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Hacktivists in the frontline battle for the internet
Hacktivists in the frontline battle for the internet
(12 days later)
If there is a battle over the future shape of the internet – and society as a whole - then hacktivist groups such as Anonymous and Lulzsec, Wikileaks and the file-sharing site Megaupload.com are among the frontline battalions.
If there is a battle over the future shape of the internet – and society as a whole - then hacktivist groups such as Anonymous and Lulzsec, Wikileaks and the file-sharing site Megaupload.com are among the frontline battalions.
While the individual incidents and clashes involving these groups may seem disparate and unconnected, those at the core of online activism say all these organisations, plus relatively mainstream movements such as Occupy and the Pirate Party, are linked.
While the individual incidents and clashes involving these groups may seem disparate and unconnected, those at the core of online activism say all these organisations, plus relatively mainstream movements such as Occupy and the Pirate Party, are linked.
John Perry Barlow, lyricist for the Grateful Dead and co-founder of the well-known advocacy group Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF), says the over-arching motivation of such efforts, whatever tactics are used, was to shift the nature of society.
John Perry Barlow, lyricist for the Grateful Dead and co-founder of the well-known advocacy group Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF), says the over-arching motivation of such efforts, whatever tactics are used, was to shift the nature of society.
"What unites these groups is the belief that the future is not about vertical, hierarchical government, but horizontal [peer-to-peer] government," he said. "This pits the forces of the information age against those of the industrial age, as we move from scarcity of information to abundance. The last year has established our ability to have revolutions, but not to govern in their wake – but that's coming.
"What unites these groups is the belief that the future is not about vertical, hierarchical government, but horizontal [peer-to-peer] government," he said. "This pits the forces of the information age against those of the industrial age, as we move from scarcity of information to abundance. The last year has established our ability to have revolutions, but not to govern in their wake – but that's coming.
"Different groups are on a spectrum. Organisations like the EFF would be on the conservative end. Along the way is WikiLeaks and the Pirate party, with Anonymous at the more radical end."
"Different groups are on a spectrum. Organisations like the EFF would be on the conservative end. Along the way is WikiLeaks and the Pirate party, with Anonymous at the more radical end."
Though ties between the groups are often tenuous, a broadly shared ideology of a libertarian distrust of government, belief in networks of free citizens, mistrust of copyright and intellectual property laws, and a drive for self-determination appear to unite the hacktivist fringe of the internet.
Though ties between the groups are often tenuous, a broadly shared ideology of a libertarian distrust of government, belief in networks of free citizens, mistrust of copyright and intellectual property laws, and a drive for self-determination appear to unite the hacktivist fringe of the internet.
Barlow believes the US government has started aggressively pursuing political hackers such as Anonymous and Lulzsec. The groups mounted attacks taking US and UK government websites offline, targeted News International, allegedly taking a tranche of emails belong to staff of the Sun, and took the full email archives of US intelligence firm Stratfor and passed them to WikiLeaks.
Barlow believes the US government has started aggressively pursuing political hackers such as Anonymous and Lulzsec. The groups mounted attacks taking US and UK government websites offline, targeted News International, allegedly taking a tranche of emails belong to staff of the Sun, and took the full email archives of US intelligence firm Stratfor and passed them to WikiLeaks.
"The government targets Anonymous for the same reason it targets al-Qaida – because they're the enemy. And in a way, they are. The shit is starting to hit the fan, but we haven't started to see the effects of that yet. The internet is the most liberating tool for humanity ever invented, and also the best for surveillance. It's not one or the other. It's both."
"The government targets Anonymous for the same reason it targets al-Qaida – because they're the enemy. And in a way, they are. The shit is starting to hit the fan, but we haven't started to see the effects of that yet. The internet is the most liberating tool for humanity ever invented, and also the best for surveillance. It's not one or the other. It's both."
Barlow is working on a system to oppose the financial blockade imposed against WikiLeaks. In the wake of WikiLeaks' publication of US diplomatic cables, Senator Joe Lieberman called on US companies to cut off the site. Payment providers Visa, Mastercard and Paypal acceded to the request, despite no order or request coming from government, starving the site of funding.
Barlow is working on a system to oppose the financial blockade imposed against WikiLeaks. In the wake of WikiLeaks' publication of US diplomatic cables, Senator Joe Lieberman called on US companies to cut off the site. Payment providers Visa, Mastercard and Paypal acceded to the request, despite no order or request coming from government, starving the site of funding.
Barlow is planning the establishment of a foundation aimed at funding any organisations affected by corporate blockades with first amendment implications.
Barlow is planning the establishment of a foundation aimed at funding any organisations affected by corporate blockades with first amendment implications.
"We hope it makes a moral argument against these sorts of actions," he says. "But it could also be the basis of a legal challenge. We now have private organisations with the ability to stifle free expression. These companies have no bill of rights that applies to their action – they only have terms of service."
"We hope it makes a moral argument against these sorts of actions," he says. "But it could also be the basis of a legal challenge. We now have private organisations with the ability to stifle free expression. These companies have no bill of rights that applies to their action – they only have terms of service."
As a result, battles over the future of the internet are becoming increasingly politicised as opposing sides try to set the legal framework. A huge network of grassroots organisations coalesced in the US to fight the stop online piracy act (Sopa). The bill was eventually stopped in its tracks as opposition mounted, but similar efforts in the EU and elsewhere have had more success proceeding through the legislature.
As a result, battles over the future of the internet are becoming increasingly politicised as opposing sides try to set the legal framework. A huge network of grassroots organisations coalesced in the US to fight the stop online piracy act (Sopa). The bill was eventually stopped in its tracks as opposition mounted, but similar efforts in the EU and elsewhere have had more success proceeding through the legislature.
