Every now and then someone suggests to me that my life would be better if it were more normal. If I spent less time on Twitter. If I had a “real” job. If I were more of a generalist, and focused less on WikiLeaks, Anonymous, and hackers. Maybe do some fashion blogging, try out some AdSense. You know, normal stuff, stuff that is not so…badass.
Keep Calm and FUCK YOU WITH A CHAINSAW!
How about: No?
I know you all mean well, but since when has “normal” ever been normal for me?
So there I was the other day, hanging out on Twitter and watching my timeline, which has become much bloodier than anything you’ll see on CNN lately (since I weeded out all the “social media gurus” and “marketing inspiration artistes”), and I saw something amazing and, without waiting for an editor to assign it I went ahead and Storified it, which is basically putting the tweets in order so that they form a story. Alas, as I mentioned earlier, I can’t embed it here in any form that will work, but I can link to it and to the full story I put on the website and I can tell you that there is more on this story coming Monday. And maybe more after that, if Kylie will talk to me.
And how does this heartwarming story of Anonymous and others coming to the rescue of a suicidal teen come into Operation Global Media Domination? With a hell of a bang, that’s how.
I don’t do this often, but I’m doing it today: sending you to a different site to read the story, because it’s a Storify and it won’t embed here. But it’s an important story and you will be very, very glad you read it. A fifteen-year-old girl was on the brink of suicide when her real life enemies jumped on Twitter to encourage her to do it. That’s when Anonymous and Rustle League stepped in. I’ve never been prouder of them.
I know it only because I took their Manifesto (and y’all will recall how fond I am of Manifestii) and ran it through the Haiku Finder (and y’all will recall how fond I am of the Haiku Finder). And these were the surprisingly evocative result:
– it needs rewriting,
but for historical sake
I’ve left it unchanged.
+ Why is this so?
Why have these dominated?
What else is needed?
How this is achieve
is what most of the features
here are all about.
Tort law, threats of grant
or contract removal, all
are limiting speech.
– Statements from senior
intelligence officials
reflect this concern.
Niches will be filled.
12.3.4. The deep nature of money
is unclear to me.
12.15. Outlawing of Cash
12.15.1. “What are the motivations
for outlawing cash?
Perforce, people will
engage in contracts only
voluntarily.
– (For those of you who
think such bypasses of laws
are immoral, tough.
With liquid markets
for liquidations, things may
change dramatically.
Dealing with Such Things:
+ never link physical
ID with pseudonyms!
from records that were
public and that I am now
selling access to?
But pretty clearly
some amazing new structures
will be built this way.
“What role, if any,
will MUDs, MOOs, and Virtual
Realities play?
That, my friends, is a question I ask myself every day. And then I google to find out what it means.
UPDATE: The bail hearing was moved to Tuesday at 11, so the rally has been moved as well, to Tuesday at 10. Everything else remains the same.
Here’s the word straight from his step-mom’s mouth:
OK WE HAVE A NEW TIME AND DATE FOR THE HEARING: The date is Tuesday 11/20 and the time is at 11am. We will meet at Foley Square at 10am and head to courtroom 12A. Can I please get a like from the people who are going to confirm this. I was told that it is likely that the courts are changing the dates to minimize the number of people attending the hearing. DO NOT LET THEM BEAT US!
If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time (and if you haven’t, just nod your head as if of course, who hasn’t been following all along?) you’ll know that my day job, usually performed between the hours of 7pm and 6am, is that of a journalist, freelancing at the Daily Dot, Slate, and elsewhere, as well as the Manolosphere (when I’m not AWOL with the flu, sorry boss!). I’m supposed to have a certain degree of objectivity while performing my job, but there are entire minutes of the day when I am not performing (or even procrastinating) my job, and I may make completely subjective statements such at the following:
Jeremy Hammond is a fucking hero whose only crime was fucking up an FBI entrapment operation he had no particular reason to know existed. If I had a son or daughter, I would hope they’d turn out like him. I hope, put to the test, that I would as well.
What is alleged is that when LulzSec (remember LulzSec? You should, people will be reading about them in history books in the future) hacked private security and intelligence company Stratfor, Sabu, the de facto leader, who was also secretly working for the FBI (stories about hackers have a lot of conditionals: phrases, morals, you name it), attempted to entrap WikiLeaks into paying for the secrets, which would have been a whole bundle of felonies. Hammondallegedly said (quite rightly) “Fuck that shit” more or less, “We didn’t hack this for money, we did this because it’s the right thing to do,” and allegedly handed the leaks to WikiLeaks for free, blowing the FBI‘s plan out of the water.
As the FreeAnons site says,
There is ample evidence to show that the Stratfor hack was organized, planned, and orchestrated by the FBI, through the agency of Hector Monsegur, [Sabu] for the expressed purpose of entrapping alleged Anonymous hacktivists. We understand that Jeremy’s years of organizing for social justice show him to clearly possess a more noble character than that of his accuser, Hector Monsegur, best known for hacking into the website of an online casino and using his former employer’s credit card in 2010 to make $15,000 in unauthorized purchases. These things clearly show that Monsegur is not a reliable witness or person of good moral character.
November 19th Hammond, who has been held for months without a hearing, will finally be given a bail hearing. Supporters are calling for all like-minded people to attend, in Anonymous wear if they prefer, at a noisemaking rally and then in court. You can indicate your attendance on Facebook or simply show up. Here are the details:
9:15 am, Monday, November 19th, 2012, ie one week from today
Foley Square, Manhattan
On the 19th of November 2012, the Jeremy Hammond Support Network will sponsor a rally in NYC at Jeremy’s bail hearing to show support for the accused hacktivist. Friends and supporters of Jeremy Hammond will gather at Foley Square for a brief march to the Metropolitan Correctional Center where we will pack the courtroom in solidarity with Jeremy Hammond.
We wish to make clear our intent to peacefully fill the courtroom. We are there to support Jeremy and the more people that actually make it into the court
room the better. We have been told that in the past individuals have been denied access to the court for wearing Anonymous-related emblems. Jeremy wishes to make it clear that he encourages people to wear their Anonymous gear if they so wish.
The event will be covered live on irc.anonops.com #freeanons via sms-irc, courtesy of the the Freeanons Solidarity Network (www.freeanons.org).
If your support doesn’t extend to physical presence, taking the day off work, or you’re not handy to Manhattan (as I, myself, am not), you can support Jeremy Hammond and other incarcerated Anons by:
If you have the mailing address for any incarcerated Anons, you can post them in the comments below. And no, I’m not trying to get your IP. I assume all Americans still use AOL anyway.
