Corporatocracy's Authoritarianism: Justice for the PayPal WikiLeaks protesters

[boutons_deux]

the hacktivist collective Anonymous voiced their displeasure with PayPal, over that company's part in the banking blockade of Wikileaks.

A reported 10,000 protesters around the world took to the internet with a protest method known as DDoS (distributed denial of service) – the functional equivalent of repeatedly hitting the refresh button on a computer. With enough people refreshing enough times, the site is flooded with traffic, slowed, or even temporarily knocked offline. No damage is done to the site or its backing computer system; and when the protest is over, the site resumes business as usual.

the United States government decided to serve 42 warrants and indict 14 protesters. While protest charges have typically been seen as tantamount to nuisance crimes, like trespassing or loitering, these were different. The 14 PayPal defendants, some of whom were teenagers when the protest occurred, find themselves looking at 15 years in federal prison – for exercising their free speech rights; for redressing their grievances to PayPal, a major corporation; for standing up for what they believed was right.

Since the PayPal prosecution, there have been no DDoS protests on that scale. Speech has been chilled.

Supreme court Justice William O Douglas said:

"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."

You can't fight city hall, and you can't fight corporations.


Toward that end, it's time to begin a conversation about acknowledging DDoS as legitimate protest speech, deserving of first amendment protection.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...os-free-speech

secret (corporate) money to politicians is protected "free speech", but protesting against corporations, esp hurting their profits, is not.

[DMC]

So you start a thread, no one responds, you start another, no one responds, you start a 3rd.

Lifeless got

[boutons_deux]

So you start a thread, no one responds, you start another, no one responds, you start a 3rd.

Lifeless got

You responded. Thanks! You Love Me, You Really Love Me!

[ElNono]

So you start a thread, no one responds, you start another, no one responds, you start a 3rd.

Lifeless got

Yeah... if he starts adding ellipses on the thread les and you won't be able to tell boutons and Yoni threads apart...

[boutons_deux]

... WAIT FOR IT!

[Latarian Milton]

So you start a thread, no one responds, you start another, no one responds, you start a 3rd.

Lifeless got

yep, he's been a member since 09 and has already made more than 20k posts in a timespan of less than 4 years, he indeed has no life tbh

[LnGrrrR]

To be honest, I doubt DDOS will or should be classified as free speech. That said, 15 years is ridiculous. If their lawyer is any sort of competent, the kids won't get busted. (Assuming they weren't dumb enough to open 25 cmd prompts and start pinging....)

[DMC]

yep, he's been a member since 09 and has already made more than 20k posts in a timespan of less than 4 years, he indeed has no life tbh

lol I broke one off in your ass.

lol following me around like a scorned prom date with the taste of still in her mouth.

lol fat immigrant