I can't be sure exactly who said it, but it's caught my attention.
Shortly after shutting down the website of the united States Sentencing Commission on Saturday, Jan. 26, internet 'hacktivist' group Anonymous released a video titled "Operation Last Resort" in which the group expressed its frustration at the U.S. justice system as a whole, specifically relating to the suicide of internet activist and Reddit employee Aaron Swartz.
If you haven't seen it yet, I'd put it on your "to do" list.
Suggestively spliced with footage from the 1983 film "Wargames" among graphics of Wall Street and other political propaganda, the nine-and-a-half minute video begins with a statement (read by a computerized, anonymous voice) that the group has "...observed for some time now the trajectory of justice in the United States with growing concern. We have marked the departure of this system from the noble ideals in which it was born and enshrined."
It then acknowledges a silent fury in Swartz's death, blaming the current justice system in the U.S. as stacked against those who try to battle it in any way.
"Two weeks ago today, a line was crossed. two weeks ago today, Aaron Swartz was killed. Killed because he faced an impossible choice. Killed because he was forced into playing a game he could not win -- a twisted and distorted perversion of justice -- a game where the only winning move was not to play."
The video continues to criticize the united States for its highly dis- proportionate sentencing of certain crimes including, but not limited to, hacking.
It then details how Anonymous has information related to the current nine Supreme Court justices that has been released in encrypted form over the web to form a 'warhead' which could potentially destroy the fabric of the justice system.
I'll admit that the video is well done and highly convincing from the first watch, but any healthy skeptic has to wonder if the group is simply fronting data muscle. There's not many resources to accurately confirm the information.
Is this really the last resort, Anonymous? Will a swift blow to the justice system as we know it magically solve all our problems?
Support from the internet community has seemed to sway either way since Saturday, with some still referring to the group as 'hacktivists' in celebration while others labeling it as full of cyber terrorists, threatening simply to demonstrate an upper hand.
To my knowledge, officials in Washington D.C., have not responded to the group's claims publicly. I've often wondered if the current administration considers them a threat at all.
Operation Last Resort ends with a chilling quote: "This time there will be change, or there will be chaos..."
Sounds like a threat to me.
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