‘Anonymous’ Hacking Group Takes Down 40 Child Porn Sites, ‘Darknet,’ Exposes Over 1500 Users
- Posted on October 24, 2011 at 7:00pm by
Christopher Santarelli
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The self-proclaimed “hacktivist,“ group ”Anonymous,” has taken down a new target — and this time the group’s action has gained some warm, or at least positive reaction from the public. Users of the pedophile “Freedom Hosting” server had been hiding within the “dark net” corners of cyberspace. The child-porn sites were allegedly run on scattered volunteer servers, making content monitoring extremely difficult. But then, out of the blue, Anonymous announced that it had successfully accomplished its goal of revealing the account details of 1,589 users of the explicit database, and disabled over 40 child pornography websites. ARS Technica on the news:
“The takedown is part of Anonymous’ Operation Darknet, an anti-child-pornography effort aimed at thwarting child pornographers operating on the Tor network. Anonymous’ attack was focused on a hosting service called Freedom Hosting, which the group claims was the largest host of child pornography on Tor’s anonymized network. ‘By taking down Freedom Hosting, we are eliminating 40+ child pornography websites,’ Anonymous claimed in its statement. ‘Among these is Lolita City, one of the largest child pornography websites to date, containing more than 100GB of child pornography’.”
ZDNet writes that the hacking collective had warned Freedom Hosting to remove all of its disgusting links on October 14. Freedom Hosting ignored and Anonymous attacked, knocking the server offline and out for the count by the evening of the October 15.
“We have been targeting them in secret for a while now, taking down their servers as much as possible,” one hacker named Arson told Gawker in regards to “Lolita City.” “We decided to seek media attention for this operation so that we may get the resources needed to shut them down on a more permanent basis.”
Anonymous attacked Westboro Baptist Church in February, when one hacker hacked the group’s website while being interviewed live on the radio with a WBC spokesman.
The group is known for its more obstructive hacks of PayPal and MasterCard, as well as the San Francisco BART system. Does this news change your opinion of Anonymous, or, hackers in general?
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Comments (89)
high school drop out
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 8:17amWhile happy that the “pervs” got what they deserve I,m not ready to high five these guys because who decides who the “bad” guys are? Today we agree… but, tomorrow?… hmmm
Report Post »DanWesson455
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 9:22amIf they exploit children on the site: Good for these guys and keep up the great work. Name names and bring on the shame.
Report Post »TH30PH1LUS
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 10:04amcan they “out” the communist traitors in our government next?
Report Post »TexasHunter
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 11:58amFunny how this comes out today when Yesterday the Blaze exposed in Occupy Dallas several members had sex with a 14 yr old girl… their defense is that she said she was 20.. and they will have to start monitoring the age group that comes in there.. They fool no one. Still the lowest on the totem pole..
Report Post »chazman
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 9:20pm… gee, aren’t there capable government employees, say NSA, CIA, DIA etc that could have done this? Damn right there are. Why didn’t they ever do it? ANONYMOUS!! Please tell us, and prove it, why the government never shut these perverts down?!! And thank you …
Report Post »byehlik
Posted on February 13, 2012 at 12:47pmI think I like these hackers. They seem to expose things we need to know about to get the big picture of what our governments are up to. I applaud them killing these sick sites. They should publish the list of twisted asses that are into this crap so we can round em up and put a big dent into this sickness. Bravo!
Report Post »FASTCOMPANY
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 8:06amI dont agree with some of what Anon is doing however, they got this one right. Good Job. Now, Anon, your next mission if you decide to take it is to find Barack Obama’s real birth certifcate.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 2:49pmAnonymous broke the law to hack these servers.
But the evidence will still stand up in court since it was the government breaking the law.
I sincerely hope law enforcement acts upon this.
Report Post »PandoraSpocks
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 7:49amWhile I have no problem with these users being exposed, I can‘t say it’s changed my opinion of this group. Vigilantism is dangerous. Who‘s to say they won’t target your religious, financal, or business institution next?
Report Post »BelindaB
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 7:28amI say POST NAMES of the filth that visit these pathetic sites…..so everybody can see who the child molesters are…..Such trash..literally
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 7:54amThere’s only one problem with posting the names….how do you know the names are really from a child porn site? And what if the names are the names of people who pay the ISP Freedom Hosting, but don’t necessarily visit Lolita City or other child porn sites? For all we know, they were names harvested from a chain letter email and my name and your name could be on there, even though I suspect neither of us knew the ISP or the sites existed.
Report Post »BDL1980
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 8:37amThese names are from a TOR darknet.
NONE of the people caught up in it were there by accident. You cant get into the TOR sites by accident.
