Anonymous - pro-Wikileaks hacker on Radio 4's Today

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A rare voice from the internet underground on Today this morning. Cold Blood is a member of the informal alliance of hackers that goes by the name Anonymous. The loosely-coordinated group came together to attack the Church of Scientology's web site in 2008 and is now taking credit for 'Operation Payback' - the attacks on the web sites of organisations withdrawing their services from Wikileaks.
Cold Blood is a twenty two year-old software engineer and, when asked who he admired, named Kevin Mitnick (jailed hacker legend) and Linus Torvalds (originator of the Linux operating system). When asked about his politics, he professed not to know. An intriguing insight into the mind of thecounterculture that supports Wikileaks.
Steve Bowbrick is editor of the Radio 4 blog
- The clip is from this morning's Today programme. Listen to the programme on the Radio 4 web site, follow @R4Today on Twitter and download daily highlights.
- The picture shows members of the anonymous group at an anti-Scientology protest in 2008. It's from the Wikimedia Commons.
- On the BBC News web site, Wikileaks spokesman Kristin Hrafnsson is questioned about the attacks on Mastercard.com and other sites.
- The Guardian's page of Wikileaks coverage and The Telegraph's story about 'Operation Payback'.


Comment number 1.
At 14:53 9th Dec 2010, newlach wrote:"When asked about his politics, he professed not to know."
When he said: "I don't really know" could he have meant that he did not know how to give a satisfactory answer to such a question in the time available? Do not his actions tell us something significant about his politics?
It was quite funny when an email from a listener, Dr T G was read out who wanted to know if Cold Blood had a girlfriend. I'll not mention his full name in case his website, if he has one, will inexplicably crash in the near future!
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Comment number 2.
At 15:19 9th Dec 2010, Walks With Turkeys wrote:I was shocked that radio 4 would interview one of these cyber-terrorists. This small group of people aim to cause mayhem for anyone they dislike, imposing their will on others. Whatever happened to peacful protest,and democracy? To your shame you have given them publicity, and astonishingly Evan Davis gave them legitimacy, judging by the obvious admiration he displayed when he asked the interviewee how he got into this activity. What next? Interviews with murderers, thieves, and wife beaters, with James Naughtie gushing about their exciting lifestyle? Disgraceful.
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Comment number 3.
At 00:14 10th Dec 2010, coolpolitealex wrote:where was my bloody comment , i do not want to read from Hacks that write for the beeb, as you are just lackey's and write and say what is expected of you, ie don't write anything that says anything. where is my comment i just wrote....??
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Comment number 4.
At 20:21 10th Dec 2010, darkfiber wrote:The anonymous group along with the 2600 hacker group have already distanced themselves from this negative publicity. Anonymous does not use the forums 4chan to publish attacks on websites. They have there own underground forum and no part of the anonymous forums reflects anything with regards to this.
AnonOps & Anonymous are NOT the same group!!
Here is a few Angry comments from Anonymous:
First: If you use a proxy server while participating in a DDOS attack, you will simply DDOS the proxy. Trying to run LOIC through a proxy will simply harass the proxy, and in most cases, shut it down and you will be entirely unsuccessful.
Second: DDOS in ANY form, no matter who are what you are targeting is ILLEGAL. You are just as bad as the Anonops folks, but even worse in the fact that you are supposedly doing it in the cause of 'right'. Jesus said to turn the other cheek.
Also: You cannot DDOS a specific web page or twitter account. DDOS is a SERVER attack. You will be attacking the entire twitter service, which is not only impossible for you to bring down, but retarded, and frankly, it's worse than what Anonops is doing.
The Anonymous Group protests about Scientology.
The 2600 Group protests about Crackers & Kids doing illegal things and having the Media highlight and glorify there actions as being the Acts of Hackers!
Need I say more?
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Comment number 5.
At 21:42 10th Dec 2010, darkfiber wrote:https://www.2600.com/news/view/article/12037
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Comment number 6.
At 23:58 12th Dec 2010, Steve Bowbrick wrote:Thanks for the background, darkfiber. I'll pass the info to the Today team.
Steve Bowbrick, editor, Radio 4 blog
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Comment number 7.
At 17:02 21st Dec 2010, worcesterjim wrote:@2 Walk with Turkeys...I think it`s about time we did try to engage with modern-day outlaws and understand people on the fringes of our culture.
I am worried about the increasingly authoritarian attitudes of people who claim to be liberal-minded and claim to believe in free speech who also make it very clear that I am only allowed to hear ideas that they feel are suitable and from people they approve of.
I know it`s all hedged about with "it`s only for your own good" and a lot of stuff about protecting victims and not upsetting minorities etc......but when those minorities express concerns about society the media rush to interview them and their extremists...so what`s the difference?
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