4 ms·

Domain Name Seizures Potentially An Elaborate Hoax

67 points by HectorRamos 16y ago

frisco 16y ago
I've wondered for a long time what 4chan vs the government would look like. They're unbelievably creative and resourceful (see http://www.urlesque.com/2010/11/18/hot-topic-rage-guy-shirt-4chan-racism-troll/ http://www.urlesque.com/2010/11/18/hot-topic-rage-guy-shirt-... for a good recent example). I figured they wouldn't go straight up against it, protesting in the street and writing emotional op-eds. They tried this once, with Scientology, and it didn't seem to get them anywhere. They're best at playing mind games and finding the most ironic ways possible to win, exploiting what they're given -- in this case, controversial domain seizure. Good news doesn't travel nearly as far or as fast as bad news on the internet; some of us will read this post, assuming it turns out to be true, but not nearly as many and we won't react nearly as strongly as we did to the "WTF THE DHS IS SEIZING DOMAINS NOW" posts. GWB was a pretty disastrous presidency, but it didn't usually threaten to impact the internets' daily lives as much as some things now are. The internet is beginning to get mad at the government, and the trolls are heading to Washington. 4chan is the internet's immune system.
- trotsky 16y ago
  I've wondered for a long time what 4chan vs the government would look like. V&
  - frisco 16y ago
    I disagree, though, because it's more subtle than that. I mean yeah if they started threatening people or stuff they'd get shut down pretty fast, but they're master trolls and aren't that stupid. I actually think remarkably few of them would get partyvanned -- and that as the vanning ratio increased, it would be totally counterproductive for the authorities and only serve to inflame things further.
    - redthrowaway 16y ago
      They aren't master trolls by any stretch of the imagination. The race guy/rage guy tactic was creative, probably the most creative thing I've seen them pull off in a while. It worked for 2 days, before hot topic figured it out. If this was a hoax, the government would simply say, "no, that wasn't us. We're looking into it." That would be the end of it.
  - haribilalic 16y ago
    I had to look V& up. It means to be arrested by the FBI, i.e. taken away by an FBI van (thus, vanned/v&).
Luyt 16y ago
Even is this is a hoax, it serves well to keep vigilant when dealing with something important as freedom of speech and censorship. Luckily the online community hadn't fallen asleep yet.
dangrossman 16y ago
Wild West Domains is GoDaddy, so strike bullet 3 off the conspiracy theory.
davidandgoliath 16y ago
We'll know Monday once the thanksgiving weekend is over and any details are posted to ICE.
spindritf 16y ago
What about this statement: "“ICE office of Homeland Security Investigations executed court-ordered seizure warrants against a number of domain names,” said Cori W. Bassett, a spokeswoman for ICE" from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/technology/27torrent.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/technology/27torrent.html? Seems to confirm that at least some of the seizures actually happened.
- obsessive1 16y ago
  I think they seized some domains, but not necessarily the ones this article is talking about. If this is a hoax, it works particularly well, as ICE does't seem to have confirmed which domains it has seized.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
cleverjake 16y ago
Even though the Whois information wasn't changed, I would like to note that TVShack.net, a domain which is known for a fact to have been seized by ICE (http://www.cybercrime.gov/tvshackSeizure.pdf http://www.cybercrime.gov/tvshackSeizure.pdf), didn't have their whois information updated. They just had their A record changed to a server pointing to a shadowserver.org site Province/state: GD cleverjake% dig A +short TVshack.net 74.208.15.160 cleverjake% dig -x 74.208.15.160 +short 74-208-15-160.sinkhole.shadowserver.org.
yuvadm 16y ago
I'll just leave this here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berners_Street_Hoax http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berners_Street_Hoax
dotBen 16y ago
I am very curious of 4Chan's "Anonymous" userbase. Most community structures have identifiable leaderships of some kind yet 4Chan has no usernames and no way of communicating provenance of a given user -- either in terms of reflecting reputation or simply being able to accurately know that two posts in a thread were by the same person/the OP/etc. Hoaxes and stunts like this (if this is true) are either truly, truly remarkable or the work of a closer sub-set of folks who are in more private inter-communication away from 4Chan for the purposes of coordination but represent themselves to be part of the massive 4Chan community, perhaps for plausible deniability more than anything. It also makes wonderful fodder for the media to make even more of a FUD story out of. Given that most of 4Chan does seem to be bored teenagers posting pornography, penis jokes and occasionally child pornography I'm inclined to believe it is the latter.
- throwawy18291 16y ago
  #bantown definitely no longer exists.
- enjo 16y ago
  I've always viewed 4Chan as a remarkable study in how quickly (and easily) mobs can form. They do, for the most part, coordinate in relative anonimity. The typical 'operation' involves someone thinking up a nefarious scheme and posting it. The mob then kicks into gear and executes it. All it really takes is a single post and something to rally the groupthink of the mob around. The recent bit with the rage-face T-Shirt where they convinced whoever was making it that it wasn't rage-face, but rather a racist meme. It was triggered by a single post and was incredibly effective (and creative actually). http://play-this.org/2010/11/operation-black-rage-4chans-army-tricks-hot-topic/ http://play-this.org/2010/11/operation-black-rage-4chans-arm... It's amazing what a link-minded mob can do really.
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  Often, people will organize an IRC channel somewhere if they want to actually work on something together, and it'll be announced in a post on /b/. > Given that most of 4Chan does seem to be... /b/ is much more complex than you're giving it credit for.
- 16y ago
wladimir 16y ago
Interesting. If it's a hoax, it's very well done. And a good reminder of how the world is going to look with the ACTA in place.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
ahyes 16y ago
It's all in the dns: [mikey@pears ~]$ jwhois torrent-finder.com @whois.internic.net -n -d [Querying whois.internic.net] [whois.internic.net] Whois Server Version 2.0 Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net http://www.internic.net for detailed information. Domain Name: TORRENT-FINDER.COM Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC. Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com Name Server: NS1.SEIZEDSERVERS.COM Name Server: NS2.SEIZEDSERVERS.COM Status: clientDeleteProhibited Status: clientRenewProhibited Status: clientTransferProhibited Status: serverDeleteProhibited Status: serverTransferProhibited Status: serverUpdateProhibited Updated Date: 24-nov-2010 Creation Date: 30-dec-2005 Expiration Date: 30-dec-2011 Sure, torrent-finder.com has been around since 2005, but look at seizedservers.com's whois record: [mikey@pears ~]$ jwhois seizedservers.com @whois.internic.net -n -d [Querying whois.internic.net] [whois.internic.net] Whois Server Version 2.0 Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net http://www.internic.net for detailed information. Domain Name: SEIZEDSERVERS.COM Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC. Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com Name Server: NS1.SEIZEDSERVERS.COM Name Server: NS2.SEIZEDSERVERS.COM Status: clientTransferProhibited Updated Date: 24-nov-2010 Creation Date: 24-nov-2010 Expiration Date: 24-nov-2011 Created 4 days ago...
vaksel 16y ago
new SEO strategy: add the image, get millions of links, rank well...profit

