Kushner David - A for Anonymous: How a Mysterious Hacker Collective Transformed the World

Chapter 1 NAME? DAVID KUSHNER. NAME? DAVID KUSHNER. BUSINESS OR PLEASURE? BUSINESS. OH? WHAT DO YOU DO? IM A WRITER. WHAT DO YOU WRITE? WORKING ON AN ARTICLE FOR THE NEW YORKER. NAME? DAVID KUSHNER. DAVE Im here. DAVE Im here.

DAVE Im here. COMMANDER X Welcome. DAVE So where do I go? COMMANDER X Ill send you my address now.. DAVE send away. But make sure you leave no record of it. Yeah.

X out of this chat window when we are done. All right. And if you have to write the address down, fine -but make CERTAIN you destroy the paper ok? I will. LATER THIS MUST BE IT. HEY, ITS ME. COME IN.

I HOPE YOU DONT MIND THE SMOKE. NAH, IM FINE. COFFEE? SURE. SO YOU MADE IT. YEAH. THOUGH IT WOULD HAVE BEEN EASIER JUST TO FLY STRAIGHT HERE INSTEAD OF DRIVING FOR THREE HOURS.

IM A FUGITIVE, YOU KNOW. GOTTA BE CAREFUL. I KNOW. NOW THAT YOUVE MADE IT THIS FAR, YOU MAY LIVE TO REGRET THIS STORY. WELL, LETS GET STARTED. WHAT IS ANONYMOUS? WHATS ANONYMOUS? OR WHOS ANONYMOUS? ANONYMOUS IS NOT A GROUP, AND ITS NOT A PERSON.

SPECIFICALLY, IT IS THE IDEA THAT ALL OF US DESERVE FREEDOM. FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, OF SPEECH, OF EXPRESSION, OF KNOWLEDGE, OF BELIEF. THE FREEDOM TO DETERMINE THE COURSE AND DESTINATION OF OUR OWN LIVES. IF YOU SHARE THIS IDEA, THEN YOU ARE ANONYMOUS. YOU HAVE LIKELY HEARD MANY THINGS ABOUT ANONYMOUS. SOME OF THEM ARE TRUE AND SOME OF THEM ARE NOT.

WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS, OR VIOLENT. WE ARE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD WHO BEAR WITNESS TO TYRANNY, OPPRESSION, AND CENSORSHIP. WE ARE ACTIVISTS WHO SEEK TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM AND THE CYCLE OF CORRUPTION. WE SEEK TO CREATE TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENTS AND ALL INSTITUTIONS OF PUBLIC SERVICE. WE RESIST THOSE WHO SEEK TO VIOLATE OUR RIGHTS AS HUMAN BEINGS. AS A COLLECTIVE OF AUTONOMOUS INDIVIDUALS, HOWEVER, WE HAVE NO LEADERS WHO DICTATE THE METHODS OF RESISTANCE.

SOME OF US ARE INDEED HACKERS, AND USE OUR SKILLS TO MAKE CRITICAL INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC. SOME OF US ORGANIZE PROTESTS AND RALLIES. SOME OF US VOLUNTEER OUR TIME TO FEED THOSE WHO CANT FEED THEMSELVES. WE ARE YOUR NEIGHBORS, YOUR FRIENDS, AND YOUR RELATIVES. WE PREPARE YOUR FOOD, REPAIR YOUR APPLIANCES, WRITE YOUR BOOKS, COMPOSE YOUR MUSIC, AND CREATE YOUR TECHNOLOGY. WE ARE YOUR POSTAL WORKERS, BARBERS, STORE CLERKS, AND LAWYERS.

WE ARE SOCIALISTS AND CAPITALISTS. WE ARE ATHEISTS, AND WE ARE RELIGIOUS. WE ARE EVERYONE, AND WE ARE NO ONE. NONE OF US IS AS POWERFUL AS ALL OF US. I GUESS THERES REALLY NO EASY WAY TO DEFINE IT. NOT REALLY.

SO LETS GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING.

