Group of hackers plan attack on Facebook

By: Edwive Seme/Staff Writer

Facebook users have had a few scares this year, starting with the supposed official take down on March 15 and the latest rumor that members would have to start paying user fees. As if those were not enough, Anonymous warns the online community that they will destroy the social network on Nov. 5.

Anonymous, a virtual group on 4chan.org, is an English-language imageboard that was launched in 2003. The group posts pictures and have discussions about Japanese cartoons, manga and anime. Individuals leave their comments anonymously, which explains the selection of the name for the group.

A leaderless group, Anonymous is sometimes symbolized by a headless figure in a black suit. Anyone can join as long as they support what Anonymous stands for; it claims to be a way of promoting “online freedom and anonymity” and therefore consciously adopting the online disinhibition effect, which refers to the way people behave on the Internet with less restraint than in real-world situations.

Trent Peacock, an unofficial spokesperson on a Canadian radio show called “Search Engine,” said: “We [Anonymous] just happen to be a group of people on the Internet who need an outlet to do as we wish [with what] we wouldn’t be able to do in regular society…that’s more or less the point of it.”

They have adopted the Guy Fawkes mask, popularized by the film “V for Vendetta,” to represent them. In 17 century England, Fawkes was a leader of conspirators who tried to blow up the House of Parliament along with King James VI in order to practice Catholic rituals freely.

Many events are associated with the group. The most notable event is Project Chanology. The group had organized to protest against the Church of Scientology and, after taking legal actions against YouTube to take down a video featuring an interview with Tom Cruise, the Church of Scientology was protested against by the group who announced their intentions during a press release. They stated that the attacks would continue in order to protect the right to freedom of speech and end the “financial exploitation of church members.”

Another recent act was Operation Sony, which was launched after Sony sued George Hotz for hacking a Playstation 3.  They saw the lawsuits as an “unforgivable offense against free speech and Internet freedom.”

On April 16, Anonymous, along with willing volunteers, hit PlayStation’s network, website and stores with a denial-of-service attack, which overwhelmed the servers with requests until they couldn’t keep up anymore, leading to an eventual crash. The event kept the PlayStation Network down for about a week, meaning loss of money during and after the operation.

During mid-July this year, proclaimed members of the group uploaded a video on YouTube announcing Operation Facebook to be launched on Nov. 5 – also known as Guy Fawkes Day – during which they will attempt to take down Facebook.

According to Rocco Venn from techi.com, the site can be vulnerable to attacks for its use of MySQL, which makes it possible to use bulk to strain servers. Venn also pointed out that the site has flaws in the security protocol.

Annonymous explained their reasons for taking down the site through a video, which was spotted by Rosie Gray of “The Village Voice.” They criticized Facebook’s privacy policies, saying the site does not provide enough transparency for its users, sells users’ information to government agencies and grants access to security firms to spy on people globally. They also stated that everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook and even after deleting an account, the information can be recovered at any time.

“People’s privacy is at stake because everything they do on the Internet, every single click, is being recorded,” said Carlos Gonzalez, a professor in the School of Computing and Information Sciences.

They may have a good motive, but not everyone thinks they are completely righteous. Junior Lazarro Herrera, a computer science major, said: “They sometimes do what is right, but that doesn’t put them above the law because it’s still illegal to hack into somebody else’s server.”

At the end of the two minute video, they seem to be confident that people will actually look back and ironically agree with what they, “hacktivists,” – who have hacked into Iran’s government emails, the Pentagon and more – have done to protect users’ identity.

They ended their message with the frightening statement: “We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”

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