0:00:02 > 0:00:06This programme contains very strong language
0:00:12 > 0:00:16The computer hacker group Anonymous is claiming tonight
0:00:16 > 0:00:18that it took down the website of the Federal Appeals Court
0:00:18 > 0:00:20in San Francisco this afternoon.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23They took down senate.gov servers.
0:00:23 > 0:00:24They've taken down HBGary.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28Sony's claiming they did 150 million worth of damage.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30So many confidential files that, tonight,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33because of these hackers, can be in the hands of anyone.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36Visa, MasterCard, the PayPal situation.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39The criminals who hacked into Sarah Palin's private email.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45The Church of Scientology says Anonymous is a cyber
0:00:45 > 0:00:47terrorist group of religious bigots.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Anonymous and this other group called LulzSec,
0:00:50 > 0:00:52they seem to be wanting to prove a point.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58Anonymous kind of was like the big strong buff kid who had low
0:00:58 > 0:01:01self esteem and then, all of a sudden, punched
0:01:01 > 0:01:05somebody in the face and was, like, "Holy shit, I'm really strong!"
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Anonymous calls itself the final boss of the internet
0:01:11 > 0:01:14and sometimes it proves to be really fucking true.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18If you are going to violate the freedoms of the internet,
0:01:18 > 0:01:20you certainly better watch the fuck out.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23They are kind of the rude boys of activism.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30There's a real rough edge to them which I think also is one
0:01:30 > 0:01:34reason why they garner so much love and hate from people too.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39They represent a certain sort of chaotic freedom.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44Individual young, nameless, faceless folks
0:01:44 > 0:01:47are having geo-political impact.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51It's both exhilarating to realise that
0:01:51 > 0:01:53and terrifying to realise that.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57It kind of depends on how that power is wielded.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59We are legion.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02We do not forget.
0:02:02 > 0:02:03Expect us.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11We stand for freedom.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14We stand for freedom of speech, the power of the people,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17the ability for them to protest against their government,
0:02:17 > 0:02:18to right wrongs.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22No censorship, especially online, but also in real life.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28We have members throughout society
0:02:28 > 0:02:30and all stratas of it worldwide.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32We have no leadership.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35It's one voice. It's not individual voices.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38That's why we don't show our faces. That's why we don't give our names.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42We're speaking as one. It's a collective. Good timing.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11I got called a terrorist sympathiser.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14We've been called kids, we've been called cyber bullies,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16we've been called hooligans.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Sometimes those words aren't entirely unfair,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22but this is a serious political movement.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26No-one in the general public really seems to get it.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30What they don't seem to get is that the ability for Anonymous to
0:03:30 > 0:03:32be everything and anything is its power.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36Anonymous is a series of relationships.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38Hundreds and hundreds of people who are very active in it
0:03:38 > 0:03:41and who have varying skill sets
0:03:41 > 0:03:43and who have varying issues they want to advance
0:03:43 > 0:03:46and who are collaborating in different ways each day.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49They're a little bit like a prism or kaleidoscope.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52They've got many different facets and many different sides.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54Of course when you spend enough time with them,
0:03:54 > 0:03:59you start to get a sort of feel or texture that's not just random,
0:03:59 > 0:04:04right, yet it's very multifaceted, very rich, which does
0:04:04 > 0:04:08span from the quite light-hearted to the very, very serious.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14Bob Dylan had a line in a song saying to live outside
0:04:14 > 0:04:16the law you must be honest.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19They might do something which isn't technically correct,
0:04:19 > 0:04:24maybe it's not legally correct, but they're doing it for purposes,
0:04:24 > 0:04:26that, in their minds at least, are ethical.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29People who know what they're doing, who share an ethos,
0:04:29 > 0:04:34who have a commitment to exposing and humiliating the man who have a
0:04:34 > 0:04:38very low tolerance of lies and what
0:04:38 > 0:04:42they perceive as evil on the part of overweening power structures.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47They share information, they share tools and techniques
0:04:47 > 0:04:50and they are currently having a very good time.
0:04:52 > 0:04:59The hacker culture as we know it really sprang from one place, MIT,
0:04:59 > 0:05:05and it was specifically the people in the tech model railway club.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Hacking originated its humorous pranks
0:05:10 > 0:05:13when the guys at MIT put a Volkswagen up on top of the dome of
0:05:13 > 0:05:17the building and people woke up and saw the car up there in the morning.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21Or they measured a bridge by the body lengths of somebody,
0:05:21 > 0:05:22let's say his name was Brian,
0:05:22 > 0:05:26and discovered the bridge over the Charles River was 822 Brians.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28These are funny things.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31That's where hacking originated and migrated into engineering
0:05:31 > 0:05:34and computer communities.
0:05:34 > 0:05:35It's witty. It's pranks.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39I'm Chris Wysopal, former member of the Lopht.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42We don't necessarily say "hacking group" cos it makes it sound
0:05:42 > 0:05:45like we're hacking, but we used to call it a hacker's think-tank.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49Hacktivism was a term coined by a group called Cult Of The Dead Cow.
0:05:49 > 0:05:55The Cult Of The Dead Cow was really kind of, um,
0:05:55 > 0:05:58sort of like a propaganda type of organisation.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01They had a guy who was the Minister of Propaganda.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03They're kind of merry pranksters.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Everything they did was completely over the top.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09One of the guys there coined the term "hacktivism"
0:06:09 > 0:06:12because one of the things his group were doing which
0:06:12 > 0:06:15he called hacktivism was writing software that people in other
0:06:15 > 0:06:18countries could use to communicate securely, even if
0:06:18 > 0:06:19their government was spying on them.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22So the principle was really freedom of expression.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25It was everyone should have access to the internet.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Everyone should be able to communicate
0:06:27 > 0:06:29and get their message out on the internet.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32Even more important in countries where there was oppressive regimes,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35that if you said something against the regime,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38they would come and take you away and you weren't saying it anymore.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43Just like in traditional activism,
0:06:43 > 0:06:49it spans the full gamut from sit-ins or pickets to actually spiking
0:06:49 > 0:06:53trees and pouring sand into the engines of construction vehicles.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55I mean, there's real sabotage.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59The same thing does fall under the hacktivism label.
0:06:59 > 0:07:00There is a spectrum.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03There's sometimes a strong anarchist flavour to it as well.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Its resistance to authority
0:07:05 > 0:07:07and those who would impose group thinking
0:07:07 > 0:07:12and group behaviour on people, which was rightly perceived to be
0:07:12 > 0:07:15a consequence of the digital revolution,
0:07:15 > 0:07:21as it was used by people in power to do hacking on behalf
0:07:21 > 0:07:24of righteousness and to address the grievances of the world.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28Lance lowered Don Quixote on his horse,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31nag though she was,
0:07:31 > 0:07:34flying at the windmills of modern life.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39Anonymous grew out of what's known as 4chan.