On other fronts, cyber-surveillance is increasing, with the UK government proposing a law to allow the monitoring of information on emails, social network and Skype traffic on all users in real-time. To fight such efforts, hacktivists are getting political.
On other fronts, cyber-surveillance is increasing, with the UK government proposing a law to allow the monitoring of information on emails, social network and Skype traffic on all users in real-time. To fight such efforts, hacktivists are getting political.
The best known movement of this sort is the Pirate party, which was founded in Sweden by Rickard Falkvinge in 2006 and is marginal in the UK but is building up substantial influence across the world. The party has two MEPs in the European parliament, and recently took 7.4% of the vote in recent elections in the Saarland region of Germany – and according to recent polls it is now the third biggest in the country.
The best known movement of this sort is the Pirate party, which was founded in Sweden by Rickard Falkvinge in 2006 and is marginal in the UK but is building up substantial influence across the world. The party has two MEPs in the European parliament, and recently took 7.4% of the vote in recent elections in the Saarland region of Germany – and according to recent polls it is now the third biggest in the country.
The party has even briefly had a cabinet minister, Slim Amamou, a Tunisian activist who served as sports and youth minister in his country for a brief period last year before resigning in protest over web censorship imposed by Tunisia's army.
The party has even briefly had a cabinet minister, Slim Amamou, a Tunisian activist who served as sports and youth minister in his country for a brief period last year before resigning in protest over web censorship imposed by Tunisia's army.
Amelia Andersdotter, one of the party's two MEPs, thinks authorities tend to ignore the political element of hacking attacks by groups such as Anonymous.
Amelia Andersdotter, one of the party's two MEPs, thinks authorities tend to ignore the political element of hacking attacks by groups such as Anonymous.
"Some of these hacking attacks are misconstrued. Many are clearly politically targeted, attempts to register protest at something a government or organisation is doing," she says. "There is a lack of understanding in cyber-security. Things are seen as big and intimidating when they are often not.
"Some of these hacking attacks are misconstrued. Many are clearly politically targeted, attempts to register protest at something a government or organisation is doing," she says. "There is a lack of understanding in cyber-security. Things are seen as big and intimidating when they are often not.
"Suddenly, denial of service attacks [an attack which floods a site with fake traffic, preventing people visiting] which used to be legal in many member states, are being prosecuted. Most of these used to be for bad reasons, attacks by rivals, but now more than half are political and there are more prosecutions."
"Suddenly, denial of service attacks [an attack which floods a site with fake traffic, preventing people visiting] which used to be legal in many member states, are being prosecuted. Most of these used to be for bad reasons, attacks by rivals, but now more than half are political and there are more prosecutions."
Andersdotter's priorities are looking into how public authorities' security efforts are regulated and held to account, attempting to reform the EU's intellectual property laws, and helping to spread fibre internet – faster broadband speeds – across the EU.
Andersdotter's priorities are looking into how public authorities' security efforts are regulated and held to account, attempting to reform the EU's intellectual property laws, and helping to spread fibre internet – faster broadband speeds – across the EU.
Others aren't content merely to lobby politicians for a free internet. Instead, they have built tools designed to make regulating the internet an impossible task. One of the most widely used is Tor, short for "the onion router".
Others aren't content merely to lobby politicians for a free internet. Instead, they have built tools designed to make regulating the internet an impossible task. One of the most widely used is Tor, short for "the onion router".
Tor, when used properly, anonymises all internet traffic coming from a machine by bouncing it around dozens of other computers around the world, taking a different path each time. This means an individual will only be identifiable when he or she chooses to log into a given site.
Tor, when used properly, anonymises all internet traffic coming from a machine by bouncing it around dozens of other computers around the world, taking a different path each time. This means an individual will only be identifiable when he or she chooses to log into a given site.
The system is not infallible, as it can be blocked – temporarily – by authoritarian governments, but provides a huge degree of protection, whether to activists working in oppressive regimes, or to those using the internet to smuggle drugs or share child pornography.
The system is not infallible, as it can be blocked – temporarily – by authoritarian governments, but provides a huge degree of protection, whether to activists working in oppressive regimes, or to those using the internet to smuggle drugs or share child pornography.
This dilemma has not gone unnoticed by the people behind the tools.
This dilemma has not gone unnoticed by the people behind the tools.
"Criminals will always be opportunists and will see new prospects before everyone else does," says the Tor project's executive director, Andrew Lewman. "Old-fashioned police work still works incredibly well against such people. Almost every transaction in the UK uses EFT [card payment], there is CCTV on every street, and monitoring of online communications – but you still have trafficking and other crimes.
"Criminals will always be opportunists and will see new prospects before everyone else does," says the Tor project's executive director, Andrew Lewman. "Old-fashioned police work still works incredibly well against such people. Almost every transaction in the UK uses EFT [card payment], there is CCTV on every street, and monitoring of online communications – but you still have trafficking and other crimes.
"The benefits of the open internet work much the same as motorways or interstates: they outweigh the costs. In the US, police opposed the building of interstate roads, saying they would help criminals circumvent the law. But the police adapted, and the benefits of highways clearly outweigh the costs."
"The benefits of the open internet work much the same as motorways or interstates: they outweigh the costs. In the US, police opposed the building of interstate roads, saying they would help criminals circumvent the law. But the police adapted, and the benefits of highways clearly outweigh the costs."
