anonymizing

Gawker writer dons pink tutu in response to Anonymous demand

Let's hope this won't become a regular demand before sources agree to speak with writers, but it did make for quite the sight as the tech world returned from the long Labor Day weekend: Gawker's Adrian Chen published a picture of himself today resplendent in a a pink tutu with a shoe on his head after the shadowy group declared in a note left on the hacker document-sharing site Pastebin the following:

to journalists: no more interviews to anyone till Adrian Chen get featured in the front page of Gawker, a whole day, with a huge picture … Read more

FBI finds no evidence that AntiSec hacked its laptop

The FBI said today that it does not know anything about a laptop that hackers say they compromised and that led them to millions of Apple iOS device user details, of which 1 million have been released on the Web.

"The FBI is aware of published reports alleging that an FBI laptop was compromised and private data regarding Apple UDIDs was exposed," said an FBI spokesperson. "At this time there is no evidence indicating that an FBI laptop was compromised or that the FBI either sought or obtained this data." Before the statement was released the … Read more

Hackers hit Swedish Web sites in support of Assange

A group of supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claimed responsibility today for hacking into and jamming several Swedish government Web sites, according to the Associated Press.

Initiating a denial-of-service attacks, the hacking group reportedly took down the Web sites of the Swedish government, armed forces, and the Swedish Institute for several hours.

According to the Associated Press, it isn't clear who was behind the attacks but an unidentified group announced responsibility on Twitter and told the Swedish government to take its "hands off Assange."

This is the second attack on government Web sites in Assange's … Read more

Anonymous hits U.K. government sites over Assange situation

The online hacker group Anonymous says it has targeted several U.K. government Web sites for shutdown in an apparent show of solidarity for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has taken asylum in Ecuador's embassy in London to avoid arrest by British authorities.

The loosely knit hacktivist group claims to have launched distributed denial-of-service attacks against the U.K. Justice Department, as well as the British prime minister's Number 10 Web site and the Department of Work and Pension. Anonymous has dubbed the attack campaign as #OpFreeAssange on its Twitter feeds:

'Operation Free Assange': Anonymous take down UK'… Read more

Anonymous promises revenge for the takedown of Demonoid

Anonymous has promised to bring down its wrath on the Ukrainian government after authorities were said to have taken down the file-sharing site Demonoid last week.

"Last week, our generous green friend, the Demonoid, was met with a state sponsored Distributed Denial of Service attack...These illegal actions were then followed up with a raid by Ukraine authorities," the hacking group wrote in a blog post on AnonPR yesterday. "In retaliation for your criminal acts against us and the free flow of information, we have already begun an operation against those responsible. Lazers are already being fired.&… Read more

Anonymous in a tizzy over logo trademark

Anonymous' iconic logo was quietly trademarked in France in February, but now that Anonymous has found out, it's not going to take it lying down.

Twitter user Asher_Wolf picked up on the trademark application (PDF) yesterday, but the application was first filed with the Institut National De La Propriete Industrielle (INPI) in France on February 16 by Apollinaire Auffret from Early Flicker, encompassing both the Anonymous logo and slogan.

Early Flicker has an eBay store that appears to sell a variety of Anonymous-themed T-shirts. Following the revelation yesterday, Anonymous has responded via a YouTube video, and has promised distributed … Read more

Low Latency No. 30: The Dark Knight uploads

YouTube is now encouraging video uploaders to use their real names. Is this the first sign of what's to come? Will our anonymity on YouTube become a thing of the past?

For now, users still have the option to opt out of disclosing their true identity, but a world in which YouTube videos are no longer anonymously uploaded appears much closer to reality than ever before. Of course we've seen things like this before. Most of us seem to have no problem giving away our personal information to Facebook, right? … Read more

Web exposes Burger King employee standing on lettuce

When it comes to humor, you can't always have it your own way.

Well, you can, as long as you don't post it online.

My evidence for this thesis comes from a Burger King employee who thought it would be amusing to stand in two large plastic tubs of lettuce and have a photo taken.

Was he or she wearing shoes? But of course. Was this funny? But of course the lettuce-stomper must have thought it was. That is, until Anonymous members of 4Chan thought it would be just -- and, perhaps, funny too -- to find this … Read more

Hacking settlement to cost Stratfor $1.75 million

Stratfor has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit filed against the global intelligence firm after hackers affiliated with Anonymous stole subscriber data from its computers last year, Reuters reported today.

The settlement -- which calls for Stratfor to offer subscribers one month of free access to its service, a digital version of a book, and credit-monitoring service, in addition to paying attorney fees -- is expected to cost the company about $1.75 million, according to the settlement given preliminary approval by Judge Denis Hurley in U.S. federal court in New York.

Stratfor does not admit any "wrongdoing, … Read more