They are all pedos.
Report Post »Wolf
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 5:50amThey should take down the NYC public school system for all the porn it’s forcing on kids w/out parental consent.
Report Post »Brooke Lorren
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 3:01amI am not 100% against hacking. There are some legitimate uses for it. I’ve done a few minor things myself (nothing illegal).
If Anonymous had restricted itself to a Robin-Hood type of good works, where they only take down people like child pornographers, terrorist organizations, and the Westboro Baptist Church, then that would be one thing. They got off that train a long time ago though.
Report Post »pamela kay
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 3:51amI agree. However I would like to warn you that it can happen by accident. I typed children preformers on bing and was expecting to see talented little kids singing and dancing and boy was I surprised. I also wanted to buy some gifts for my sons (who are hunters) at christmas so I wanted to go to a local sporting good stores website. Never never type in part of Dicks Sporting goods. Put the whole name in. Trust me. I am glad that these creeps were exposed. Regardless. Some would say it is an invasion of privacy and to some degree it is but if I had my way porn would be illegal period! This country is in a horrific economic crisis yet the porn industry makes billions every year. What does that say about our society?
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 8:04amI agree, Pamela. I was deleting emails one day and the cat landed on the keyboard. Scared me seven ways to Sunday, but the screens that he accidently clicked on were almost as bad. I didn’t stick around to look, but they were all adults, I think.
Report Post »american_rose_126
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 2:52amThey are smart, I’ll give them that. Choose a target 99% of people despise to try to garner good will and kind opinion. Sorry. Won’t work here! If you have all this talent and you TRULY want to use it for good on a continual basis–then do so! I am glad if even in your evil scheming God has used you to strike one blow for good…but this does not make you trustworthy, only cunning. Even the devil quotes scriptures and uses truth to sell lies…
Report Post »Discord
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 3:03amJust like every religious person.
Report Post »stoptheliesbho
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 3:48pm@Discord – your username should be Disregard, and that‘s what I’ll do with your comment. @AmericanRose: agreed.
Report Post »BrianA
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 2:19amWhen you click on the link with the list of 1,500+ user names there is a box below the list that explains what they did to the servers. They replaced the pedosites with Nyan cat. If you don’t know what Nyan cat is look it up on youtube…that makes this even better.
Report Post »BrianA
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 2:21amSorry…didn’t mean to post so many times…it wasn’t showing up and I thought it was because I included a youtube link…anyways look up nyan cat…an see what these pervs get!
Report Post »Spyder
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 2:40amI know that pretty kitty. lol. I see it on the Chan all the time. This is getting even better… Thx for the heads-up, Briana. Too Funny!
Report Post »CARAGIA
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 4:34amThat’s hysterical!!! Good for Anonymous! Very creative AND a sense of humor, I’ll give them that.
Report Post »sisserydoo
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 7:35amWell….I wasn’t in favor of hacking of any kind…but that is too funny! That just cracks me up imagining their frustration and confusion at getting that cat over and over again!
Report Post »It’s nice to smile in the morning, good job anonymous!
grubgrub
Posted on February 13, 2012 at 4:08pmWow that’s perfect.
Report Post »BrianA
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 2:18amWhen you click on the link with the list of 1,500+ user names there is a box below the list that explains what they did to the servers. They replaced the pedosites with Nyan cat. If you don’t know what that is click this youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4
Report Post »BrianA
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 2:15amWhen you click on the link in this article that takes you to the list of 1500+ user names there is a box at the bottom that explains what Anon did to these servers. They replaced all the pedosites with nyan cat. If you don’t know what that is click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4
Report Post »Ferrarello
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 1:52amExcellent !!!
Report Post »longun45
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 1:41amThese people want legitimacy, And while it’s kiddie porn it could just as easily be any server in the world. Sorry they do not get legitimacy. Remember the story of the turtle and the scorpion.
Report Post »TiocFaidhArLa
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 1:31amBravo!!
Report Post »sissykatz
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 1:49amI wish they would restrict their talents to doing positive
Report Post »things. I am so glad they did this….. There is no reason
to have “Talent” if it is not done for good things….Being
destructive with a talent is such a waste…. Thanks for
at least doing THIS POSITIVE THING….
Discord
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 3:04amI find the majority of what they do to be positive, personally.
Report Post »snowdrop
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 12:56amHackers could provide a public service if they targeted only the bad guys……
Report Post »oldschoolgreen
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 1:06amBut who is to decide who the bad guys are? Thats the problem with vigilantes. There is no standard. No trial, no burden of proof. How many innocent folks are in prison? With the most sophisticated technology an exhuastive appeal process and the fairest jury system in the world we still make mistakes. No without checks and balances there is no justice. Only bullys with a hip rap.