Lewman says the main motivating factor behind the Tor project is not to overthrow government, or even to engage in activism, but rather to give users control over how they use the internet and who is able to monitor their activity. But he is not surprised that governments are trying to regulate the internet.
Lewman says the main motivating factor behind the Tor project is not to overthrow government, or even to engage in activism, but rather to give users control over how they use the internet and who is able to monitor their activity. But he is not surprised that governments are trying to regulate the internet.
"Governments are starting to realise a growing share of their GDP depends on the internet. Government like stability, not rapidly shifting ground," he concludes.
"Governments are starting to realise a growing share of their GDP depends on the internet. Government like stability, not rapidly shifting ground," he concludes.
But government could be circumvented entirely, as coders haven't only been building ways of circumventing legal oversight: they have built a whole new stateless currency from the ground up.
But government could be circumvented entirely, as coders haven't only been building ways of circumventing legal oversight: they have built a whole new stateless currency from the ground up.
The currency is known as Bitcoin, and relies on a series of mathematical algorithms to govern the amount of money in circulation and the future inflation rate. Each Bitcoin has a unique ID and transactions are recorded in public ledgers, making fraud far more difficult than most real-world currencies – but as Bitcoins aren't backed by a government, if they're stolen, they're gone forever, as some early adopters found out to their cost.
The currency is known as Bitcoin, and relies on a series of mathematical algorithms to govern the amount of money in circulation and the future inflation rate. Each Bitcoin has a unique ID and transactions are recorded in public ledgers, making fraud far more difficult than most real-world currencies – but as Bitcoins aren't backed by a government, if they're stolen, they're gone forever, as some early adopters found out to their cost.
At the time of writing, there are more than 8.7m Bitcoins in existence, worth a total of around $42.3m (£26.2m). The combination of a stateless currency and untraceable internet use is a powerful one, as one underground site highlights.
At the time of writing, there are more than 8.7m Bitcoins in existence, worth a total of around $42.3m (£26.2m). The combination of a stateless currency and untraceable internet use is a powerful one, as one underground site highlights.
The Silk Road is a website only accessible in the "dark" section of Tor, meaning it can't be viewed or traced on the general internet, and accepts only Bitcoins for payment. The site allows the buying and selling of illegal drugs, predominantly in the US, UK and Netherlands.
The Silk Road is a website only accessible in the "dark" section of Tor, meaning it can't be viewed or traced on the general internet, and accepts only Bitcoins for payment. The site allows the buying and selling of illegal drugs, predominantly in the US, UK and Netherlands.
Its existence isn't a secret. In 2011 two senators wrote to the US attorney general asking for action to be taken against the site, which was described as a "one-stop shop for illegal drugs that represents the most brazen attempt to peddle drugs online that we have ever seen".
Its existence isn't a secret. In 2011 two senators wrote to the US attorney general asking for action to be taken against the site, which was described as a "one-stop shop for illegal drugs that represents the most brazen attempt to peddle drugs online that we have ever seen".
Action against the site, which operates in a similar manner to eBay, linking independent buyers and sellers, has so far proved impossible, and the publicity generated for the Silk Road only boosted its – and Bitcoin's – popularity.
Action against the site, which operates in a similar manner to eBay, linking independent buyers and sellers, has so far proved impossible, and the publicity generated for the Silk Road only boosted its – and Bitcoin's – popularity.
Promoting such enterprises is not, though, the driving motivation for most of the people behind the development of Bitcoin.
Promoting such enterprises is not, though, the driving motivation for most of the people behind the development of Bitcoin.
One core member of Bitcoin's development team, Amir Taaki, explains the broad motivations of the hacktivist movement from a "hackspace" in east London – a loose members' club designed to let people build, code and tinker as they wish. Even the space's door is customised: it's tailored to open when members pass their Oyster card or similar radio-frequency ID nearby, and then plays a customised greeting (one has chosen the victory theme from Final Fantasy VII, a cult 90s videogame).
One core member of Bitcoin's development team, Amir Taaki, explains the broad motivations of the hacktivist movement from a "hackspace" in east London – a loose members' club designed to let people build, code and tinker as they wish. Even the space's door is customised: it's tailored to open when members pass their Oyster card or similar radio-frequency ID nearby, and then plays a customised greeting (one has chosen the victory theme from Final Fantasy VII, a cult 90s videogame).
The first principle of hacker culture, Taaki says that "all authority should be questioned". He stresses this doesn't mean governments or police are necessarily corrupt, or aren't needed, but that the public should always be in a position to hold such authorities to account.
The first principle of hacker culture, Taaki says that "all authority should be questioned". He stresses this doesn't mean governments or police are necessarily corrupt, or aren't needed, but that the public should always be in a position to hold such authorities to account.
This leads to the second core principle: information should, generally speaking, be free. Copyright laws, patents, government secrecy and more are a huge target for the movement.
This leads to the second core principle: information should, generally speaking, be free. Copyright laws, patents, government secrecy and more are a huge target for the movement.
What this would mean for industries such as pharmaceuticals, where a pill may cost pennies to make but millions to research is unclear, though – and Taaki doesn't have the answers. What he does raise is a challenge. To date, it's the entertainment industries – Hollywood, music, television and publishers – that have felt the effects of piracy and filesharing. Developments in technology mean that may not remain the case for long.
What this would mean for industries such as pharmaceuticals, where a pill may cost pennies to make but millions to research is unclear, though – and Taaki doesn't have the answers. What he does raise is a challenge. To date, it's the entertainment industries – Hollywood, music, television and publishers – that have felt the effects of piracy and filesharing. Developments in technology mean that may not remain the case for long.
