Re: NETSTRIKE 214.T contro la pena di morte - against death penalty

["Bradley D. Moore" <brad.moore@circlecity.net>]

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Hmmm.  Thought this was a list of thoughtful activists that would understand
the implications of said script (hardly deserving of the 'bot moniker),
without my needing to disclaimer all over it.

This was intended as a quick tool for use during an organized protest
action.  Really only a timesaver for those of us who's fingers might be
otherwise occupied during the argreed upon time for action.

My copies are not running any longer - it was only an hour, right?  Again,
perhaps in error, I assumed anyone who bothered to put said script to use
would cron it to start on time, and cron a job to kill it at the end of the
protest.  That's what I did.  On several machines.  That was the POINT of
the action, right?  Selective, pin-point attack.

Now I agree in principle that random rock throwing is NOT effective
activism, nor is random bot throwing effective HACKtivism.  But the point of
a planned action is for it to be as effective as possible, right?  One of
the Good Things about this group's grasp on tech is our heightened ability
to use it to make our collective actions more effective.

Can you argue that one person clicking ten links at a time is NOT more
effective than that same person clicking two?  (Not for lack of 'puters -
it's just that my third arm is on backorder from Acme NanoTech, damn them!)

Certainly you're not suggesting that these two TexASS propaganda sites are
"USEFULL THINGS".  Is Texas assulting your site?  They aren't assulting
mine.  Worried about a DDOS war?  Me too!  I hope we win.

I am left to the conclusion that you are making a case AGAINST this type of
direct action (DDOS) per se, as opposed to my weak-ass script (that any one
of us with a copy of wget could no doubt throw together) in particular.  I
mean, the action is certainly not LESS legitimate because I've automated it,
right?  And the world is FULL of broken usefull things.

Pardon me for making BIG assumptions about what those of us on this list
MIGHT have in common, but regardless of your (or my) personal take on the
problems of the world or the corrective action for said, I will wager that
your views are shouted down in the mainstream media as heartily as mine.  Is
that a DDOS?  So I've forced some poor sysadmin to skim and kill some big
log files that say MURDER IS WRONG.  So we collectivly tied up a couple of
TexASS state propaganda outlets for an hour.  Every time I turn on a TV or
open a piece of mainstream print media I'm forced to skim and discard a
similar volume of noise.

So is this a case of the ends NOT justifying the means for you?  That's not
flame-bait, it's a legitimate question that should ALWAYS be in the mind of
any ACTIVist.  At what point does taking on the tactics of the enemy reduce
you to the moral level of said?  A VERY worthy (and prickly) question.

Your site is informative.  I did take the time to check it out, as I'm sure
your log files indicate if you are checking me out ;)  Your arguements are
cogent and well cited.  But I might point out that the page you direct us to
is dated 1996.  In this case, I feel the fact that the death penalty is
still alive and kicking (pun intended) in so many nations indicates that
simply stating our side of the argument in a non-confrontational way is NOT
ENOUGH.

So we killed a couple of web servers for an hour (or maybe two).  When I
last checked (five minutes ago, and last night before beddy-bye) both sites
were back on their feet.  Can you say the same for those poor fried mofo's
who've been led down that last walk in the Great State of Texas in the four
years since you posted your article in question?

Sometimes, when no one is listening, you have to try a little harder to make
yourself heard.  And yes, sometimes even at the expense of a few
(not-so-innocent) eardrums.

Hell, we didn't even get any major media coverage for the action.  At least
not in this country (USA), where the GOVENOR of that capitol of Don't Mess
is only a hanging chad away from assuming the mantle of power over the
federal government (and armed forces - talk about breaking useful things!).

Civilized activism is a VERY thin line.  Perhaps if I'd filled the logs with
"MURDER IS WRONG PLEASE STOP THANK YOU."

Maybe next time.
(B.)
----------
Bradley D. Moore, CCDA, CCNA, CNE
brad.moore@circlecity.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "lsi" <lsi@lsi.clara.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2000 11:21 PM
Subject: Re: NETSTRIKE 214.T contro la pena di morte - against death penalty
> Just to let you folks know, if you don't already, that this door
> swings both ways.
> If you haven't seen your site attacked by one of these robots, just
> wait.
> They call for files five times a second, for minutes at a time.  From
> all over the internet.  For months on end.
> Sound like a laugh???


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