Hacktivist group "Anonymous" targets the Federal Reserve

By now you have probably heard of this relatively new thing called hactivism.  In short, hactivism is political activism and civil disobedience using computer hacking "skillz" instead of traditional activism in the form of petitions, in-person demonstrations, signs, sit-ins and riots.  In either case, the goal is to bring down the corrupt con men at the top who have stolen control of the people through guile, sophistry and money scams.  The hactivism/activism strategy for achieving this goal is simple: pile more political weight onto the backs of the liars and scum bags until their system of control collapses under the load. 

Traditional activism seeks to bring political pressure by getting more people aware and involved.  If sufficient numbers of people stand up and say “no mas” then the con game is over.  Corrupt and immoral government con men and strong men cannot stand when the masses have turned against them.  Just ask Ben-Ali, Mubarak, et al.  In Greece, the 2008 shooting death of a teenage boy by government thugs served as a catalyst for riots.  In Tunisia, the sheeple-awakening catalyst was the self-immolation of a street vendor in response to heavy handed government treatment against him. 

The problem with activism is that it is costly and risky to those engaged in it.  In fact, history shows that it can be deadly to the protestors.   Government scammers don't like to be made fools of.  Accidents happen.  People get "heart attacked".  Activism is a difficult path to walk.  Activists have to, by the very nature of their tactics, be very visible.  They are easy targets.  Few are those in the herd with the stones to lead change in this manner and so the abuses continue, mainly unchecked, until the stench of the elitist corruption becomes too great for even the most weak kneed in the herd to bear.  Until that happens, the herd members see others getting screwed to the left and to the right but since they themselves have not gotten really screwed yet they don't see any reason to get involved.  Even as the situation escalates prior to hitting critical mass, most people are so intimidated by government that they won't even talk about it and they will oftentimes shout down those who do.  Activists must:

• Put themselves out there and expose themselves and their families to state retribution
• Expose themselves to ridicule by others in the herd who are benefiting from the status quo
• Spend lots of time and money convincing others to join the cause.  This is generally only effective after the symptoms of the underlying corruption are too great/affect too many people to ignore anymore.  See Greece and the PIIGS.
• Overcome hurdles of getting people to self organize and to agree on anything.  The larger the group, the more difficult this becomes.  Government and the elite rely heavily on the historical inabilty of unfunded groups to organize effectively in their own defense, even if the lives of those affected are at stake.
• Waste countless time and energy in fund raising operations.
• Risk becoming unemployable.

The list goes on and on but perhaps worst of all they risk doing a lot of work that really has no real effect on the ruling elite. Activism is analogous to early American independence militia (AKA "farmers and traitors" if you happened to be British at the time) confronting the well trained, well equipped, well managed British army in the middle of a lonely field somewhere during the US war for independence and shooting it out at 50 paces.  This head to head numbers game may be brave but it's not too smart.

Enter hactivism.  This 21st century innovation has the potential to address all of the above shortcomings of traditional activism and more.  Hactivists do not bravely (stupidly?) march out onto the field of battle and duke it out against a superior fighting force.  Instead, their fortified castles are computers.  Their moats are Internet communications links.  Their foot soldiers are other people's computers which they have taken over with root kits and other 'bot” software to do their bidding on demand.  Their spies and allies are the very computer systems of their enemies.

Hactivists are intelligent and they are patient.  They can afford to be patient because they remain Anonymous.  They pick their targets and they pick their times.  They do not fight on the terms dictated by the ruling elite but instead they control the battlefield and the rules of engagement.  Hactivists use leverage.  They fight battles in cyberspace where a few very intelligent people can outwit and overpower masses of government minions.  Hactivists are like snipers with very high powered, very accurate cyber weapons.  Their greatest ally is the built in weakness and imperfection of people because an imperfect person cannot write perfect software and hactivists leverage these imperfections to their advantage.  