0:07:41 > 0:07:47Essentially, this is just a website where people can upload images.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50You don't actually give your name. It's just sort of anonymous.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52When you look at 4chan, you're often surprised
0:07:52 > 0:07:55because it looks like a site from 1995 or something.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58The idea is very simple. You post a comment and you post a picture.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01You can post under your name or anonymously
0:08:01 > 0:08:04and it's separated into boards about particular topics.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07There's a topic on anime, there's a topic on weaponry.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10There's like a 4chan board for origami
0:08:10 > 0:08:12and you just upload interesting pictures of origami.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21And then there was a group called the /b/ board which
0:08:21 > 0:08:23essentially was for anything goes.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27The first time anybody goes on /b/ it's kind of an instant
0:08:27 > 0:08:30revulsion cos there's never a time that you go on there
0:08:30 > 0:08:32where you don't see something horrible.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34That easily puts off a lot of people.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38The idea is post something that can never be unseen.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46Half of the posts on /b/ are there specifically to make people
0:08:46 > 0:08:47not want to come back to /b/.
0:09:01 > 0:09:07It's the most vile, disgusting and funny thing on the internet.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16One of the important things about 4chan is to have a thread
0:09:16 > 0:09:20that really explodes and lasts for a long time.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24If it doesn't, then it disappears.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27It's a site that's not archived, so it creates
0:09:27 > 0:09:32conditions for anything that grabs attention at some level.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36And so humour and grotesqueness, as a result, are quite good for that.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07You'll see something posted one day and then, a week later,
0:10:07 > 0:10:09it's got 50,000 derivatives of it.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21A lot of the great internet memes that we all know and love,
0:10:21 > 0:10:23you know, LOLcats.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25Little cats doing funny things
0:10:25 > 0:10:28and then you have, "I Can Has Cheezburger?"
0:10:28 > 0:10:32All that stuff seems to start in this Petri dish
0:10:32 > 0:10:34that is 4chan /b/ board.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42# Say it publicly and you're insane
0:10:42 > 0:10:44# Chocolate rain. #
0:10:44 > 0:10:47Name any meme from the last six years and I'll bet you,
0:10:47 > 0:10:51either its first posting ever was on 4chan or at least
0:10:51 > 0:10:55one of its earliest revisions that became what it was, was on 4chan.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59- 'I can see the food situation is - BLEEP- so we'll be on our way.'
0:10:59 > 0:11:02# Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down. #
0:11:02 > 0:11:06It's basically the best breeding ground for internet culture
0:11:06 > 0:11:07as far as I'm concerned.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12# With your neighbourhood insurance rates, chocolate rain. #
0:11:13 > 0:11:164chan is also very known for acts of trolling.
0:11:32 > 0:11:33For them, it's funny
0:11:33 > 0:11:36that people think the internet is serious business
0:11:36 > 0:11:38and if people think the internet is serious business,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41it's a troll's job to make their luck tear.
0:11:43 > 0:11:48The idea of Anonymous came initially as a joke.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52Somebody suggested that what if the whole site, what if 4chan,
0:11:52 > 0:11:55what if /b/ was just one person?
0:11:55 > 0:11:57And what if that's just one guy called Anonymous sitting
0:11:57 > 0:12:01somewhere and you're just reading all these quotes by one guy?
0:12:01 > 0:12:05And it kind of looked like that from the outsider's perspective.
0:12:05 > 0:12:06There's no way to tell the difference.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08It might as well be one guy.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Fox News did a very famous segment about it.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13They call themselves Anonymous.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15They are hackers on steroids,
0:12:15 > 0:12:19treating the web like a real life video game, sacking websites
0:12:19 > 0:12:22and baiting mySpace accounts, disrupting innocent people's lives.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24And if you fight back, watch out.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29Destroy, Die, Attack.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31That's from a gang of computer hackers
0:12:31 > 0:12:32calling themselves Anonymous.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35I've had seven different passwords and they've got them all so far.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40Anonymous hacked his site and plastered it with gay sex pictures.
0:12:40 > 0:12:46- His girlfriend left him.- She thought that I was cheating on her with guys.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49As long as I can think back, Anonymous have done some
0:12:49 > 0:12:54pretty off-colour things in the name of getting cheap laughs.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56But that's part of the culture.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59DISGUISED VOICE: They get what they call LULZ.
0:12:59 > 0:13:05LULZ is a corruption of LOL which stands for Laugh Out Loud.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09Anonymous gets big LULZ from pulling random pranks.
0:13:09 > 0:13:14For example, messing with online children's games like Habbo Hotel.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18Habbo Hotel was this online community where you had an avatar
0:13:18 > 0:13:20and walked around and talked to other people.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24It was kind of like an early version of World Of Warcraft or
0:13:24 > 0:13:26Second Life or any of those virtual worlds.
0:13:26 > 0:13:32What the people on /b/ did was invade Habbo Hotel,
0:13:32 > 0:13:34created thousands of avatars.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39They all had this one uniform of this black guy with a big afro
0:13:39 > 0:13:43wearing a black suit, and so there would be thousands of these
0:13:43 > 0:13:48people, black guys, black suit, huge afro, walking around this world.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52They would do things like form a swastika out of themselves.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56I think that was a real landmark because it was
0:13:56 > 0:14:00when they were able to see that they can use their numbers to do
0:14:00 > 0:14:03something really interesting and really disruptive.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Most kids love that pool. They love the shit out of their pool.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20The goal was actually to offend everyone
0:14:20 > 0:14:23simply because the idea that we could offend you by drawing
0:14:23 > 0:14:26a little shape on the screen was stupid to the people involved in it.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28They were like, "Really?
0:14:28 > 0:14:31"You're going to get that mad over us just drawing this on the screen?
0:14:31 > 0:14:33"Wow!
0:14:33 > 0:14:36"You need to refocus a little on life cos this should not be
0:14:36 > 0:14:37"upsetting you that much."
0:14:39 > 0:14:44All these different organisations online, whether it's 4chan or
0:14:44 > 0:14:49just any website, there's typically a community aspect to it.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51This is where people have their social relationships.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53This is where their friends are.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55This is where they have a creative outlet,
0:14:55 > 0:15:00so all those aspects are going into groups like Anonymous where
0:15:00 > 0:15:02people feel like they're part of a bigger thing
0:15:02 > 0:15:05and they're able to express themselves within that group.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08There were certain words, certain phrases,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11certain ways people respond to things,
0:15:11 > 0:15:15certain images that were posted, that created a pattern
0:15:15 > 0:15:19and that pattern was the origin of what is now Anonymous.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21It's like Freemasons with a sense of humour in
0:15:21 > 0:15:23so much as they have this common symbology
0:15:23 > 0:15:27and one of their chief joys, wrapped up in power and secrecy,
0:15:27 > 0:15:30was the fact that they could recognise each other
0:15:30 > 0:15:34by referencing these symbols, referencing these phrases.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38- Over 9,000.- 'It's over 9,000.'
