Today is a great day NOT to be famous and living in Hollywood. A splinter cell of the group 'Anonymous' known as 'Hollywood Leaks' has apparently turned their sites away from big government and corporations and has instead set its sights on the stars of Hollywood. They are targeting movie stars, TV personalities and musicians.
There are reports that Tom Cruise, Miley Cyrus, and Kreayshawn have already fallen victim to the group. The hackers are apparently scrounging for any dirt they can get, nude photos, e-mails, memos, phone numbers, pretty much anything they can get their hands on and expose to the world.
Thus far their efforts have resulted in publishing the phone numbers of: Cyrus and Ashley Green, Helio Castronoves and Corky Ballas. They've also published the pre-release script of the movie "Rock of Ages" which Tom Cruise will star in. So far the list of exploits seems pretty minor, but it's just the beginning I'm sure.
The reason I picked up on this article is because I am really torn on the situation. A part of me could really care less about Hollywood, but a larger part of me churns at the concept of these faceless hacker groups. I went to the tweet page for this particular group (http://twitter.com/#!/hwleaks) and its followers seem to be a strange group filled with immaturity. The posts range from threats, counter threats, people asking for dirt on individual celebrities, bragging and a whole lot of "LULZ."
I detest the idea of people using a computer to hurt others, and according to this article, part of this groups goal is to 'end the Jew-controlled media.' To me this is a clear example of why groups like Anonymous are so hard to take seriously. There is no 'head' of the group, it's recruitment mechanism is an open invitation to whoever wants to be part of it, so how could the 'group' say that it wants to 'end the Jew-controlled media?' What is to stop me from creating a YouTube video, claiming to be part of this outfit and saying that the point of these attacks are because I detest the last season of Smallville? With their lack of oversight it is too easy for someone to deliver this hate-speech agenda, and who can come forward as a voice for the group and say that they're not a hate group? It makes the job of anyone wishing to smear the group or put that type of spin on them all that much easier.
The idea of a group hiding behind a question mark doesn't really strike fear into the heart, but for some reason it reminds me of other terrorist organizations, it doesn't take a lot of courage to hit-and-run and remain faceless. I am perhaps most struck by the irony of the situation - faceless people attacking the 'beautiful people' of Hollywood. It will be interesting to see when some of these individuals get caught for their crimes and faces are attached to them.
I'm sure we haven't heard the end of this, but I have to wonder how many A-listers will be consulting their IT Security specialists in the near future.
To read the full article, follow:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20100210-83/offshoot-of-anonymous-takes-aim-at-hollywood/?tag=mncol;title
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