing?
Ever since the Hal Turner raid, there has been a notable fissure between those who want Anon to remain a nihilist and amoral force and those who have working to turn it into an ethical one. Gregg Housh did quite a bit for us moralfags by directing Chanology's activities and messaging both overtly and via covert manipulation from the fabled #marblecake channel. Since then, the moralfags have rightfully seized control of much of the apparatus and messaging. Ever since the press began coming to me, I've been able to assist with that trend. I think we moralfags still have the momentum and the capabilities; the trolls tend to be emotionally weak and lazy, which allows us to beat them back when necessary. Attempts to raid both Housh and myself by /b/ and other parties have been relegated to a few phone calls and e-mails from people who seem not to realize that both of us are experienced trolls ourselves who are happy to, say, dox them back, or to drop their phone numbers into one of the chans and say that they belong to one of us. Of course, it's not like they'll get many calls, either; our detractors tend to be giant pussies.
- Also related, what are your thoughts on the rise of Anonymiss? What effect do you think that will have on the rest of Anonymous and what challenges do you see?
I do think it will help to prompt more females to commit themselves further to activism. Emma Allen and others have done quite a bit to help organize women, particularly in the Arab world, and have been successful in prompting them to persuade others in turn to dedicate some of their time to promoting the liberty of others.
- Finally, I was wondering if you could tell me something about methods and strategies. What are your thoughts on the use of DDoS attacks in general, and do you think that the pro-Wikileaks attacks, even though they arguably failed, succeeded in bringing positive media attention to the issue? Do you think DDoS can play a positive role in protest/hacktivism in the future or should future anons shy away from that altogether?
DDOS will always have its place in our arsenal, particularly because a successful attack gives us a chance to explain why we're attacking to begin with, and thus we are able to better bring attention to the conduct of our targets. I do thing the attacks on Visa et all brought a great deal of attention to their cynical decision to prevent customers from donating to Wikileaks.
Good luck with your thesis and let me know if you have any further questions.
Thanks for any help you can give me on this, Barrett.
Kindly yours,
Alfredo Molinas
Yale University '11