Hackers Assault Eplilepsy Patients

[Blisspath]

Hackers infiltrated the Epilepsy Foundation website by posting links that redirected viewers to flashing animation that could trigger seizures...man that is pretty low.
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/03/epilepsy

[Dechipher]

That's fucked up but it's funny, as long as no one died.

[rock_nog]

They're not hackers. Posting images on a forum does not constitute hacking. Don't get me wrong, it's despicable, but I'm just sick of them being labeled as hackers. How, exactly, did they hack the system? They registered accounts, and they posted images. That's it.

[Breaker]

What's great are stupid people that are goign to SUE the Eplilepsy foundation because they stumbled upon the links. A foundation who's goal is collect money for the research of a cure and treatment for them.

[Icey]

What's great are stupid people that are goign to SUE the Eplilepsy foundation because they stumbled upon the links. A foundation who's goal is collect money for the research of a cure and treatment for them.

Exactly, but they want the money all for themselves, not for the other people with epilepsy.

[Aegix Drakan]

...effing assholes.

This physically hurt a LOT of people, and it's downright dispicable. Anyone who would do this kind of thing deserves to be banned from the internet completely.

...I hope Karma sends them payback in the form of a virus that blows their freaking computers up in their faces.

I'm sorry, but I just have no tolerance for people who take advantage of other people's disabilities like this, while hiding behind a mask of anonymity, like the loser cowards they are.

[Lilith]

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[ShadowTiger]

"Karma" would likely take the form of the workers at their ISP having epilepsy, viewing the images from the complaints filed, and it "getting personal."

A glorious afternoon entertainment that would be.

[Feasul]

I would doubt the Anonymous was behind it. They already said that they would refrain from illegal activities, and in any case, I don't see how this furthers their cause.

[ShadowTiger]

I would doubt the Anonymous was behind it. They already said that they would refrain from illegal activities, and in any case, I don't see how this furthers their cause.

Which anonymous? The Anonymous I know have done nothing short of stalk a person into the very ground, discovering anything and everything there is to discover about the individual's degenerating life.

[Feasul]

The Anonymous trying to take down Scientology. I don't know if they would stoop to hurting people, I suppose it's possible that some members may, but it just doesn't make sense. What does inducing siezures have anything to do with Scientology?

[Skulkraken]

The seizures have nothing to do with Scientology. It's just that there's been resentment building up amongst the channers because of how the protests against the Church of Scientology have caused a new, less hostile version of Anonymous to form. They're irritated by the recent reforms and peacefulness, and want Anonymous to have its original reputation back again.

[Feasul]

Is there any indication that this was, in fact, done by Anonymous? It's just that it seems like if they wanted to get their original reputation back they could go back to overloading the Scientology sites or something. This move makes no sense to me.

[Skulkraken]

Okay, I went and checked for an update on what's actually been going on with that, and here's what I've found:

The attack was done by the Church of Scientology. Scientologists framed Anonymous by posting messages on the *chans and then went around telling people that the attacks were done by Anons. There is a statement from 7chan on it, and a Digg post too.

Digg post (http://http://digg.com/world_news/Church_of_Scientology_attack_epilepsy_forums)


ATTENTION: Newcomers from Wired, Digg, Engadget, Slashdot, etc. by OverlordXenu - 3/29/08 @ 7:46PM PDT#

Hello, and welcome to our treehouse.

I would just like to discuss this nasty business about a terrible raid on a forum for the poor people who suffer from epilepsy. What happened there was terrible, and we feel deeply sorry for those affected.

Users of this site did not actually attack those individuals. The Church of Scientology posted numerous threads across many *chan sites, and then informed people that Anonymous had been attacking victims of epilepsy. They did this under their "fair game" policy, to ruin the public opinion of Anonymous, to lessen the effect of their lawful protests against their virulent organization.

I must say, it is disgusting that the CoS is willing to drag innocent people down with them, in an attempt to save themselves. How could anyone be a willing participant in their terrible organization?

Sadly, none of our staff were online at the time of the thread's posting, so we were unable to take it down.

We are truly and deeply sorry for what happened to these innocent people,
Thank you for your time spent reading this apology,
The Administration and Staff of 7chan.org

Feel free to email us at the above address or address us on our IRC server, and we will be happy to address any of your concerns regarding this terrible incident.

[Feasul]

It occured to me that the CoS might be behind it for precisely that reason, but even that seemed almost far-fetched. Then again, with their "fair game" policy, who knows what they might do?

[Breaker]

That sounds incredibly stupid. The CoS did not "attack" the Eplilepsy foundation. It was most likely a group of script kiddies, not too different from "Anonymous", who seem to have an overly inflated sense of importance.

[Skulkraken]

You're probably right, Breaker. I've just been hearing so many conflicting reports on the whole thing that it's driving me crazy.