Anonymous: Cyber-Superheroes or Master Manipulators?

The Patriot Resistance is looking for a hero.

Anonymous, the group of hacker activists, has applied for the position. 

Their resume includes hacking the US Federal Trade Commission and taking down the Department of Justice website.  They send sternly worded warnings before the cyber-attacks take place.  It's the kind of thing that makes the rest of us yearn to learn Linux and code so that we can participate in the fun.

But are we jumping on a bandwagon designed to take us for a quick ride to the closest Fema Re-education Center?  Is Anonymous actually on our side, or is the group actually a psy-ops plant - an agent  provocateur?



The members of Anonymous have set themselves up as the cyber-Robin Hoods of the internet.  They have issued a statement informing the world of their plan to take down the 'net this Saturday.

“To protest SOPA, Wallstreet, our irresponsible leaders and the beloved bankers who are starving the world for their own selfish needs out of sheer sadistic fun, on March 31, anonymous will shut the Internet down.”

The attack will target the Domain Name Servers, which will make it impossible to reach a destination on the net without knowing the actual IP address of that website.

In the spirit of resistance, I'd like to applaud any effort to slow down the efforts of the global elite and the de facto government (or at the very least, really annoy them). HOWEVER......................

This reeks of the CO-INTEL program. "COINTELPRO (an acronym for Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveiling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations."

I'm far from the only person who is suspicious of Anonymous. While it's a topic of conjecture, there are too many links to federal agencies for me to be on the Hackers R Us bandwagon.

Remember how quickly the unPatriot Act followed the 9/11 attacks?  It only took 6 weeks for that particular attack on our Constitutional rights to pass through the Congress to the desk of President Bush. 

The internet take-down (if it does indeed occur on Saturday) will be a false flag event that will allow the de facto government to come up with a new internet unPatriot Act law.  The new restrictions will make SOPA, PIPA and ACTA look like games at a Libertarian Party picnic.  By exposing the vulnerability of our grid and our financial systems, the de facto government will frighten people into believing the coming censorship is, as always, "for our own good."

Another clue that Anonymous is not what it presents itself to be is the group's visibility in the mainstream media.  Every recent event that supports the viewpoint of Patriot America has been blacked out by Public Enemy #1, the mainstream media.  Alternatively, any event that can be twisted for use as NWO and de facto government ammunition against our freedom has blown up the nightly news. The propaganda machine has churned out imaginary threats and justified unconstitutional actions with a condescending pat on the head.

Thinking critically, do you really believe that an outright threat towards the government currently in power would be all over the news if it was legitimate?  Would the propaganda machine actually be allowed to air a story in which the de facto government looked like it could be defeated or harmed, unless that story could be used for the purpose of restricting us further?

The US government has been taking pages from Mein Kampf.  In his magnum opus, Adolf Hitler, e greatest manipulator of the masses who has ever lived, said  "By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make people see even heaven as hell, or an extremely wretched life as paradise.

 

The PTB are taking our need for a hero and providing us with one of their own making.  They are endorsing media coverage of the bogeyman terrorist in order to take away more of our rights.  Americans are being spoonfed false and biased stories through the media, and are being led by the hand to the conclusions that they are meant to reach. 

Anonymous, please don't hack me for saying this, but I am deeply skeptical of your origins and your ultimate goal.

Our defense against propaganda is our skepticism and our ability to think critically.  Don't believe anything without proof.  If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Back in 322 BC, Demosthenes, a Greek orator and politician summed it up.

There are all kinds of devices invented for the protection and preservation of countries: defensive barriers, forts, trenches, and the like... But prudent minds have as a natural gift one safeguard which is the common possession of all, and this applies especially to the dealings of democracies. What is this safeguard? Skepticism. This you must preserve. This you must retain. If you can keep this, you need fear no harm.

NinaO:  Thank you!

Protect Your PC on March 8th

The countdown is on for the FBI's "planned interruption" of the internet on March 8th.

The European Union Times  reports concerns by the Kremlin that this is a move by the United States government to further crack down on "dissidents".  Russian computer security experts claim to have provided the FBI with a simple fix to disable the DNSchanger Trojan without interrupting internet service, but say that the repair was rejected as the FBI proceeds with plans to make the internet go dark.

