[HN Gopher] A new wave of Hacktivists is turning the surveillanc...
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       A new wave of Hacktivists is turning the surveillance state against
       itself
        
       Author : colinprince
       Score  : 114 points
       Date   : 2021-08-30 14:37 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (therecord.media)
 (TXT) w3m dump (therecord.media)
        
       | duxup wrote:
       | I like to think the idea of freedom loving hackers are out there
       | working to do good / making a difference.
       | 
       | But myself, and even folks in the media have been burned by other
       | groups who we cheer on for a while, but have proven to have more
       | specific motives and are happy to omit information or push their
       | own, less honest narrative.
       | 
       | It's a tempting fairy tale. I wish it were true but I'm
       | skeptical.
        
         | sk2020 wrote:
         | Given the targets are Iran and Belarus, I'd guess the
         | "hacktivists" are US State Department contractors.
        
         | wizzwizz4 wrote:
         | That was mostly just Anonymous, wasn't it?
        
           | duxup wrote:
           | Yes, but there were a few other groups that claimed to be
           | doing that thing even if for a moment.
           | 
           | Wikileaks too to some extent, not as hackers but as far as
           | disseminating information.. but honestly I'd rather not get
           | into that aspect too much as wikileaks is a hard conversation
           | to have online these days.
        
       | t-3 wrote:
       | I like how the conditions they are showing in the prisons are
       | exactly the same if they had hacked prisons in the USA.
       | Government malfeasance seems to be a universal.
        
       | traveler01 wrote:
       | Some Watch Dogs vibes right here. Keep it up!
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | clipradiowallet wrote:
       | On the surface, from a US perspective, it seems like all
       | publicly-funded surveillance should be accessible to...the
       | public. I realize this is not the case, things don't usually work
       | out [in government] the way they "should". There is a litany of
       | canned responses to those types of requests, usually that involve
       | the phrase "national security".
       | 
       | Consider though, the "hackers" mentioned in this story are
       | wanting to see the footage that they bought with their tax
       | dollars. If caught, they will be charged, convinced, and
       | imprisoned...for wanting to see what they paid for. Sad state of
       | affairs, but what can anyone do about it?
        
         | kccqzy wrote:
         | This is not a new idea. There's been plenty of debate and cases
         | about whether FOIA applies to surveillance footage. Generally
         | the raw footage is subject to FOIA requests, but any inferences
         | are probably not.
        
         | jimbob45 wrote:
         | There's some speculation and evidence[0] that a great deal of
         | state surveillance is actually dedicated to state-sponsored
         | industrial espionage. On some level, any government is going to
         | have to match rival governments' corporate spying or risk
         | falling behind.
         | 
         | [0]
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_espionage#United_St...
        
           | miketery wrote:
           | Can you explain further? Are you saying domestic surveillance
           | is leveraged by external state actors? Or that domestic
           | surveillance is used to stop external state actors ?
        
             | staplers wrote:
             | It's obviously implied US agencies are spying on foreign
             | corporations/companies to bring trade secrets to US
             | corporations/companies/agencies.
        
         | staplers wrote:
         | This would remove even the thinnest barrier for other nations
         | to benefit from this info without having "paid" for it.
        
       | ljw1001 wrote:
       | These kind of stories serve primarily to further the interests of
       | the surveillance state and its big tech competitors/enablers by
       | making it seem as if there is a ethical outsider community with a
       | real chance of being an effective counter-balance. There isn't.
        
       | bilekas wrote:
       | This is incredible. And although I can't condone unauthorized
       | entry to any system or network. At least this was (on the
       | surface) for a nobel cause. I don't think it will have any impact
       | though, maybe the usual "we condemned these actions" with no
       | action after.
       | 
       | If I remember Iran has in the past enacted some complete external
       | lockdowns of the internet. I wouldn't be surprised to see more of
       | that. Sadly.
        
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       (page generated 2021-08-30 23:02 UTC)