2013/01/29

Operation Last Resort and the upcoming American Winter

This Operation from Anonymous has started its public phase on Friday January 25, 2013 early in the morning, with the hacking of ussc.gov website. It has been re-hacked again on January 27th.

The text released for this 'Operation Last Resort' indeed deserves a strong attention. It explains why the common sense of justice is above the state expression of the law, when it is perceived as a betrayal of the people.

Excerpt of the video (full text here) :
“Citizens of the world, 
Anonymous has observed for some time now the trajectory of justice in the United States with growing concern. We have marked the departure of this system from the noble ideals in which it was born and enshrined. We have seen the erosion of due process, the dilution of constitutional rights, the usurpation of the rightful authority of courts by the “discretion” of prosecutors. We have seen how the law is wielded less and less to uphold justice, and more and more to exercise control, authority and power in the interests of oppression or personal gain. 
We have been watching, and waiting. 
Two weeks ago today, a line was crossed. Two weeks ago today, Aaron Swartz was killed. Killed because he faced an impossible choice. Killed because he was forced into playing a game he could not win — a twisted and distorted perversion of justice — a game where the only winning move was not to play. 
[...]Last year the Federal Bureau of Investigation revelled in porcine glee at its successful infiltration of certain elements of Anonymous. This infiltration was achieved through the use of the *same tactics which lead to Aaron Swartz’ death. It would not have been possible were it not for the power of federal prosecutors to thoroughly destroy the lives of any hacktivists they apprehend through the very real threat of highly disproportionate sentencing. As a result of the FBI’s infiltration and entrapment tactics, several more of our brethren now face similar disproportionate persecution, the balance of their lives hanging on the severely skewed scales of a broken justice system.  
We have felt within our hearts a burning rage in reaction to these events, but we have not allowed ourselves to be drawn into a foolish and premature response. We have bidden our time, operating in the shadows, adapting our tactics and honing our abilities. We have allowed the FBI and its masters in government — both the puppet and the shadow government that controls it — to believe they had struck a crippling blow to our infrastructure, that they had demoralized us, paralyzed us with paranoia and fear. We have held our tongue and waited.With Aaron’s death we can wait no longer. 
The time has come to show the United States Department of Justice and its affiliates the true meaning of infiltration. The time has come to give this system a taste of its own medicine. The time has come for them to feel the helplessness and fear that comes with being forced into a game where the odds are stacked against them.  
This website was chosen due to the symbolic nature of its purpose — the federal sentencing guidelines which enable prosecutors to cheat citizens of their constitutionally-guaranteed right to a fair trial, by a jury of their peers — the federal sentencing guidelines which are in clear violation of the 8th amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishments. This website was also chosen due to the nature of its visitors.[...] 
Today we are launching the first of these. Operation Last Resort has begun… 
Warhead – U S – D O J – L E A – 2013 . A E E 256 is primed and armed. 
It has been quietly distributed to numerous mirrors over the last few days and is available for download from this website [the sentencing website] now. We encourage all Anonymous to syndicate this file as widely as possible. The contents are various and we won’t ruin the speculation by revealing them. Suffice it to say, everyone has secrets, and some things are not meant to be public. 
At a regular interval commencing today, we will choose one media outlet and supply them with heavily redacted partial contents of the file. Any media outlets wishing to be eligible for this program must include within their reporting a means of secure communications. 
We have not taken this action lightly, nor without consideration of the possible consequences. Should we be forced to reveal the trigger-key to this warhead, we understand that there will be collateral damage. We appreciate that many who work within the justice system believe in those principles that it has lost, corrupted, or abandoned, that they do not bear the full responsibility for the damages caused by their occupation. 
It is our hope that this warhead need never be detonated. 
However, in order for there to be a peaceful resolution to this crisis, certain things need to happen. There must be reform of outdated and poorly-envisioned legislation, written to be so broadly applied as to make a felony crime out of violation of terms of service, creating in effect vast swathes of crimes, and allowing for selective punishment. There must be reform of mandatory minimum sentencing. There must be a return to proportionality of punishment with respect to actual harm caused, and consideration of motive and mens rea. The inalienable right to a presumption of innocence and the recourse to trial and possibility of exoneration must be returned to its sacred status, and not gambled away by pre-trial bargaining in the face of overwhelming sentences, unaffordable justice and disfavourable odds. Laws must be upheld unselectively, and not used as a weapon of government to make examples of those it deems threatening to its power.  
For good reason the statue of lady justice is blindfolded. No more should her innocence be besmirked, her scales tipped, nor her swordhand guided. Furthermore there must be a solemn commitment to freedom of the internet, this last great common space of humanity, and to the common ownership of information to further the common good. 
We make this statement do not expect to be negotiated with; we do not desire to be negotiated with. We understand that due to the actions we take we exclude ourselves from the system within which solutions are found. There are others who serve that purpose, people far more respectable than us, people whose voices emerge from the light, and not the shadows. These voices are already making clear the reforms that have been necessary for some time, and are outright required now. 
It is these people that the justice system, the government, and law enforcement must engage with. Their voices are already ringing strong with a chorus of determined resolution. We demand only that this chorus is not ignored. We demand the government does not make the mistake of hoping that time will dampen its ringing, that they can ride out this wave of determination, that business as usual can continue after a sufficient period of lip-service and back-patting. 
Not this time. This time there will be change, or there will be chaos… 
-Anonymous”