67 points by HectorRamos 16y ago

I've wondered for a long time what 4chan vs the government would look like. They're unbelievably creative and resourceful (see http://www.urlesque.com/2010/11/18/hot-topic-rage-guy-shirt-4chan-racism-troll/ http://www.urlesque.com/2010/11/18/hot-topic-rage-guy-shirt-... for a good recent example). I figured they wouldn't go straight up against it, protesting in the street and writing emotional op-eds. They tried this once, with Scientology, and it didn't seem to get them anywhere. They're best at playing mind games and finding the most ironic ways possible to win, exploiting what they're given -- in this case, controversial domain seizure. Good news doesn't travel nearly as far or as fast as bad news on the internet; some of us will read this post, assuming it turns out to be true, but not nearly as many and we won't react nearly as strongly as we did to the "WTF THE DHS IS SEIZING DOMAINS NOW" posts. GWB was a pretty disastrous presidency, but it didn't usually threaten to impact the internets' daily lives as much as some things now are. The internet is beginning to get mad at the government, and the trolls are heading to Washington. 4chan is the internet's immune system.

trotsky 16y ago
I've wondered for a long time what 4chan vs the government would look like. V&
- frisco 16y ago
  I disagree, though, because it's more subtle than that. I mean yeah if they started threatening people or stuff they'd get shut down pretty fast, but they're master trolls and aren't that stupid. I actually think remarkably few of them would get partyvanned -- and that as the vanning ratio increased, it would be totally counterproductive for the authorities and only serve to inflame things further.
  - redthrowaway 16y ago
    They aren't master trolls by any stretch of the imagination. The race guy/rage guy tactic was creative, probably the most creative thing I've seen them pull off in a while. It worked for 2 days, before hot topic figured it out. If this was a hoax, the government would simply say, "no, that wasn't us. We're looking into it." That would be the end of it.
- haribilalic 16y ago
  I had to look V& up. It means to be arrested by the FBI, i.e. taken away by an FBI van (thus, vanned/v&).

