I'm trying hard to think of what could be more counterproductive to the gains made in combating SOPA and PIPA over the last week than this, and I basically can't think of anything. Unbelievable.
So taking a few sites down for a short while is counterproductive, but completely destroying a business without due process is the normal civilized legal procedure?
It's time we realized that we are no longer in the warm embrace of freedom and democracy here. Sure, it's throwing stones while the other party is using heavy artillery, but that's how uneven struggles start.
If anything, this Megaupload episode shows (and not for the first time) that SOPA and PIPA are just a distraction, and there are no real gains to be made here. We've already lost, they already have all the power they need. Megaupload is gone, complete with the data (and personal information) of thousands of users worldwide. Any actual trial that may follow is just for show, just like the whole SOPA debate.
I'm a completely anti-copyright, pro-piracy, pro-megaupload person, but there was due process and complete legitimacy with them taking down megaupload.
Perhaps megaupload are not guilty of anything, but this entire episode was completely legal and proper. The owners were indicted and they served injunctions against the servers, and seized their domains. They have treaties with all of the countries involved to extradite the operators.
Regardless, this does not make it okay to DDoS government websites offline. It's really easy to download LOIC and DDoS whatever websites are mentioned in #anonops, but you relinquish all moral high ground in the process.
In fact, this rarely does anything. The websites usually just mitigate the attack within a couple hours, and in hindsight it just looks like a hissyfit that got nowhere.
Lets say you're completely right. What then would be the productive thing to do next?
To my mind the obvious answer to that is to work on gaining more support. Anonymous doesn't have anywhere near the power or support to change the world by themselves. They need other people.
But most other people respect private property (and would consider an organization's website private property). So random destructive acts don't help you gain support.
Note: I'm not saying they need to stay completely between the lines here. If Anonymous members put up a website stating their case and then hacked other sites with a relatively respectful message that makes their points and then links them to the Anonymous site for more information that would be productive.
Bottom Line: Making a difference means drawing people to the power of your ideas not the power of the technology you use to vandalize other sites.