Devices known as 3D printers are able to create real-life objects based on three-dimensional plans. The technology is expensive: a cheap commercial machine costs upwards of £10,000, but a build-it-yourself open source version has already been conceived. The RepRap can be built for just over £300. Intriguingly, a RepRap can currently produce around half the parts needed to make another one. Given enough time, the devices will likely be able to print out the parts to make a whole new 3D printer – a self-replicating machine.
Devices known as 3D printers are able to create real-life objects based on three-dimensional plans. The technology is expensive: a cheap commercial machine costs upwards of £10,000, but a build-it-yourself open source version has already been conceived. The RepRap can be built for just over £300. Intriguingly, a RepRap can currently produce around half the parts needed to make another one. Given enough time, the devices will likely be able to print out the parts to make a whole new 3D printer – a self-replicating machine.
It's a technology with impressive potential, the ability to "print" virtually any item that can be conceived – tools, toys, even food – but the applications to date are fairly basic, and costly. At present, the printers can mainly make novelty items – though early, successful attempts to clone plastic Warhammer toys led to lawsuits and a predictable backlash.
It's a technology with impressive potential, the ability to "print" virtually any item that can be conceived – tools, toys, even food – but the applications to date are fairly basic, and costly. At present, the printers can mainly make novelty items – though early, successful attempts to clone plastic Warhammer toys led to lawsuits and a predictable backlash.
A technology that could allow anyone to manufacture any item, given the right blueprints, heralds a huge storm for any company relying on old-world business models – and today's hackers know it.
A technology that could allow anyone to manufacture any item, given the right blueprints, heralds a huge storm for any company relying on old-world business models – and today's hackers know it.
"The battle between pirates and the music or film industries is really nothing, it's a warm-up," Taaki says. "When this technology matures, manufacturers, agriculture businesses, technology firms, any of this could be easily replicated by almost anyone, anywhere. That's when we'll see the real fight – and they don't even see it coming."
"The battle between pirates and the music or film industries is really nothing, it's a warm-up," Taaki says. "When this technology matures, manufacturers, agriculture businesses, technology firms, any of this could be easily replicated by almost anyone, anywhere. That's when we'll see the real fight – and they don't even see it coming."
Comments
53 comments, displaying first
20 April 2012 4:54PM
Rights we have earned seemed to always have strings attached to them, or they just bloody well disappear. Now, with internet, we actually have absolute freedom (so long as you're in China-N Korea-Cuba-Most of the Middle East- but even there it is hard to monitor which underlines internet's importance!) and states don't like it. So I say "GO HACKTIVISTS". Democratize knowledge, goods, and everything else that you possibly can. And fight these so called democrats trying to control everything!
Thank you.
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20 April 2012 5:00PM
seem to always so long as you're not in China...
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20 April 2012 5:01PM
No Timmy, file sharing is stealing. But Dad, other people do it. Listen Timmy, when you are old enough to run your own company, possibly a bank, then you can steal, ok? Ok Dad. Can I go into politics? You can do anything you want son, except file sharing.
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20 April 2012 5:05PM
Hahahaha brilliant
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20 April 2012 5:09PM
One cannot but feel hopeful for the future by what has been said in this article. It is probably still quite premature, but there is quite clearly a culture being fostered which values creativity, transcends boarders, questions authority in all its forms and more importantly, is (potentially) open to all. No wonder those in power are quaking in their boots and doing anything they can now to stop it.
It only seemed like yesterday the Establishment was lecturing the Chinese Communist Party, but now it is obvious they are desperate to play catchup. It is a frightening thought that private power and the State are n unison to destroy this culture. But I am nonetheless optimistic - the fact that they are even playing catchup in the first place shows they are clearly behind the times, and quite possibly not very aware of the awesomely democratising potential of the culture they are fighting.
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20 April 2012 5:24PM
Aah, the Grateful Dead- thanks for everything...
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20 April 2012 5:46PM
This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs.
20 April 2012 5:50PM
It's the people doing the monitoring who need a bit of monitoring, too. I had my Facebook account hacked, and explicit offensive messages posted there. I mentioned it on a Forum. Yesterday, two debitors. took two identical sums from my bank account, reducing it to 26p. I'll keep you posted.
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20 April 2012 5:52PM
Remember: you voted in the fools and fascists who are trying to fetter the internet.
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20 April 2012 6:09PM
i'm no IT guru but i must've been a leftie hacker in a past life ..i could not agree more all information should b free n readily available to every1 B-) ..i'm glad to read there r others out there that think the same
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20 April 2012 6:12PM
Hahaha bennybehop ..i'm new how do like/recomend stuff on this site?
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20 April 2012 6:14PM
just click recommend lol
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20 April 2012 6:15PM
didn't know you knew who we all voted. how'd you figure that out?
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20 April 2012 6:21PM
didn't know you knew who we all voted. how'd you figure that out?
Simple. By looking at the politicians who are currently in power.
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20 April 2012 6:28PM
how does that imply I voted for the fibbers, Tories, or even Labour? struggling to see the logic.
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20 April 2012 6:36PM
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20 April 2012 6:44PM
I didn't read the story and yet I am commenting on it. Hacktivism in action, folks!
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20 April 2012 7:05PM
Does anyone remember that the www. is the comercial arm of the internet? FTP can be used- just a POP is required for a internet connection. That's a phone number to those who haven't the knowledge! The phone company will charge you for the use, but governments would have a hard time to control the file transfers done that way/
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20 April 2012 7:51PM
I have heard of these "RepRap" machines - the latest tool in the Hackers' arsenal. The government must outlaw these devices quickly.