Report Post »geetarman
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 1:48am@OldSchoolGreen – You’re exactly right.
Report Post »CARAGIA
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 4:37amIf, by “bad guys”, you mean our corrupt gov’t officials, including the databases with all the nasty on them, that would be perfectly fine by me. Go get em, tiger!! LOL
Report Post »Valrobex
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 10:14am@ Caragia – What happens when Anonymous attacks the corrupt govt data banks and publishes your private information such as SS#, income records, and soon to be available medical records?…. Just askin’…
Report Post »oldschoolgreen
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 12:54amAnon means quickly or shortly. Why do you keep on using it. Also Guy Fawkes failed as I recall to kill some English King. James something or other. He wanted to install a more conservative Catholic king. He is burned in effigy every year in merry old England because he was a failed revolutionary that wanted to take away peoples freedom of religon. Why do you use his image? Very puzzling.
Report Post »Spyder
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 1:20amAnon is short for Anon(ymous). Wow! Wasn’t that hard to figure out? And as far as the Guy Fawkes visagegoes, let me quote Roosevelt to explain it:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out where the strong man hath stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at his best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who at his worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place will never be with those cold an timid souls who knew neither victory; nor defeat.”
It is not about the failed attempt, but the fact that he tried to fight the power in the first place. If you can’t understand that, then take the Red Pill and move along.
Report Post »oldschoolgreen
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 1:07pmOkay guess I over thought that anon thing.
Report Post »As to the Roosevelt quote (Teddy not Franky), I consider that a wonderful piece of early 20th century bombast. It is the quintessential argument for mediocraty. It is what those that fail always fall back on to justify their inadequacy. It is the ultimate, “You get and A for effort Timmy” speech.
Nature awards no place of honor for the also rans. History seldoms remembers second place. In truth it is not just the effort it is the result, either you win or you are forgotten or worse yet reviled.
There are other failed revolutionaries that would serve your purposes better. People that actually believed in freedom. I think that the Guy Fawkes image is not so well thought out as you would have us believe. Rather it is a tright nod to a B movie. Either that or perhaps you really are trying to bring about a more restrictive life style, devoid of those freedoms we so comfortably transite today.
If that is the case I will gladly take the red pill and move along. Have you anything I could wash it down with? Maybe some Kool Aid. No. I see you’ve drank it all already. Ah well. Perhaps next time.
britlynz
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 12:48amDidn’t Mussolini make the trains run on time?
Report Post »Spyder
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 12:39amBravo Anon!! Skeptical hippo is not feeling so skeptical. Now go find the the bankerf@gs, as well as the NWOf@gs, and wreak havoc. If you expose it with a level of integrity, masses will awaken. And oh what an army that would be. If only…
Report Post »oldschoolgreen
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 12:45amWell considering Guy Fawkes was a failed Catholic revolutionary and they are envoking his visage is it any wonder they know about child porn sites? Glad they did it though. Of course Hitler was hard on deviants too. Didn’t excuse the rest of his actions.
Report Post »Spyder
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 12:54am@oldschoolgreen
Report Post »Non Sequitur
Servant Of YHVH
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 1:07am@spyder
Report Post »You are correct. Except for the child pornography thing anonymous is Non Sequitur. What I don’t understand is all these “brainiacs” are doing this garbage against all these “rich cats” and all that. And this protest is primarily funded by George Soros and his puppet companies. It really is hilarious, it is like Soros is a pimp and he’s got all these thousands of prostitutes out there doing his bidding. So I’m curious, are you a 99%er Soros prostitute.
Spyder
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 1:45am@Servant Of YHVH
Report Post »We meet again. lol. Our last encounter was not so pleasant. As I recall, you tried to corner me and make me look like a troll, but I came back at you with your own quote that you used on someone else in a Ron Paul article and shut you right up. I remember, but no worries. We are all entitled to our own opinions, so it’s all good. I am of the 53% who until a year ago worked for large companies and paid my share of taxes for most of my life. I am now just a citizen who once had an American Dream but woke up to the true nightmare. If you truly must know, I despise George Soros, which you should have gathered from my initial comments in this thread where I say that Anon should next target the Banksters and the Elitists. Pretty obvious… At least to most… Sorry. I am not a troll, but rather a man with my own opinions based on what I read outside of the MSM. Like my opinions. Hate my opinions. I don’t care. They are mine; not yours.