0:15:38 > 0:15:39I lost my iPod.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43Mudkipz. Anything involving Mudkipz.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46So you have this weird sort of international culture
0:15:46 > 0:15:50developing with people across the world wherever they may be.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55In late '06 and into early '07 there's a bit of a seachange
0:15:55 > 0:15:59where, instead of just posting a bunch of content or randomly
0:15:59 > 0:16:02saying we're going to go over to some website and post a bunch of
0:16:02 > 0:16:06dirty comments against someone, it becomes a little more organised.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08'Welcome to the Hal Turner Show.'
0:16:08 > 0:16:12They went after a guy named Hal Turner.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16'I am being discriminated against because I'm white.'
0:16:16 > 0:16:22Hal Turner was a neo-Nazi who was big on lying and had a podcast.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26'I think that the 14th Amendment was not ratified properly
0:16:26 > 0:16:29'and I think therefore it is still OK
0:16:29 > 0:16:32'to have negroes as slaves in America.'
0:16:49 > 0:16:56- 'Where are you calling from?' - 'Hola. This is Pedro.'- 'Spick.'
0:16:56 > 0:17:00He was just a horribly racist radio personality who seemed to
0:17:00 > 0:17:01handle it well when you called in.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04He could handle being berated by Anonymous
0:17:04 > 0:17:08and that made it very interesting. It made it a bit of a challenge.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11It wasn't some guy who just either crumbled or stopped answering
0:17:11 > 0:17:13the phone. It was a guy who would yell back.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16Hal Turner wasn't the first actual person that Anonymous caused
0:17:16 > 0:17:20trouble for, but the circumstances ended up being significant.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23They DDoS'd his website so it cost him
0:17:23 > 0:17:25thousands of dollars in bandwidth fees.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28Denial of Service has been around for a long, long time.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31The equivalent if you, for some reason,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34wanted to disrupt a bus service,
0:17:34 > 0:17:39you can hire 1,000 extras to all go and line up at the bus station
0:17:39 > 0:17:43and get on the bus so anyone who is really trying to get on the bus,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45couldn't do it.
0:17:45 > 0:17:46It's as simple as that.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49When you stop trying to visit, the website goes back up.
0:17:49 > 0:17:50No permanent damage.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16And then they ended up getting some real hackers to help them out.
0:18:16 > 0:18:17This wasn't pranks.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22They actually were able to get into Hal Turner's private servers,
0:18:22 > 0:18:26in his mail servers, and find some interesting emails
0:18:26 > 0:18:29that he was serving as an FBI informant which,
0:18:29 > 0:18:34if you're a right wing neo-Nazi, is not a good thing to be.
0:18:34 > 0:18:39And obviously, him being an FBI informant and also his douche-bag
0:18:39 > 0:18:42reaction to the raids
0:18:42 > 0:18:46damaged his credibility in the white nationalist scene, which is a shame.
0:18:47 > 0:18:48Hal Turner's gone.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53He's been prosecuted by the Feds for threatening judges.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55What follows is a period of confusion
0:18:55 > 0:18:56and anger in which people,
0:18:56 > 0:19:01the sort who want to keep Anonymous as this nihilist ridiculous
0:19:01 > 0:19:07group, are upset that now the most terrible thing on the internet
0:19:07 > 0:19:09is now becoming a force for good all of a sudden.
0:19:12 > 0:19:18I'm Mike Vitale and my handle's Sethdood. Now, this is January 2008.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22Anonymous is strong now. We're not a little dinky fucking group anymore.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24This is like millions of people worldwide and we're watching
0:19:24 > 0:19:28and then Scientology stepped in with a big target on its chest.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31A video came out of Tom Cruise that was supposed to be an internal
0:19:31 > 0:19:36Scientology video talking about secrets of Scientology.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Being a Scientologist, when you drive past an accident,
0:19:41 > 0:19:43it's not like anyone else.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46As you drive past, you know you have to do something about it
0:19:46 > 0:19:49because you know you're the only one that can really help.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52He talks about you're the only one who can stop bad things
0:19:52 > 0:19:56from happening and so this is widely mocked online.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59It circulated like wildfire.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03Instantly, the Scientologists post a DMCA,
0:20:03 > 0:20:05Digital Millennium Copyright Act,
0:20:05 > 0:20:07and this is a way that, if you own content,
0:20:07 > 0:20:08you can go to video sites, upload sites,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11and have your content pulled when someone uploads it illegally.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13Scientology is always at odds with the internet.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16Always trying to legally bully people out of fucking them over
0:20:16 > 0:20:19on the internet. They always did that.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21And here they are trying again, but, do you know what,
0:20:21 > 0:20:25Anonymous saw that and said, "Oh, you guys just
0:20:25 > 0:20:29"fucked around badly, like you're trying to censor our internet."
0:20:29 > 0:20:33You're trying to take a joke away from Anonymous. You don't do that.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35A few Anons, a few people on 4chan posted,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39"Hey, we should grab that video and post it on a few other sites."
0:20:39 > 0:20:43What followed was a term called the Barbra Streisand Effect.
0:20:43 > 0:20:48And this video, as they're attempting to suppress it, went everywhere.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Everywhere you look on the internet,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53you were going to stumble upon this video.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55Actually, Gawker, the site I worked for,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59was the first one to put it on the website and we got into a huge
0:20:59 > 0:21:02legal battle with Scientology who wanted us to take it down.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13Scientology is an interesting target because, in some ways,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17it's the perfect inversion of what geeks and hackers value.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21At so many different levels. Science fiction. Intellectual property.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25Discourses of freedom. Science and technology.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27It's very proprietary.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29It's closed.
0:21:29 > 0:21:35And so, in some ways, if you had something like a culture inversion
0:21:35 > 0:21:38machine and you stuck geeks and hackers in there,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41you'd get something that looks a lot like Scientology, so it's quite
0:21:41 > 0:21:47offensive and there's a real pleasure in attacking your perfect nemesis.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49People who knew what Anonymous was to begin with were like,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52"Oh, my God, Anonymous is going to go to war with Scientology?
0:21:52 > 0:21:54"This should be really interesting."
0:21:54 > 0:21:56Especially cos it's two weird-ass groups.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58I've been in Anon for a long fucking time.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01I know Anonymous is really strange.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04They're weird and the stuff we like is weird
0:22:04 > 0:22:08and it's really not mainstream at all. Now you have Scientology.
