Anonymous Words: An Interview With Operation Payback Hackers

Truthout - PayPal was a tough target. The latest web firm to face Operation Payback DDoS attacks for withholding donations to WikiLeaks was prepared for the well-publicized flood on its server. After hours of blasting PayPal on Friday, the "hacktivists" associated with a loose network called Anonymous, slowed payment processing, but they could not shut down PayPal.

A new chat room was opened to discuss news reports. A teenage boy in the Netherlands had been arrested after confessing to participating in Operation Payback. PayPal announced plans to unfreeze funds withheld from WikiLeaks. Momentum seemed to be fading, and the chances of a successful attack against the mammoth Amazon site were looking slim. Was it time to call it a day and declare a victory? What happens next?

Small details came out from behind the Anonymous screen names. Quagmire_x86 lives in Russia. Stupidmonkey claimed to be an "IT goon" in the Unites States. Obvioustroll is a "eurofaggot." Arera compared Anonymous to the movie "Fight Club." Freeclinic once ran for local office somewhere in the US.

They all agreed that the Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) program used to launch DDoS attacks was simple to use and has been available to the "average Joe" for years.

Of course, anyone could have been behind these screen names, even an FBI "spook." They are Anonymous, and this is what they had to say. (Only gross misspellings have been edited.) Read more.