Sunday Times article (March 1995)

ANARCHISTS USE COMPUTER HIGHWAY FOR SUBVERSION

by Adrian Levy and Ian Burrell

British anarchists are using the Internet network to link

up with international terrorist groups and co-ordinate

the disruption of schools, looting of shops and attacks on

multinational firms.

Police chiefs have asked the Special Branch to investigate

after discovering anarchist cells circulating hundreds of

computer files of seditious information. They included

guides to looting shops, infiltrating government departments,

sabotaging telecommunications systems and the making of

bombs, weapons and drugs.

Many of the files were obtained from terrorist groups,

including The Sons of Glendower in Wales, Direct Action

in France, and the Anti Imperialist Cell (AIC), a German

anarcho-terrorist group responsible for a wave of bombings

and shootings last year. The Royal Ulster Constabulary

is studying links to outlawed loyalist paramilitary groups.

Detectives are alarmed by the increasing sophistication of

the anarchist groups. They have arrested a Scottish man

- the first UK arrest for allegedly encouraging violence using

a computer - and plan to question several others for suspected

public order and fraud offences. "Anarchists now represent a

significant threat" said one officer.

The anarchist campaign was launched at a conference entitled

Anarchy in the U.K. held in London last October. It began

with a call to arms by Ian Bone, of the extremist Class War

organisation, who said violence was the only way to overthrow

the state.

Members of tyhe 350-strong audience were also encouraged to

liaise on the Internet by ***********, a computer programmer.

He told them to use special directories run by anarchists;

some are booby trapped with viruses that attack the computers

of unauthorised intruders. He claimed last week that he

disapproved of violence. However, as an editor of Spunk, the

biggest anarcho-computing directory in Britain, has has

distributed files that include advice on "How to overthrow

the government", by robbing banks, disabling police vehicles,

stealing documents and inciting readers to arm themselves.

One of his groups contacts is an AIC cell in lower Saxony,

which boasts of carrying out a shooting at the metalworkers'

union offices in Cologne in November 1994. Other files on

the network report how bombs were placed at the offices of

polticial parties in Dusseldorf and Bremen last June. German

police are still investigating the incidents.

Heavens, whose files also include advice on the manufacture of

explosive devices, claimed his aim was to create a "meaningful

democracy".

Many of the anarchist files are on a special directory that is

overseen by ***************, a student at City University in

London. It is used by cells from London, Edinburgh, Glasgow,

Oxford and Bristol, who regularly update their material. *******

could not be contacted this weekend.

Police discovered the groups were singling out schoolchildren

as targets. One printout, entitled "81 ways to trash your

school", and circulating among Scottish pupils, encourages

readers to burn down school buildings using simple incendiary

devices made of cigarettes.

It also directed pupils to carry out citizen's arrests on

staff and take part in dirty protests and riots.

The technical resources and computer skills of the anarchists

have surprised police and experts. "We have been amazed at the

level of organisation of these extremist groups who have appeared

on the Internet in a short amount of time", said Simon Hill, editor

of Computing magazine, the trade journal.

Detectives investigating one anarchist cell found activists had

hacked into credit card computers, stealing thousands of pounds.

"Other groups we came across have the knowhow to take out the

phone network for the equivalent of an entire state in America"

said Craig Dure, of Lothian and Borders Police. The files also

reveal how anarchists plan to hijack the green movement.

Phreak, a group based in London, has drawn up a detailed plan

of attacks on construction companies across Britain. One file

reports a raid on the Snowdonia offices of the ARC, the

building firm, causing 10,000 pounds of damage to the company's

computer system. "We wiped out months of work" claimed the

author.

The anarchists have invited sympathisers from abroad to join in

attacks on the British economy. Dutch anarchists plan regular

looting trips to London, asking British contacts for legal advice

and addresses of suitable stores. A notice for a future expedition

advised: "Shopping is fun when everything is free".

Chris Smith, Labour's heritage spokesman, said the findings showed

the need for international agreements to ban groups preaching

violence from the information superhighway. "Current laws were

framed in the age of print. We need a new framework of rules for

the age of electronic communication."

Additional reporting by Iain Martin and Peter Warren.

*** Names have been removed