4 ms·

Such a fascinating story

zozbot234 6y ago
It's hard to tell what's "fascinating" about spamming, blackhat seo, ransomware, botnet/cyberattack/ddos c&c, trade in illicit substances, etc. The article mentions that those boxen hosted petabytes of data, and so much of it must have been this sort of pure garbage.
- Avicebron 6y ago
  Fascinating as an intro something I know nothing about, but frequently have wondered where and how these things exist? hearing the phrase Mirai-botnet on the dark web and wanting to know where/how it exists is different than saying, "this is a totally great and brilliant idea"
  - zozbot234 6y ago
    > frequently have wondered where and how these things exist? Quite often, they're simply hosted in permissive jurisdictions that are a lot more likely to look the other way wrt. such activity than a place like Germany or The Netherlands. The whole bunker angle was an interesting gimmick that these folks came up with but still, that's what it boils down to: a gimmick. Even the whole "cryptophone" side business is shady as hell, just notice how they all seem to go out of their way to market their products/services to organized crime. Why would anyone wonder when those folks get raided by law enforcement.
- kleer001 6y ago
  Something can be fascinating and appalling at the same time. It's only a term of interest. Talk to serial murderer podcast listeners and ask if they approve of murder. Surprise has no intrinsic valence, neither positive or negative, that's why it's often considered its own emotional dimension. Assuming a positive implication where none exists seems a little bad faith. Might want to watch that if you want to have civil discourse in the future.
  - zozbot234 6y ago
    I'm not ascribing that sort of positive implication to OP, and I don't think reading my comment in that way is very fair. I'm just saying that this stuff is a lot more banal and uninteresting than many people would think. It's not about "freedom against the power of the state", nor about "the future of the internet". It's the sort of crap that the vast majority of us would rather do without altogether.
    - kleer001 6y ago
      Ah, then forgive me. However what's banal an uninteresting is highly subjective. So, there's still that to re-calibrate on. https://xkcd.com/1053/ https://xkcd.com/1053/

It's hard to tell what's "fascinating" about spamming, blackhat seo, ransomware, botnet/cyberattack/ddos c&c, trade in illicit substances, etc. The article mentions that those boxen hosted petabytes of data, and so much of it must have been this sort of pure garbage.

Avicebron 6y ago
Fascinating as an intro something I know nothing about, but frequently have wondered where and how these things exist? hearing the phrase Mirai-botnet on the dark web and wanting to know where/how it exists is different than saying, "this is a totally great and brilliant idea"
- zozbot234 6y ago
  > frequently have wondered where and how these things exist? Quite often, they're simply hosted in permissive jurisdictions that are a lot more likely to look the other way wrt. such activity than a place like Germany or The Netherlands. The whole bunker angle was an interesting gimmick that these folks came up with but still, that's what it boils down to: a gimmick. Even the whole "cryptophone" side business is shady as hell, just notice how they all seem to go out of their way to market their products/services to organized crime. Why would anyone wonder when those folks get raided by law enforcement.
kleer001 6y ago
Something can be fascinating and appalling at the same time. It's only a term of interest. Talk to serial murderer podcast listeners and ask if they approve of murder. Surprise has no intrinsic valence, neither positive or negative, that's why it's often considered its own emotional dimension. Assuming a positive implication where none exists seems a little bad faith. Might want to watch that if you want to have civil discourse in the future.
- zozbot234 6y ago
  I'm not ascribing that sort of positive implication to OP, and I don't think reading my comment in that way is very fair. I'm just saying that this stuff is a lot more banal and uninteresting than many people would think. It's not about "freedom against the power of the state", nor about "the future of the internet". It's the sort of crap that the vast majority of us would rather do without altogether.
  - kleer001 6y ago
    Ah, then forgive me. However what's banal an uninteresting is highly subjective. So, there's still that to re-calibrate on. https://xkcd.com/1053/ https://xkcd.com/1053/