by Peter Daley
Hacking as an activity is now wide spread and International, as our society has become more and more dependent on everything being controlled by computers. Hacking has become a much more influential activity for the good, the bad and the ugly in our society.
I know the media constantly portrays hacking as an evil activity, but I quote from Wikipedia here, a hacker is by definition, "A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and stretching their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary."
Our world wide infrastructure is so tied to computers that hacking can now be used as powerful tool for intelligence, construction or destruction of our industrial or communications infrastructure. Western countries complain about the Chinese, or the Russians hacking their systems. The West have their ownspecial unites dedicated to hacking Russian, and Chinese systems. They're all just as bad as each other, they are all constantly trying to break into each others sensitive systems. World wide, given an opportunity, any country will use hackers to gain an advantage, commercially, politically, or militarially. Corporations are constantly using hacking to improve their commercial advantage. The News of the World mobile phone hacking scandal is a good example of this. (Read my blog on mobile phone hacking here, http://sccc.org.au/archives/1602)
Hackers have been trying to find ways to break chip based industrial control systems for years. It ended up that the West and Israel secret services handed them the information they needed to do this on a platter. Thisstory would make a best seller, or a great movie. The West and Israelis wanted to stop the Iranian nuclear program, or at least slow it down. They went to the big industrial chip makers and got what was secret or proprietary back door information to control industrial chips. In this case, the industrial centrifuges that where being used by the Iranians to concentrate uranium for their nuclear programs. They then went away and developed a very effective virus called Stuxnet. It was released into the Iranian enrichment plant control systems and it did what is was designed to do, it destroyed large numbers of theIranian centrifuges.
They were very pleased with themselves, and gave themselves a pat on the back. Job well done they thought. Except that now they hadopened Pandora's box and provided what hackers have wanted for years, back door industrial chip information to enable them to make viruses, and Trojans to control, disrupt, or destroy industrial control systems. By back engineering the Stuxnet virus which now is in the wild, thanks to the West and the Israelis, any government, criminal group, corporation, or hacker with some skill can create their own variation on Stuxnet.
This means that previous viruses will look like child's play. This technology can potentially be used to shut down power plants (nuclear, coal or hydro), electricity grids, water supply systems. Also,industrial plants or anything using industrially control chips can be a targeted. There have already been instances where Stuxnet variations may have been used to shut down, or disrupt Nuclear power plants and other industrial systems in a number of countries. No one is admitting that Stuxnet or a variation may have been the cause of these mysterious shut downs, or disruptionsto Nuclear power plantsin the USA, or Japan recently.
Well there you have it, and we are consider ourselves to be Intelligent. We're like children playing with fire.
Now we have hacker groups that are saying they are using their skills for the benefit of humanity by standing up to what they consider to be corporate imperialism. A splinter group of hacker group “Anonymous” have now focused on multinational Corporate food giant Monsanto.
Below is a text transcript of a video message they posted on the Internet.
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To the free-thinking citizens of the world:
Anonymous stands with the farmers and food organizations denouncing the practices of Monsanto We applaud the bravery of the organizations and citizens who are standing up to Monsanto, and we stand united with you against this oppressive corporate abuse. Monsanto is contaminating the world with chemicals and genetically modified food crops for profit while claiming to feed the hungry and protect the environment. Anonymous is everyone, anyone who can not stand injustice and decides to do something about it. We are all over the Earth and here to stay.
To Monsanto, we demand you STOP the following:
- Contaminating the global food chain with GMO's.
- Intimidating small farmers with bullying and lawsuits.
- Propagating the use of destructive pesticides and herbicides across the globe.
- Using "Terminator Technology", which renders plants sterile.
- Attempting to hijack UN climate change negotiations for your own fiscal benefit.
- Reducing farmland to desert through monoculture and the use of synthetic fertilizers.
- Inspiring suicides of hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers.
- Causing birth defects by continuing to produce the pesticide "Round-up"
- Attempting to bribe foreign officials
- Infiltrating anti-GMO groups
Monsanto, these crimes will not go unpunished. Anonymous will not spare you nor anyone in support of your oppressive illegal business practices.
AGRA, a great example: In 2006, AGRA, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, was established with funding from Bill Gates and The Rockefeller Foundation.
Among the other founding members of, AGRA, we find: Monsanto, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, Procter and Gamble, Merck, Mosaic, Pfizer, Sumitomo Chemical and Yara. The fact that these corporations are either chemical or pharmaceutical manufacturers is no coincidence.
The people of the world see you, Monsanto. Anonymous sees you.
Seeds of Opportunism, Climate change offers these businesses a perfect excuse to prey on the poorest countries by swooping in to "rescue" the farmers and people with their GMO crops and chemical pesticides. These corporations eradicate the traditional ways of the country's agriculture for the sake of enormous profits.
The introduction of GMOs drastically affects a local farmers income, as the price of chemicals required for GMOs and seeds from Monsanto cripples the farmer's meagre profit margins.
There are even many cases of Monsanto suing small farmers after pollen from their GMO crops accidentally cross with the farmer's crops. Because Monsanto has a patent on their brand of seed, they claim the farmer is in violation of patent laws.
These disgusting and inhumane practices will not be tolerated. Anonymous urges all concerned citizens to stand up for these farmers, stand up for the future of your own food. Protest, organize, spread info to your friends!
Say no to poisons chemicals in your food.
So no to GMO!
Say no to Monsanto!
We are Anonymous
We are legion
We do not forgive
We do not forget
Expect us
To back up their claims they provided these links.
Birth defects caused by Monsanto chemicals – Here
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/07/roundup-birth-defects-herbicide-regulators_n_872862.html
Monsanto hired mercenary Blackwater to infiltrate anti-GMO groups – Here
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/297701#ixzz1HDZcVpoj
Monsanto fined $1.5m for bribery In Indonesia – Here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4153635.stm
Monsanto Accused of Attempt to Bribe Health Canada for rBGH (Posilac) Approval – Here
http://www.ethicalinvesting.com/monsanto/news/10009.htm
Destruction of soil, air quality, groundwater contamination, deforestation – Here
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A46648-2001Dec3
Corporate food giant Monsanto uses patents to bully small farmers and strangle competition – Here
Farmer suicides in India – Here
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You can watch the video of the above transcript at Youtube here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1A-DYK4M4Q&feature=player_embedded
Hacking as an activity has grown to be the good, the bad and the ugly computer power of the twenty first century, love it or hate it, it will be shaping our future.
© Peter Daley 2011
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