Unlike activists, hactivists do not need to convince the masses of the value of their cause.  Overt attempts to do so are part of the strategy of misdirection.  Hactivists might call for but do not actually need public support. They do not need to seek donations.  They do not need to spend time carrying signs in the sun or rain or to risk arrest or to risk being tracked and potentially even eliminated by the state.  Hactivists hold full time jobs and good paying ones at that.  They are not on the outskirts of society barely scraping by which is the condition of many activists. Their families are at little risk from their activities.  Hactivists never engage in violent physical clashes with police.  Their understanding of computer systems, communications systems and modern automation give them power far beyond that which is available to any traditional activist group. 

Government and the elite establishment rely heavily on computerization and automation in order to maintain control.  By disrupting these systems, hactivists are able to draw attention to their cause while forcing government to spend time, energy and money that it potentially does not have into reacting to the attacks.  Being an elitist con man is not easy when the con is collapsing - just ask Merckel and Sarkozy and Trichet.  You could ask Obama too, but wait a couple years because the collapse has not yet impacted the US like it is hitting the Eurozone or MENA.  Yet.  Hactivism is just one more thing for these con men to worry about.

There are many other ways that hactivism is far more effective than traditional activism.  For example, hactivists have an easier time gaining access to intelligence.  They break into government computers to steal the incriminating or embarrassing documents.  These documents can be distributed globally in a matter of hours (Wikileaks, anyone?).  Once out on the Internet, there is nothing that can be done to stop the dissemination.  The Internet never forgets. 

However, the real threat of hactivists is that it they can disrupt the control mechanisms which keep the majority of the people on the sidelines.  Imagine, for example, if someone hacked into the welfare system and took it down.  Millions of people would go without their government supplied free lunch.  No money = no food and no rent payment.  This would bring millions of sheeple to the streets in the US every bit as effectively as did the shooting of a child in Greece or the self immolation of a street vendor in Eygpt.  If Los Angeles riots of 1992 happened just because the electricity went out, just imagine what would happen if the government subsidized living cash disbursement system went down for 2 months.  We are talking major chaos and chaos is oftentimes the best if not only catalyst for change.

Of course, the hactivists already know all this to say the least.  In fact, they know it so well that they are smug in their communications.  They know that their little hacking of websites, etc. to date are just the tip of the iceberg of their potential capabilities.  Bringing down the welfare payment system would cause carnage but imagine the damage to elite that would be caused by wiping out electronic accounts all over the world.  All they have to do is put the fear of being “electronically erased” into the sheeple in order to cause a run on all major world banks.  That would bring down the global financial system in short order.

But the hactivists in their self assured smugness are not jumping directly to that “nuclear option”.  Instead they are ratcheting up the stakes in a controlled manner which I take to be a sign of strength.  They likely have a lot more ammunition in reserve should smaller efforts not produce the desired change.  However, the stakes are rising rapidly as I type.  The current big target of the hactivists is the Federal Reserve.  Anyone with a brain knows that the Fed is a massively corrupt scam.  Now, perhaps the leading hactivist organization -which calls itself Anonymous- has brazenly demanded that Ben Bernanke step down "or else".  They even gave him a 90 day grace period to leave.  The 90 day grace period has expired and Anonymous is now promising an attack on the Fed. 

It’s put up or shut up time for the hactivists.  The Fed is a very powerful organization with literally unlimited funds at their disposal given that they control the printing presses.  They currently do not fear Anonymous.  This is a big mistake IMO.  The Fed relies on computers and communications systems as much as anyone and likely even more than most.  The Fed does not have a big anti-cyber attack team.  It is a sitting duck which thinks that it is an eagle.  If Anonymous is successful in doing any significant level of damage to the Federal Reserve’s operations then it could and likely would shake global financial markets like a 9.0 magnitude earthquake.  It's a big "if", but such a demonstration of cyber power would send many more people who currently feel helpless into the ranks of Anonymous.  Their power and political clout would grow.

The cyber battle has just started.  It will likely be a long and drawn out affair.  Get a bag of popcorn and watch the show.