4chan knocks MasterCard offline for WikiLeaks cutoff HAHA!

[Joanne98]

By Rob Pegoraro
I hope you weren't planning on looking for a new credit card or finding an ATM at MasterCard's site this morning. The credit-card firm's Web presence has been largely unreachable for the past few hours after a coordinated attack intended to punish it for refusing to process donations to WikiLeaks.

Reports such as TechCrunch's post indicate the "denial of service" operation was coordinated through 4chan, a free-form message-board site that's been used to arrange numerous other sorts of Web mischief and sabotage, as well as a separate effort called Operation: Payback.

The latter site took responsibility for the MasterCard attack in a tweet earlier this morning.

MasterCard and other payment-processing firms, including PayPal and Visa, cut off WikiLeaks transactions earlier in the week, citing violations of their terms of service. (Earlier today, a PayPal executive told attendees at the LeWeb conference in Paris that the company did so after a request from the State Department.)

People have since complained that these companies' actions amount to a form of government-directed censorship. Journalism professor and media critic Jeff Jarvis grumbled that he could use Visa and MasterCard to contribute to the Ku Klux Klan -- but not to WikiLeaks.

In other news, MasterCard's Wikipedia entry briefly led with a description that doesn't quite meet the crowdsourced encyclopedia's "neutral point of view" requirement:

MasterCard is an evil puppet of the US government, bowing to demand to cease handling WikiLeaks payments due to some vague reference to illegal activity. They are scumbags and should be called up on their actions!
Anybody want to bet on the odds of Visa and PayPal's sites staying intact through the rest of today?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2010/12/4chan_knocks_mastercard_offlin.html

[NoPasaran]

1. A gang of cyberterrorists attack and "progressives" cheer

What a pretty thing has come to pass.

[wtmusic]

4. Otherwise known as fighting fire with fire. nt

[NoPasaran]

5. Otherwise known as "anarchy"

[wtmusic]

7. Sometimes the foundations need a little rocking

That's what keeps the country strong. :patriot:

[Forkboy]

34. LOL

:eyes:

[laughingliberal]

8. AKA acts of civil disobedience. We did a lot of those in my day. nt

[originalpckelly]

21. I know, I'd much rather have people doing this than rioting.

This is pretty good.

[Xithras]

27. I'd rather have people rioting.

A government is systematically destroying a media organization, seizing it's funds and attempting to have one of its leaders extradited without charge, all without being able to name the specific law that they have broken. The major corporations and Internet services, in turn, have fallen in line and abetted these crimes against freedom by labeling the media organization as a criminal enterprise, again without ever identifying the specific crime they supposedly committed, and without a single warrant being issued against them by any country anywhere on the planet.

Forget the First Amendment. Forget "innocent until proven guilty". We've apparently now moved into the realm where the government and corporatocracy can now seize you and shut your organization down simply because they don't like you. We're now living in a nation where you can be branded a criminal by the government without ever being charged, and your activities can be deemed illegal, even when there are no actual laws against them.

In a sane world, that thought would terrify every American. If this had happened 50 years ago, Washington would have been aflame.

Instead, we act like dutiful sheep and cheer because "Amur'ka is gettin's the terra'rists!" It's fuggin pathetic.

[Gold Metal Flake]

13. You look pale. Have a seat.

[leeroysphitz]

28. This is win.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

20. You mean like the cyberterrorists knocking Wikileaks off the air?

[Matariki]

24. I'm sure you won't be the only one to cry 'cyber terrorism'. Do you suggest water boarding?

When people in power do something it's called one thing. When those not in power fight back, those in power (and their lackeys) call it 'terrorism'.

[frylock]

31. cyberterrorism is when our govt uses remote controlled drones to bomb sovereign nations

[wtmusic]

2. PayPal was hit yesterday

Very bizarre and slow behavior. They are online now.

[Poll_Blind]

3. 4Chan is a chaotic, dangerous thing which cannot be controlled. However, if it chooses...

...to control itself in an organized campaign, woe betide those in its tornado's path.

PB

[AngryAmish]

10. I think you give 4chan too much credit

How has their wrath really effected Gene Simmons, for example? They can send pizzas and gay porn to people and knock a website off the net for a little, then they will get bored and resume trying to send Justin Bieber to Best Korea.

[Poll_Blind]

15. On their own they are just as you described. However, there's a loose confederation forming...

....(if confederation is really the best word, which I'm not sure it is) between WikiLeaks, 4Chan, EFF, Slashdot readership and possibly even the guy at Cryptome. It's dawning on these people that they all, in some way, have a vested interest in defending WikiLeaks to some extent.

I don't know how far it will go, but WikiLeaks itself didn't start a movement (IMO), it was the attack on WikiLeaks that started a movement. These things working together or in parallel could cause quite an effect, once magnetically-aligned.

In 4Chan's case, identifying a major credit card company (for instance) as a Scientology-class enemy, and setting up that tribal rivalry could prove a consistent, costly annoyance to them. Relative among events that occur on the internet, this is not "chopped liver".

PB

[starroute]

26. "Alliance" may be a better word for it

"Rebel alliance" even . . .

[leeroysphitz]

29. You can't blame them for the Bieber thing.

After all North Korea IS best Korea.

[laughingliberal]

6. K & R nt

[SoCalNative]

9. Worthy of repeating

(Earlier today, a PayPal executive told attendees at the LeWeb conference in Paris that the company did so after a request from the State Department.)

[hobbit709]

11. Exactly. +1000

[wtmusic]

12. Maybe they'll think a little harder about being the SD's lapdog. nt

[Gold Metal Flake]

14. +10000

[Poll_Blind]

16. +100 MUST BE READ

PB

[kgnu_fan]

18. PayPal did so after a request from the State Department !

Do you have a link? Because the state department is denying their involvement....

[SoCalNative]

33. It's in the article posted

[frustrated_lefty]

19. Not exactly a court order.

[ladjf]

17. Good! I support the disruption of the Master Card site. nt

[Matariki]

22. Wikipedia entry has it backwards. The US government is an evil puppet of MasterCard, et al.

[Poboy]

23. Ha ha ha. Take the fight to the enemy.

[Waiting For Everyman]

25. Ok, that last paragraph about MC's wikipedia entry was pretty funny

[ecstatic]

30. People who think this is OK have zero credibility

in my eyes.

[Cali_Democrat]

32. +1

Mastercard has every right to cut off payments to organizations that use their services. Nothing illegal about that.

Hacking, on the other hand, is 100% ILLEGAL.

Whatever happened to the rule of law?

This place makes me more sad every day.

[NuclearDem]

35. DDoSing isn't hacking

And MasterCard also has the right to reap the wind when they cave to political pressure and cut off donations to a legitimate organization just because the State Department wants them to.