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20 April 2012 8:03PM
Governments are there to keep the rich protected, this is achieved with police, security agencies, patents, old school network systems, fear in the media, the legal system etc. Soon governments will be working for all the people they represent, but this will require a revolution. This could be man instigated, or a natural disaster. But the system in place now ie "Democracy" is too rigid to be broken up. we just got to wait for the system to break, and then we can have some fairness and meritocracy in society.
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20 April 2012 8:05PM
Could just use PGP (pretty good protection encryption for file transfer), or you can use HTTPS for web comms that are encrypted. Tor is the bomb though, you can't trace the route of the request.
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20 April 2012 8:20PM
Opting out of cultural and social participation because you can afford it, is ever a dwindling option.
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20 April 2012 8:58PM
Your trolling is up to its usual amusing standard, it nearly gets me every time until I see the user name.
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20 April 2012 9:30PM
The way in to the Tor used to be through Freenet: https://freenetproject.org/
I think it's still good.
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20 April 2012 9:57PM
Apparently awareness of the potential for 3D printers and robotics has not yet seeped in. Note: this also relies on advances (which are occuring) in creating the ability to print circuitry.
In contrast to $US15 billion in R&D programs underpinning about $US250 billion of products incorporating nanoscale components in the world (2009-10) (http://www.nanotechproject.org/events/archive/researchdirections/) - aka materials nanotechnology - research towards developing a basic assembler - a type of super advanced 3D printer based on computational nanotechnology (estimated cost $US1 billion - Ralph Merkle) - has only been funded to the tune of $US3 million (Moriarty, University of Nottingham) despite much publicity since 1986. A single basic assembler could produce customized robotics and computers at the pace of one unit per hour in a neighborhood or street centre. Opponents of conducting basic research into this technology's potential commonly claim it is a) impossible and should therefore be ignored and (simultaneously) b) extremely dangerous (see Prince Charles' comments for example in the 2000s) and should therefore be ignored. Yet every miniscule element of funding so far has achieved concrete results. Note: many assembler designs have mechanical rather than electronic computational elements, a bit like the Babbage machine.
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20 April 2012 10:03PM
"The system is not infallible, as it can be blocked – temporarily – by authoritarian governments, "
By authoritarian governments and British mobile operators. See http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/tech-tech-boom-10017860/mobile-operators-confirm-tor-block-10025282/
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20 April 2012 10:41PM
Good article. It's important to stress the underlying principles shared by all these groups - shared also, I have to say, if in different contexts, by many in the altermondialiste movement ...and in the Green movement as well, where it hasn't been sterilised, in both common senses of the word (like a domestic animal; like a kitchen-loving housewife's gleaming sink and counters), by its passing association with power.
It's not about being pro- or anti-technology. It's about the sorts of power that technology serves.
Important to stress the fork in the road these principles define, and the grim world the other path leads towards.
But the bit about the 3D printer....er....
I just want to make sure the author and readers both understand: It doesn't make stuff - it just makes stuff into shapes. If you want a chocolate or plastic bit, you don't just turn the knob to 'chocolate' or 'plastic' - you have to feed the raw materials into the machine. AvatarPolymorph's enthusiasm doesn't alter the fact that we can't yet make stuff to order out of primordial multi-purpose goop.
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20 April 2012 11:03PM
Could we print our own money? It seems all the rage in these days of austerity.
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21 April 2012 12:38AM
I'm no Deadhead, but I wonder if I could include Barlow in my real name, as a mark of respect.
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21 April 2012 2:42AM
This is interesting - there are several things at work here. 1) Copyright 2) Comercial interests 3) State Controls
The original copyright laws in UK were about "protecting" the rights of the "artists" . However their main purpose was censorship of a new technology thought to be out of control "printing". Added to that it was also a cover for rising comercial interests (backed by the state) to rob the people - the working masses of their cultural and creative heritage (divide between Classical and Popular Music and the eventual stanglehold on music publishing by a select band of publishing house - later known as Tin Pan Alley. ordinary were told they had no artistic talent and they should work hard and be industrious in the mills, factories and mines etc. All printed material had to be approved by the lord chancellor and it was not until the late 1960s this requirement was removed. Anyone around in the 1960s were there enough to know what happened to bring this about.
With the advent of the internet etc we have a similar situation not only are comercial interests losing copyright revenue (something they were never really that concerned about when it came to playing many artists their due), but they are also losing control of the content of what is produced - with many artists putting their own work online by-passing the companies - they had a fright in the 60s & 70s when they lost control of the content of many of the artists - which by the end of the 80s with the predominence of the formula approach to manufactured music.
Then the State (governments worldwide actually) realising they had little or no control over what went online started to try and bring it under their control. The wikileaks adventure disturbed them, all the stuff about "fundementalist" religious organisations gave them some licence to show concern , the riots last year showed how they were monitoring the situation in regards to social media. But the real big scare which they publicly welcomed was first the internet/social media campaign in Iran and then the Arab Spring - they now realise if the internet and social media can be used as a weapon against the regimes of North Africa to devastating effect(for the regimes involved) it could also be used against them.
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21 April 2012 2:55AM
Aaah there it is
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21 April 2012 3:44AM
Although it is not relevant to "home" printing, there is also the issue of 3D printing of buildings (already achieved in preliminary demonstration experiments) though the company led by Behrokh "Berok" Khoshnevis, the Center for Rapid Automated Fabrication Technologies (CRAFT) (http://CRAFT.usc.edu - University of Southern California) has been delayed by the Global Financial Crisis (see: http://www.warisboring.com/2011/05/12/interview-the-man-who-prints-ships/). When decoration is as cheap as a blank wall and benches and statuary can be printed into walls I predict an abandonment of modernist and post-modernist architecture by many, as often these aesthetics are purely a function of developers saving money. All the steampunk fans can print Victorian gothic industrial mansions!