Luyt 16y ago

Even is this is a hoax, it serves well to keep vigilant when dealing with something important as freedom of speech and censorship. Luckily the online community hadn't fallen asleep yet.

dangrossman 16y ago

Wild West Domains is GoDaddy, so strike bullet 3 off the conspiracy theory.

davidandgoliath 16y ago

We'll know Monday once the thanksgiving weekend is over and any details are posted to ICE.

spindritf 16y ago

What about this statement: "“ICE office of Homeland Security Investigations executed court-ordered seizure warrants against a number of domain names,” said Cori W. Bassett, a spokeswoman for ICE" from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/technology/27torrent.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/technology/27torrent.html? Seems to confirm that at least some of the seizures actually happened.

obsessive1 16y ago
I think they seized some domains, but not necessarily the ones this article is talking about. If this is a hoax, it works particularly well, as ICE does't seem to have confirmed which domains it has seized.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

cleverjake 16y ago

Even though the Whois information wasn't changed, I would like to note that TVShack.net, a domain which is known for a fact to have been seized by ICE (http://www.cybercrime.gov/tvshackSeizure.pdf http://www.cybercrime.gov/tvshackSeizure.pdf), didn't have their whois information updated. They just had their A record changed to a server pointing to a shadowserver.org site Province/state: GD cleverjake% dig A +short TVshack.net 74.208.15.160 cleverjake% dig -x 74.208.15.160 +short 74-208-15-160.sinkhole.shadowserver.org.

yuvadm 16y ago

I'll just leave this here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berners_Street_Hoax http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berners_Street_Hoax

dotBen 16y ago

I am very curious of 4Chan's "Anonymous" userbase. Most community structures have identifiable leaderships of some kind yet 4Chan has no usernames and no way of communicating provenance of a given user -- either in terms of reflecting reputation or simply being able to accurately know that two posts in a thread were by the same person/the OP/etc. Hoaxes and stunts like this (if this is true) are either truly, truly remarkable or the work of a closer sub-set of folks who are in more private inter-communication away from 4Chan for the purposes of coordination but represent themselves to be part of the massive 4Chan community, perhaps for plausible deniability more than anything. It also makes wonderful fodder for the media to make even more of a FUD story out of. Given that most of 4Chan does seem to be bored teenagers posting pornography, penis jokes and occasionally child pornography I'm inclined to believe it is the latter.

throwawy18291 16y ago
#bantown definitely no longer exists.
enjo 16y ago
I've always viewed 4Chan as a remarkable study in how quickly (and easily) mobs can form. They do, for the most part, coordinate in relative anonimity. The typical 'operation' involves someone thinking up a nefarious scheme and posting it. The mob then kicks into gear and executes it. All it really takes is a single post and something to rally the groupthink of the mob around. The recent bit with the rage-face T-Shirt where they convinced whoever was making it that it wasn't rage-face, but rather a racist meme. It was triggered by a single post and was incredibly effective (and creative actually). http://play-this.org/2010/11/operation-black-rage-4chans-army-tricks-hot-topic/ http://play-this.org/2010/11/operation-black-rage-4chans-arm... It's amazing what a link-minded mob can do really.
steveklabnik 16y ago
Often, people will organize an IRC channel somewhere if they want to actually work on something together, and it'll be announced in a post on /b/. > Given that most of 4Chan does seem to be... /b/ is much more complex than you're giving it credit for.
16y ago

wladimir 16y ago

Interesting. If it's a hoax, it's very well done. And a good reminder of how the world is going to look with the ACTA in place.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

ahyes 16y ago

It's all in the dns: [mikey@pears ~]$ jwhois torrent-finder.com @whois.internic.net -n -d [Querying whois.internic.net] [whois.internic.net] Whois Server Version 2.0 Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net http://www.internic.net for detailed information. Domain Name: TORRENT-FINDER.COM Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC. Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com Name Server: NS1.SEIZEDSERVERS.COM Name Server: NS2.SEIZEDSERVERS.COM Status: clientDeleteProhibited Status: clientRenewProhibited Status: clientTransferProhibited Status: serverDeleteProhibited Status: serverTransferProhibited Status: serverUpdateProhibited Updated Date: 24-nov-2010 Creation Date: 30-dec-2005 Expiration Date: 30-dec-2011 Sure, torrent-finder.com has been around since 2005, but look at seizedservers.com's whois record: [mikey@pears ~]$ jwhois seizedservers.com @whois.internic.net -n -d [Querying whois.internic.net] [whois.internic.net] Whois Server Version 2.0 Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net http://www.internic.net for detailed information. Domain Name: SEIZEDSERVERS.COM Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC. Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com Name Server: NS1.SEIZEDSERVERS.COM Name Server: NS2.SEIZEDSERVERS.COM Status: clientTransferProhibited Updated Date: 24-nov-2010 Creation Date: 24-nov-2010 Expiration Date: 24-nov-2011 Created 4 days ago...

vaksel 16y ago

new SEO strategy: add the image, get millions of links, rank well...profit