Stopping SOPA: Anonymous Talks Motives, Aims and Hurting Sony

We want to appear more professional, we want to scare the corporations, and let them know we are a force to be reckoned with.

Recently Anonymous has been getting more organized and mature, we are evolving, having more fun, and being more effective

This is arguably the most organized Operation so far.

The use of intimidation in the pursuit of political aims, then?

No the use of looking professional so as not to be treated like a bunch of little kids.

I saw one IRC member on OpSony, who had openly done a lot of dox work, mention that they were born in 1996, when discussing Sony musicians.

Point?

It might be fair to say that you could end up being treated like a bunch of little kids if a bunch of little kids are part of the group.

Not everyone is that young, most people are 18 or older actually. Plus we have proved again and again that we can do things, adults cannot.

Now this Op is rather different to last year’s – Sony is the target, consumers aren’t. Do you think the original Op was handled incorrectly?

I think so, I think that we hurt the common people and we learned from that and the BART protests… as I said, Anonymous is evolving, more efficient, and more dangerous to those who dare do wrong.

Anonymous don’t forgive or forget – what’s the point of companies/individuals who have been targeted changing their ways, from their perspective?

We don’t forgive your mistakes, nor do we forget them. We keep tabs on our targets, almost without even meaning to. If you’re a “Repeat Offender” shall we say? You shall be punished more harshly than before.

We do not forgive or forget is very flexible and can mean many things, that is just one of them.

Ah, I see

Again, nothing in Anonymous is “official” for Anonymous is not “official” some things are just more commonly agreed upon then others.

SOPA could lead to internet censorship, including the altering and taking down of sites. To protest, Anon is planning on altering and taking down Sony’s sites – couldn’t that be seen as hypocritical?

It could, but we are not trying to limit their free speech, we are trying to make their profit margin go down. If we wanted to limit their free speech we would take their facebook, twitter, and whatever else they use.

Well you are still trying to limit their free speech right to support SOPA

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” – Evelyn Beatrice Hall

That is not the point to this operation, our main objective is to make Sony lose enough money where they not only withdraw support to SOPA but actively oppose it. Everyone should have free speech, however there is a fine line. If what a few say hurts the rights of millions of users, then a few hours or days of silence is a small price to pay.

But again, we are not intending to take away their communication.

But like you said before, most customers don’t use Sony.com. People don’t go to Sony sites to buy Sony stuff. Do you think that it’ll really hurt their revenue that much?

Yes considering we plan on making all the stuff free, then for the shipping we will use the CEO’s CC info, not to mention we are out in the real world, and it only takes on whisper for it to go viral that now you can get a TV for only the price of shipping.

Yeah, but it’s not as if Sony are actually going to ship the TVs.

Except it is mostly automated and we are in the process of making sure Sony is locked out.

You can’t stop them calling their distribution centers though.

True, but how long until they notice, not to mention, then they won’t be able to ship any out and they will lose money.

Would you like Sony to go bankrupt?

No.

Why do you think we’re not targeting PSN? If we bankrupt them it will hurt consumers a lot.

Sony is used by a lot of people, and overall a good company, they just have some bad policies at the moment.

But consumers will lose out from a poorer Sony. It slightly damages the economy, it means they have to lower their R&D spending, it means less products.

Sony is not the economy, it is a part yes, but not a huge part. And if they decrease quality, naturally consumers will leave for alternatives meaning even less money for Sony.

Ok, moving back to broader questions – many of the proponents of SOPA say that the internet is a lawless, uncivilized place, and that piracy is an example of the rampant crime on the web. Surely hacking and doxing simply re-enforces those claims? Is Anoymous really making things better?

Saying the internet is lawless and uncivilized is BS. on every site but the deepest pits of the web, there are rules and mods. Even on 4chan!

As to the other question…

I promise that there is more crime in real then on the internet.

Crime is just more obvious on the internet.

And yes we are.

Of course, and murder is far worse than hacking. But by emphasizing the crime on the internet, you’re helping fuel public opinion that the web is a dangerous place.

