8 ms·

We ask supporters to stop taking down the US internet. You proved your point

74 points by Yhippa 10y ago

TAForObvReasons 10y ago
Is there any real reason to believe the attacks were connected to wikileaks in any way, or is this an attempt to stay politically relevant?
- ocdtrekkie 10y ago
  It's an excellent way to make sure several US TLAs are looking at WikiLeaks supporters closely.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
idlewords 10y ago
Well, you're where you should be all the time And when you're not, you're with some underworld spy Or the wife of a close friend, Wife of a close friend... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZmCJUSC6g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZmCJUSC6g
- anondon 10y ago
  Your point?
  - idlewords 10y ago
    He's so vain that he thinks these hacks are about him.
    - IPbanned 10y ago
      Assange's internet was shut off at the behest of John Kerry. He didn't write that tweet. We don't even know if he is really alive.
    - B1FF_PSUVM 10y ago
      That's terrible. More people should be like me, the humblest guy in the world.
warcher 10y ago
Man, watching wikileaks circle the drain sure has been fun, but it's starting to get sad. Can we wrap this thing up now?
- IPbanned 10y ago
  Can't we just drone this guy?
jacquesm 10y ago
Wikileaks is apparently on a mission to destroy whatever credibility they had left. They seem to be taking a leaf out of the IS playbook here, any random attack that is moderately successful gets claimed as one of theirs. It isn't a week since they were extremely economical with the truth regarding Assange's internet access ('state actor cut off their internet' -> 'Ecuador has pulled the plug on Assange's laptop'). The best way to deal with this would have been to distance themselves from anybody doing this, the very worst is to suggest they have the ability to issue orders to those perpetrating these attacks. With supporters like these they wouldn't need enemies to begin with, it's a very negative association and they're purposefully aligning themselves with these so called hackers. What will replace wikileaks?
- dandare 10y ago
  I absolutely agree. What Wikileaks did for peace and democracy cannot be disputed but I could not say I am their supporter any more. I wonder how much of it is Assange's personality and questionable political views and how much is of it is campaign orchestrated by almost all-powerful secret services but it probably doesn't even matter at this point.
  - Gargoyle 10y ago
    So you'd be fine with Wikileaks being shut down at this point?
    - solipsism 10y ago
      How important are they really? If they aren't trustworthy -- and I think there's a great case to be made for the fact that Assange is not -- what can wikileaks do that some other website can't?
      - Gargoyle 10y ago
        In what way are the wikileaks releases -- Not Assange, not their Twitter, but wikileaks releases -- not trustworthy? Are any of the releases discredited?
Theodores 10y ago
I do find that there is something surreal about Twitter and the U.S. election, it has become a primary communication channel. We used to have 'I have a dream' speeches, nowadays it is lol txt tweets. Donald Trump's contribution to this tweet-thread is an example: "Wow! @wikileaks admits its supporters are engaged in anti-American cyber-terrorism. No wonder Wikileakes loves me so much! #ImWithPutin" Is that really from a presidential candidate? With a misspelling and a hashtag that is not what you would think would chime with the electorate. Plus some narcissism thrown in, just to make you cringe. As for the tweet itself, I am amazed that Wikileaks thinks Assange is that much of a hero that they think that some anonymous fan would take down the internets in response to Assange's internets being taken down. There is some conspiracy minded thinking going on there, warranted or not, it is not the sort of mindset that Wikileaks need to be in if they are to function as an organisation. For instance, if some real conspiracy was going on, e.g. the U.S. military were running a 'cyberstorm exercise', then Wikileaks would have taken the bait. In so doing this takes discussion away from what Wikileaks seek to publish and towards the ethics of hacking.
- whybroke 10y ago
  Prediction: There will come a time in the not so distant future when even 140 characters will be beyond the alt-right's attention span.
- fjarlq 10y ago
  That's a parody account.
- speedplane 10y ago
  Don't be too nostalgic. How much of the "I have a dream" speech can you directly recall beyond the first 140 characters? How much of our politics has been sound bites, misinformation, and trumped up ideology for the past few decades. There are villains in this age, but communication in 140 characters is not it.
  - TheRealEdAbbey 10y ago
    Perhaps, then, twitter is not a malady but a symptom. The idea that we can whittle all of our ideas down to 140 characters has been building for decades, as you say, and only now manifests itself explicitly. I don't think it's too nostalgic to pine for longer, epic exhortation of ideas. People still give memorable speeches (cf. Obama's "More Perfect Union"), and people still memorize the speeches of old. They give context to the soundbites and give depth when we want to go beyond the misquotes. But yes, blaming twitter goes too far, because it certainly has its place, too. It's just another tool of communication that has its benefits and pitfalls.
orthoganol 10y ago
Fyi at this point there is speculation that something has happened with WikiLeaks, including Assange, who has not been seen for a week now since the early morning events at the Embassy (when his Internet was cut). Their subreddit has had their share of panic threads. Take this with a grain a salt, and I won't link to 4chan where this was first pointed out, but the last two days of tweets have also included typos/ missing letters that come close to spelling out "help him," overall to a small p-value.
- bobsgame 10y ago
  NSFW due to images in replies and language: http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/94081465/julian-assange-wikileaks-cryptic-messages http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/94081465/julian-assange-w... http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/94082701 http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/94082701 http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/94075699 http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/94075699
  - abgawrv 10y ago
    No way, that's absurd (the "help him" message, not that Assange might be in danger). First, those tweets were not posted one after another, or even in chronological order. Second, it's a mixture of missing letters and extra letters, and for example in "recipie" they select "e", when it's obviously "i" that is the extra letter. And then why take three letters from "algorithim"? And most importantly, many of these tweets were posted before Assange even lost his internet connection. I will say that I am totally dismayed by the general response toward Wikileaks on HN. I wish Assange the best, and hope Wikileaks continues with its work in the American political sphere for a long time. I don't know so much about Wikileaks' activity relating to Turkey, for instance, and if that was handled improperly, but the Podesta and DNC leaks are proving extremely valuable to American democracy.
    - oelmekki 10y ago
      Let's go through the various possibilities, here. I see three of them: 1. this is over interpretation and there is no message 2. there is a message because wikileaks account is under control and want to get a message through 3. there is a message because wikileaks want to gain favors from conspiracy theorists (please people, feel free to add more) I would tend to see the first possibility as the most probable, because indeed, the "rules" used to compose this message are really not rigorous. I would give same probability to the two next ones. Gaining access to the people handling the account and forcing them into tweeting damaging things seems possible. I would not understand why this would be accomplished instead of just taking over the account, though. Leveraging conspiracy theorist also sounds like a possibility. Rumors are a strong weapon, easily undermining convictions with background doubt. And if confronted about it, they could totally say they never intended to do such thing and it's plain over interpretation. But of course, tin foil support is not the best support you can hope for.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
g8oz 10y ago
As far as I'm concerned Assange is a delusional megalomaniac and has attracted similar types it seems. The organisation could have been something special instead of a support structure for this self-important, posturing bloviating. Snowden has advanced the cause far more with his considered advocacy.

