A newspaper report brought a smile to my face and a strange sense of … relief, reassurance. A group of hackers known as Anonymous has apparently cracked into and tape-recorded a conference call held between the FBI and Britain’s Scotland Yard.
The call was to discuss the international investigation of the Anonymous hackers.
“The #FBI might be curious how we’re able to continuously read their internal [communications] for some time now. #OpInfiltration,” read a taunting tweet about the audio file.
An FBI agent, insisting on speaking anonymously, said, “It’s not really that sophisticated.” The anonymous government agent explained that the Anonymous group had somehow intercepted an email with the call’s information. The agent offered that the FBI is “always looking at ways to make our communications more secure.”
Apparently, Anonymous has quite the work ethic. Shortly following the penetration of FBI/Scotland Yard security (so to speak), down went websites for the Greek Ministry of Justice, the Boston Police Department, and the lawyers representing a U.S. Marine implicated in the killing of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians.
Now, I don’t generally support hacking into government computers or taking down people’s websites. I’m more laissez-faire. But, actions by Anonymous to force government transparency are helpful, may even sport a certain revolutionary justice.
Is Anonymous on my side? More so, I bet, than this scary national security state that now thinks it can assassinate or incarcerate an American citizen without charge or any legitimate judicial process on the orders of one man: the president.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.