PBS Hacked in Retribution for Frontline Wikileaks Episode

[Hissyspit]

Source: Boing Boing

PBS hacked in retribution for Frontline Wikileaks episode
Xeni Jardin at 10:27 PM Sunday, May 29, 2011 

The PBS.org website, and data associated with the PBS television network, its programs, and its affiliate stations, appear to have just been hacked by an entity calling itself LulzSec. The information compromised and published appears to include network, server, and database details and logins, as well as user login data for some PBS staff and contractors who access the PBS network.

They identify themselves as unrelated to "Anonymous". According to the tweets, the intrusion is in retribution for the recent "Wikisecrets" episode on Wikileaks, which was perceived by Wikileaks and its supporters to be unfair to Wikileaks.

Greetings, Internets. We just finished watching WikiSecrets and were less than impressed. We decided to sail our Lulz Boat over to the PBS servers for further... perusing. As you should know by now, not even that fancy-ass fortress from the third shitty Pirates of the Caribbean movie (first one was better!) can withhold our barrage of chaos and lulz. Anyway, unnecessary sequels aside... wait, actually: second and third Matrix movies sucked too! Anyway, say hello to the insides of the PBS servers, folks. They best watch where they're sailing next time.

Read more: http://www.boingboing.net/2011/05/29/pbs-hacked-in-retr...

[Hissyspit]

1. .

http://www.pbs.org/lulz/

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

2. Obviously they did it for the LULZ.

[slay]

4. +1

[The Doctor.]

3. Heh. Welcome to the world of cyberpunk.

[nonperson]

5. PBS SUX

Ever since the Republican takeover of the network, PBS SUX.

I used to be a contributor. I used to listen public radio all day every day at work and watch PBS shows like Frontline without fail. Now I can barely stand to listen or watch for longer than five minutes.

[CBHagman]

23. "Now I can barely stand...longer than five minutes."

Well, now there's your problem. If you switch off after five minutes, you are missing the bulk of the programming.

And you're passing up the documentaries on Stonewall, the Freedom Riders, and more.

Links to The American Experience programs on...

...the Freedom Riders:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomrider... /

...the Stonewall uprising.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/stonew... /

[nonperson]

29. I listened to NPR & watched PBS almost exclusively during the 70's, 80,s, 90's

I'm not talking about the bulk of the programming. I'm talking about the entire tone of the public radio and television networks. They've been blackmailed by the threat of budget cuts by Republicans who can't survive the truth being revealed about them so they co-opt and neuter any media outlet that threatens to expose them. NPR and PBS are not even shadows of what they were when I listened and I refuse to give them any more than five minutes to prove I'm wrong because a brief listen is all it takes to realize I'm right.

PBS SUX.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

38. A DUer once said "NPR is Fox 'News' for people who think they're too smart for Fox 'News'". PBS

could be described the same way.

[nonperson]

53. Yes. NPR and PBS are "fair and balanced" now

Publicly funded propaganda outlets. Pravda and Tass.

[webDude]

6. False flag attack? Considering the anti-free internet sentiment that some hold.

[perdita9]

7. Wikileaks just another terrorist group

I'm a huge fan of Frontline--it's the best investigative show on television. I thought the piece on WikiLeaks was fair and included voices from each side of the issue.

But a bunch of cyberpunk crybabies couldn't find any facts PBS got wrong so they launch a web attack thereby proving the point that Julian Assange is just another criminal who uses threats and intimidation to get what he wants.

[Harmony Blue]

8. Actually I found it to be extremely lopsided

So I can understand the sentiment that it wasn't a fair piece at all IMVHO.

[EFerrari]

9. Why are you attacking Wikileaks? They didn't do this.

Likewise, attacking a person's character is not investigative journalism, in case that was unclear.

[The Doctor.]

Like it's not obvious.

Seriously, just look at the m/o and the pattern of 'support'.

[Hissyspit]

15. There is absolutely no evidence that WikiLeaks had anything to do with this.

[ronnie624]

25. The word 'terrorism' already has a definition.

According to U.S. legal code, it is the use or threat of the use of violence for the purpose of political coercion.

I don't believe Wikileaks has yet been accused of that.

[Paranoid Pessimist]

28. No, the accusation is worse: Treason, which is punishable by death n/t

[ronnie624]

36. People shouldn't allow establishment commentary to define words like 'terrorism'.

It's one of the methods by which the elites manufacture consent for militarism.

That's all I'm sayin'.

[Jazzgirl]

42. If you are referring to Wikileaks doing treason.....

Sorry. You do have to be American and Julian Assange certainly isn't!

