[Bradford] [Fwd: Kettling Wikileaks]

[Alice Kaerast]

There was a really good talk from an elected EU official in Brussels
yesterday.  To summarise:

The DDOS attacks are probably a good thing because it's showing that
teenagers are actually interested in the world around them.  Teenagers
see very little reason to vote because it doesn't really make any
difference which name the current government goes by.

This DDOS was good because it brought to light a greater evil.  And we
shouldn't charge people making these attacks unless it is financially
motivated (like in Spain).

But we also need to be more open about making these attacks.  Randomly
attacking people and things is not going to make any difference unless
we explain why, and we can't explain very well if we are anonymous or
Anonymous.  It's also cowardly to anonymously make attacks.  If we
believe something then we should be open about our attacks - as the guy
who got arrested was.

To compare the ddos attacks to the protests outside Topshop is also
flawed.  By blockading Topshop we are more visible both to the customers
and to the lower level staff but it also means fewer people can take
part - and this is important.  The DDOS attacks were launched by people
who opted in to the network - they weren't zombie PCs.  All of the
machines attacking were actually owned by people doing it for a
political reason.

Alice