On a more relevant note to the article, 3D printing which is already happening has a relevance to vertical integration and labour costs - when combined with robotics as I mentioned further above it is revolutionary, possibly potentially reducing household robot costs to as low as $US5000 including chips. Bear in mind that more advanced printing may require as many as five or six types of 3D printers and a plasma torch. Commercial business 3D printers have halved in price. Also, bear in mind there are more than a dozen major techniques for 3D printing.
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21 April 2012 4:15AM
"hacktivist groups such as Anonymous and Lulzsec, Wikileaks and the file-sharing site Megaupload.com are among the frontline battalions"
What a pungent pot-pourri! Perhaps Anonymous are hacktivists, but they're script kiddies, with no more ethics than technical expertise, whose attacks are limited to easy targets and whose antics have been used to justify repressive internet regulations. LulzSec, regardless of how they originated, ended up as agents provocateur who provided further justification for draconian laws. WikiLeaks isn't a hacktivist group, it's a web site for whistle blowers. MegaUplioad are an unfortunate choice for the poster boy of copyright freedom, because Kim DotCom is a convicted felon who may have operated what might have been a legitimate business as if it were a racket.
The campaigns against SOPA, PIPA and the RWA are an indication of what can be achieved with political advocacy, but these are reactive rearguard campaigns. What's needed is proactive political advocacy to roll back the DCMA and enshrine the freedom of speech and right to privacy that is being threatened by proposed legislation to regulate the internet. This, not hacktivism, is the frontline of the battle to save the internet.
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21 April 2012 4:18AM
This is a reference point to the cycle change outlined in the Mayan calendar for 2012 and beyond. It's not the beginning of end of the world......unless you're greedy, or a capitalist...
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21 April 2012 6:51AM
re Tor. This technology is invaluable to many governments as it enables their spies to phone home wihout being detected. The truth is that governments don't want to be rid of these technologies. They just want to keep it to themselves!
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21 April 2012 6:57AM
Not saying I like this bunch, but Alan Johnson (the other party) wanted as all to carry around an ID chip.
If you know of a party that is for the people then lets hear it.
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21 April 2012 8:18AM
'The system is not infallible, as it can be blocked – temporarily – by authoritarian governments, but provides a huge degree of protection.'
There's an easier way to guarantee you protection against prosecution for hacking, just say your name is Rupert Murdoch and say you knew nothing about it.
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21 April 2012 8:47AM
Hacktivists making the internet free by ... stopping people use the sites they want and stealing their personal freedom.
Anonymous fighting for freedom by ... harassing people school girls for making stupid videos causing mental breakdown and death of her father (Jess Slaughter).
Pirates who don't want to pay for anything but still want high quality entertainment and complain when it has copy protect (which they only have because you pirate it). You can demand free stuff but you don't deserve it, you didn't make and you didn't help pay for it to be made and the creator does not want to give it away for free therefore you do not deserve it for nothing.
The cost of making a single pill or phone or whatever is pennies; the cost to make the first one is in the millions. That is why we pay over the odds for a phone because we are paying for all the stuff that went into making it. Music, films, games and software are no different, they cost money to make and can only make it back if you pay for the copy you enjoy.
The people abusing the internet are not the government (who give no more of a shit than what you buy at Tesco) it's the hackers and pirates.
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21 April 2012 9:10AM
The peer-to-peer music file-sharing network Kazaa who, having observed the fate of Napster, set up a series of corporate defences using offshore companies. Kazaa set up a corporate structure that for the purpose of being sued was owned by the Red Cross (unbeknownst to them) but in terms of control and profits the beneficiaries were Kazaa executives. Although the court case successfully took down the site, the question of ownership and advertising revenue (valued at $60 million annually) was never resolved.
The Grateful dead used to set aside an area in their concerts where you could place your recording equipment in order to get the best possible recording of their concerts.
I'm currently studying a doctorate of business administration (DBA), focussed on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and am wondering: how do we as individuals live a good life?
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21 April 2012 9:27AM
Am I reading this right? Seriously? We have replicator technology?
Either we have just broken one of the barriers of science fiction, in which case it should be front page news, or it's utter bollocks.
My heart says the former, my brain the latter.
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21 April 2012 10:12AM
Just as well for me that I don't use the internet.
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21 April 2012 10:23AM
there is a browser package, firefox based, that sets up all you need to use tor: vidalia.
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21 April 2012 10:53AM
Struggling with this one. If I break into your house and take your television, that's theft. However, if you break into my computer and steal my music, that's OK? Not sure there's a difference.
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21 April 2012 11:26AM
But the government is trying to say it's O.K. for them to break into all of our houses, put their feet up on our new sofa, make themselves a cuppa and jot down everything we do online and everyone we email....forever.
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21 April 2012 1:18PM
Sugar Magnolia,blossoms blooming,we can have high times if you'll abide,we can discover the wonders of nature down by the river down by the riverside.She's got everything delightful,she's got everything I need,takes the wheel when i'm seeing double,pays my ticket when I speed.
Robert Hunter's ode to Chris Huhne,Sugar Magnolia.
The Dead will never die.They are in the Bickershaw Mud,Wigan 1968,Wembley Arena,London 1990.
As Jerry G said about the charity foundation anyone who has the Grateful Dead as a last resort for funding has by definition to be fucking desperate
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21 April 2012 1:27PM
Am I reading this right? Seriously? We have replicator technology?