So....

On March 8th, the FBI and friends are going to be effectively going in to your computer to allegedly seek out and destroy this virus. 

If the virus is affecting your computer you will no longer be able to access the internet with that machine, lest your personal computer become the typhoid Mary of the internet.

This brings many questions to my admittedly less-than-technical mind.

Could this be a big coverup for a warrantless peek inside the computers of America?
Could this be a way to install government spyware via their own trojan - into our computers?
Could the internet going dark be a giant "reboot" to activate whatever was installed in our computers?
Could this be a way to diffuse information during a false flag event planned by our own government?
Could this be a way to limit communication as patriots are rounded up under the NDAA?

There are a few ways we can try to protect ourselves from these potential attacks on our privacy and communications.

1.)  BACK UP all of your information.  Back up your systems, print hard copies and save your files to disc or USB drive.  This will save your work and information in the event of a crash or a system wipe from outside sources.

2.)  Not only is the internet a way out - it's a way in.  Consider shutting down your home internet connection for a couple of days to protect your system during this sweep.  Turn off and unplug all devices.  Disconnect your router and/or modem.

3.)  Educate yourself on the potential of Trojan Horse Warrants and government-sanctioned cyber-snooping.

4.)  Change your settings to disable some or all cookies, which are tracking devices that websites install on your computer for "marketing" purposes.  Note that some functions of your computer will become inoperable without cookies.  Certain pages require the use of cookies to operate correctly.

5.)  Clean up your computer.  Run a defrag, clear your caches and histories, delete any temporary files and empty your recycle bins.

6.)  Install firewalls and antivirus software.  There are many of these on the market, and some are free downloads.  Find a trusted brand and install it on your computer immediately.  Turn the protection all the way up to the highest settings.  These programs will help keep out "intruders" whether they are government cyberthugs or general malicious hackers.

7.) Always log out of anything that requires registration.  Being logged in to your email, Facebook or Google accounts open a doorway.  Anything that you do on your computer can be tracked when you are logged in to any program or website that deposits a cookie.  It's the equivalent of going to the bathroom with the door open.

March 8th could be the end of the internet as we know it today or just a temporary lull in service.  Either way, using this as impetus to protect your system is a good idea.  The intrusions will continue to be more bold as time goes on and more people wake up to the threats of the current regime. 

If Virtue & Knowledge are diffused among the People, they will never be enslav'd. This will be their great Security.

~ Samuel Adams, 1779

Learn.

Teach.

Resist.



What If Someone Could See Everything You've Ever Googled?

What if there was a little box that could be placed in your home that could.....

.... track every Google search that you ran?

.... see who you email?

.... see from whom you receive emails?

.... watch your keystrokes to learn all your passwords?

.... turn on a camera and watch you at any given time?

.... gather information about your likes, dislikes, political affiliations and religious beliefs?

.... dispense all of the above personal data to fusion centers, whose only purpose is to put together profiles of you and your family?

As it turns out, there is such a box, and if you are reading this, you're on it right now.  You not only voluntarily brought this device into your home, you paid good money for it.  Your computer is spying on you.

The home computer is bar none the greatest information sharing device ever created.  We can study anything our little hearts desire.  We can meet other people anywhere on the globe who have similar interests to us.  We can be kept constantly up to date with news, communication with friends and family and updates to our inboxes about myriad topics.

Unfortunately there is a dark side to having a home computer.  A home computer means that someone else could have constant access to US.



Here are just a few little tricks that your computer may be up to, unbeknownst to you.

GOOGLE:

Google has the best reputation in the world as a search engine extraordinaire.  But the times are changing and Google is becoming less and less trustworthy. 

First there is the Gmail scandal.  If you are a user of the free email service, you may have noticed that the ads running down the side of the homepage seem uniquely targeted to your current interests.  That is precisely because they ARE - Gmail scans every single email sent, gleaning information for "advertisers".  That's right, every single email you send through Gmail is read.  Apparently it is read by a computer, but the point is, your emails are not private.  Password, smassword.