[No Elephants]

68. Isn't copyright infringement classified as terrorism now? And certain cyber attacks are acts of war

[ronnie624]

73. I suppose the word will mean whatever the powerful need it to mean. n/t

[SkyDaddy7]

26. I would not go as far as to call Wikileaks a terrorist group but...

I totally agree about Frontline being the best investigative journalism on TV! The coverage of Wikileaks was fair & from what I have read from many other news organizations to include non-western ones Assange is not the nicest or most ethical person.

I like the "idea" of Wikileaks but I think Assange is more about himself than actual transparency.

I think Daniel Domscheit-Berg's "Openleaks" will end up being the better website...Assange will eventually self implode due to his EGO. We will see.

[The Doctor.]

47. That's a load of indefensible bullshit.

As has been pointed out; Wikileaks has nothing to do with this. Also, Wikileaks can only be classified as a 'terrorist group' by either the ignorant or the deliberately disingenuous.

There is a push by corporations to stomp out hactivism that might otherwise expose their illegal and/or irresponsible practices. They love when people like yourself conflate cyber-crime with actual terrorism because if they can make that a household meme, it will be much easier to crush and intimidate whistle-blowers.

When there are no more whistle-blowers, corporations will be all the more free to screw everyone as they have consistently proven they are willing to do.

[Name removed]

66. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sabrina 1]

67. It was not fair.

It was cut to pieces, censored actually, sort of the way Breitbart/O'Keefe edit their stuff, ending with a show that was biased against Wikileaks. So what you saw was what was left after they edited it.

The full show is available on the Wikileaks site and probably elsewhere.

[Sky Masterson]

10. I hope they find and arrest the hacker

This is vandalism and terrorism at the same time.
I didn't watch the report because I could give a shit less about Manning because what he did was wrong.
People need to get over it..

[Progressive Cancer]

11. Terrorism?

Come on, this has not harmed any soul. Call it sabotage if you like, but please refrain from using the word terrorism!

As Che Guevara said:
"Acts of sabotage are very important. It is necessary to distinguish clearly between sabotage, a revolutionary and highly effective method of warfare, and terrorism, a measure that is generally ineffective and indiscriminate in its results, since it often makes victims of innocent people and destroys a large number of lives that would be valuable to the revolution."

[Sky Masterson]

13. If I hacked in to your computer

and raided your private information and posted it as retribution..That is pretty close to terrorism.

[JackRiddler]

30. Bullshit. If that's terrorism, then why not just call all crime terrorism?

The word apparently has no meaning to you.

[Sky Masterson]

32. I respectfully disagree.

.

[JackRiddler]

35. Respectful, perhaps not even ironically, but still without basis.

[Sky Masterson]

57. I should have known better than to go against the Jesus of transparancy

AKA Manning.. You guys are twice as f'd up as you are accusing me of being.

[Forkboy]

59. What's with the hyperbole today?

[Sky Masterson]

60. Nothing..I'm just sad that the world didn't end like Camping told us.

So I come here and act all mean to people because there are no active circumcision threads going on.I mean,I had chips and dip ready! And the world didn't end!
I don't even have the heart to photograph my butt because I'm so distraught.

[Forkboy]

62. That is pretty distraught.

[TroglodyteScholar]

61. Win. n/t

[The Doctor.]

44. You're forwarding the Corporate Agendas.

They love the idea of conflating cyber-crime with 'terrorism', because that will make it easier to pass ever more draconian laws favoring the corporations. They will be able to get maximum sentences for whistle-blowers and others who expose their unethical and criminal behavior, thereby making such behavior more insulated and rampant.

It is foolish to play into their hands by calling non-violent crimes 'terrorism'. If someone hacks into your system and steals your information, that is called 'theft', just as if someone broke into your car and stole your radio or personal effects. Calling theft 'terrorism' is stupid and ignorant... and more typical of wingnut thinking that so easily conflates things that are nothing alike.

Please though, I'd love to hear how computer hacking is any more an act of 'terrorism' than someone breaking into your home.

[Forkboy]

58. It's not even close to terrorism.

As they said in Pulp Fiction, "...ain't the same ballpark, ain't the same league, ain't even the same fucking sport."

Crime yes, terrorism, not even close, and that kind of hyperbole just keeps the ones feeding off the war on terror fed.

[No Elephants]

69. +1 (Loved that post!)

[msongs]

17. che guevara was a sociopathic serial killer and quoting him to justify crimes is pathetic nt

[Smarmie Doofus]

12. jeeezus.

>>>I didn't watch the report because I could give a shit less about Manning because what he did was wrong.>>>>>

[Sky Masterson]

14. It wasn't wrong then?

Maybe everyone with security access should raid and post Top Secret material.

[Progressive Cancer]

16. We are anonymous...

Every Anonymous with security access who wants to denounce illegal activities, unjust behaviour or lies, please post your business' dirty secrets.

Transparency cannot be a threat to democracy, only to dictatorships.