Yes, although it's not up to Star Trek standards quite yet, the best supported model to build is the Prusa Mendel, here is the bill of materials, here are the assembly instructions, here is a forum if you get stuck. Most of the parts can be found at the best price on ebay The links I've posted are for Prusa iteration one, the project is ongoing and Prusa two has various improvements such as linear bearings an improved extruder and better timing belts but the infos about them are still scattered all over the place.
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21 April 2012 1:29PM
Not sure there's a difference.
Well very clearly there is because stealing your television means that you are deprived of it
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21 April 2012 2:19PM
Response to FrozenFood, 21 April 2012 8:47AM:
"The cost of making a... pill or phone ... is pennies; the cost to make the first one is... millions (of dollars)."
Johnson & Johnson's revenue was over $60 billion last year. Apple's revenue was $108 billion in 2011. How much did you make?
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21 April 2012 7:13PM
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21 April 2012 9:04PM
Underdog good, overdog bad. Sums everything you need to know about any serious issue.
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More from Battle for the internet
The Guardian is taking stock of the new battlegrounds for the internet. From states stifling dissent to the new cyberwar front line, we look at the challenges facing the dream of an open internet
Interactive: 18 Oct 2012: Live video chat: Google+ Hangout with Jemima Kiss on who controls the internet
20 Apr 2012: The Guardian's Open 20: fighters for internet freedom
20 Apr 2012: WikiLeaks supporters plan US foundation to restore funding
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Amid the power struggle between hacktivism and officialdom, Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow explains why he is working on a system to fund online activists hit by corporate blockades
• Follow a live webchat with James Ball on hactivism on reddit from 3pm (BST)
• The Guardian's Open 20: fighters for internet freedom
If there is a battle over the future shape of the internet – and society as a whole - then hacktivist groups such as Anonymous and Lulzsec, Wikileaks and the file-sharing site Megaupload.com are among the frontline battalions.
While the individual incidents and clashes involving these groups may seem disparate and unconnected, those at the core of online activism say all these organisations, plus relatively mainstream movements such as Occupy and the Pirate Party, are linked.
John Perry Barlow, lyricist for the Grateful Dead and co-founder of the well-known advocacy group Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF), says the over-arching motivation of such efforts, whatever tactics are used, was to shift the nature of society.
"What unites these groups is the belief that the future is not about vertical, hierarchical government, but horizontal [peer-to-peer] government," he said. "This pits the forces of the information age against those of the industrial age, as we move from scarcity of information to abundance. The last year has established our ability to have revolutions, but not to govern in their wake – but that's coming.
"Different groups are on a spectrum. Organisations like the EFF would be on the conservative end. Along the way is WikiLeaks and the Pirate party, with Anonymous at the more radical end."
Though ties between the groups are often tenuous, a broadly shared ideology of a libertarian distrust of government, belief in networks of free citizens, mistrust of copyright and intellectual property laws, and a drive for self-determination appear to unite the hacktivist fringe of the internet.
Barlow believes the US government has started aggressively pursuing political hackers such as Anonymous and Lulzsec. The groups mounted attacks taking US and UK government websites offline, targeted News International, allegedly taking a tranche of emails belong to staff of the Sun, and took the full email archives of US intelligence firm Stratfor and passed them to WikiLeaks.
"The government targets Anonymous for the same reason it targets al-Qaida – because they're the enemy. And in a way, they are. The shit is starting to hit the fan, but we haven't started to see the effects of that yet. The internet is the most liberating tool for humanity ever invented, and also the best for surveillance. It's not one or the other. It's both."
Barlow is working on a system to oppose the financial blockade imposed against WikiLeaks. In the wake of WikiLeaks' publication of US diplomatic cables, Senator Joe Lieberman called on US companies to cut off the site. Payment providers Visa, Mastercard and Paypal acceded to the request, despite no order or request coming from government, starving the site of funding.
Barlow is planning the establishment of a foundation aimed at funding any organisations affected by corporate blockades with first amendment implications.
"We hope it makes a moral argument against these sorts of actions," he says. "But it could also be the basis of a legal challenge. We now have private organisations with the ability to stifle free expression. These companies have no bill of rights that applies to their action – they only have terms of service."
As a result, battles over the future of the internet are becoming increasingly politicised as opposing sides try to set the legal framework. A huge network of grassroots organisations coalesced in the US to fight the stop online piracy act (Sopa). The bill was eventually stopped in its tracks as opposition mounted, but similar efforts in the EU and elsewhere have had more success proceeding through the legislature.
On other fronts, cyber-surveillance is increasing, with the UK government proposing a law to allow the monitoring of information on emails, social network and Skype traffic on all users in real-time. To fight such efforts, hacktivists are getting political.
The best known movement of this sort is the Pirate party, which was founded in Sweden by Rickard Falkvinge in 2006 and is marginal in the UK but is building up substantial influence across the world. The party has two MEPs in the European parliament, and recently took 7.4% of the vote in recent elections in the Saarland region of Germany – and according to recent polls it is now the third biggest in the country.
The party has even briefly had a cabinet minister, Slim Amamou, a Tunisian activist who served as sports and youth minister in his country for a brief period last year before resigning in protest over web censorship imposed by Tunisia's army.
Amelia Andersdotter, one of the party's two MEPs, thinks authorities tend to ignore the political element of hacking attacks by groups such as Anonymous.
"Some of these hacking attacks are misconstrued. Many are clearly politically targeted, attempts to register protest at something a government or organisation is doing," she says. "There is a lack of understanding in cyber-security. Things are seen as big and intimidating when they are often not.