0:22:08 > 0:22:09Also really weird.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12A lot of crazy shit goes down.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14Anybody on the outside who sees this is going,
0:22:14 > 0:22:16"Let's watch these two retards fight.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18"Both their pants are going to fall down
0:22:18 > 0:22:21"and it's going to hurt everybody and it's going to be hysterical."
0:22:21 > 0:22:27And then, that's when 4chan kind of really reared into action
0:22:27 > 0:22:30and they started to troll the Church of Scientology.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33This took the form of pranking the Dianetics Hotline,
0:22:33 > 0:22:36ordering pizzas.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40I go to call them on the phone and it's busy, busy, busy.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45That's their main fucking Dianetics Hotline. Their Dianetics 800 number.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48You can't get through because Anons have completely fucking
0:22:48 > 0:22:50clogged it and probably saying stupid shit.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53The whole idea was just to keep them on the phone.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56"What's an L Ron? How do I Dianetics my face?"
0:22:56 > 0:22:59They were not expecting that. They couldn't handle it.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04I'm Brian Mettenbrink.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07I'd just gone to 4chan, pure happenstance,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11and I saw a post about the Scientology thing and I started
0:23:11 > 0:23:15looking up stuff and I'm like, "Oh, this is actually for a decent cause.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17"I think I'll do this."
0:23:17 > 0:23:22Anonymous members have developed a distributed Denial of Service attack
0:23:22 > 0:23:28to a Low Orbit Ion Cannon, which is the name taken from a computer game.
0:23:28 > 0:23:33Low Orbit Ion Cannon is what's called an endgame weapon
0:23:33 > 0:23:34in Red Alert.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38All you had to do was literally follow instructions step by step.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41You put it on the site. You see that the IP is correct.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44You make sure that all these settings are good then you
0:23:44 > 0:23:47hit the button and off it goes.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51And what it does, it tells scientology.org in this case,
0:23:51 > 0:23:55it tells them to send their website to my computer about,
0:23:55 > 0:23:59I think it was 800,000 times in a weekend
0:23:59 > 0:24:02and I'm pretty sure I probably took it down myself a couple of times.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07It felt like you were making a difference. You, yourself.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10You didn't even have to leave your home, you know.
0:24:10 > 0:24:11One of the guys said,
0:24:11 > 0:24:14"We need to make a video. We have to make a video."
0:24:14 > 0:24:18'Hello, leaders of Scientology. We are Anonymous.'
0:24:18 > 0:24:21When the video came out on January 21st,
0:24:21 > 0:24:27that was one of the first times Anonymous as a culture started
0:24:27 > 0:24:30referring to itself as Anonymous, as a movement.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32That video probably changed everything.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37'We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39'Expect us.'
0:24:39 > 0:24:42It basically looked like if a computer was going to tell you that
0:24:42 > 0:24:45he was going to beat the shit out of you, that's what it would look like.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49That one video really galvanised that moment of innovation.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56With that video, internet activism as it's known today, was born.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59And you just see this consensus forming that it's going to happen
0:24:59 > 0:25:01so we made the code of conduct.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Don't bring weapons. Dress accordingly.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05Cover your faces cos they will try and find out who you are
0:25:05 > 0:25:07and screw with your life.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10'Rule number 17 - cover your face.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13'This will prevent your identification from videos
0:25:13 > 0:25:14'taken by hostiles.'
0:25:14 > 0:25:19Scientology has a history of harassing, stalking and generally
0:25:19 > 0:25:21doing horrible things to its critics
0:25:21 > 0:25:24so people needed a way to hide their identities.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26A lot of people had very legitimate fears.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28They don't want to be followed home, stalked,
0:25:28 > 0:25:30or put their families or themselves in danger.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32Everyone was going, "We're going to wear a mask."
0:25:32 > 0:25:35What's the only fucking mask that we already know or have a joke about?
0:25:35 > 0:25:38It's the Guy Fawkes mask. You see the movie V For Vendetta,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41the ending scene where everyone's wearing a Guy Fawkes mask.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44That is very reminiscent of what Anonymous thinks Anonymous is.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54We wanted to represent anonymity in some way
0:25:54 > 0:25:56when it moved into real life.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00I think that the Guy Fawkes mask was one of the most natural things
0:26:00 > 0:26:04to happen. It is the idea that none of us are as cruel as all of us.
0:26:04 > 0:26:10You have this massive crowd of people who are anonymous that is
0:26:10 > 0:26:13going to fight against a bigger thing and win.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15Even after watching the video, yeah, this is great,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18but who's actually going to do it? Who's going to step up?
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Are people actually going to get out of their house?
0:26:21 > 0:26:25And I guess we were really affected by the stereotype of that
0:26:25 > 0:26:28whole community being internet nerds,
0:26:28 > 0:26:30too afraid to leave their moms' basements.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32No-one thought that they were going to come out.
0:26:32 > 0:26:37'This is me on the way there. I haven't slept. Very fucking tired.'
0:26:37 > 0:26:41And I remember going to the park that day and it's really fucking
0:26:41 > 0:26:43early in the morning, which I thought was a bad idea.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47Um, I'm smoking a cigarette, looking round. Where the fuck is everybody?
0:26:47 > 0:26:49There's nobody here.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54'So here I am sitting in Bryant Park.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56'Waiting for the other Anons to show up.'
0:26:56 > 0:27:00I remember thinking, "Oh, fuck, am I going to be the only one in the park?
0:27:00 > 0:27:03"Am I going to walk to Scientology with fucking six or seven people?"
0:27:03 > 0:27:06which totally defeats the entire purpose of this
0:27:06 > 0:27:08because now they could single me out.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10Then I get up, start walking around,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13and see there's a lot of green balloons over there for some reason.
0:27:13 > 0:27:19On the other side of the park there was, like, fucking 200 people.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21There were Guy Fawkes masks everywhere and I'm like,
0:27:21 > 0:27:23"Holy shit, this is huge!"
0:27:27 > 0:27:31'There's a fucking lot of us. That's pretty good.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36'I had no idea how many Anons there were until we started moving. Ha ha!'
0:27:36 > 0:27:38And it just fucking got bigger.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43I remember walking through Times Square
0:27:43 > 0:27:47and everybody in Times Square wasn't enough.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51This is like a fucking 1,000-person-per-minute foot traffic
0:27:51 > 0:27:55area, and everywhere I'm looking I'm seeing fucking Anon symbols.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58It was fucking wild. It was really wild.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25So we start getting numbers in and Sydney...
