I’m not sure what to make of Anonymous. I do know that they have piqued my curiosity…
Addicting Info
Love it or hate it, Wikileaks has become entrenched in popular culture. By releasing what are otherwise secret documents, Wikileaks has changed the world. But the repeated attacks on the group has exposed weaknesses of its centralized operation and have driven a wedge between it and previously allied groups, such as the hactivist collective Anonymous. And with Wikileaks founder and spokesman Julian Assange a wanted man, the days of Wikileaks have always been numbered.
But, as with the attacks on Napster, the attacks on Wikileaks did not crush the customers of the service. Instead, it restructures the operation, changing from a centralized agency to a de-centralized. Napster became replaced by bittorrent, and now Anonymous has announced its replacement for Wikileaks, a service they call TYLER.
The issues between Wikileaks and Anonymous go back to the financial problems forced upon Wikileaks after its finances were cut off. In order to continue functioning, Wikileaks had to begin to demand payment. This in turn added liabilities to Wikileaks and its supporters. Facing the added pressure, and the proven liability of the single target to focus efforts against the access of information, Anonymous took the same approach as taken several times before: decentralize. So began Anonymous’s “Project Mayhem” which has produced TYLER:
Now instead of a single target, every single machine connected to Tyler will become a hub. Millions of machines, all churning over and handling the data. It is a nightmare scenario for any group or agency seeking to hide its secrets. No longer will there be a large rat to target, but millions of scurrying cockroaches, any single survivor enabling the reconstruction of the entire network.
The actions against Wikileaks have, instead of prevented the leaking of sensitive data, now made the leaking of that data now a trivial occurence, done by anyone in a matter of minutes, all in complete anonymity. The concerns over another Bradley Manning, being held for releasing secret documentation, are almost trivial, since it will be next to impossible to track when the next Private Manning comes along. It has now become no longer a matter of if, but when.
The Anonymous TYLER system, the culmination of years of work for the hactivist collective, stands poised to change the rules of not only the internet, but of society itself. The age of state secrets, of corporate lies, can not continue with the bright light of TYLER to shine on them. This is a disruptive technology, you cannot fight it, only adapt to it.
Related articles
- WikiLeaks gets Anonymous ire (thedroidguy.com)
- Anonymous Announces Wikileaks Alternative (VIDEO) (addictinginfo.org)
- Anonymous has falling out with WikiLeaks, calling it ‘filthy and rotten’ (computerworld.co.nz)
- Prosecution of Anonymous activists highlights war for Internet control | Glenn Greenwald (guardian.co.uk)
- Guardian person of the year: Voters choose Bradley Manning (guardian.co.uk)
- Worst security snafus of 2012 (computerworld.co.nz)
- Bradley Manning vs. Malala Yousafzai – And the System Wins (makersidiom.wordpress.com)
- Julian Assange, Wikileaks and Information as a Weapon (pandodaily.com)