"Suddenly, denial of service attacks [an attack which floods a site with fake traffic, preventing people visiting] which used to be legal in many member states, are being prosecuted. Most of these used to be for bad reasons, attacks by rivals, but now more than half are political and there are more prosecutions."
Andersdotter's priorities are looking into how public authorities' security efforts are regulated and held to account, attempting to reform the EU's intellectual property laws, and helping to spread fibre internet – faster broadband speeds – across the EU.
Others aren't content merely to lobby politicians for a free internet. Instead, they have built tools designed to make regulating the internet an impossible task. One of the most widely used is Tor, short for "the onion router".
Tor, when used properly, anonymises all internet traffic coming from a machine by bouncing it around dozens of other computers around the world, taking a different path each time. This means an individual will only be identifiable when he or she chooses to log into a given site.
The system is not infallible, as it can be blocked – temporarily – by authoritarian governments, but provides a huge degree of protection, whether to activists working in oppressive regimes, or to those using the internet to smuggle drugs or share child pornography.
This dilemma has not gone unnoticed by the people behind the tools.
"Criminals will always be opportunists and will see new prospects before everyone else does," says the Tor project's executive director, Andrew Lewman. "Old-fashioned police work still works incredibly well against such people. Almost every transaction in the UK uses EFT [card payment], there is CCTV on every street, and monitoring of online communications – but you still have trafficking and other crimes.
"The benefits of the open internet work much the same as motorways or interstates: they outweigh the costs. In the US, police opposed the building of interstate roads, saying they would help criminals circumvent the law. But the police adapted, and the benefits of highways clearly outweigh the costs."
Lewman says the main motivating factor behind the Tor project is not to overthrow government, or even to engage in activism, but rather to give users control over how they use the internet and who is able to monitor their activity. But he is not surprised that governments are trying to regulate the internet.
"Governments are starting to realise a growing share of their GDP depends on the internet. Government like stability, not rapidly shifting ground," he concludes.
But government could be circumvented entirely, as coders haven't only been building ways of circumventing legal oversight: they have built a whole new stateless currency from the ground up.
The currency is known as Bitcoin, and relies on a series of mathematical algorithms to govern the amount of money in circulation and the future inflation rate. Each Bitcoin has a unique ID and transactions are recorded in public ledgers, making fraud far more difficult than most real-world currencies – but as Bitcoins aren't backed by a government, if they're stolen, they're gone forever, as some early adopters found out to their cost.
At the time of writing, there are more than 8.7m Bitcoins in existence, worth a total of around $42.3m (£26.2m). The combination of a stateless currency and untraceable internet use is a powerful one, as one underground site highlights.
The Silk Road is a website only accessible in the "dark" section of Tor, meaning it can't be viewed or traced on the general internet, and accepts only Bitcoins for payment. The site allows the buying and selling of illegal drugs, predominantly in the US, UK and Netherlands.
Its existence isn't a secret. In 2011 two senators wrote to the US attorney general asking for action to be taken against the site, which was described as a "one-stop shop for illegal drugs that represents the most brazen attempt to peddle drugs online that we have ever seen".
Action against the site, which operates in a similar manner to eBay, linking independent buyers and sellers, has so far proved impossible, and the publicity generated for the Silk Road only boosted its – and Bitcoin's – popularity.
Promoting such enterprises is not, though, the driving motivation for most of the people behind the development of Bitcoin.
One core member of Bitcoin's development team, Amir Taaki, explains the broad motivations of the hacktivist movement from a "hackspace" in east London – a loose members' club designed to let people build, code and tinker as they wish. Even the space's door is customised: it's tailored to open when members pass their Oyster card or similar radio-frequency ID nearby, and then plays a customised greeting (one has chosen the victory theme from Final Fantasy VII, a cult 90s videogame).
The first principle of hacker culture, Taaki says that "all authority should be questioned". He stresses this doesn't mean governments or police are necessarily corrupt, or aren't needed, but that the public should always be in a position to hold such authorities to account.
This leads to the second core principle: information should, generally speaking, be free. Copyright laws, patents, government secrecy and more are a huge target for the movement.
What this would mean for industries such as pharmaceuticals, where a pill may cost pennies to make but millions to research is unclear, though – and Taaki doesn't have the answers. What he does raise is a challenge. To date, it's the entertainment industries – Hollywood, music, television and publishers – that have felt the effects of piracy and filesharing. Developments in technology mean that may not remain the case for long.
Devices known as 3D printers are able to create real-life objects based on three-dimensional plans. The technology is expensive: a cheap commercial machine costs upwards of £10,000, but a build-it-yourself open source version has already been conceived. The RepRap can be built for just over £300. Intriguingly, a RepRap can currently produce around half the parts needed to make another one. Given enough time, the devices will likely be able to print out the parts to make a whole new 3D printer – a self-replicating machine.
It's a technology with impressive potential, the ability to "print" virtually any item that can be conceived – tools, toys, even food – but the applications to date are fairly basic, and costly. At present, the printers can mainly make novelty items – though early, successful attempts to clone plastic Warhammer toys led to lawsuits and a predictable backlash.
A technology that could allow anyone to manufacture any item, given the right blueprints, heralds a huge storm for any company relying on old-world business models – and today's hackers know it.
"The battle between pirates and the music or film industries is really nothing, it's a warm-up," Taaki says. "When this technology matures, manufacturers, agriculture businesses, technology firms, any of this could be easily replicated by almost anyone, anywhere. That's when we'll see the real fight – and they don't even see it coming."