0:28:25 > 0:28:29We're thinking it's going to be 50 people.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34Before 10:00am, before even time, there's already 50 people there
0:28:34 > 0:28:37and there's still streams of people walking down the streets.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40A couple of hours into it, cos I didn't go to bed
0:28:40 > 0:28:44until one in the morning, you're looking at Sydney as,
0:28:44 > 0:28:45wow, there's 250 people in Sydney.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48The cops are estimating higher than that for their reports.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51What just happened?
0:28:51 > 0:28:53Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne happened
0:28:53 > 0:28:56and over 200 at each of them.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59We nearly broke 1,000 leaving Australia.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02Now, the next protest was Tel Aviv, which had actually
0:29:02 > 0:29:05got its first Scientology building right before this.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07There were Palestinians and Israelis at this protest,
0:29:07 > 0:29:08both holding their flags.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11At one point, they switched flags and held up each other's flags.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13It was awesome to see.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16I call our guy in London, BritAnon, and I say,
0:29:16 > 0:29:17"Hey, what's going on there?"
0:29:17 > 0:29:19And he's like, "Did you just get out of bed?"
0:29:19 > 0:29:22I said, "I haven't turned on the computer. I just figured
0:29:22 > 0:29:24I'd call you." He said, "We've got 600 people
0:29:24 > 0:29:26"and the cops are really, really mad at me."
0:29:28 > 0:29:33All the major cities were having hundreds of people come out. Massive.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35Clearwater had, like, 300 people.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40I don't think anyone beat out LA. I think LA had over 1,000 people.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48The thing that happened was something completely different and
0:29:48 > 0:29:53hundreds and hundreds of people from every city just swarmed the streets.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59It was kind overwhelming, a little scary, but in a good way.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01Soon we're at the 10,000 mark.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04We were joking all the time, "Over 9,000",
0:30:04 > 0:30:05you know, one of those memes.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08It was too surreal. It was not believable.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13- You go by what name? - We are Anonymous.
0:30:15 > 0:30:16It was very empowering,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19especially after people saw the thousands of people showing up.
0:30:19 > 0:30:24- This was it. We owned the world at that point.- We all met each other.
0:30:24 > 0:30:29The idea of an anon is you're fucking alone until you get to 4chan.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32Then these people think like you.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Then, all of a sudden, you're not alone.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38You are with fucking 500 others.
0:30:38 > 0:30:40They all know the same jokes as you.
0:30:40 > 0:30:45They all have clearly similar interests as you.
0:30:45 > 0:30:50Here's your culture. You meet your own people finally.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55It's perhaps a little surprising,
0:30:55 > 0:30:58it's not just pre-teens or teenagers.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01There's a far more even mix of males
0:31:01 > 0:31:04and females than you would imagine otherwise.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08You know, there were a lot of so-called guys who weren't
0:31:08 > 0:31:10socially good. They were very awkward.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13They still lived at home at 23. Half of them virgins.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16And I'll tell you, the amount of those people who got laid
0:31:16 > 0:31:21from these protests happening is in the thousands that
0:31:21 > 0:31:23would not have, for years probably.
0:31:23 > 0:31:25That's why those protests were so important.
0:31:25 > 0:31:29There was a chance to finally meet other people that were
0:31:29 > 0:31:31previously anonymous and unknown
0:31:31 > 0:31:35and, hence, it was the moment of the end of their anonymity.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43Scientology, they kind of fought back, so to speak.
0:31:43 > 0:31:45They posted stuff online.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48'While claiming they are peaceful, in less than three weeks,
0:31:48 > 0:31:51'Anonymous members made or encouraged
0:31:51 > 0:31:56'8,139 harassing or threatening phone calls.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00'3.6 million malicious emails.
0:32:00 > 0:32:05'141 million hits against church websites.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08'10 acts of vandalism.
0:32:08 > 0:32:10'22 bomb threats.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13'And eight death threats against members
0:32:13 > 0:32:15'and officials of the Church of Scientology.'
0:32:17 > 0:32:21They wanted to find me. They did. They hired PIs.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25They started taking pictures of us, threatening to sue us.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27I did the whole Low Orbit Ion Cannon stuff
0:32:27 > 0:32:34and then I pretty much went about my life after that for six months.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37Then the FBI showed up here at my parents' house.
0:32:37 > 0:32:42- Two men got out of the car. - Flashed their guns.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46Took their jackets off and laid their guns on the front seat
0:32:46 > 0:32:51and came up to ask us if Brian was home. And, um...
0:32:53 > 0:32:56..explained that they were the FBI and they were looking for Brian
0:32:56 > 0:32:57and I've never been so scared.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03I did the second most damage, is what Scientology said.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06I sent the second most out of everybody so I got the maximum for my
0:33:06 > 0:33:10category which was one year in prison and one year's supervised release.
0:33:14 > 0:33:19I think, the way I feel, for what I did was one of the most,
0:33:19 > 0:33:23like, lopsided punishments I've ever read about or heard of.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30Yeah, I think it's ridiculous, especially the year supervised
0:33:30 > 0:33:33release, where I can't touch a computer for a year.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35I'm not sure what that's supposed to solve,
0:33:35 > 0:33:37except to make my life difficult.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41So that computer behind me back there, I could go back to prison
0:33:41 > 0:33:43if I went over and touched it.
0:33:43 > 0:33:45I'm very proud of what he did.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48He stood up for what he believed in.
0:33:48 > 0:33:53I never would even dream of hurting anybody.
0:33:53 > 0:33:55It's just not me.
0:34:00 > 0:34:01Prior to Anonymous,
0:34:01 > 0:34:08critics of the Church still had to be very, very careful because of
0:34:08 > 0:34:12the aggressive law suits that were launched against academics,
0:34:12 > 0:34:13journalists and other critics.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15I would say that era's over
0:34:15 > 0:34:19and Anonymous, more than any other intervention,
0:34:19 > 0:34:22is probably responsible for that change.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24It's actually caused a decent rift in Anonymous.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28There was one significant group of people who'd say,
0:34:28 > 0:34:32"This Chanology stuff is cancer, it's awful, it's bad.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34"It's just bringing attention to us that we don't want."
0:34:34 > 0:34:38When Anon said it, well, once, "There is no leader,"
0:34:38 > 0:34:44their ops have momentary leaders, de facto leaders.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48Almost through meritocracy there's more respected or more
0:34:48 > 0:34:49persistent participants.
0:34:49 > 0:34:51Some people participate in a single operation
0:34:51 > 0:34:52and are never heard from again.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55Maybe a housewife who agrees with that political statement or protest.
0:35:31 > 0:35:36If you had asked me all throughout 2008 and most of 2009,
0:35:36 > 0:35:40is the politics of Anonymous always going to be sutured and hinged to
0:35:40 > 0:35:42the Church of Scientology?