[Sky Masterson]

19. Transparency is fine

I am all for that.
They shouldn't have given him access to the information to begin with.
If anything good comes out of this it will hopefully be that more security holes are filled.

[oNobodyo]

41. The question is begged...

Whose "good" are you refering to?
Is it even possible to make anything "secure" when humans are involved?
What are the ultimate effects of attaining such "security" and are the costs and benefits evenly distributed?
Why is the term "security" used when what people really mean is "secrecy" and isn't secrecy just another way to get away with telling lies?
Why should a 'Public' Broadcasting Service be allowed to have any secrets, isn't their existence prerequisite on them providing truthful information to the public?
Does not the public technically own PBS?
If the model that scarcity is proportionate to value and that information has value is applied does this not end with a very few having more than they can use and the rest of us banging rocks together in a futile attempt to make a fire?
Aren't statements in the form of questions wonderful?

Corporations are not people
Money is not speech
Information is power
Power belongs to the people

[The Doctor.]

45. That was an odd little contradiction.

You're 'for transparency', but want 'tighter security' on the information the government doesn't want us to know.

Just how, precisely, are you 'for transparency'? What, you think the government is going to voluntarily air its dirty laundry?

[Sky Masterson]

56. Not really

But I don't trust a fucked up private who shouldn't have access to such information to judge what is worthy of releasing to the public.
So piss off

[oNobodyo]

63. yes really

...because since it's release everything has just gone to hell...

A little perspective based in subjective reality would be a good thing.

I don't trust a segment of the population that has a higher likelihood of being sociopathic, self serving and socioeconomically disconnected from the public to judge what is worthy of hiding from the public.

If there has been one overarching theme to what has been learned since Wikileaks it's just how completely disconnected anyone and everyone that is in power is from the rest of humanity and how complete their misunderstanding of humanity is.

[The Doctor.]

65. Considering the documents show us very clearly that 'senior officials' were no more capable

of handling their responsibility, it would appear there is no leg to stand on regarding 'who is worthy' of judging what information should be classified.

You were, naturally, just as upset over the outing of Valerie Plame. That incident was perpetrated by 'senior officials' and actually did cause measurable (yet still classified) harm.

Manning's actions merely exposed bad behavior by our own officials.

Sorry if that upsets you.

[No Elephants]

70. Define "wrong." I found the illegal classification of info and the ridiculous cables

a lot more wrong than what Manning allegedly did. (No one's been tried yet, let alone convicted, though President Obama's convicting Manning in the media was interesting, especially for a Constitutiomal law lecturer.)

Oh, and the material released was the lowest classification. None of it was top secret material.

And all of it lawfully belongs to the people, not to the government. For that matter, the people own the government, too.

[nonperson]

21. Oh brother

"Get me a shovel"
- Keith Olberman

[ananda]

18. PBS really does suck.

That's what happens when an entity takes money from the fed... the
corpocracy takes over and all you get is propaganda.

[CBHagman]

24. How so?

What sucks? Be specific. Educational programs for kids? Science shows? The American Experience episodes on the Freedom Riders? On the Stonewall riots?

Be specific. What's corporate propaganda here? Live from Lincoln Center? Austin City Limits? The Newshour?

How about The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time!? Do you think that's propaganda?

http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2011/weavers-pbs-...

[nonperson]

31. Their vascillating tone sucks

Their slant on the news sucks. Their willing acceptance and dissemination of propaganda under the guise of "fairness" sucks. The right wing has completed their attack on the mythical "left wing" media and what do we have now? RIGHT WING MEDIA. PBS included.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

39. The News Hour is no different from any other Network crapfest. I would hold PBS

at a higher standard because they used to be good when it came to investigative reporting. That show with Pat Buchanan and that weird "BUH BYE" dude is pretty terrible too. The one show other than Bill Moyers' which did good work was Now and it was cut to a 1/2 hour. The other shows you mentioned are good. I also like the cooking shows.

[Harmony Blue]

43. Emphasis is used to be good

That is the problem when PBS was attacked by right wing conservatives. Now, they essentially own it, and control the message.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/15/koch-brothe...

Most Americans are unaware how the right wing has positioned themselves for the theft of our country!

[alp227]

46. at least the Newshour doesn't spend all the time on Charlie Sheen, Casey Anthony, other fluff

and Buchanan and "Buh Bye" would the McLaughlin Group, which I've seen only once or twice so I don't really have an opinion on it. And Need to Know has done collaborations with ProPublica before (ProPublica stories are frequently discussed on DU).

The Newshour covers actual news, while the network crapfests obsess over tabloid entertainment/true crime stories and filler human interest profiles.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

48. Their actual news coverage doesn't deviate from the beltway corporate-conventional wisdom. That has

been the case for years now. Both PBS and NPR employ Faux News flunkies whose sole purpose is to slant stories and propagandize. The only reason what they got rid of Williams is because he made it way too easy.