Next there is the issue of censored searches.  Unless you specifically use keywords that will hook you up with alternative news sources, Google searches are now directing you towards the most politically correct answers.  Gone are the days when you can simply type in, for example, 9/11, and find information that is provided based on ratings - now you actually need to already have the source that you want the information from to get a clear picture...for example, "Infowars 9/11.  Some websites, like Infowars, are no longer coming up in Google searches unless you include them in your search terms.    At the end of 2010, Google blacklisted Infowars and Prison Planet from it's search aggregates, despite the fact that those sites get more hits than many mainstream media sites that show up front and center.

Finally, let's talk about Google's new "privacy policy."   As it turns out, that policy isn't keeping very much private at all.  As of March 1, in an effort to its ads to the tastes of individual consumers, Google will integrate information from all of it's services, including the search engine itself, Youtube and the aforementioned Gmail.  Google refers to this as a "more intuitive Google experience."  Unfortunately for users who prefer more privacy, there is no option to "opt out" of this information gathering and sharing.  Check out THIS ARTICLE that recently appeared in The Washington Post for more information on the new lack-of-privacy policy.

YAHOO

Not to be outdone, Yahoo also "analyzes" the content of your emails. And according to their guide for compliance with law enforcement officers, Yahoo hangs on to your information for far longer than the privacy policy states they will.  Here are some alarming statistics, directly from Yahoo, wrapped up in a menu-priced
17 PAGE GUIDE

~  All IP addresses that you use to log into your Yahoo mail account are retained for one year, giving an excellent way to track your movements, find your workplace, or see who you visit.
~  Instant messages and chats are logged for a minimum of 60 days.
~  The information provided to law enforcement agencies is not a matter of civic duty - the major communications companies all have "price lists". The US Marshall Service admitted to having PRICE LISTS FOR DATA INTERCEPTION SERVICES from Yahoo, Verizon, Cox Communications,  and ComCast.

FACEBOOK

Over half a billion people worldwide voluntarily provide information about their personal lives, their friends, their families, their religious beliefs and their political agendas on Facebook.

Nowhere can be found a bigger fountain of personal information.  As a way to increase the information Facebook learns about it's users, when a person is logged into Facebook on a computer, a cookie tracks all other sites visited on that same computer.  If you are logged into Facebook, the door to your home computer usage is wide open.

Facebook uses facial recognition technology to "tag" people in photographs.  Facebook is also like the evil town gossips, making assumptions about you based on who your friends are.  Ads that are targeted to your "friends" can also make it onto your own page. Facebook figures you'll have the same interests.

Facebook uses GPS technology to post the location where photographs have been taken and/or uploaded, making even your physical location public information.

Skype

Purchased in May of 2011 by MICROSOFT, Skype is the world's #1 provider of VoIP services.  Two years before making the purchase Microsoft began efforts to patent technology to intercept VoIP calls. 

The information can be used in many ways.  Criminally speaking, credit card numbers, social security numbers or other personally identifying information can be easily procured.  Information and keywords gathered from phone calls can be used in legal proceedings.  Data-mining techniques can be used to gear advertisments and marketing based on conversations that you think are private.

Even more alarming is the fact that once Skype is downloaded on your computer, it is possible to turn on your webcam from a remote location.  That's right.  You might be sitting there reading the latest blog from your favorite afghan-knitting granny and somebody, somewhere, might be looking back at you.

You owe it to yourself and your personal security to learn as much as you can about how your computer, your home and even your thoughts, if you are careless enough to type them in somewhere, can be accessed.

FUSION CENTERS

Finally, know that fusion centers really do exist and they are the final clearinghouse for all of this information.  Sometimes loosely cloaked as "marketing research" facilities, they have systems for corralling the information gleaned from your computer usage that will provide a very complete profile of you.  That profile may contain information about your relationships, your sexual orientation and fantasies, your political ideologies, your religious beliefs, your family, your friends, your bank accounts, where your money comes from, photo recognition profiles....absolutely everything there is to know about you. 

The fusion centers are the real threat - if personal freedoms continue to erode at the current rate, you may one day be deemed an enemy of the state based on your Facebook status updates.  Information compiled there could, potentially, make you a target of the government.


Personally, I have no intention of ceasing my usage of the internet.  The internet and the continuous access to knowledge make this a great time to be alive.  I will continue to do my research, I'll continue to share my opinions and information.  But I will do these things knowing that nothing is private anymore.

Big Brother is not just watching - he's making a scrapbook.