SO GOING BACK TO THE BEGINNING. FROM WHAT I CAN GATHER, THE CULT OF THE DEAD COW WERE BASICALLY THE FIRST HACKTIVISTS, RIGHT? HAHA, YEAH, HACKTIVISM WASNT EVEN A THING WHEN THEY STARTED. IN THE MID-1980S, LONG BEFORE ANONYMOUS HAD A NAME, THE TEENAGE FOUNDERS OF THE GROUP THAT WOULD BECOME KNOWN AS THE CULT OF THE DEAD COW HAD AN UNUSUAL HANGOUT SPOT. AN OLD SLAUGHTERHOUSE IN LUBBOCK, TEXAS. THEY WERE CODERS, HOBBYISTS, AND ACTIVISTS EMPOWERED BY THE RISE OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS.

THEY WANTED TO MESS AROUND AND HAVE FUN, BUT THEY WERE ALSO INTERESTED IN USING THEIR PCS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE. WE NEED A NAME FOR OUR GROUP. CODE WARRIORS? MACHINE HEADS? SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE? TAKEN. THE CULT OF THE DEAD COW. I LIKE THE SOUND OF IT! ONE OF CDCS HIGHEST-PROFILE TARGETS WAS THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY. THIS INTERNET FORUM IS MAKING A MOCKERY OF US! WHAT SHOULD WE DO? CALL THE INTERNET.

HAVE IT ELIMINATED. LUBBOCK, TEXAS, THE FOLLOWING WEEK. DUDE, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SCIENTOLOGY FORUM? FUCKERS THINK THEY CONTROL THE INTERNET. THIS IS CENSORSHIP. WEVE GOTTA DO SOMETHING. THE FORUM, ITS BACK UP? YES, LEADER.

I THOUGHT YOU TOLD THE INTERNET TO STOP! WE DID! WHO ARE THE CULT OF THE DEAD COW? SATANISTS? IN ORDER TO PRESERVE OUR WAY OF LIFE AND KEEP THE TORCH OF FREEDOM LIT FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS, WE FEEL IT IS OUR DUTY AS RESPONSIBLE WORLD CITIZENS TO DECLARE WAR ON THE SO-CALLED CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY. HA! WE SHOWED THOSE IDIOTS! NO ONE LORDS OVER THE INTERNET. WE NEED A NAME FOR THIS FOR WHAT WERE DOING! OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL YEARS, HACKTIVISM QUICKLY SPREAD AROUND THE WORLD AS A NEW FORM OF POLITICAL PROTEST. IN CHINA, A GROUP OF DISSIDENTS WHO FREQUENTED CDCS SITE THREATENED TO HACK U.S. COMPANIES WHO DID BUSINESS WITH THEIR COUNTRY. MUCH OF THE ACTION TOOK THE FORM OF ONLINE GRAFFITI.

HACKERS DEFACED THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT WEBSITE WITH THE WORDS SAVE KASHMIR AND MASSACRE, ALONG WITH PHOTOS OF KASHMIRIS ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY INDIAS MILITARY. TO PROTEST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, PORTUGUESE HACKERS DISPLAYED THE WORDS FREE EAST TIMOR ACROSS A SERIES OF SITES IN INDONESIA. IN 1997, RICARDO DOMINGUEZ, AN ACTIVIST LIVING IN NYC, COFOUNDED A HACKTIVIST GROUP CALLED THE ELECTRONIC DISTURBANCE THEATER. WAIT TIL YOU GUYS SEE THIS NEW CODE! YOU CAUSING TROUBLE AGAIN? DOMINGUEZ CREATED FLOODNET, A COMPUTER PROGRAM DESIGNED TO SLOW DOWN OR EVEN CRASH WEBSITES WITH TRAFFIC. HE USED THE TACTIC TO SWAMP MEXICAN GOVERNMENT WEBSITES TO SUPPORT ZAPATISTA REBELS. DURING A RALLY IN THE EAST VILLAGE OF NEW YORK CITY IN 1998, STEFAN WRAY, A COLLEAGUE OF DOMINGUEZ, DECLARED A NEW MOVEMENT.