| Subject: Re: Anonymous and related dynamics |
| From: Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> |
| Date: 5/15/11, 00:43 |
| To: "J.J. Gould" <jjgould@theatlantic.com> |
| CC: "Madrigal, Alexis" <amadrigal@theatlantic.com> |
Barrett,
Sincere thanks for being in touch. Were certainly interested and would love to drill down a little on what you have in mind. Let me introduce you to our Tech editor, Alexis Madrigal (CCed here) hell have a few thoughts and questions for us to start with.
Chrs,
John
J.J. Gould
Deputy Editor
TheAtlantic.com
202-266-7544
jjgould@theatlantic.com
Twitter: @jj_gould
On 5/12/11 11:07 PM, "Barrett Brown" <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
Mr. Gould-
I'm a writer and author who just ended a six-month stint as de facto spokesperson and strategist for the Anonymous collective, during which time I was involved in our operations to assist North African revolutionaries, our investigation into HBGary Federal and other intelligence contractors engaged in wrongdoing, and Operation Metal Gear, a crowd-sourced investigation I announced two months ago on Russia Today as a means by which to prompt media coverage of "persona management," the practice of software-assisted "sock puppets" that was revealed to be employed by CENTCOM via the e-mails we obtained from HBGary and which would appear to be a growing industry in general. Previously I wrote for Vanity Fair, Huffington Post, New York Press, Skeptic, Skeptical Inquirer, The Onion, and a variety of other publications, including humor and policy outlets; I currently write op-eds for The Guardian and al-Jazeera and am working on a film as well as another book (my first, Flock of Dodos: Behind Modern Creationism, Intelligent Design, and the Easter Bunny, was released in 2007 and received acclaim from Alan Dershowitz, Matt Taibbi, and others). My unusual status is described here: http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_Magazine/2011/April/How_Barrett_Brown_Helped_Overthrow_the_Government_of_Tunisia.aspx.
This week I "retired" from Anonymous in order to return to more conventional writing and concentrate on my own projects. I wanted to see if you might be interested in articles on topics relating to some of the dynamics that I've been fortunate enough to see up-close over the past several years, in particular the conflicts that have arisen between states and other institutions on one hand and the increasingly-capable community of online dissidents represented by such things as Anonymous, Wikileaks, and other, newer groups that are now coming into existence. Although I've been quoted extensively on these issues lately in various outlets and was the subject of an NBC Night News report in February, I haven't had a chance to put forward much other than soundbites. I'm also privy to a great deal of information that I'd like to start reporting on myself rather than dispensing it out to various journalists, as I had gotten in the habit of doing.
Let me know if you'd be interested in discussing this further.