100 Million Patriots Standing
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 12:21amAlthough the end result may be good in this case- the wider problem is the vigilanti aspect- that any group or person could impose destruction at will is ultimately troublesome.
my guess is that these sites were merely practice for a larger target….while building a little positive goodwill along the way…
stay alert – danger Will Robinson
Report Post »mrbuff1959
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 1:19amWhen the elected (officals) and the dod are all corupt, vigalante actions is all ,We the people have left.
Report Post »mrbuff1959
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 1:28amWho is to say ,who are the bad guyes. Not me im just a old hippy diesel mech. that spent 30yrs traviling the world.
Report Post »Valrobex
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 12:19amWow! Talk about caught on the horns of a dilemma.
The child porn attack is justified because those bastards are complicit in illegal and morally reprehensible behavior. I work therapeutically with victims of childhood sexual abuse and can vouch for the terrible harm those poor kids experience and how it affects them even in adulthood. There is no legal penalty too strong for the perpetrators. As such, what “Anonymous” did is laudable.
Yet, is it possible that the individuals involved in the TOR network had no idea this was going on? If they did know their personal computers were used for child porn trafficking they’re just as guilty as the child porn websites. Were they willing dupes? I’m not computer savvy enough to harbor an opinion.
However, I’m outraged that this same group cyber-attacked private internet accounts, more particularly legitimate commercial sites such as Paypal & MasterCard. Those commercial enterprises are not only legal; they benefit and enhance economic activity. No one participates on Paypal or MasterCard against their will. People choose to use those services, unlike the children abused for the porn sites.
I suppose the bottom line is that the group “Anonymous” has broken the law and should be prosecuted. The legal authorities should do what they can to apprehend and prosecute those people. And let the judge or jury decide if the busting up of the child porn sites should mitigate their sentences.
Report Post »capitalismrocks
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 12:09amNow THIS is the type of Hacking I can respect and get behind, I wish these people would do more of this kind of stuff… this is where hackers can really be useful and helpful to the world.
Report Post »Mil Mom
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 12:44am@capitalismrocks
Report Post »Posted on October 25, 2011 at 12:09am
Now THIS is the type of Hacking I can respect and get behind, I wish these people would do more of this kind of stuff… this is where hackers can really be useful and helpful to the world
****
And how often is it said: “A stopped watch is right twice a day”?
Todd Decker
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 12:46amYeah, it’s all good until they target Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, your church, your bank, your credit card company, etc. Even in prison, the rumor is that child molesters are brutalized or even murdered. I used to be OK with that, but then I realized that in reality, it isn’t that these other murders and rapists (who’ve done horrible things to get them into prison) have a thing against child molesters, its just that targeting a child molester gives them an opportunity to murder, beat, and rape again and hide behind this “noble deed” of getting vengeance for the child. Yeah right, like they care about a child.
So no, even if they are taking down CP, I do not support these rouge’s actions. They are anti-capitalist and anarchists and while most people will be duped into supporting them in this case, all they are doing is gaining experience to take down sites that will affect you.
Report Post »oldschoolgreen
Posted on October 25, 2011 at 12:48amNot the point at all. Its the viglante aspect of it. Yes pedophiles are disgusting freaks that should be castrated with a cheese grater. No I don‘t like an anonymous group of individuals deciding what is ’right‘ and ’wrong’ in society. Who after all will watch the watchers?
Report Post »shotzie
Posted on October 24, 2011 at 11:54pmShows that they are – as all of us are – neither all good nor all bad, but a mix of both. Hoping encouraging the good will serve to deter them from the bad. For taking down the porn sites – kudo’s to the group. Keep using your skills for good. And keep reading, so you can ascertain the difference between good and evil.
Report Post »Whitey4West
Posted on October 24, 2011 at 11:43pmBRAVO!! See what happens when people put their skills to good use!!
Report Post »MisterB
Posted on October 24, 2011 at 11:43pmI am completely cool with any group that non-violently attacks a child-porn conglomerate.
I wasn’t completely saddened about them targeting Westboro Baptist either.
Report Post »Conkuur
Posted on October 24, 2011 at 11:33pmIt’s nice to see them actually doing a service for a change. Does this make their political agenda more legit? NO.
Report Post »bedspirit
Posted on October 24, 2011 at 11:52pmI follow Anonymous pretty closely and I’m not seeing a political agenda from them. remember that they began in response to attacks against wikileaks, so they were never fans of the Obama administration. I have seen some pro Ron Paul stuff from them. My guess is that they are about as anti government as a group can be. Of course they also seem to be against many businesses as well, though most of those businesses seem to be colluding with the government so that could be the connection.
Report Post »Discord
Posted on October 24, 2011 at 11:29pmYEAH go anons! <3
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