74 points by Yhippa 10y ago

Is there any real reason to believe the attacks were connected to wikileaks in any way, or is this an attempt to stay politically relevant?

ocdtrekkie 10y ago
It's an excellent way to make sure several US TLAs are looking at WikiLeaks supporters closely.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

idlewords 10y ago

Well, you're where you should be all the time And when you're not, you're with some underworld spy Or the wife of a close friend, Wife of a close friend... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZmCJUSC6g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZmCJUSC6g

anondon 10y ago
Your point?
- idlewords 10y ago
  He's so vain that he thinks these hacks are about him.
  - IPbanned 10y ago
    Assange's internet was shut off at the behest of John Kerry. He didn't write that tweet. We don't even know if he is really alive.
  - B1FF_PSUVM 10y ago
    That's terrible. More people should be like me, the humblest guy in the world.

warcher 10y ago

Man, watching wikileaks circle the drain sure has been fun, but it's starting to get sad. Can we wrap this thing up now?

IPbanned 10y ago
Can't we just drone this guy?

jacquesm 10y ago

Wikileaks is apparently on a mission to destroy whatever credibility they had left. They seem to be taking a leaf out of the IS playbook here, any random attack that is moderately successful gets claimed as one of theirs. It isn't a week since they were extremely economical with the truth regarding Assange's internet access ('state actor cut off their internet' -> 'Ecuador has pulled the plug on Assange's laptop'). The best way to deal with this would have been to distance themselves from anybody doing this, the very worst is to suggest they have the ability to issue orders to those perpetrating these attacks. With supporters like these they wouldn't need enemies to begin with, it's a very negative association and they're purposefully aligning themselves with these so called hackers. What will replace wikileaks?

dandare 10y ago
I absolutely agree. What Wikileaks did for peace and democracy cannot be disputed but I could not say I am their supporter any more. I wonder how much of it is Assange's personality and questionable political views and how much is of it is campaign orchestrated by almost all-powerful secret services but it probably doesn't even matter at this point.
- Gargoyle 10y ago
  So you'd be fine with Wikileaks being shut down at this point?
  - solipsism 10y ago
    How important are they really? If they aren't trustworthy -- and I think there's a great case to be made for the fact that Assange is not -- what can wikileaks do that some other website can't?
    - Gargoyle 10y ago
      In what way are the wikileaks releases -- Not Assange, not their Twitter, but wikileaks releases -- not trustworthy? Are any of the releases discredited?