This is clearly an ultimatum. In government's eyes, an authentic act of rebellion asking for huge legal reforms in order to turn back on the current road to tyranny

You can follow the updates of this #OpLastResort here (and here for Operation Angel). It is simultenaously going on with a dedicated Twitter social storm to help to inform people and to gather momentum in US.

This #OpLastResort is the tipping point reached over by the Anonymous movement against US government. Such a political action was anticipated here. Now, it is not just a question of PIPA/SOPA, internet neutrality, or privacy rights. It has become for the concerned citizens a question of justice and of their very own liberty.

This will obviously make many other people to move accordingly. For instance Richard Stallman has just published "Protect Your Friends - Protect Julian Assange" : everywhere in US, each people will soon have to make their own political choice, because it is their justice system, and their Republic. And two sides will form, a tiny one and a large one. 

It can be expected that the US government do nothing towards Anonymous requirements, and ignore them publicly (and continue to fight behind the scenes), because they have no others practical choices. It is significant four days later the mainstream media has only published little coverage beside the serious ultimatum launched. We can at this moment link to Washington Times, Examiner, Slate, InformationWeek, IBTimes, Business Insider, The Inquirer, The Register, BBC, WND, CNN, SkyNews, NewEuropeStudentNewsIE, MensNews, MSN, numerous business technology news websites like C|NetZdNet (and others media but in french, german, greek, chinese, russian, arab, spanish, corean... not in english).

The national security ideology dominant into the US government since at least 1976 has finally met its fierce opponent : the widespread ideology about US government corruption and its betrayal of their own citizens. This is very  different than the Occupy movement turned against big CEOs and banks. It is no more a question of revenue sharing (social justice), but a question of power (the way to exercise justice). Each past step and law allowing erosion of civil rights in the same time have made this sentiment to grow in US across any political party, any class, any sector (public, private, and military), any state, any county. And any repression like with AaronSwartz will make the political opponents more and more committed.


Update 02/05/2013 : the second step
Anonymous' @OpLastResort hacked again yesterday others federal IT systems, and announced this putting in emphasis first the attention from [major newspapers and citizens] America and second the US financial  world as the target. More than four thousands updated credentials, cell phones, hashed passwords from bank top management execs were spread.
As I wrote:  two sides will form, a tiny one and a large one. There are of few of them, and we know them.


Read also this good article from ZdNet.
The situation is now embarrassing for Federal Reserve. And this is putting even more pressure against Business as Usual supporters.

Update 02/19/2013 : the following steps
Read this article from ZdNet for a summary, or this one in french.

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