Anonymous's Public Face Indicted

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Barrett Brown an alleged former spokesperson of the hacking group has been indicted on twelve counts of information theft.

The charges include one count of stolen authentication features for more than 5,000 credit card account numbers pulled from the Stratfor Global Intelligence database, one count of access device fraud affecting at least 15 unauthorized access devices, as well as ten counts of aggravated identity theft, which gave Brown full access to credit card accounts and related information.

Brown never confirmed that he served as a spokesperson for Anonymous, but was linked frequently to the activities of the group, giving the organization a public face. The indictment, for example, states that Brown transferred the file including more than 5,000 credit card account numbers from the #Anonops IRC channel to his own channel #ProjectPM. Brown describes ProjectPM as a "distributed think-tank" to promote online activism.

In an article published by ArsTechnica, Brown indicated that he was part of Anonymous, telling the publication that he got involved in the group 2010. The indictment covers charges between December 25, 2011 and March 6, 2012.

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Wolfgang Gruener
27 Comments Comment from the forums
  • anononon
    no good
    Reply
  • mightymaxio
    Glad one person from that group got caught, people need to learn not to differentiate between Anonymous and other extremists since that's what they are. Something isn't going their way they change it and force others to believe in their beliefs.
    Reply
  • He never "transferred" a file. He posted a link to the dump in his channel. Btw, that's something many major news organizations have done since dumps are reported on/linked all the time. I hope they start arresting reporters, too.
    Reply
  • -Jackson
    It's funny how people STILL think that Anonymous is an organization with some kind of centralized governing system.
    For gods sake, it's just a bunch of people around the world. Nothing more.
    Reply
  • Kami3k
    -JacksonIt's funny how people STILL think that Anonymous is an organization with some kind of centralized governing system.For gods sake, it's just a bunch of people around the world. Nothing more.
    This, even if you were to somehow arrest every member of anon at once. It would just be repopulated within days.
    Reply
  • unimatrixzero
    Good. The sooner these cyber terrorists get arrested, the better.
    Reply
  • balev
    I'm not saying that these guys are "good", but it's pretty sad that government bodies around the world do exactly the same thing, yet under a different guise and it's "for the betterment of society".

    At least there's been no report of them stealing money or resources, which is what governments do all the time (one example is the federal reserve banking systems).
    Reply
  • kevin83
    As much as people want to believe that Anonymous has no centralized leadership and no governance, there is only limited truth to that idea. While no member of the group asserts authority over the others, there is some closed door communication going on to decide hacking targets, video ideas, etc. that isn't available to everyday members. The group feigns lacking leadership to make it easier for those in charge to evade police detection. The police cannot arrest the thousands of Anonymous members, nobody has the resources to track every member down. So governments try to single out leadership members and arrest them to send a message to the underlings.
    The whole anonymous idea is really a scheme to make evading capture easier, and it works sometimes.
    Reply
  • NuclearShadow
    mightymaxioGlad one person from that group got caught, people need to learn not to differentiate between Anonymous and other extremists since that's what they are. Something isn't going their way they change it and force others to believe in their beliefs.
    Words like "extremists" are too liberally passed around today. I fear for when your generation is running things because of the methods of thinking being passed down to you. This isn't your fault, in-fact it's partly mine for not standing in the way of such false teachings soon enough. And for that I am deeply sorry.

    I want you to imagine a kid. The kid is small for his age and gets picked on by the other boys. They are even physically abusive to him and one day a much larger and powerful child shoves the kid. Instead of just taking it he snaps back and shoves right back. Is this kid the extremist in your eyes for shoving back? I certainly hope you aren't so consumed by this train of thought that you would villainize the kid and call him a extremist.

    But this is what Anonymous is, they are the reaction not the villainous act that first take place. They are pushing back with the methods that they know how. They also have never forced anyone to carry their beliefs like you have suggested they have. You are willing to be dishonest just to be opposed to them, what does that tell you about the influences that have lead you to think this way?
    When does the time come before you point out all that differ as "extremists" or some other objectionable group? Furthermore what does this make you in the end?

    People will always have different ideas on what is right. This isn't a flaw but a blessing, sadly this blessing is abused to do terrible things. The goal should be to tell one's thoughts and listen to all others. To grow individually and as a global society through these discussions and test and adopt what works best for all of us. However this is rarely ever done and can you really object to the kid that pushes back after all dialogue has been ignored? Martin Luther King Jr, Susan B. Anthony, among so many others pushed back. Are you going to call them extremists too?

    I'm not going to ask you to change your position. Rather I want you to truly look at it. Observe and criticize your own beliefs give them fair and real criticisms and see if they can hold up to your own standards.
    Reply
  • cats_Paw
    balevI'm not saying that these guys are "good", but it's pretty sad that government bodies around the world do exactly the same thing, yet under a different guise and it's "for the betterment of society".At least there's been no report of them stealing money or resources, which is what governments do all the time (one example is the federal reserve banking systems).
    Yeah... governments dont want other kids to play with their toys...
    Reply