0:35:42 > 0:35:45I would have said yes.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48And it became unsutured, unhinged
0:35:48 > 0:35:52when a different political wing was born in 2010.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00It is our task to find
0:36:00 > 0:36:04secret abusive plans
0:36:04 > 0:36:09and expose them where they can be opposed before they are implemented.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11The interesting thing about someone like Assange is that he
0:36:11 > 0:36:15actually also sprang from a hacker culture.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19- It's a mentality of spreading information.- Julian was Mendax.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22He was the greatest hacker that ever walked the face of the earth
0:36:22 > 0:36:23when I was a kid.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26I mean, they rumoured he could move satellites around in space
0:36:26 > 0:36:28by hacking into NASA.
0:36:28 > 0:36:29Maybe it never happened,
0:36:29 > 0:36:31but it was a myth that kept
0:36:31 > 0:36:33young kids like me wanting to plug
0:36:33 > 0:36:36a computer into a modem and see if I could move some satellites around.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39WikiLeaks is an extenuation of the hacker ethos.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42Truth wants to be free and we want to liberate it.
0:36:43 > 0:36:48WikiLeaks released a huge trove of diplomatic cables.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52There was a lot of controversy from every quarter of society.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56The WikiLeaks website released nearly 400,000 secret US files
0:36:56 > 0:36:58on the Iraq war today.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01It was the largest leak of classified US files in history.
0:37:03 > 0:37:08There was one particular moment that really sparked the fire and this was
0:37:08 > 0:37:15when PayPal, MasterCard and Amazon pulled services for WikiLeaks.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19So, all of a sudden, there's no way to process donations to WikiLeaks.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23Then people went and found neo-Nazi groups.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27Visa and MasterCard were perfectly fine with you being able to
0:37:27 > 0:37:30make donations to them.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32But, WikiLeaks? No.
0:37:50 > 0:37:56The numbers of participants were massive, massive.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01And they managed, over the course of a couple of days,
0:38:01 > 0:38:05to disable the websites of MasterCard and PayPal.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08It was beautiful,
0:38:08 > 0:38:11cos what you had is people finally stood up for something.
0:38:15 > 0:38:20My name's Pete Fein. You can call me an interknot or a hacktervist.
0:38:20 > 0:38:25Telecomix is an ad hoc cluster of volunteer net activists who
0:38:25 > 0:38:29have spent much of last year to keep the internet running in the Middle East.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33In the lead up to the Egyptian revolution,
0:38:33 > 0:38:34we would tweet on people's behalf.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36We would get people from Egypt,
0:38:36 > 0:38:40who were unable to access Twitter on their own, on our network
0:38:40 > 0:38:45and we would take reports from them and tweet them out using our account,
0:38:45 > 0:38:49to help them get the word out about what they were experiencing.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55Some of this shit is personal
0:38:55 > 0:38:58and one of the things about the movement as a whole,
0:38:58 > 0:39:00when Egypt rolled around, is that
0:39:00 > 0:39:03Egypt broke us emotionally.
0:39:03 > 0:39:08Watching in real time with live feeds that we helped set up,
0:39:08 > 0:39:10Egyptians get massacred with machine guns.
0:39:12 > 0:39:17It was different and I have never, in cyber activism, wept before.
0:39:17 > 0:39:18It's never bothered me like that.
0:39:18 > 0:39:22It's never been able to touch me the way Egypt touched me.
0:39:24 > 0:39:29And then January 27th, January 28th rolls around and the Egyptian
0:39:29 > 0:39:35government starts shutting down the internet for the whole country.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38There's this fantastic traffic graph that you can see the traffic
0:39:38 > 0:39:42coming out of Egypt. It's like this, goes like that. Just totally stops.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46We were just shocked, like, "What the fuck?"
0:39:46 > 0:39:51To think a country would completely cut itself off as much as it
0:39:51 > 0:39:56was able to from the outside world, was pretty unthinkable.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59You know, we know bad things go on in the dark places.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15I put myself in their place
0:40:15 > 0:40:20and I found myself in a desert of nothingness cos
0:40:20 > 0:40:24he just wiped out everything that my world incorporated.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28That showed me and everybody else that the same thing can
0:40:28 > 0:40:32happen at any time, anywhere in any government.
0:40:32 > 0:40:37Anonymous and the people on the internet stood up and said,
0:40:37 > 0:40:39"Go fuck yourself."
0:40:41 > 0:40:44You want to shut down their internet? Fine.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48The people on the internet will show them how to turn it back on.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12In Egypt, the care package we put together included some comms
0:41:12 > 0:41:16information, radio and dial modem details.
0:41:16 > 0:41:21In total, we helped coordinate and run about 500 dial-up modem lines.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28We also Googled up treatments for tear gas and other basic
0:41:28 > 0:41:32medical treatment and found folks who could translate that into Arabic.
0:41:32 > 0:41:38We put this together in a nice one-page PDF, a fax, and off it goes.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44- TRANSLATION:- President Hosni Mubarak has decided to
0:41:44 > 0:41:47step down from the office of President of the Republic.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23We had Egyptians come thank us as we're doing this stuff.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27I said, "Look, you guys just get our back if stuff goes down here."
0:42:29 > 0:42:34It's a revolution that was facilitated by the internet,
0:42:34 > 0:42:36by Facebook and by Twitter.
0:42:36 > 0:42:38Not caused by it.
0:42:38 > 0:42:4150 years of dictatorship has caused the Arab Spring
0:42:41 > 0:42:44but the internet has certainly been helping.
0:43:05 > 0:43:07Suddenly on February 5th,
0:43:07 > 0:43:10the Financial Times article comes out that we all see.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14It's quoting this guy named Aaron Barr,
0:43:14 > 0:43:18who's the CEO of HBGary Federal, which is an intelligence contractor.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22Aaron Barr is telling this Financial Times journalist Joseph Menn that
0:43:22 > 0:43:26he's been secretly monitoring the server where all this has
0:43:26 > 0:43:28been going on and has done so for several weeks
0:43:28 > 0:43:34and using his own custom brand of information operations techniques,
0:43:34 > 0:43:38has managed to identify the alleged leadership of Anonymous
0:43:38 > 0:43:41including "25 lieutenants" of some sort.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44We have to see this document. Everyone wants to know.
0:43:44 > 0:43:45We don't need to destroy him.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47We don't need to destroy his company, so they get it.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50It was unbelievably easy to get into that network.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54To put that in hacker terms, Anonymous is a hornet's nest
0:43:54 > 0:43:57and Barr said, "I'm going to stick my penis in that thing."
0:43:59 > 0:44:02The HBGary hack brought about 70,000 emails.