Anonymous is not going away, and we will continue to develop faster than any computer security can, and we will stand up to injustice. Last time I checked, the constitution is above every law congress makes.

I don’t think that’s public opinion at all. It all depends upon where you’re going. Like in real life, there are bad neighborhoods.

But in real life, whenever there is a terrorist attack, politicians are able to quickly pass laws and legislation that limit free speech, riding a wave of public fear. This time, people are trying to pass laws and legislation that limits internet free speech. As a response, you are doing something that could loosely be described as terrorism.

Last time I checked the purpose of #OpSony isn’t to make them do what we want with fear, it’s with quarterly reports.

So it’s more of a protest.

But fear will be a side effect. Your own plan, and numerous IRC chats that I’ve had publicly and privately, show that Anonymous aims to get a lot of publicity from the protests/hacks. To use the quote again – “we need to appear like some elite hacker force to the news channels and to the nation’s technically illiterate grandmothers”.

It’s fair to say that if you do achieve this, people who are technically illiterate, who don’t know entirely what SOPA is, or who Anonymous are, will simply think ‘an ungoverned group of people with tremendous power to cause mayhem on the web’. Thus breeding fear, and helping fuel the pro-SOPA, pro-controlled internet agenda, no matter how flawed it is.

Fear is a side effect yes, but Terrorism is using force to hurt innocents on purpose to get what you want. We never want to hurt innocents.

The official definition of terrorism is using terror to push a political or moral agenda. Bombs, killing etc, doesn’t have to be a part of it.

Those who are technically illiterate won’t be able to register to vote or send letters to their representatives.

Plus the Reps don’t represent us anyways, except on election day.

But reps do stuff to gain favor of the public, even when it’s not near the election. If the news starts reporting on Anonymous attacks, public opinion could sway towards stopping those attacks, making the internet a “safer place”. The largest internet stories of 2011 were probably Anonymous attacks.

Anonymous has been called an “internet hate machine”, and the sheep can believe that if they want but no matter what, Anonymous still delivers. We would like for the public to side with us, and they will, as long as we keep fighting the fight for their internet and rights.

Also, people are naturally curious, they will look up stuff about Anonymous and see the truth, and then most likely, they will join us.

Those who outright lie too often shall be taken care of.

But the mass media will present you as terrorists, SOPA supporters will be able to say “we don’t negotiate with terrorists”, and gain support for what is otherwise a flawed and unpopular bill.

We’re still seeing laws passed that limit human rights due to post-9/11 fear.

Yes we know this, and we have already been presented by certain mass media sources… *cough* Fox News *cough* as terrorists. And we laugh at this wild accusation. Plus you forget that we are giving the people free movies and music, they will more likely see us as robin hoods.

But you already said that movies and music are easy to get anyway.

True, but not movies out in the movie theaters…

or new movies like that.

So innocent directors and screenwriters will be hurt? They’re not part of the 1%

Again, that’s not the point here. We don’t want to hurt anyone but the Sony executives, and Sony’s bank accounts. Unfortunately this plan is not perfect, and I don’t claim it is, I admit there will be unfortunate losses by some who were not intended targets. And we shall apologize for this.

Well you could still be effective without releasing new movies…

Too late, already underway. Besides they won’t lose much.

Can you give an example of some of those movies?

Jack and Jill [removed torrent link] • Arthur Christmas [removed torrent link] The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish version) [removed torrent link] The Adventures of Tintin[removed torrent link]

Taking the largest movie there, Tintin – that was only co-financed by Sony

They will still lose money.

So will Paramount, so will the actors, the screenwriters, the extras

Not as much.

Paramount had a bigger investment in the film, they both co-produced, but Paramount spent $30 million on pre-production.

Will you look at that… they support it too… that’s convenient.

Not meant, but convenient.

But that’s the point, this research wasn’t done before. And I’m only using Paramount as an example. Films have hundreds of smaller investors, and smaller cogs that will all suffer. Couldn’t it be said that you are acting recklessly to be seen as the next Robin Hood?

Again, plans not perfect, no choice of action is, but it hurts a lot less then shutting down PSN again. Plus I promise the damage won’t be very much to these smaller companies. What’s really gonna hurt Sony is that their products either can’t be shipped or they’re free.

Turning back to where you said that some media sources will always present you as terrorists. Surely you are only proving them right by damaging innocents, and professing that you so want to cause terror among some individuals.

How about I leave at it this? We simply want them to realize, if they infringe on rights, they should expect us. That is what we are meaning.

Ok, so fast forward a few months – SOPA is passed, despite your best efforts, and Sony is still supporting them. Then what?

Can’t say, a lot can change in a few months, but Anonymous wouldn’t give up. We have ways around it. We would organize, public opinion grows stronger with us than ever before, and they are forced to repeal or who knows… Again we don’t plan months ahead.

Fair enough. How about if Sony stops supporting SOPA, but it is still passed – will you blame them for their original role in the matter?

We want Sony to actively oppose it.

If I was a decision maker involved in passing or refusing SOPA, I’d have seen that a huge company like Sony was supporting it, and then suddenly retracted support and went against it. I’d then look into why, and see that they did it simply for fear of losing profit due to online attacks. In that case, I’d likely ignore their change of stance as just a response to the hacks, and know that they’re really pro-SOPA.

The government lives to serve corporations. If enough go against, they won’t do it.

But it’ll be clear to the government that they’re not actually against it, they’re just publicly against it.

If we do it once, we can and would do it again, they have to honest to god fight against it, with their resources and everything. You’d be amazed by how much something like this could cost Sony, and what they would do.

Either that or not be able to ship anymore goods/give them out for free.

When will this plan to takeover Sony.com be enacted?

If I’m not mistaken, once all other preparations have been completed and team Iota has caused enough chaos, it shall begin. The actual hack will be on January 23rd.

The plan is to hack into their sites all the time leading up to the 23rd

then team gamma’s info (the dox team) and team beta’s formatting, along with team alphas links to download everything, and team epsilon’s work on the store so everything is free will be put into place. Along with an Anonymous press release.

And then, how long will the attacks last?

Good question.

Probably at least a day. But not more than a few days I’d say, Sony will want to recapture it ASAP, and they may just pull the plug on the server.

Couldn’t they just do that straight away?

Except doing that means they can’t take it back, it means we’re better than them.

Is this all conjecture though? Have you (Anonymous that is) already discovered holes and exploits on their sites?

I’m sure we have. Have no doubt, we found holes in CIA’s website, we can find one’s in Sony’s

But comments like those are exactly why many watch you with fearful eyes. Can anyone feel safe?

Yes. Unless you do something stupid, or evil, we won’t trouble you.

If you found out that pro-SOPA groups were successfully using your attacks to show the ‘dangers of the web’, that every time Anonymous hurt Sony, their agenda gained public and political support – would you stop?

If that was the case we would convince the public that is not the case, and we would think of a new plan, Sony would probably be left alone. And larger fish would be fried.

But isn’t there a worry that that could already be happening?

Yes, but again this plan is not perfect, and we shall see exactly what happens.

Isn’t that a risky attitude? There’s a reason the political process moves so slowly.

Risky, but necessary.

If it backfires and does make things worse, would you feel guilty?

No, because we tried something, unlike others.

Well I’ve gone through the normal legal process of voicing my distaste to politicians.

And are they listening?

No way to know just yet, the process is still on-going. Are they listening to Anonymous’ attacks?

Either way, Sony should have expected us.

But surely Sony isn’t the focus of the attack, stopping SOPA is.

True.

But through Sony we can get to SOPA, also Nintendo is starting to hum a different tune at the same time as Sony.

They already took of their name, but they haven’t officially gone against it, or withdrawn support.

So Nintendo might be ‘pushed’ to do that?

Nintendo is afraid and is in turn starting to slowly withdraw support.

A message from Anonymous to Sony:

Sony,

You should have expected this,

You should have known better,

We will not forgive your attempts at censorship,

We will not forget your support of SOPA

You should have expected us to strike.