Theodores 10y ago

I do find that there is something surreal about Twitter and the U.S. election, it has become a primary communication channel. We used to have 'I have a dream' speeches, nowadays it is lol txt tweets. Donald Trump's contribution to this tweet-thread is an example: "Wow! @wikileaks admits its supporters are engaged in anti-American cyber-terrorism. No wonder Wikileakes loves me so much! #ImWithPutin" Is that really from a presidential candidate? With a misspelling and a hashtag that is not what you would think would chime with the electorate. Plus some narcissism thrown in, just to make you cringe. As for the tweet itself, I am amazed that Wikileaks thinks Assange is that much of a hero that they think that some anonymous fan would take down the internets in response to Assange's internets being taken down. There is some conspiracy minded thinking going on there, warranted or not, it is not the sort of mindset that Wikileaks need to be in if they are to function as an organisation. For instance, if some real conspiracy was going on, e.g. the U.S. military were running a 'cyberstorm exercise', then Wikileaks would have taken the bait. In so doing this takes discussion away from what Wikileaks seek to publish and towards the ethics of hacking.

whybroke 10y ago
Prediction: There will come a time in the not so distant future when even 140 characters will be beyond the alt-right's attention span.
fjarlq 10y ago
That's a parody account.
speedplane 10y ago
Don't be too nostalgic. How much of the "I have a dream" speech can you directly recall beyond the first 140 characters? How much of our politics has been sound bites, misinformation, and trumped up ideology for the past few decades. There are villains in this age, but communication in 140 characters is not it.
- TheRealEdAbbey 10y ago
  Perhaps, then, twitter is not a malady but a symptom. The idea that we can whittle all of our ideas down to 140 characters has been building for decades, as you say, and only now manifests itself explicitly. I don't think it's too nostalgic to pine for longer, epic exhortation of ideas. People still give memorable speeches (cf. Obama's "More Perfect Union"), and people still memorize the speeches of old. They give context to the soundbites and give depth when we want to go beyond the misquotes. But yes, blaming twitter goes too far, because it certainly has its place, too. It's just another tool of communication that has its benefits and pitfalls.

orthoganol 10y ago

Fyi at this point there is speculation that something has happened with WikiLeaks, including Assange, who has not been seen for a week now since the early morning events at the Embassy (when his Internet was cut). Their subreddit has had their share of panic threads. Take this with a grain a salt, and I won't link to 4chan where this was first pointed out, but the last two days of tweets have also included typos/ missing letters that come close to spelling out "help him," overall to a small p-value.

bobsgame 10y ago
NSFW due to images in replies and language: http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/94081465/julian-assange-wikileaks-cryptic-messages http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/94081465/julian-assange-w... http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/94082701 http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/94082701 http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/94075699 http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/94075699
- abgawrv 10y ago
  No way, that's absurd (the "help him" message, not that Assange might be in danger). First, those tweets were not posted one after another, or even in chronological order. Second, it's a mixture of missing letters and extra letters, and for example in "recipie" they select "e", when it's obviously "i" that is the extra letter. And then why take three letters from "algorithim"? And most importantly, many of these tweets were posted before Assange even lost his internet connection. I will say that I am totally dismayed by the general response toward Wikileaks on HN. I wish Assange the best, and hope Wikileaks continues with its work in the American political sphere for a long time. I don't know so much about Wikileaks' activity relating to Turkey, for instance, and if that was handled improperly, but the Podesta and DNC leaks are proving extremely valuable to American democracy.
  - oelmekki 10y ago
    Let's go through the various possibilities, here. I see three of them: 1. this is over interpretation and there is no message 2. there is a message because wikileaks account is under control and want to get a message through 3. there is a message because wikileaks want to gain favors from conspiracy theorists (please people, feel free to add more) I would tend to see the first possibility as the most probable, because indeed, the "rules" used to compose this message are really not rigorous. I would give same probability to the two next ones. Gaining access to the people handling the account and forcing them into tweeting damaging things seems possible. I would not understand why this would be accomplished instead of just taking over the account, though. Leveraging conspiracy theorist also sounds like a possibility. Rumors are a strong weapon, easily undermining convictions with background doubt. And if confronted about it, they could totally say they never intended to do such thing and it's plain over interpretation. But of course, tin foil support is not the best support you can hope for.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

g8oz 10y ago

As far as I'm concerned Assange is a delusional megalomaniac and has attracted similar types it seems. The organisation could have been something special instead of a support structure for this self-important, posturing bloviating. Snowden has advanced the cause far more with his considered advocacy.