I wasn't terribly impressed with the first few shows of Need To Know. If it's gotten better I don't know. If so, good for them and good for you if you like them.

[Kolesar]

50. PBS has reporters and producers and they write about important stories...eom

[EFerrari]

55. So does Fox. n/t

[Kolesar]

64. & that's how to get smart

and be smart!

[jerseyjack]

20. Three reactions....

Regarding Manning: Based on the Frontline story, he was at the very least, emotionally disturbed. Maybe even bordering on psychotic. Evaluating members of the army's staff knew this and deployed him to Iraq. Their fuck-up. Live with it.

The treatment of Manning: He hasn't been convicted of anything. Yet, by his treatment, he gets punished. Then comes Obama who settles the issue by declaring his guilt before a trial. By the way, who remembers reading about the treatment of Jose Padilla under military imprisonment?

Regarding what was disclosed: Military fuck-ups, diplomatic fuck-ups and so forth. Then they get embarrassed. The army enlisted man, I believe he was a sergeant, who released the Abu Grabe prison photos was threatened and harassed. Many on this site consider him a hero. What is the difference between him and Manning?

[Harmony Blue]

22. I feel the same way

It was established post WWII that soldiers can't stand by and let crime take place because of the fear of breaking the chain of command. Furthermore, I agree with the sentiment that if they knew he was unstable, then why send him to Iraq?

Manning may have broken the law, but it will never change the fact that he is a hero. But I am disturbed that many would say he is guilty when he hasn't had a trial, and he has been subjected to torture too.

A democracy must be transparent as possible, like the Ancient Athenians made their expenditures public, because it was using the public's money. Funny how that works?

Hacktivists are fighting for the right of a transparent democracy, and for those to suggest they are terrorists?

The number of Big OIL adds on PBS has sky rocketed lately, and for a minute I thought I was watching CNBC.

[nonperson]

33. Manning is disturbed after being subjected to torture for months

By the very people who are now claiming he's "disturbed".

Bradley Manning is Jack London's Bishop Morehouse from "The Iron Heel".

The poor little hero! If I had only known! He was battling like a giant,
and I did not guess it. Alone, all alone, in the midst of millions of his
fellow-men, he was fighting his fight. Torn by his horror of the asylum
and his fidelity to truth and the right, he clung steadfastly to truth and
the right; but so alone was he that he did not dare to trust even me. He
had learned his lesson well— too well.

http://www.literature.org/authors/london-jack/the-iron-... /

We are all Bishop Morehouse, doomed to the asylum if we dare do right and expose truth.

[frylock]

37. what is the difference between him and manning?

take a look at who occupied the white house during either one of those incidents. therein lies your answer.

[EFerrari]

49. One of the agendas of the FL story was to make Manning look crazy.

For example, they made a big deal of his parents' divorce. By that measure, maybe half of us must be crazy because our parents have been divorced.

[truth2power]

27. Well deserved, IMO. n/t

[HillbillyBob]

34. Probably that pimp wanna be james ?or fiends in tow

frankly i think its time to start rounding up the nazis.

[elleng]

40. Well isn't that a nice and mature way to show disagreeement.

[No Elephants]

71. Emailing PBS would have been more mature and a hell of a lot less effective.

[elleng]

72. "Effective?" In what way was this ham-handed complaint effective?

[struggle4progress]

51. PBS victim of Tupac Shakur hacking hoax (BBC)

30 May 2011 Last updated at 15:11 ET

... The fake story posted on the site of the PBS NewsHour programme said Tupac was alive and well in New Zealand, but it had been removed by Monday morning.

A group claiming responsibility for the hacking had complained about the investigation by PBS's Frontline into Julian Assange's organisation ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13595452

[struggle4progress]

52. PBS Sites Hacked; Readers' Data Not Compromised (News Hour)

Media Updated: May 30, 2011, 2:32 p.m. ET

... Anne Bentley, vice president for PBS corporate communications, issued this statement:

"Last night there was an intrusion to PBS' servers. The erroneous information on the PBS NewsHour site has been corrected. The intruders also posted login information to two internal sites - one that press use to access PBS PressRoom and an internal communications website for stations.

"We're notifying stations and affected parties to advise them of the situation."

For NewsHour site visitors, no personal information or email addresses were compromised in any way during the incident.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/media/jan-june11/ha...

[EFerrari]

54. PBS statement on hack hacked.

Adding a touch of hallucinogenic Pink Floyd shit to today's 'rolling boil' hackfest at PBS, Lulzsec has apparently hacked PBS's own statement on the hack. Posted
earlier by Manuel Piñero, this image is currently unable to verify as PBS has finally locked their site down after a day of defacements galore.

http://www.boingboing.net/2011/05/30/hackers-hack-pbs-s...