0:44:03 > 0:44:08Probably the most important ones had to do with a proposal that
0:44:08 > 0:44:11HBGary had already formulated.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14It was packaged up as a nice PowerPoint presentation,
0:44:14 > 0:44:19kind of act as privatised agent provocateurs where
0:44:19 > 0:44:22they were going to discredit WikiLeaks.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25HBGary was proposing submitting fake documents to WikiLeaks
0:44:25 > 0:44:29and then, when discovered as fake, the error could be called out
0:44:29 > 0:44:31and it would discredit WikiLeaks.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35So there's a lot of specifics I can't talk about so let me
0:44:35 > 0:44:38try to answer that, though, in a general sense.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44First of all, it's probably no surprise to anybody I'm not
0:44:44 > 0:44:45a big fan of WikiLeaks.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49I think the broad purpose
0:44:49 > 0:44:51of trying to get as much proprietary or
0:44:51 > 0:44:53classified information from the government
0:44:53 > 0:44:57and expose that is an extremely destructive and dangerous purpose.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02The proposals involved conducting information war on WikiLeaks
0:45:02 > 0:45:06and its supporters, creating dissension within WikiLeaks.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08The US attacks.
0:45:08 > 0:45:12You also wanted to launch cyber attacks on the WikiLeaks' infrastructure
0:45:12 > 0:45:14to get information on document submitters.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18One thing I want to make sure is clear is...
0:45:20 > 0:45:23..none of those activities had actually occurred.
0:45:23 > 0:45:25In business there's...
0:45:25 > 0:45:29When you start proposing or thinking about an idea,
0:45:29 > 0:45:33there's a brainstorming phase and somebody says, "What could we do?"
0:45:33 > 0:45:36- "What's theoretically possible?" - But still this was an idea.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39- This was proposed. It was something that you thought about.- Right.
0:45:42 > 0:45:47They also wanted to go on a campaign targeting Glenn Greenwald,
0:45:47 > 0:45:49who is a reporter for Salon.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51He's an outspoken critic of the government
0:45:51 > 0:45:53and supporter of WikiLeaks.
0:45:53 > 0:45:58- It seems like you're trying to attack a journalist here.- Yeah.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01Yeah, and I, you know, I don't want to talk too much
0:46:01 > 0:46:04more about Glenn Greenwald, other than what I've previously said.
0:46:04 > 0:46:09You know, there was never an intent to attack journalists.
0:46:10 > 0:46:16Not on my part. I should generalise that
0:46:16 > 0:46:20to say I would never just outwardly attack a journalist,
0:46:20 > 0:46:26other than if I felt there was a journalist, in my mind, that was acting unethically.
0:46:26 > 0:46:34That is... That's fair game for having a public discussion about.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37They were walking a very fine ethical line at points.
0:46:37 > 0:46:43And in many cases the mass opinion is, "No, they stepped well past it."
0:46:43 > 0:46:47I will not support broad theft of information released to the public,
0:46:47 > 0:46:50because that's nothing but destructive.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53If somebody has information that's been stolen from them,
0:46:53 > 0:46:57whether or not WikiLeaks encouraged the theft of that
0:46:57 > 0:47:00or whether or not it was just put in their lap,
0:47:00 > 0:47:03still they're threatening to release the information
0:47:03 > 0:47:07that was the private property of another organisation.
0:47:07 > 0:47:14So your choices are to just allow that to happen or to try to stop it.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18How offensive is too offensive?
0:47:18 > 0:47:21We've certainly seen a lot of strategy coming out
0:47:21 > 0:47:24of governments across the world now saying,
0:47:24 > 0:47:30publicly admitting that they need to develop better offensive strategies in cyber security,
0:47:30 > 0:47:36because defence as a whole isn't enough, it never is enough.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39In the court of public opinion, that took HBGary quickly from
0:47:39 > 0:47:43being a perceived victim to being a perceived a villain themselves.
0:47:43 > 0:47:44It was becoming harder and harder
0:47:44 > 0:47:47to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50And then kind of seemingly out of the blue
0:47:50 > 0:47:55there was something by the name LulzSec that sailed into the seas.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58LulzSec is sort of a group mostly from Anonymous who...
0:47:58 > 0:48:02a large part of the same people who hacked HBGary.
0:48:02 > 0:48:04And they decide to form this little group
0:48:04 > 0:48:10and carry on operations outside the purview of Anonymous for a while.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28The majority of Anons are not doing anything particularly illegal.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30When they are, a huge number of them
0:48:30 > 0:48:35try to do that in a very specific political context.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39For those people, what LulzSec was doing,
0:48:39 > 0:48:42they were funny but they were attacking random targets,
0:48:42 > 0:48:47they were breaking the quasi rules by attacking media.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51PBS's Frontline runs a documentary mainly focused on Bradley Manning
0:48:51 > 0:48:53the allegedly leaker to WikiLeaks.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57And a lot of Bradley Manning supporters didn't like it.
0:48:57 > 0:49:00They hacked a website putting a story that Tupac and Biggie
0:49:00 > 0:49:04had escaped the world of celebrity fame and attention
0:49:04 > 0:49:08and retired quietly and discreetly in New Zealand.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13When they attacked PBS, that gave me the creeps, you know.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16As a journalist I'm not too thrilled
0:49:16 > 0:49:20with the idea of someone judging, "We don't like you to write that."
0:49:20 > 0:49:24"We don't like your reporting, so we're going to shut down your website."
0:49:24 > 0:49:27I'm uncomfortable with that. It could be me
0:49:27 > 0:49:29and I could be writing something about a group they didn't like.
0:49:29 > 0:49:34And I'm happy to sit and talk with them about it,
0:49:34 > 0:49:36but don't shut my website down.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55Hacktivism started to become...
0:49:57 > 0:50:00..sort of almost more nasty,
0:50:00 > 0:50:05using more no-holds-barred kind of attacks,
0:50:05 > 0:50:08sort of more vicious attacks.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13They sort of saw themselves as going out there,
0:50:13 > 0:50:18breaking into anything, everything, governments, corporations,
0:50:18 > 0:50:24police departments, largely for the same reason Anonymous would.
0:50:25 > 0:50:29They went after Arizona for immigration policy.
0:50:29 > 0:50:36A 50-day run causing mayhem, havoc... and then ended it.
0:50:36 > 0:50:38The computer hacking group Lulz Security
0:50:38 > 0:50:40has announced it's disbanding,
0:50:40 > 0:50:44saying it had achieved its mission to disrupt government
0:50:44 > 0:50:46and corporate organisations for fun.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50I call this whole thing the rise of the chaotic actor.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53And chaotic could be chaotic good,
0:50:53 > 0:50:58neutral or evil, if you go back to the old Dungeons & Dragons charts.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01And some people see Anon ops initially as kind of good.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05They saw Operation Payback or they saw attacking Scientology
0:51:05 > 0:51:08and they say that's good, it's like Robin Hood, right,
0:51:08 > 0:51:11chaotic good, outside the system but doing something good.
