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Hmmm... it seems like the FBI decided to go after some low hanging fruit. People using Low Orbit Ion Cannon are probably not the brains of the operations. And a
by sudonim 15y ago
Hmmm... it seems like the FBI decided to go after some low hanging fruit. People using Low Orbit Ion Cannon are probably not the brains of the operations. And arresting a bunch of people who have no influence probably gives validation to the message of anonymous and lulzsec.
- llimllib 15y agoMaybe the idea is to scare people off from participating in LOIC bombings in the future?
- redthrowaway 15y agoThe temporary DDoS attacks really aren't their main concern, however. The infiltration of companies and dumping of their data is a much more serious risk. Given that this all took place in 2010, we'll see if they arrest anyone from LulzSec in a year or so. My guess is no. I have no doubt that the NSA could probably track them down if they wanted to, but that's way outside their scope of interest, and the FBI just doesn't have the capability.
- lhnz 15y agoIt might do that, but it won't make very much difference. Who brings down sites: a couple of people with LOIC or hundreds of people with LOIC and a handful with actual substantial botnets under their control.
- xyzzyz 15y agoIt will also scare the shit out of the kids who thought that they're "anonymous" and safe from prosecution. It's not the severity of the punishment that deters from committing crimes, but rather the inevitability.
- BCM43 15y agoIsn't this the same strategy that the RIAA and MPAA used? And as far as I can tell it did not work very well.
- tedunangst 15y agoGetting served by the RIAA or MPAA was far from inevitable. Also, your parents can't serve your jail sentence the same way they can pay your legal settlements.
- neutronicus 15y agoI think it worked really well. Think about who used Limewire 8 years ago, and who uses BitTorrent now. I think swaths of people stopped pirating after the RIAA suits.
- yardie 15y agoI think Apple and Amazon has had a bigger impact on pirating than any lawsuit. Most people seem to forget that the average price of a CD back then was $16-20. You could get the new albums for $10 but most of the back catalog stuff was priced way above what the market would bear. Now, with subscriptions, better pricing models, and streaming you have access to more music than you could possibly listen to in a lifetime. The lawsuits did have an impact, it made people more selective and secretive about their activities. Instead of torrenting off public trackers people went to private trackers, newsbin, or LAN sharing (the last option was especially big on university campuses).
- paul9290 15y agoI think Youtube helped kill limewire off as well. Why download a song when u can do a quick search and listen instantly to whatever? I havent downloaded anything in years and use youtube on my desktop and iphone(pandora, last.fm, vevo and others too).
- InclinedPlane 15y agoA civil suit requiring a long string of evidence where the likely worst outcome is a fine is not the same as criminal felony charges that could carry jail time and result in a felony record for the rest of your life.
- chopsueyar 15y ago
- jfricker 15y agoCriminals is criminals.
- burgerbrain 15y agoDon't be absurd.
- ebaysucks 15y agoSlave mentality is slave mentality.
- lhnz 15y agoDon't confuse the intensional with the extensional.
- eric-hu 15y agoAgreed on all counts. IMO, these arrests will deter some, as intended. I think it'll also motivate coders/hackers to write more sophisticated tools--maybe something like bittorrent + TOR + LOIC, maybe with an installer fired off from an email attachment that'd only work if the user opened up certain ports.