0:51:11 > 0:51:13Other people saw Anon as kind of evil like The Joker,
0:51:13 > 0:51:18just want to see the world burn and doing potentially irreparable damage.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21And the truth is, yes, it's the entire column of chaotic.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24I'm actually a little less concerned about some of the things LulzSec's done
0:51:24 > 0:51:27and more concerned about the next generation of LulzSec,
0:51:27 > 0:51:28the next turn of the crank
0:51:28 > 0:51:32of who takes it further or is more aggressive.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34Whoever fights monsters should see to it
0:51:34 > 0:51:35they don't themselves become one.
0:51:37 > 0:51:42Really, as powerful as they seem to be, LulzSec and Anonymous
0:51:42 > 0:51:46are really small potatoes compared to the bigger operations
0:51:46 > 0:51:49that are going on that we don't hear about,
0:51:49 > 0:51:51maybe operations funded by government.
0:51:53 > 0:51:5516 people were arrested today.
0:51:55 > 0:51:57Dozen of FBI agents targeted
0:51:57 > 0:52:00alleged members of the loose knit hacking group.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03Armed with search warrants, agents hit six homes in New York
0:52:03 > 0:52:05along with locations across the country.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08The people arrested yesterday were suspected of attacking
0:52:08 > 0:52:12PayPal's website after the company shut off payments to WikiLeaks.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16Defenders of the hackers say they're merely engaged in civil protest,
0:52:16 > 0:52:19but FBI officials worry the disruptive cyber attacks
0:52:19 > 0:52:22could move in a more dangerous direction.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25So the FBI shows up at six in the morning. It was really obnoxious.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28And I remember being frustrated and angry
0:52:28 > 0:52:31because there was nothing that I had done
0:52:31 > 0:52:34that would have justified an FBI search warrant.
0:52:34 > 0:52:36They came and...
0:52:36 > 0:52:39guns blazing and all this other good stuff,
0:52:39 > 0:52:44busted down the door. I immediately just dropped down to the floor, 180.
0:52:44 > 0:52:46I wasn't trying to fight nobody.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49Even if you accept what the government is saying is true,
0:52:49 > 0:52:54what is important is that people are participating in the process.
0:52:54 > 0:52:56It is very much the process.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00It is sitting-in at a counter in Selma, Alabama,
0:53:00 > 0:53:03500 freedom rioters refusing to allow
0:53:03 > 0:53:06people to go and sit-in at a segregated lunch counter.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08They write books about that stuff.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11It is demonstrating at a street corner saying no to a war.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15It's just a different vehicle. It's the same result.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18There's always going to be legal consequence
0:53:18 > 0:53:20when you decide to break the law.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22That comes with the territory.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25And it would be naive not to expect that.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28The question is whether the punishment
0:53:28 > 0:53:31will be proportional to the crime.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34And I suspect it might not be.
0:53:34 > 0:53:40People will be watching very closely to see how these cases proceed,
0:53:40 > 0:53:44on what grounds and whether there's any room during the trials
0:53:44 > 0:53:47to think, especially of the denial-of-service attacks,
0:53:47 > 0:53:51as a legitimate form of protest.
0:53:54 > 0:53:59So much of our lives are now configured at least in part on the internet,
0:53:59 > 0:54:01so we better start thinking about how
0:54:01 > 0:54:06we claim parts of the internet as spaces we can also protest in.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11There is a certain online culture that believes in certain values,
0:54:11 > 0:54:15like freedom of expression, they're against corruption,
0:54:15 > 0:54:18they're against governments controlling their citizens.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21And when they see those values harmed in some way,
0:54:21 > 0:54:25by some organisation, the hacktivists strike back.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28I don't think this whole issue is a technical hacking thing,
0:54:28 > 0:54:31this is more about human philosophy and psychology.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33What's motivating us?
0:54:33 > 0:54:37Why is there so much unrest or disenfranchisement or anger
0:54:37 > 0:54:39that would lead people to want to take matters
0:54:39 > 0:54:41in their own hands and join in.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45Whether you think it's bad or not is irrelevant, it's not going away.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47The part of me that likes the ability
0:54:47 > 0:54:51to have rapid destabilisation and change loves this.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53The part that knows how powerful it is,
0:54:53 > 0:54:56means it's a force multiplier for good or for evil.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59And how that power is wielded and how we want to self-regulate
0:54:59 > 0:55:01is going to be the most deciding factor
0:55:01 > 0:55:04in whether this is a menace or a benefit.
0:55:06 > 0:55:10I certainly don't think most of the conversations in law enforcement
0:55:10 > 0:55:12or the government are informed enough
0:55:12 > 0:55:14to know how to deal with this.
0:55:14 > 0:55:19I suppose the question you really want to ask is, would I do it again?
0:55:19 > 0:55:22Erm... and honestly after thinking about it...
0:55:23 > 0:55:26..I felt that I did what was right.
0:55:26 > 0:55:31I had a belief, I still do, that what I did was the right thing.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34And hopefully someone got some good out of it.
0:55:34 > 0:55:39I'd love to think that maybe I stopped someone from joining a cult.
0:55:39 > 0:55:41I probably wouldn't tell them myself next time,
0:55:41 > 0:55:45but I don't think I would have changed a single thing other than
0:55:45 > 0:55:47the whole talking to the FBI thing.
0:55:48 > 0:55:49It's just that little detail.
0:55:49 > 0:55:53It's just that little detail that changed everything, yeah.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57I'm angry.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01Occasionally, I have small breakdown moments...
0:56:01 > 0:56:04- of terror. - SHE LAUGHS
0:56:04 > 0:56:08But I haven't stopped believing what I believed.
0:56:08 > 0:56:13I haven't stopped wanting to fight. I haven't stopped caring.
0:56:13 > 0:56:15ALL CHANT
0:56:15 > 0:56:19# Tell me what democracy looks like! #
0:57:17 > 0:57:20I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican
0:57:20 > 0:57:24or an Independent or if you like Ron Paul.
0:57:24 > 0:57:30Or if you worship pigeons or Scientology or if you're Catholic
0:57:30 > 0:57:34or atheist or Methodist. I don't care about that.
0:57:34 > 0:57:35Your opinion matters.
0:57:35 > 0:57:40I don't care if I disagree with it. I don't care if I hate your guts.
0:57:40 > 0:57:43Your opinion matters.
0:57:45 > 0:57:48Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd